Tanner's Rally

In the spirit of the Olympics, Tanner is rallying! What a difference a week makes indeed. We saw the vet this morning and she was amazed and thrilled with his progress. The mouth continues to heal and she says looks 100% better than it did a week ago.  He may not be ready to try this rings routine, but he has been cleared to eat anything crunchy again.
The issue with his toe is still a bit sore but he is no longer limping and it seems that the healing is in the right direction as well. In fact, they trimmed a little matted fur from around the toe and as soon as it fell to the ground, he ate it! What goofball. He will stay on the meds routine as it does seem to be working. He is eating quite well but he has turned into a terribly picky eater so we have to keep changing up his diet. He's definitely on to the reality that can get good stuff if he holds out long enough. I guess it's a small price for us to pay for keeping him around!

His fur has almost completely filled in as well and his weight is holding steady, even though he's a full 10 kilograms lighter than he was at his robust.
This photo, one of my absolute favorites, was taken when we arrived in the Netherlands on our way to England about a year ago. I just adore the expression on Tanner's face.
So after a very stressful week, we are feeling hopeful again. He even chased a golf ball around a little bit last night and continues to love to bask in the hot sun.
He is still mostly lounging around but so are we! We're still a few weeks from cooler temperatures and being able to really walk him outside but for now, we're enjoying his very good company. Thanks for all your prayers. Definitely appreciated by all. 

Tanner's Trials

The dental surgery was successful, even more so than expected. Tanner didn't end up losing all of his teeth after all. The vet got in there, and while the bad spots were horrible, the good spots were pretty healthy. So she didn't have to take the whole kit and caboodle. We are thankful.

Happier days together

Even so, it was a big deal as the decay and amount of bone loss, root exposure, rotten teeth, etc. was horrible. Not to completely gross you out, but on Monday evening, Tanner vomited and there were pieces of his cheek that came out. In fact, on Monday Tanner was so listless that we thought we were going to lose him. It was a traumatic moment, filled with tears and heartache. Thankfully, my wonderful cousins who love him as their own, helped us to discern that his behavior was likely related to severe pain, which the vet confirmed. The vet assured us that while the post-op pain would be present, that would heal up well quickly with the medicine. She remained impressed with how well he healed after the last surgery so all of that gave us hope.
We picked him up at about 7.30 last night. Poor baby is so swollen. His head looks like a bull terrier, which is fine, if you are a bull terrier. For a labby, however, not so nice! The vet said we can try to ice it. Yeah, that's not going so well!
He was pretty doped up last night so pretty much resembled a drunk puppy! But we had a very quiet night. He seeped blood and saliva, which is normal, but no crying or panting. I woke up at 4.45 and checked on him. I was able to give him pain meds then so he fell right back to sleep. He has been up this morning now and headed straight outside to bask in the sunshine! It's really hot though so we brought him in. He did show a great interest in eating so gobbled up two jars of baby food along with some boiled chicken and rice.
Today will be a little rough. We plan on having a quiet day at home, just keeping an eye on him, giving him pain meds every 6 hours, and just trying to keep him as comfortable as possible.
We remain hopeful that this will improve his quality of life 100%. The biopsy revealed that all of these issues were brought on by the steroid use. It's such a shame that the eye issue emerged in England as it led to the skin issues and the mouth issues. Fortunately, the eye is so much better and you can hardly even see the bump anymore. We are hopeful that as he heals, he will get that crazy spring back in his step and that we'll have many more years together.
It's never easy to see your pet in pain and struggling. It's not easy watching them recover from a procedure. But we are definitely not ready to bid this one to doggy heaven. We love this crazy pup and are happy that he'll be with us for a bit longer. 
So overwhelmed with joy with our fantastic vet, Dr. Judith Yee, and her clinic. What a Godsend in every possible way.