I wish to thank those that stayed late with me on Saturday at KAH to review BHRR’s Apollo’s X-Rays. The diagnosis for Apollo ranged from possible Pano, HOD to the eventual possible diagnosis of a partial tear of his meniscus. Per the Vet, the recommendation was to refer his case to one of the top ortho specialists in Ontario, Dr. Denis Philibert, DVM to see what his expert opinion might be. It is thought that perhaps if it is a partial meniscus tear, that Dr. Philibert might be able to do arthroscopic knee surgery for Apollo. In discussions with the Vet on Saturday; my worry was confirmed that though we can continue to try and use rest/Deramaxx over the next 2 weeks or so for Apollo, the great risk is having this tear(if that is what it truly is) affect his ACL. 😥 I do not desire to see this deteroriate to the point that his ACL is also affected. Before BHRR begins to fundraiser in earnest for Apollo, we are going to see what Dr. Philibert has to advise on his case. I also called to discuss his case with Dr. Liston of LAH and he also recommended that Dr. Philibert could do possible arthroscopic knee surgery if it felt to be necessary. The wonderful news is that Apollo’s hips are GREAT and there is not any arthritis, bone spurs or calcification in either one of his knees!!!! His Vet Bills to date are close to $1,000 and any assistance would be so appreciative. Until we hear back from Dr. Philibert, we are going to keep him on the Deramaxx 100mg and rest. I have added new pictures to his slideshow from May 20th, 2010 – # 11 – 15 and have put two below. PLEASE consider helping BHRR’s Apollo. He shall not be placed up for adoption until such time as we better determine his diagnosis and best treatment plan/prognosis. I also forgot mention the ‘happy’ tail this boy had at KAH! It is amazing he did not split open that tail as he banged and knocked it on things in his sheer joy of being loved on by everyone. THERE is something to be said about living in such an open concept home!!!! As I am trying to type this blog, he is determined that I must be petting him instead as he shoves his cold wet nose under my arm and into my side! SUCH a loving boy! I keep trying to tell him that I need to have just a bit of time so I can update his blog to get his story out there for people to fall in love with him as we have at BHRR and that maybe they will perhaps then consider helping him with his bills. That did not seem to work, so I gave him a big bowl full of water to snorkel in and he much preferred that and is happily making a mess now! LOL I am not looking to the him wanting to share the ‘aftermath’ of that with me though! 😛

BHRR’s Apollo – 21 months- May 29th & Apollo with BHRR’s Ava Marie(2 years) giving him a kiss for she understands his pain….

I have brought BHRR’s Apollo in with me today to have his hind end, especially his left side/knee looked at. As of last night, he was even more stiff on that side and after standing for a period of time, would lift his toes up off the ground. This has been a gradual and slow decline since his arrival on May 17th until Thursday night whereby, he really seemed to become much worse so much faster. His weight was a ribby 63.5 KGs (139.7 pounds). I would like to see another 10-15 pounds of weight/muscle on this boy at this age. We sedated him(cocktail of Dormitor/Torb) to do X-Rays of his hip, stifle, knee and hock after the Vet did an exam on him. When he was under the Vet examined both legs again and the suspicion is that he might have HOD, OCD or a partial ACL tear. He definitely was showing some signs of pain/discomfort upon deep manipulation of that left knee. HE was so good for me while I held him. I keep reviewing the time that has passed since he arrived to BHRR and as explained to the Vet, he is past the settling in time with being quiet etc. and that I began to become more than somewhat concerned when he was continuing to be a bit slow on getting up and down and how things have progressed. I had put him on Deramaxx 100 mg (1.5 – 2 tabs SID) without any significant improvement and said that I just was not going to wait any longer as of Thursday night when things became really noticeable. I felt the waiting/monitoring period was more than over and time to get him in. The Vet assured me that it was a good protocol on the monitoring and Deramaxx and then making the decision when I did to bring him in. Once we have time to review the digital X-Rays, we shall have a better idea. While he was in la la land, his nails were done and he just LOVED everyone and everyone has loved him!!! What a ham. What has caused the most giggles is people seeing him drink from one of our sinks at the Hospital! On the drive into the hospital, he was so snuggly. He just nestled his head into my rib cage and blew warm air all over me as I drove! LOL I will update his blog as I can.

