goodbye tax return

Since finishing his antibiotics on Monday, Billy has passed some fantastic stools. Really. I haven't seen such quality poop in a very long time. Is this poop worth a c-note?-- thats hard to say. Aside from feeling better, I no longer have to feed a whole colony of protozoan friends in his gut. I bet that will add up over time.

Billy was wiped out on Sunday night. I thought it was due to a weekend of joyous romping with Patti's pups, one of whom just loves to play with him and is a good size for a wrestle.

But on Monday morning he was still tired and started limping. I had a good look at his paw and aside from some goo stuck to it, I couldn't find any evidence of cuts, thorns or swelling. Perhaps a torn muscle?

I got back from work on Monday night and Billy was limping worse and very tired. He barely made it around the block on our walk and viciously growled at passing dogs.

He was even worse on Tuesday morning and when I tried to examine his leg, he showed me his teeth. He must've been in a lot of pain. So I packed him in the car and we headed over to the vet.

Billy tested positive for Lyme disease so theres a chance that that was the cause of his symptoms. The lameness appeared to be in his left shoulder and there was no evidence of infection or cuts. The onset of lameness and lethargy was rather sudden and unexplained. Oh, and he had a slight fever of 103 (he just loved having his temp taken-- he kept trying to sit down even though that would only it make it more uncomfortable).

The vet named off five other possible causes but they are all pretty rare or not fitting his symptoms very well. We had the option of x-rays but the chance of a broken limb is pretty small. So Billy got an anti-inflamatory shot and a large supply of doxycline (which is raspberry flavored for kids so we coat it in peanut butter-- fancy organic peanut butter because I'm a yuppy flavored dirt bag hippy).

I was pretty worried on Tuesday and had a rough day.

But by Wednesday Billy was feeling a whole lot better.

And now he leaps out of his crate in the morning and dances around the apartment, jumping from side to side, ready to play. A whole new dog. I think the drugs are working.

He's going to be on them for a month.