LabradorRodeo

With all the swollen-dog-with-yeasty-ears excitement of the last several days, we almost forgot to welcome our new readers! Lomax’s humble online abode has been added to GruffPuppy’s list of Dog Blogs.

Thanks for the link, and welcome! Lomax sends you all a big, sloppy Labrador smooch.

So, it looks like Lomax has a yeast infection in his ears but no hematomas, according to our new vet (whom we LOVE). I’m guessing he got it while he was kenneled at the school for a few days, since his ears were immaculate before that…and since that’s the only place he could have caught it from water play or other dogs, any time recently. I have some Otomax to give him, and plenty of love, and he should be just fine. He has already returned to 100% Wiggly Mode, complete with Full-Scale Moof Power.

It continues to amaze me just how happy he is all the time. During both doctor visits we had due to this little spider bite, even when he was so swollen he could barely open his eyes, it was all I could do to keep him from wagging himself right off the exam table.

“I’m going to look in your ears now.”

Yippee! (WiggleWiggleWiggleWiggle.)

“Now I’m going to take your temperature.”

Hooray! (WiggleWiggleWiggleWiggle.)

“Now I’m going to give you a couple of shots.”

WooHoo! Ouch. Yayyyy! (WiggleWiggleWiggleWiggle.)

I forgot to warn our new vet about Lomax’s affinity for ear kissing, and consequently, as the doc was listening to Lomax’s heart, he got the Labrador lightning-strike right upside the head. Good thing the stethoscope was in there, or he would have had to swab.

Heat. Shedding. Bugs. The harbingers of the season….

Lomax greeted me this morning with less than his usual fervor. Upon inspection, I found his ears to be hugely swollen, and his eyes starting in as well. Horrors! His cute little face!!

So I called GDA and up we went for a little vet visit. The poor little man was puffed up severely; he looked like he’d gone a few rounds with Evander Holyfield. It had come on so suddenly, I didn’t know what to think. The vet took his temp, looked in his ears, and ruled out an ear infection. Finally, she came to the conclusion that he must have been bitten by a spider. There’s a tiny bump on his nose…which likely means he stuck it someplace it didn’t belong, and is now paying the price.

After a couple of shots and a Benadryl capsule, the facial swelling has gone down, but the ears are still pretty big. The vet said it *looks* like he could have hematomas, but other signs don’t point to that (both ears at once, and he hadn’t been “flapping” before the swelling occurred). So here I am in my apartment on this beautiful summer day, keeping my eyes on his ears, rather than running the errands I’d planned. The sad thing is, Lomax doesn’t want to be cooped up inside either!

If he’s still swollen tomorrow morning, I’m supposed to take him to a vet near me. The good thing is, if he does have hematomas, it’s not considered an emergency…the bad thing is, it does mean surgery, and nobody wants that. So we’re keeping our fingers and paws crossed, and praying the swelling will subside.

We’ll keep you posted!

EARWATCH UPDATE: As of Sunday morning, the ears are looking much better. The swelling is almost gone, and the exuberant wiggling has returned to about 98%. I’ll most likely take him to a vet tomorrow for a re-check, but he’s looking good.

Lomax and I were crossing a very busy Wilshire Boulevard intersection during lunchtime today (we had the “walk” signal) when a guy in a gigantic SUV made a right turn directly in front of us. He was going way too fast, for one thing. He had been looking, and knew exactly what he was doing. Looked right at us and stuck his hand out the window in a kind of wave, a signal of thanks that we were letting him go as well as a signal that he was going whether or not we were letting him.

Judging his distance to be just far enough away, I didn’t react physically — kept face-forward but pretended not to see him, and kept my pace, which was moderate and measured. A split-second of terror flashed across his countenance, which I confess delighted me.

Sometimes people think I’m blind when I’m wearing my black sunglasses, and walking Lomax in his GDA service jacket.

MuhuhahahAAAAAAHAAHAHAAAhaahahahaaa.

Jerk.

To those who serve, who have served, and who will serve, we offer our gratitude and remembrance.

Another shot of Lomax’s corner office:

I suggested he decorate the walls with flowcharts and statistics and pictures of me, but he insists on maintaining his minimalism.

…or mere laziness?

Lomax has discovered that while he’s “at work” underneath my desk at the office, he can lie down on his bed in such a manner that all he has to do is stretch his neck a bit in order to reach the water bowl. Doesn’t even have to get up.

Unless he’s exhausted from a weekend at the kennel, or physically in another geographic location, Lomax is at my heels every waking moment. Whether he’s walking, running, pacing, circling, playing, sitting, lying down, wiggling, wagging, rolling, leaning, snorting, whatever — I look down, he’s right there. Rarely, if ever, more than a couple of feet away.

Until I turn on the stove and get out the pots and pans, that is. See, he’s got this thing about smoke. And it doesn’t matter what I’m cooking (you’d think bacon might convince him, right?), he deems the immediate area too dangerous and finds his new “happy place” in the hallway.

Notice he still wants to know where I am, and what I’m doing. He’s ever-vigilant in that way. And I’m convinced that if an actual fire were to start right there in the kitchen, effectively preventing me from making an unassisted escape, Lomax would be the first one to call 9-1-1 from a neighbor’s house.

Puppy’s got a brand new bone. HAH!

I bought him a new Nylabone because the old one — which has lasted a year and a half, even having been subjected to the enthusiastic jaws of many a Labrador puppy — has become too disgusting to take to the office with me. For a while, it simply looked phallic and wrong (no photos, to spare you)…but now, Lomax has chewed the smaller end down to a sharpened nub. Our theory is that he’s making a shiv, and he’s gonna bust outta this joint and run off to Mexico with the cute little Jack Russell/chihuahua mix who lives in cell block two.