“She’s perfect,” said Juno’s Physical Torturer, Therapist, Mme. Gauthier. She noticed Juno’s walking gate was a perfect long, stress-free stride.

Juno rolls her eyes. “Sibes don’t come any other way lady.”

The Dansko’s are still alive. It’s day 182. I made it! I had a few close calls and Juno had a few masticatory substitutes.

My prize winning? Another pair of shoes of course. I have shown that I am worthy. So the moral is: Mr. Wild Dingo loses when I lose the bet. And Mr. Wild Dingo loses when I win the bet.  And Wild Dingo players always win. The two runner-ups probably ate all their Swiss chocolate by now.

Thanks for playing. And for all those who had no faith in me and bet on the Sibe: better luck next time suckhas!  But seriously, did you think I was going to make easy for her?  

In other news, Juno is down to 28.3 kg. She lost a total of  1.7 kg (3.7 lbs). She’s feeling fiesty. The other day, she jumped up on the bed without an invitation. She’s feeling pretty good to be able to do that and be naughty enough to ignore the “no dogs on furniture without an invitation” rule.  

“Daddy O, this photo shoot is lame.”

“I think it’s time we bust-a-move.”

Oh yeah, her body language meets all the cracker criteria. She ran circles around the yard like she had ants in her jodhpurs.   Juno’s inner-cracker is re-emerging. And that’s a great sign. 

Juno’s Physical Torture Therapy is going great. She’s had two water-treadmill sessions and already she’s up to 15 minutes on it. On her second visit, her therapist noted that her strides were longer, which is good. Apparently her hamstrings are too tight so after all daily exercises, I stretch them for her. She is also up to 50 minutes of bike-jogging with me. We started bike-jogging 3 weeks ago at 10 minutes. We go up to three times per week. She goes much slower than Loki but each time she gets a little faster.  I let her pace herself and she stops when she needs to.

We finally received the Walky Dog bike leashes, but I found biking one dog at a time is pretty easy to do unleashed so he or she can pace him/herself rather than me pacing and not really knowing when it’s time for a rest stop.  Yesterday, while bike-jogging Juno, I saw a horseback rider so I leashed her and rounded the corner. We walked by the rider without one cry or pull of her leash. Other than cats and rodants, I have no fear of her being aggressive to any other type of animal. Still, I’d prefer she’d ignore them so I was very pleased she was able to control herself.

Seperately, Juno and Loki are a piece of cake to handle on or off-leash around temptations. Together, they egg eachother on.  Juno typically will be the first to break obedience and Loki cannot stand to see her break so he breaks in order to herd or correct Juno. He finds out he can’t, so he returns to me. So for now, I’ll continue to bike-jog them separately off-leash. I also found a name of a trainer who will work the dogs next to horses thanks to my vet and hope I can carve out some time for this.

For those who’ve asked, that patch of fur she’s missing was from her MRI and lumbar tap last month. It’s interesting that we’ve gone through so many diagnostics only to come full circle back to the same conclusion we did last year: she needs lots of various exercises. All the long walking in the world wasn’t helping her. Since she’s been bike-jogging, she’s had so much more mobility, her “sit pretty” is very solid and she’s starting to sit more squarely. She’s also using her bed at night more often than the floor. When she’s in pain she prefers to be stretched out on the floor. Now she’ll curl up in her bed. Also curious, she uses her back legs and paws now to scratch her ears like a normal dog. She’s never really done that and quite frankly I noticed that after the gold beads and osteopath work. I believe the gold beads and osteopath help tremendously with pain but ultimately muscle build up in her legs is required for her to be stable and keep pain away.

Juno also lost some weight and she needs to lose more. I’m just thrilled she’s feeling good enough to get her cracker back on.

Unfortunately Mr. Wild Dingo rarely gets to see this side of her because Juno enjoys playing the sullen, aloof Siberian around him. So for Mr. Wild Dingo’s sake, here she is putting the smack down on Big Bad Boy:

“My name is Juno. Hear me ROAR!”

“Cupcake, don’t let your mouth start something your head can’t stand!”

“Welcome to the University of Siberian Smack-Down!”

“Where I shall school you in taking a beating.”