I will be making an appointment to bring BHRR’s Apollo in to see one of my trusted Vets. When he arrived to BHRR, Sean and I noted that he appeared to be a bit stiff/slow with his hind end – pretty  much the left knee side – when attempting to stand and took his time getting up yet within the last day or so; he has really had a much harder time getting up even from laying on a thick dog bed. He is not whimpering, crying, has no noticeable swelling, heat, has not been hurt here etc. yet I am not comfortable with how much ‘harder’ Apollo seems to find getting on his feet. It is not normal for a dog this young to act this way and I have given this 10 days of observation and that is more than enough time. I also have not liked how hard it has been to put weight on him since his arrival. He has put on about 7-10 pounds max and while that is not bad by any means in the time he has been here; he just does not seem to be loving to eat. His HWT came back negative yet I might run a full CBC on him to be sure that we are not looking at anything else yet it could be the discomfort of that side/knee that is bothering him. In respect to his microchip, as oft can happen, ones gut feeling on how hard something might turn out to be; can come true. After much effort on our part and plenty of legal documentation sent to the Microchip Company, we finally have the microchip transferred to BHRR. I shall be confirming this to be the actual case(did receive an email confirmation) within the next day or so. I am also going to place a call to a much higher up authority within this microchip company as some of their ‘processes’ regarding a situation like this leaves me quite concerned(and I expressed this concern) of which seemed to be a bit lost on the one Supervisor that I was escalated to in seeking successful resolution with this microchip. The one representative at the microchip company that I had conversed with before this Supervisor was AMAZING and thank you for your time in trying to assist BHRR. We had moved to this microchip company at BHRR a few years back ourselves yet this experience truly has made me think that I might need to re-visit this with my BOD. In the past three years, BHRR has over 250 microchips bought and used through them(the BHRR animals, our own plus 200 bought for three Microchip Clinics Fundraisers held or being held at KAH. What I have done in the meantime, is re-vamp our O/S form somewhat to be even more explicit on the ownership of any microchipped dog including that we shall not take physical control of any dog moving forward without all documentation and proof given to us at the time of surrender. We were not told until I was there to pick up Apollo that he had a microchip(owner said they had trouble sending the forms for our review yet would have them for me when I picked him up) nor that this microchip was not under their current name until I asked upon my arrival at their home to get Apollo. I had explained the situation at the time of surrender about the possible difficulties over this microchip and when I did a gentle follow-up with them about a week+ later as I had not heard back and I am so thankful for his previous owners assistance in contacting his previous owner and having their email still on hand. THANK YOU so much!!!! I had seen over the past few years quite a few posts on various Rescue forums about the complexities other legitimate and registered organizations have had in microchip matters yet this was our first time and I hope to make it the last.

Last Thursday, I brought in blood to do a HWT on Apollo. As I had not heard back, I did called KAH today and it was negative. I also followed up with his previous owner in regards to his microchip for I had also not heard back. I was then cc’d onto an email with the person that this home purchased him from. It appears he was microchipped in Barrhaven. From the sounds of things, he has moved around a bit as I picked him up from my area; I was told this home bought him from the Smith Falls area who had been living in the Nepean area and was originally purchased from a Breeder in the Montreal area and his microchip was done at an animal hospital in Barrhaven(Ottawa Area). I often wish animals could speak to tell us their story. Once I have the microchip properly handled; after some more evaluation time, BHRR’s Apollo can be placed up for adoption. He is one BIG sweet ol’ GOOBER! AND he really really really loves the fenced in area. He will spend hours just laying or strolling a bit in the area enjoying himself. He is an interesting mix for he loves his play time while laying down yet he can also be a bit of a ‘loner’ and spends his share of quality time by himself just watching those pretty clouds float on by. He truly is one mellow, calm and fairly confident boy. I would like to see him eat better and more for he is still thin. With a death in the family last week plus Ava Marie’s surgery; I did not get the opportunity to do his nails as of yet to see how he handles things and that is on this weeks agenda. I have had no issues with him sharing or grumping in his crate any longer. He is quite mindful of the rules here. High value items continue to be given to him as it is with many of the dogs here; in his crate and he cannot get enough of the soccer balls here! LOL I say ‘bring me your toy’ and he will get one of the soccer balls and bring it back to me to play!!!! I can handle his food without any issues as can Sean and he takes treats quite gently. Right now, he is flaked out in the sunroom with PPSS, Potterman and BHRR’s Albert. He is still not overly fond of my two bluez show boyz and we are working on that. I do not expect all dogs to like all other dogs yet I do expect a certain level of appropriate behavour to be displayed in my home/at BHRR and we are getting there. He is not overtly aggressive towards them and that is really positive. As mentioned previously, he was recently neutered himself and it will be some time before his own hormones are at an ‘altered’ state. I know that I would like to see him in a home with at least one other dog; female preferred yet a neutered male would be ok. He is living in absolute harmony here in our home with 19 other dogs. He has loved every human to date that he has met and even has shown no prey or play drive to the two guinea pigs my son owns.  His new home shall need to be sure that he continues to know that ‘sharing’ is good and that he should ‘wait’ his turn if another dog is drinking etc. We shall continue to expect him to share water bowls, dog beds etc. here. He also has had no more issues with resourcing over myself. He knows he shall get a piece of the ‘Gwennie’ just like all the others and he is most content in knowing that he is not going to be left out! SMART boy! He also knows he has ‘size’ and he likes to try and use it sometimes, the big lug with those ‘body’ bumps and leans!