Clean Bill Of Health! (sorta)

Well, ready to finally update! On Monday, Tractor got to meet a new Chiropractor - who we both absolutely LOVE. He did a very thorough adjustment on Tractor - and we could both see a HUGE improvement in his attitude and movement immediately after. I had him take a look at his injury and he said he thought it was either a tendon or a muscle, neither of which he could help us with.

So.. we scheduled an appt with our regular vet, who we also love. We went there today - and she did a very basic exam/look over, and because he was tensing up while we were trying to feel around, I left him there for a couple hours. She put him on a mild sedative, just enough to relax his muscles and let her really feel around and get a good, in depth exam in. Since he was sedated, we also did X-rays on his hips and knees to be sure everything looked okay.

She called me back about an hour later and told me that absolutely everything checked out perfect. His hips/knees looked picture perfect, that she couldn't feel any fluid at all in his joints, no popping/clicking of any sorts - no tears or partial tears, nothing. She said he looked/felt just fine.

To be safe, we are still keeping him on rest for the next month or two - probably until after the holidays. His group class just started - so we'll sit this round out and probably start up at the next sign up. He is not on crate rest or anything crazy, but I just need to keep him rested and not a pyscho crazy dog - so he doesn't reinjure himself. It really saddens me that we won't be able to do the two AKC trials coming here this fall - but I'd rather him rest up and take these next couple months off - and not have his career come to a stop because he re injures himself.

The "sorta" comes from the fact that two days ago, his eye started gunking up - I didn't know if it was allergies or what, but knew we had this appt, so we had her look at it - and yep, he's got conjunctivitis. Also, remember that horrible ear infection he had back from Rockford? Yep, still there. His poor ear drum is starting to scar and there was an ulcer on it from him scratching at it - so he got a good cleanse and is on antibiotics for both that and his eye.

Thanks to everyone for the good thoughts for Bitty - seems like all will be okay, he just needs some time for him (and his body!) to recoup from the very vigorous season he has just had.

Next up is a promotion at a local convention - for the Raw lady that sponsors us. Luckily, that's not involving any physical activity, so he will get to go show off for that. :-)

Here's a picture from the other night - how he'll be spending the "off season". hehe