“That’s it Daddy-O, grab all the scruff , while you still can.”

“Don’t sweat it dollface. I have plenty of chompers in this here mouth.”

“Stud, if you’re big enough, you don’t need them …”

” … And if you need them, you’re not big enough to push me around.”

Sometimes in life your journey reaches a cross roads.

And if you’re lucky, you have the support of a good friend and family to help you understand the choices.

Or at least to help provide a pleasant distraction from the decision that is looms ahead.

Sometimes it’s important to ponder at the cross roads and consider the possibilities, explore the options and weigh the benefits of all the choices.

Knowing that some choices do not allow you to turn back.

Sometimes you have to just make the decision,  knowing you’ve thought long enough.

So you close your eyes, and charge, full steam ahead.

For those who remember last year, Juno was diagnosed with hip dysplasia at only two years old, during her mysterious illness that was never really fully diagnosed. If you’d like to read about it, you can here:

1. Breaking Points and Invalids  (features the award winning photo of Mr. Wild Dingo in a cone)
2. Boring
3. Eight Days Batting Zero
4. Puzzling Jodhpurs
5. Exposed!
6. Juno’s Jodhpurs
7. Saving Juno’s Jodhpurs (my personal favorite)

This past month, I took Juno into the vet for her hip pain. She’s been using acupuncture to manage the pain for the last year, she’s now three years old, and it’s worked magically for her. We chose acupuncture for a variety of reasons, but most importantly, we’re not entirely sure if Juno has autoimmune disease in which her body cannot tolerate non-steroidal anti-inflamatories, such as metacam or even rimydal. So acupuncture has been the choice of pain treatment for her.

When we went to this vet, he looked at her x-rays which I brought with me, just hoping to catch him up with her information and get my referral to another IVAS-certified acupuncture veterinarian. The look on his face was grave. Oddly, I don’t remember having the news told to me so gravely last year, but that could just be part of that Swiss culture of seriousness that I’m feeling.

He told me her hips were very severe and he seemed quite shocked that she could even move around as much as she does. He then informed me of our options, acupuncture being one  of them for pain management. But then he told me this:  of the three options for hip dysplasia surgery, total hip replacement was recommended earlier in dog’s lives rather than later as they recommend in the US, when the pain is no longer manageable. Up until now, we had decided that we would put off any surgery until her mid life because we were informed last year that THR (total hip replacement) was not necessarily something that lasted a long time, only for about 6 years. Here, in Switzerland, the common recommendation is (if budget is not an issue for the owner) to do it earlier because younger dogs tolerate the surgery and recover faster. Also their spine is in better working order to be able to accept the surgery and there are no other structural complications they are facing. So far the vet’s here have not heard of THR not lasting the lifetime of the dog.  This was such a different opinion than the orthopedic surgeons and the advice of our vets in the US, whom I still love and respect dearly. I can’t help but wonder if total hip replacement is so uncommonly done due to cost if there is enough real research done on how long it lasts as well as the recovery and other effects from it.

Admittedly, I have not done enough research yet. Anything I’ve googled has only explained the procedure and has mentioned it’s success rate (good) but nothing about the long term effects, cautions or problems that could arise, which I have absolutely no way of really knowing except from those who’ve done it. And I just don’t know anyone who’s done it.

In the mean time, we’ve gone forward with our acupuncturist vet, Dr. Marmier, who we were referred to in Saint Prex. She’s highly recommended and wonderful with Juno. She too was very grave when she gave her opinion about Juno’s x-rays.  Juno’s been to her twice now and has felt better with each acupuncture needle.  Dr. Marmier works with both the recommended orthopedic surgeon for THR in Lausanne, and Juno’s primary care vet who happens to have an underwater treadmill for PT. Did I mention her primary care vet is within a two-minute walking distance from our house.? And did I mention how much I really like him and how much they really like our raw diet? Ya, I seem to jive with the vets here. I like the way they work together. Basically her primary care vet Dr. Tieche (who’s office is 2-minutes from our house), Dr. Marmier (the holistic and acupuncturist) and Dr. Vingerhoats (the orthopedic surgeon) are a team with separate offices and specialties but work closely together. I was told Dr. Vingerhoats (what a nice dutch name, eh?) was one of the three who does THR and when a THR is actually done, all three vets do the actual surgery together. I’m not sure why other than it’s probably not a surgery often done and that it’s a learning experience for all three of them. The benefit to the pet is having three heads instead of one.

