The Winner Is.....

Well, Miss Maddie got to celebrate her first birthday by having her so called "abscess" probed and lanced. Fun fun...  But we got a very accurate weigh in on the veterinarian's scale.  Are you ready for an upset? 57.2 pounds. I thought someone with a guess at 58 - 59 pounds was going to win it, but I had to look back at my sheet for the guesses at 57 pounds.  So the winner is Laraine Stockman with a guess of 57.5 pounds!  Laraine, will you email or Facebook me, please?

So Maddie's boil kept draining from one end every few days.  We had already started a culture on Saturday, but  I finally decided it should be opened up.  That it was never going to heal by draining, closing, refilling, and draining again.

My vet lanced both sides of her lip and basically put a hole all the way through.  It was very gross and it bled profusely.  But NO foreign body and NO pocket of pus.  The lump was scar tissue.  So I was feeling a bit regretful and wishing that maybe we had not gone this route.  But then the preliminary culture result showed no growth.  Plus, there was no evidence of infection (no pus).  So now my hope is that since it has been opened up, cleaned from the inside out with all of the bleeding, and it has been closed with fresh edges that it may finally heal.  My vet stapled the hole on the outside of her face.  I think it should reduce the size of the scar at least. Instead of a huge bald patch, it might be a line... or maybe none at all.  Happy Birthday, Mad Dog...

"I have a hole in my face?"

Of course, I think that after being sedated and poked in the face that one might take it easy for the rest of the day.  Nope.  Dr. C used Propofol (Michael Jackson's sedative of choice) which only knocks them out for a short time... at least when properly used. Sure enough, Maddie wakes up and immediately wants the Science Diet dog food for teeth.  I bring all sorts of good treats to the vet, but she wants that yucky dog food.  As soon as she was on her feet, Maddie she was sniffing the cookie jar full of it.

So Maddie is crunching away at those enormous chunks of food.  "Doesn't your face hurt?"  We head for home and Maddie is playing with stuffies in the car.  "Doesn't your face hurt?"  We get home and she is running around with her toys.  "Don't you want to rest?"  Nope.

Lastly, I thought you might like to see Maddie's parents again.  No doubt that Maddie takes after her Dad, Guliver (below).  Obviously, they are both black, but she also inherited his build, coat type, good feet, and floppy tongue.

Guliver above and below

I think Maddie just inherited her loud mouth from her Mother, Cleopatra.  At least Maddie is mostly quiet and only barks in play.  I can live with that!

Cleopatra

Recall that I waited three years for this litter to happen.  When I had decided that I wanted to get a puppy, I wanted her to come from a litter bred for performance from moderate sized lines.  Guliver and Patra fit my needs perfectly.  Both are successful coursing greyhounds.  Maddie appears to have inherited a lot of good traits from both and I am excited to see how that translates in the agility ring in a couple of years.

Healing thoughts appreciated!