Hello all,
I wanted to give you guys an update. First of all, thanks for all the feedback. It was really helpful. Anyways, I went back home early yesterday to rush him to a vet. When I first got home, I saw shades of the dog he used to be. His tail was wagging. He licked me like he used to. By this point, I called the vet…so I took out Yoshi to use the bathroom to get a stool sample. He seemed perfectly normal. I brought him back in the house to grab the files I have of his medical past just in case they wanted it. When I first brought him back in, he just sat by the back door again like Monday night. He didn’t follow me, just looked at me while I grabbed the paperwork which isn’t the norm. So I definitely saw great improvement, but he still showed signs of something being wrong. We got to the doctor and he checked him out. He took some x-rays and gave him a full examination. He said that “everything seems to be normal” (except of course his one testicle). He said that the dog is physically ok and that he may show even more improvement once neutered the upcoming week. At this point, Yoshi was not acting so depressed, so the vet said that he didn’t recommend giving him any anti-depressants either. He explained that dogs can feel very unsafe/betrayed when hit and that he may be taking out that frustration on us for not being there to protect him :( He said there is no positive way of him diagnosing that with what he’s seen. He recommended that we see how he does and if all these symptoms don’t go away in a couple days to come back immediately or call a behavioral specialist. He said that they would check out his stool in case there is any signs of disease or anything, but that visually it looked ok (no blood and it was firm). They told me that they’d call me today if anything was wrong and “no news is good news”. So I guess I’m hoping my phone doesn’t ring. Last night, he was doing well. He was happy. He laid on our laps and went to sleep like he normally would. He ate his normal food too. One of my good friends came over (he’s Yoshi’s godfather…yes, I know that is kind of cheesy), and Yoshi was happy to see him. His little tail was going a hundred miles an hour and we were relieved to see that. He did have an accident in our house though, but we were to blame for that one. He was taking a nap and we didn’t notice him wake up. He usually has to go immediately after waking up and saw that we were running around cleaning. I actually kind of saw it as a good thing. It gave us the opportunity to show him that it was ok that he made a mess. We just got up quickly and took him outside where he finished his business and reassured him that he was good for finishing outside. At this point, I’d say he isn’t 100% normal, but he’s really close. The main thing is he doesn’t seem to have as much energy as before (like trying to get a piece of our food while we eat, playing with his toys a lot, just general running around the house). Not that going for our food is a good thing, but it was the dog we knew. I hope it is just that he is still a little sad/worried and it isn’t physical. He seemed even better this morning. He seemed ok when I gave him a kiss on the nose and he ate normally again.
As for my wife, she is doing ok. The pain is kind of bad for her, but they gave her pills for that. It is hard for her to use her mouth without bothering her injury. She was told not to smile and to eat smaller foods. She is worried about infection because the doctors practically scare you into believing it is very easy to get infection. Almost everything can infect it. They even told her not to use Neosporin (medicine to reduce scars) or “put anything on it” because it could get infected. It just seems weird to me. Anyways, I digressed. She goes back in next Tuesday where she’ll hopefully get the stitches removed and she’ll feel better.
For now though, I don’t think I can fully trust Yoshi around people. I’m not sure how to handle that really, but I do know the last thing I want is him to hurt someone else. I still need to discuss this with my wife in more detail unless you guys have any good suggestions?
PS. Sorry for the very long write-up yet again…