In any event, during our visits with Dr. Marmier, she told me Juno was  a great candidate for “gold beads.” Thinking back to Juno’s mardi-gras yahoos, I’m like, ya, “Juno loves her jewlery, but she’s more of a silver and platinum girl than gold.” But that’s not what she meant. The beads are a microscopic gold piece of metal, inserted surgically at the acupuncture points. They serve as a permanent, life-time anti-inflamatory to help deal with pain. If there’s no pain, the dog can use the joint properly (forward and back motion rather than a swinging of the hips and spine to move the legs) and build up muscle to help hold the hips in place. Since Juno reacts so nicely to acupuncture, she thought it would be worth a try in order to avoid surgery if possible. Dr. Marmier has had a lot of success with gold bead treatment for hip dysplasia and often does not need to see the dog for 10 years after it is done. At least that’s what she told me. Dr. Marmier is not against surgery, and in fact recommended it as an option for Juno. However she also cautioned that some dogs reject the prosthesis. That was the first time I ever heard that. I actually need to do a lot more reading on this subject and fairly soon. You see, if we want to do the surgery, the time would be now, while Juno is young, and can tolerate the surgery, anesthesia and while she still has little other damage to her body. As it is, there is some issues starting to develop in her low spine due to the improper movement of her legs and hips. Her vertebrae are getting looser and trying to fuse to stay in tact. I can also tell Juno has some issues with going to the bathroom now and then that has little to do with diet. Speaking of diet, this girl who once would eat anything that didn’t move (or moved  for that matter) is now becoming a bit pickier about her dinners sending me a signal that things aren’t normal.

For now we opted with the gold bead surgical inserts, which were injected on Wednesday. She had to be under anesthesia in order for them to be injected. While she was out, they took more x-rays of her spine and hips. As expected, her hips are worse now and her spine is starting to show some bridging in the last vertebrae to help it stay stable. We plan to give this a month to see if the pain subsides enough for her to be able to use her legs properly. I”m supposed to “trot” her starting at 5 minutes and build up to 15 or 20 per day. I’m not so sold on that being what will build up her muscle since I’ve been walking her daily from 1.5 – 3 hours. But then again, we don’t trot or jog.

So we have a month to see how things work out. After that, if she’s not moving better or if she’s still in pain, or shows compromise in her spine, we have to decide if we want to move forward with THR. And that’s not an easy decision. The cost is not an issue. For us, it’s the fear of making Juno’s life worse after wards. What if she rejects the prosthesis? Did we make the wrong decision and shorten her life? What if we DON’T do the surgery will that be the wrong decision which inevitably leads to a shortened lifespan due to other complications that will likely arise due to structural damage? The fear I have of NOT doing surgery are all the other things we will face from the complications of the severity of her dysplasia.  I already see a decline in her movements. Though I love to write stories about her “taking down the Big Boy” in wrestling matches, the truth is, Juno is so dainty and often shrinks away from Loki’s playful advances as if she’s afraid of getting hurt. Loki for the “MOST” part has been good. Occasionally he’s a butt head and will chase her to engage her when she’s in no mood, but for the most part, in order to play he ALWAYS handicaps himself and flips upside down in order for Juno to get a good hold of him. It makes me sad to see Juno unable to do what I’m pretty sure she’d love to do… run and tackle him or at least not shrink from his advances. I don’t fool myself into thinking she’ll ever be able to be quite as strong or normal as he is if we do have the surgery and it is successful. But I would hope it would restore enough movement in her to  do some of the things she loves. All that aside, doing the surgery would not be easy on Juno’s mental or emotional states, nor would it be on ours. We’d likely face a year of recovery, 6-months per hip as they are done separately. I would do that in heartbeat if I knew it had a very good success rate.

