Vet Check-Up

Wednesday afternoon Freja had a check-up at the Vet's office. She has completely recovered from Kennel Cough. She also gained a couple of pounds and is now 28lbs.

The demodicosis, however, has gotten worse instead of better with just the Goodwinol treatment. The vet did several skin scrapings and showed me the mites under the microscope. Freja has many mites when usually a healthy dog has so few that they can't be found with one skin scraping. So, Freja started a 30 day Ivermectin treatment today. This will treat the demodicosis systemically instead of topically.

Relaxing after a long, busy day...

Freja's Kennel Cough is almost completely better. She only coughed once this morning and didn't cough at all this afternoon when she romped around the yard with Rohan. She had a very busy day spending most of the day outside with us while we did yard work and planted Asiatic lily bulbs. For part of the afternoon I had her leash tied to one of my jeans belt loops, part of the time she was loose running with Rohan, and the rest of the time she was in her ex-pen in the shade under one of the huge pines in our back. The ex-pen was only about 6 feet away from where I was kneeling on the ground planting bulbs, so she could see us the whole time.

She's a very tired out girl after such an exciting day. Here's a picture of her relaxing with her favorite toy the un-stuffed fox:

Kennel Cough

Just when Freja's health issues were a thing of the past she started coughing Tuesday night. We saw a new vet yesterday and Freja has tracheobronchitis (i.e. Kennel Cough). She also had a tick on her! She's being treated for the kennel cough with Clavamox, which will also treat Lyme disease in case she happens to get that from the tick. She's also had a little bit of Vicks Formula 44D (yes, the human cough syrup).

The good news is after just two doses of Clavamox she already seems to be feeling better. I think the Vicks helped her to not cough all night, so she was able to sleep too.

Evening play time...

This evening Rohan, Freja and I went out in the back yard to play while Erik was bringing Halle for her evening walk. Freja and Rohan both stopped playing to watch Erik and Halle come back up the street:



Rohan said, "Daddy and Halle are coming!"

Freja was a very good girl and did not leave the yard. She waited until Halle was back in our yard to give her many puppy kisses:



Halle is slightly more tolerant of Freja's exuberance, and Freja is learning to tone it down with Halle.

After many kisses Freja decided it was time for a quick sprint around the yard:



Not to be outdone by a 15 week old puppy, Halle prepares for take-off:



After much racing around Halle needed a drink, so Erik and Halle went into the house. Freja, Rohan and I stayed out for a little while longer. Here's a boy and his Shiloh:



After we came back into the house Halle was in one of her "zooming" moods, so Freja and Halle raced around the downstairs. It was so nice to see them playing together.

Good Girl

Tonight we went out for another walk around the block. I took a few pictures in the yard before we left and this is my favorite of Freja sitting nicely and waiting to go walking. She has such a feminine look. You can see that her saddle is really darkening as some of the puppy fluff has been coming out with brushing.

Stairs

Freja will go up the stairs to our second floor with no problem, but she will not come down the stairs. She goes down the outside back steps just fine now, but there are only a few steps. Last night I spent about 45 minutes working with Freja on coming down steps.

First I coaxed her to come up 5 steps, enticing her with a Wellness Puppy Treat. Once she was on step 5 I gave her the treat and then showed her a second one and went down to the bottom of the stairs. She came down.

So, I went up a few more stairs and enticed her up, but instead of stopping where I was she kept going all the to the top. Here are some photos of the next steps:


The treat looks enticing...


Maybe I can stretch my nose out far enough to get the treat without touching the stairs....

Alas... that doesn't work.

Just around this time Halle, the beagle, returned from her walk with my husband. Halle also had a hard time with stairs when she first came to live here even though she was 5-8 years old. I worked with Halle on walking the stairs and now she runs up and down the stairs often. Halle was very excited by the prospect of any activity that involved treats, so she ran up the stairs to join us. I proceeded to go down the stairs and Halle followed, then up the stairs, Halle followed... Freja observed all of this activity. The third time Halle and I went up and down Freja followed! I told her she was a VERY good girl.

The bad news is this morning she refused to come down the stairs again. I envision carrying an 80lb Shiloh Shepherd down the stairs every day... LOL

She's Home!

Freja came home from the vet hospital last night. She tested negative for Parvo. She is on several medications for about a week, and prescription food for a couple of days, but otherwise she is much, much better.

Freja has a Giardia infection. Giardia is a protozoa that can cause diarrhea in puppies and dogs. There are actually several species of Giardia. The one that affects dogs is called Giardia canis. While scientists are uncertain they believe that Giardia canis does not affect humans. Giardia lamblia is the species that affects humans. In any case, it is spread by fecal-oral contact, so... enough said.

She's doing much better!