Nelson - Part 3
The last time I wrote, we were struggling to get his annual vaccinations completed. Well, it took months and months of socialisation visits. Nelson was even getting excited when he saw the vet. Then the big day came. We gave Nelson his pre-meds and walked him for 3 hours before his appointment to ensure he didn’t have his usual energy. As soon as he arrived, the vet came out, but unfortunately, he struggled so much that it could not be done when she tried to inject him. Various ways were tried, but eventually, we had to surrender to giving him a dose of ketamine before the injection. Even then, fast asleep in the car while being hugged as soon as that needle came close, he started fighting for his life. Luckily, we persevered, and the injection got done. He did not have the kennel cough dose on the advice from our vet. She said it wasn’t worth the stress for our boy, and we are happy with that. We took our very groggy boy home to sleep it off. So, we will continue with regular socialisation visits in anticipation of next year.
Apart from that Nelson has been doing exceptionally well. He now has a few friends that he can walk with, and he even lets a few of them in his house.
We wanted to reduce the need for Metacam knowing the problems this can cause for his liver. So, we started him on YuMove supplements along with CBD and turmeric. It took a while to get the dose right. But one day, we woke up to a puppy! Playing with toys well, anything he could find to throw around. Running around and jumping up. Now we know these aren’t ideal behaviors, but it is beautiful to see in our boy who has had such a hard life, so he gets off easy. He is doing so well around people now that he came to our wedding reception where he even joined us for our first dance.
He did gain a bit of extra weight from being spoiled a bit too much. We have been really eager to manage this as with his injury, any additional weight may have a negative impact. So the poor man has had to go on a bit of a diet. We purchased a Tractive GPS tracker that monitors his daily activity (he is quite a lazy boy). It’s a really cool device; it attaches to his collar, you put in details about your dog, and it gives you a goal. Then it tracks his activity in minutes as well as his rest time. It even has a local leader board which, yes, we have got quite competitive with. We can monitor his location, set virtual fences, put a torch on, make it produce a noise (if he disappears in the dark and we can’t find him). Since using this and changing his diet, he has lost weight and is now maintaining it, which is fantastic!
We were also very excited when we could take him back to see his foster family. He was so happy to be reunited with the humans and dogs. His foster parents could not believe the difference in him as he sprawled out on his back, begging for a tummy rub. His foster parents have also recently traveled to Egypt and visited the rescue centre where he was first taken. They will foster a few of his old friends, and I think they may convince us to take in one of them. Watch this space.