Right now, the three of us are still in the pondering of the options and we could use lots of input. If any of my readers out there has any opinion of THR, or any knowledge of it or experience with it, please leave it in the comments section. I’d love to find out more about it from experience mainly, not from Wikipedia or vets who are invested in performing the surgery. I’m willing to hear your opinions as well: good, bad or ugly. Feel free to tell me “are you crazy?” Right now, Mr. Wild Dingo and I need to hear it all.

In the mean time, here are some photos from our outpatient surgery of the surgical gold bead implants. I know, I know:  let the “surgical implants” jokes flow! Go for it. Make us laugh!

After the one-hour surgery, Dr. Marmier holds Juno while Mr. Big Bucks pays the bill.

“To think I liked Dr. Marmier before all this! Hmph!”

“Pop! Are you crazy? Don’t pay them! You should see what she did to my beautiful jodhpurs!”

Three incision points on her low back and 2 or 3 on each hip. No floof. It’s so wrong.

I have to admit, I liked Dr. Vingerhoats, though I barely spoke to him since Dr. Marmier was handling our case. AT this point, Dr. Vingerhoats is serving as our radiologist and possible surgical consult.  To give the shot for the anesthesia, they had us hold her (while muzzled because it’s painful) and stay with her while she goes to sleep! I’ve never done that with any of my dogs at any of our vets in the US. Here they say it’s better for the dog so she stays calm while she falls asleep.

“Finally heading home from that dog-awful place!”

“Are these LEATHER seats in Poppy’s car? Don’t you have to make a stop somewhere and leave me alone in the car for 5 minutes Mom? Tee-hee-hee.”

Loki was happy to see her when she got home. On Wednesday she didn’t eat at all. I just hope it was the effect of the anesthesia. On Thursday we had company she did eat a little but her belly let all our guests know she wasn’t feelin’ so well. A wide variety of unusual aromas surrounded her.  So we braved the cold and left the windows open while everyone ate dinner. Because dog-fobid (according to our gracious guests) that I should put the dogs in another room.

“Princepessa, I made a little room over here for you if you want it.”

“Maybe later Big Boy. I’m feelin’ like I need a little space.”

“Anything else I can do Princess?”
“How about getting me a tray of frommage and du pain… BEAUCOUP du pain, Big Boy. Comfort food is what I need right now.”

“Jodhpurs or no jodhpurs, you’re still my Princepessa.”
“Don’t you forget it, Studly.”

Tonight when Mr. Wild Dingo and I got home from our shopping, she was much more chipper. I bought boiled chicken for her as I was planning to just feed her simply for a while. But she seemed back to her usual “I’ll eat anything you got” self. And she was standing a lot more than usual. Who knows? Maybe the implants will work.

Rarely, do I ever catch Juno looking like or acting like a goofball, or worse, cracker. She’s much too sly for the camera to catch her looking less than perfect. But every now and then, I’m able to catch her behaving just as cracked out as Loki, who is pretty much cracker whenever he’s not sleeping. Because Juno’s muzzle is so much smaller than Loki’s, she has to pull her lips all the way back, exposing her gums in order to leverage good “bitey-face” action with Mr. Big Yapper himself, giving her the appearance of being extra cracker.  

First Juno warms up with a little flirting. She approaches the bad boy and moves her head side to side sweetly:

“Hey handsome, how about a little bitey action?”

“Sugar lips, you don’t have the equipment to take on bitey-face with me!”

Then she’s had enough and the crackerness begins:

“Hey Daddy-O, it’s git-down time.”

“Bring it on Cupcake!”

“Hold onto your chair and don’t step on no snakes, baby.”

Don’t let her big gum and fang shots fool you, she’s just kidding… I think.

“Hit the bricks buster! That territory is off limits.”

“Now you’re just cruisin’ for a bruisin’ Big Boy!”

“Awe…geez! You’re all over me like a cheap suit!”

“Ya? So, how do you like them apples?”

“I’m gonna open up a can of whoop-ass on your keister, Big Boy!”

“That’s right Big Fella. Who’s your Momma?”

“Cupcake, you’re so cute when you’re tough.”

“I’m so over it.”

“Ready to go again, studly?”

