Cooper Thanks You...

The past couple of days have been tough (for us and for Cooper and for all of you that love him too). On Monday, Cooper had bloodwork and X-Rays done. The vet needed to keep him for about an hour for the tests - so I suggested to Troy that he come and pick us up so we could all go get Cooper together.

When the vet brought us in the exam room, she told us that the X-rays did not look good. Cooper has several cysts and/or tumors in his lungs - one being quite large. He also has an infection - the vet suspected secondary, so his temperature was high and his eyes are goopy. We had to wait for the bloodwork. He was put on antibiotics as a start to at least help with the infection.

Yesterday was the worst. I tried to take him on a short walk in the morning and it was slow going. He slept the rest of the day away, and he isn't eating his dog food. He is shaky and weak. We fed him some tuna and chicken breast and table scraps - the vet said it is a good sign that he will at least still eat people food when she called last night.

She called to check on him and give us the results of the bloodwork. It isn't cryptoccal fungus (SP?) which she suspected, and the only solid results were REALLY high white blood cell count (indication of infection) and higher than normal protein levels in the blood. She said there was no point in doing further blood tests because the protein levels didn't indicate something specific...blah blah blah...I got lost in the details there, but she is super nice and a really great vet so I trust her judgement and opinion.

She was concerned that Cooper had such a bad day and encouraged me to bring him in if he continued to be so lethargic. She agreed that it could have been the stress from the vet visit and X-rays, and his fever breaking as the antibiotics kick in. She also said to keep feeding him lean people foods if he is interested. She was glad he was keeping the medications down.

So, in a nutshell, we don't know what is wrong. We are to keep on with the antibiotics and hope that he improves, and then the vet wants to re X-ray him in a couple of weeks to check out his lungs again. There is not much more we can do aside from extra TLC.

He seemed a bit better today, he was keen to go out when we were going to the playground (I made him stay home and rest), wagged his tail a bit more, and he was happy to spend the afternoon outside in the yard - mostly laying around, but barking and sniffing and exploring a bit. All good signs compared to yesterday.

It is a big week for him, and we hope that he continues to perk up more as the medication (hopefully) does its job. Thanks for the kind words and thoughts - Cooper really appreciates knowing he is so loved. We'll keep you updated...