THIS IS NOT THE LOOK OF HAPPINESS - 08.27.2010

Today was Orso's visit to the vet. This appointment was for his 2nd set of shots, an ear infection recheck and possible taping of his ears. Over the last few days, the infection on the ears has gotten much better; the redness and inflammation has improved but the right ear remains completely floppy. Also, since the ear
was infected and swollen, it made the droop worse.

From an emotional standpoint, this was really bothering me all week because we walked into the vet's office Saturday morning with his ears healthy - one was droopy - but they were healthy and infection free. 2 days later, they were terribly infected. I am carrying a huge amount of guilt for allowing someone with no experience to lay hands on him. It's been killing me, especially since I am sure this has caused Orso distress and to some extent, a bit of suffering.

Meanwhile, from a financial standpoint, we are footing the bill for something that should not have happened. I have wanted to address it with my vet, because it was really weighing me down. My relationship with my vet goes back decades. I trust him as a veterinarian and as a human being. He is a good, decent and
honest man, so I was stressed that I would offend him by addressing my concerns. I suppose it's all in the approach - at least that is what Nichelle (our dogsitter and vet's technician - she has worked for him for years - cautioned me before our appointment. She was right; I approached the topic with sensitivity and a ton of disclaimers (let's not leave out a whole lot of anxiety) and he was OK with it. At the end, it doesn't fix or change anything, but at least I was able to voice my concerns and alleviate the discomfort I was feeling by not having spoken about it with him.

Anyway, back to the appointment. A few things were done during Orso's visit. The vet rechecked his ears and was pleased to see that the infection had gone down tremendously. A technician took him to the kennel
area and disinfected the area with a special wash and then "installed" a contraption that will hopefully keep his ears up - BOTH of them. Orso was not pleased with this by any means. His reaction led to a plethora of skin glue and support tape, not to mention a satellite dish on his head and some light tranquilizers to get him past his puppy hysteria. He weighed in at 27 pounds! He's up 3 pounds since Monday's visit! WOW! He also got his second set of shots - with the exception of Lepto, since we are holding off on that one until at least 14 weeks of age. For the most part, he behaved pretty well, but his patience quickly ran out once the ear dressings were begrudgingly bestowed on him - poor Orso, he's a heartbreaker with that look of misery. See below for a couple of pictures and a video of Orso at the vet's office.

We are now home with him and he is not a happy puppy. The light dosage of Acepromazine kicked in and he is passed out. We are completely anti-meds, but given the circumstances, we recognize that sometimes you have to make exceptions. Lunch time is approaching, so we are planning to wake him up for his feeding. I anticipate that between the stress, the vaccines and the Ace, it's likely that his appetite will suffer today. I am sure he will make up for it as soon as he is feeling better.