You see, I’d love to give Juno an anti-inflamatory like Rimadyl or Metacam, but I can’t. I can’t take the chance that what she had last November wasn’t an autoimmune response to that very type of drug. So the only thing I could give her was a narcotic. And if you’ve ever had been given narcotics to treat intense pain, you know narcotics don’t make it go away, they just make you not care about it. I was heartbroken not to be able to reduce her pain, but at least I could get her high enough to knock her out for the night.

Thank Dog for acupuncture!  Anytime Juno has soreness from her hip dysplasia, it reduces inflammation and helps get blood flow to the tight muscles. Sometimes Juno needs acupuncture a lot. Sometimes she doesn’t need it for a while. It depends completely on circumstance or if she has too much fun kicking Loki’s butt.

Today she went in for her needles and her right jodhpur had much soreness! Dogtor Hilary had to massage the area a long time before Juno allowed her to stick her with the needles.

The photos below are from a previous acupuncture appointment that she had for soreness in her shoulders from digging a hole half way to Siberia. Most of the needles are in her upper back for that reason. Although it seems like a dog would not enjoy this, Juno doesn’t mind at all, in fact, most of the time, she chills right out and takes a nice long nap while her needles go to work. Sometimes Loki’s with her settles right in and naps right next to her.

Needles are in, with the help of the bag of food-ables. Juno’s wagging tail tells me she’s pretty content. The first needle to go in, is always the yin channel, to get the doggie relaxed and ready to receive more needles.

Juno’s upper back was very tight a few weeks ago. I had picked up on this when I had taken her to Physical Therapy and she looked very unhappy to be there. Usually she loves going to PT. Really. We didn’t go to the appointment and instead went to acupuncture. A good move. When Dogtor Hilary examined her, she felt a great deal of tight muscles in her upper back. Dogtor Hilary guessed that she may have been digging. Who, Juno? Nahhh….

The gratuitous jodhpur shot. For her fans.

“This amber lighting works well with my naturally beautiful eyes, doesn’t it?”

After a while, it’s sweet dreams for June-Bug:
“Hunky malamutes feeding me an endless supply of giant juicy bones!”

When she’s fully cooked, Dogtor Hilary comes back to massage her and remove her needles.

“Awe…Doc, that’s the spot. Is it really time to go? I was just getting so comfortable!”

Afterwards, Juno sets her priorities straight. She jumped up on the counter to smell the flowers. Because we should all stop and smell the flowers, right? But then …

“These flowers are quite nice, but I wouldn’t mind a few more Zukes for the road. How about it Mom?”

That’s my girl. Siberian priorities always in the right order.

I had scheduled a visit with her infection specialist for a follow up and she included a consult with an ortho because they were concerned about her joints. But I couldn’t wait that long for the consult. So, instead, this week, I scheduled an x-ray of her hips, knees, ankles and low spine with my personal vet, Dogtor Hilary.  When we took her in, she was so sore they had to sedate her just to take her x-rays. Usually, Juno is very compliant when a doing any procedure and it was obvious to them she was too painful.  While she was out, Loki got some accupuncture (seriously, but that’s another post). The X-rays confirmed it. Juno’s beautiful jodhpurs were dysplastic.

It’s likely that the dysplasia is genetic. She is only 2 years old. At only 12 months of age (before she was mine) she did a weekend of running and pulling an ATV on a sled team of huskies. That type of exercise with hips pre-disposed to this would have likely made it quite worse since her bones were not finished growing. In addition, we have been doing agility with her which is not good for her either.

Her knee joints look relatively good, but there was still some mild inflamation in them, indicating who knows what. I doubt we’ll ever really have a confirmed diagnosis of bacterial infection or autoimmune arthritis, since they’re both quite similar in symptoms—her response to antibiotics could have been entirely coincidental.  We go to visit her hospital infection specialist and the orthopedic surgeon on Tuesday. I’m glad I already ran the x-rays so we’re ahead of the game in terms of timing. The sooner we know stuff the better. It’s likely this will be a maintenance issue. Our regular vet, Dogtor Hilary, said they’ll probably recommend what she’ll want to do, which are cosequin injections, glucosomine and some other supplements to help keep the cushioning in the socket and hopefully help the head of the femurs remain round as they are now instead of grinding down to flat. But she definitely wanted a consult with an ortho before proceeding with any program for her.

