Wednesday evening

THURSDAY MORNING UPDATE: Riley lunged at a bicyclist today. He must be feeling better. Doug credits the small piece of steak he sneaked Riley last night at dinner. To which Boscoe says, "What?? Steak??"


I don't mean to just give you minute-by-minute updates of Riley forever, but I wanted to (a) set the record straight, and (b) let you know that he seems to be doing better.

Regarding (a): for those who missed the earlier post (and I apologize for writing so many), I took Riley to the vet on Tuesday morning. The vet did a tail-to-ears exam of him, listened to his internal organs and his stomach, looked in his eyes and ears and mouth, took his temperature, checked his reflexes, moved his head and neck in all directions, lifted up each paw, moved each leg back and forth, and then drew blood and ran blood tests. The blood work tested for Lyme disease, infection, anemia, and heartworm.

Everything checked out just fine.

The vet was stumped. He said, "I could do x-rays, but at this point I don't even know what part of the body I would x-ray." He prescribed Metacam for five to seven days to alleviate pain, and he asked me to call him in two or three days to let him know how Riley is progressing.

I will call him tomorrow.

Regarding (b), Riley met me at the door when I came home tonight, and he was wagging his tail. He didn't race down the stairs into the yard, but I think what he did probably qualifies for "ran" down the stairs. He didn't run up the side of the tree, as he usually does, but he did run to the tree and sniff it.

So he's not back to normal but he seems considerably better than he did Tuesday morning.

This might be because he's getting better, or it might be because the Metacam is masking the pain. Right now it is impossible to know, because it is impossible to know what is wrong with him.

What I do know is that there is a whole community of kind, friendly, caring blog readers out there who are truly worried about a goofy dog they have never met, and who care enough to send me multiple comments and e-mails with suggestions and concern and good wishes.

This touches my heart, and I want you to know how grateful I am.