OFA X-rays

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Last night, I got to bed around 1am. This morning, a bad thunderstorm woke me up about 6am. Being in tornado alley, I have a hard time sleeping during bad storms. Actually, Coyote had gone in the closet (where he prefers to hide from storms). With the "bed troll" off the bed, Dazzle jumped up and tried to get inside my skin he was cuddling so close. I think he was reacting to the really loud thunder and rain on the windows, but he's never had any issue with storms before (to the point of going outside to play in them!) So I was up. He was showing signs of nervousness about the storm. Hopefully THAT won't be a regular occurance.
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The hardest part was convincing the dogs that even though we had been awake for 3 hours, they weren't getting breakfast. That's because at 8:45, I took Dazzle to his vet appointment to get his hips and elbows X-rayed and I knew there was a good chance they would sedate him. Mike fed the others when he got up.
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The X-rays are something the breeder requires so she knows if his parents are producing healthy, sound puppies. These X-rays get submitted to OFA for review as "preliminary" findings. Next year, when he's 2 yrs old, we have to do it again for his permanent record. The breeder also requires more views than what OFA requires, so we had several elbow views to get.
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When we arrived, the vet office had some unexpected emergencies, but Dazzle and I didn't mind the wait. They gave him some "happy drugs" that made him pretty woozy. He still reacted to movement and being moved and loud sounds (the thunder a few times, the phone, etc.), but if left in one position undisturbed he fell asleep. I stayed with him the whole time which I think really helped keep him calm. A few times when he reacted to something, I saw him catch sight of me or hear my voice and immediately relax.
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They did 2 X-rays of his hips because the first set wasn't perfectly aligned (2nd set looked excellent!) Then they did 2 x-rays of his elbow (flexed and extended) but when the film was developed, they found that the ID tags weren't visible. So those were done again. Then he was fliped over and the other elbow was done flexed and extended. After each shot, the films were checked before he was moved to the next position. Lastly, we did a craniocaudal view (Sphinx position with his front legs extended and nose pointing to the sky- to move it out of the way of the X-ray of his elbows). He was such a trooper!
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We did put a muzzle on him because as he was getting drowsy, he did a short, low grrr at the gal who walked into the room. He quietly grr'ed again one time while laying on his side during X-rays, but those were the only times. Other than that he was very good for the manipulations.
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The vet said the X-rays all looked very good. Nice smooth joints and tight fittings. The vet also said his growth plates are close to being closed and should be solid in a few months. After reviewing the X-rays, we packed them into an envelope with all the needed paperwork and I stopped at the post office on my way home to get them in the mail to OFA. It was really pouring buckets of rain being blown sideways at that point.
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Dazzle had to be carried from the vet office to the van and curled up in the back of his crate. He didn't move the whole way home, even during the P.O. stop. Once we got home, he tried to stand up to get out of his crate, but his legs still weren't really responding to the signals his brain was giving him. He was carried into the office where he figited about. Mike gave him an ice cube which he really enjoyed, but then had to leave to take his vehicle in for an oil change. Dazzle was acting like he might need to go out, and was kind of able to get his feet under him, so I took him out into the rain. He did a great job of balancing while he emptied his bowels. I thought at one point he might fall backward into the pile! Thankfully he didn't.
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When he came back in, he went right to his food bowl and stared at it and me and kept checking it like he thought food might have appeared while he was looking at me. :-) Considering he's not very food motivated and has never done this before, it seemed he thought he was really hungry. I gave him a few handfuls of food to see if he could keep it down and he ate the food faster than I've seen him eat- ever- like he was a starving street dog (or one of his brothers :-). After being encouraged into the living room and a short nap, he got up and went back to his bowl on his own. He was walking a bit better, though still wobbly if he tried to turn fast. I gave him the rest of his breakfast and again he wolfed it down.
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I went back to the living room and sat in the recliner. Dazzle got in my lap and went soundly to sleep (& I fell alseep too) till Mike called. Originally I was going to be bringing my van in for an oil change when his was done, but both Dazzle and I were very tired. I went to bed where Dazzle curled up with me (even with Coyote on the bed!) and Mike came home, got my van and took it back to get the oil change- thanks Mike!! By the time we were done with our nap, Mike was back and even had the groceries he bought all put away. Dazzle was moving MUCH better and was acting more normally.
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By 9pm, Dazzle was DONE with napping, he was ready to PLAY!! Didn't matter that it was still drizzling and raining off and on outside, or that it was now dark, he wanted to play.
Hhe kept running outside at full speed and then looking at me through the sliding back door, then running back inside. At one point, he came running in full speed and lunched himself into my lap! I finally gave in and tossed his toy in the house a few times, then told him he needed to relax. Now I'm updating this blog while he is back to napping next to me. I'm guessing that after all this sleep, he's going to be pretty cranked up by tomorrow morning!
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