 Juno Belle shows us that hip dysplasia doesn’t make jodhpurs any less sexy!

Exercise will be encouraged but rough playing will be kept to a minimum. Sorry Loki. Biting Juno’s scruff will have to be at her descretion. Then again, it always has been! No changes there.

Likely they will recommend low impact exercise to build up hip muscles, and, get ready: swimming! Ever since I saw Honey the Great Dane swim, I’ve wanted to do it with my dogs too. Now’s a great opportunity. Juno will likely hate it at first, but I’m very confident I can get her to like it. She’s become the type of dog that really wants to work and “do” stuff. It’s likely I’ll need hot dogs and tri-tip the first few times but I’m pretty sure eventually enjoy it. I’ve seen evidence of some huskies who like to swim!

The worst part is I’ll have to change my training tools from skillets and rolling pins to a wet noodle. One must always modify training tools for the disabled.

“What’s that you said about swimming? You’d better make sure my gumdrop nose does not get wet or it will melt!”

This photo is for The Thundering Herd. Go ahead. Say something. I dare you.

“Where you talking about moi and my fur alterations?”

“Talk to the Jodhpurs, Herd.”

“It’s Monday? What’s a Monday? Is it a free treat?”

“It’s not a free treat? If I close my eyes real tight, can I make Monday go away?”

“Talk to the Jodhpurs, Monday, ‘cuz this sibe’s not listenin’. “

“Wake me up when it’s Friday.” 

PUPDATE: This morning Juno wouldn’t let me take her temperature. I guess things are improving. Though she gave me a scare last night with some panting, she drank some ice water and went to bed. When I did get around to testing her temperature today, it was 100.3, down from yesterday’s 101.5 and 101.2. Day before that was 102.1 and 101.9. So it seems to be dropping. Yesterday, though she could barely walk, she was confident enough to steal Loki’s tug. And she doesn’t like tugs. Just to remind him who’s boss. She’s full of piss-n-vinegar though and chased Loki until she wiped out because she’s not strong enough. Gosh, if the doc found out I accidentally let her run, I’d be reported or she’d be pup-napped. I can tell she’s getting stronger but she’s still very weak in the legs. I remember she walked like that a lot, long before she got ill, and I have to wonder if she was pre-disposed to weakness in this area or if it really can still be autoimmune arthritis, which really would strike when the dog gets ill in the first place.  Blood and joint cultures are still negative on bacterial growth but we still have until Sunday before we confirm a final result. Why she’s responding to antibiotics without finding the infection is scary and curious.

 Well, look who the cat dragged into the kitchen! We haven’t seen a husky in the kitchen whilst preparing dinner in far too long!

I approach and her propeller winds up. “Hi mom! I’m so happy to see you!”

“Must concentrate on propeller motor speed.”

“OK, propeller is up to speed. You may approach me with that tri-tip now.”

 Loki plays indifferent but he’s secretly happy to have his partner in crime back!

Jodhpurs has entered the building.

Juno’s home! When she came into the private room at the hospital yesterday, she acted almost normal. She jumped on me, licked me at least 87 times and play bowed about 16 times. She cried happy cries. She knew she was coming home. Nurses at VMS continue to rave on about her wonderful behavior, sweet disposition and happy personality. Nurses I never met, came into the room to say good bye. They all know Juno. It’s a good thing I was picking her up. I get the feeling she was on the verge of being pup-napped.

She’s not out of the woods yet. Her temp is holding normal and when she left the hospital it was 101.9. She’s on Clindamycin and Baytril for antibiotics and Tramadol (narcotic) for pain. They’re still reluctant to give steroids because it’s seeming to show bacterial but we still don’t have cultures back.

The spinal tap showed negative on “growth” cultures, so no bacteria in her spine or head (though she thinks we should test Loki’s head to see if we find anything in it at all). We’re still waiting on blood cultures and cultures from the second round of joint taps done on Sunday on her right back knee, which will take about 7 days. They tapped her left knee but it wasn’t nearly as bad so they won’t culture it.  The doctor is truly hoping to see something grow in them because then we can name it and really knock this out. She’s leaning away from it being autoimmune arthritis (thank dogs) because it doesn’t act like this. She also x-rayed her back legs and they did not show degenerative arthritis (praise cheeses).  So we’re hunting for the name of the bacterial infection. How she got this septic infection, we’ll never know. Septic arthritis is usually from an open infected wound, which she did not have.

Though Juno’s temperature responded within a day to the clindamycin, an antimicrobial. The infection and inflamation in her joints showed up on Saturday & Sunday, three days after hospitalization, after being on the antibiotic and after her first joint tap. The doctor informed me that it can take a while for antibiotics to reach the joint.

Her temp leaving the hospital was 101.9 and holding. She seemed to walk better, but now that’s she’s home, she’s in a lot of pain and limping a lot. Her appetitie is great. She ate an entire chicken (meat only) and later on some tri-tip.  I’ll be taking her temperature twice daily and in contact with the doctor. Let’s hope we find out what bacteria this is so we can really nail it!

Loki’s happy to have her home, and acting like a gentleman. He’s not being overly pushy or needy and seems to know to behave around her. 

“I’m in the hospital for 5 whole days and HOW many times did you come? Only twice. And did you bring me any flowers or bones? No. You’ve got a lot of ‘splainin’ to do, buddy!”
“But… I don’t drive… and besides, Mom’s mini was in the shop. By the way did you know she dropped her cell-phone in the toilet while you were gone? That’s pretty funny, huh? You had to be there I guess.”

“Ah cupcake, I miss your smell so much, i just need to bury my nose here for just a second…”

“Wow, they sure did a major makeover to your coat. Is this patchwork shaving the new Northern Breed Living in CA trend?”
“Watch it buster. You’re walkin’ on thin ice. And since  you’re not a husky, you wouldn’t know the first thing about surviving on thin ice.”

“Let me just check to see if your jodhpurs are sill in place. It’s very disturbing that they can just give you this make over so quickly.”

“Yup, jodhpurs were spared. Thank dog!”

 ”I swear! I tried to visit you every day! But Mom wouldn’t let me!”
“Don’t you jive talk me Formosan boy. I know a line when I hear it.”

Patchwork Juno doesn’t look too pleased. She feels a bit like a hobo.

“Oh my dog! I’m so happy the jodhpurs were not taken!”

Though her temperature is still down, Juno does a lot of this above. While it may appear normal, believe me, it takes a mack truck to get her up because the  pain is still quite bad in her back legs. 

Juno Belle Jodhpurs remains an unsolved mystery and a puzzle for every Vet on her case. I just hope we can find the bacteria so we can get her better faster and possibly give her anti-inflamatory, rather than a narcotic, so she can walk without pain soon.

"My biggest medical problem seems to be the human attached to my left side. Doctors, please remove this human tumor and send me home."

Mr. Wild Dingo, Loki and I visited Juno Belle Jodhpurs on Saturday. Her temperature was down to 101-102-ish and she seemed alert.  I showed up first and took her for a walk and then Mr. Wild Dingo showed up. She actually wagged at him, as if she liked him or something. I left Loki in the car and we got to spend some quality time with her alone before we invited the beast in to see her. Loki cried the entire time while Juno, the strong little warrior she is, looked at him pathetically and said “Quit your whining wussy boy. You’re not the one in agony, hooked up to tubes and shaved like some patchwork quilt.”  She ate about 47 lamb jerkeys and a little boiled chicken.

The double whammy of two broad spectrum antibiotics seemed to be working as her temperature was down. Her joint fluids from the tap results showed mild, but non-remarkable inflamation. There they go again, dosing out those negative adjectives describing my remarkable Sibe. Silly doctors!  Her spinal tap results weren’t in yet but the doctor offered us to visit with her on Sunday.

Pop, don't even THINK about making me work for that treat!

Today, I got up bright and early, stuffed a kong full of treats and headed over. I got to take her out of her kennel and on a walk, where she practically pulled me onto the highway, claiming that she could go the speed limit with no problems.

The doctor told me that she noticed earlier a huge limp in her back right leg. I also noticed that when she got sick, she couldn’t really lay on her right side without panting. The Wednesday night before she went to VMS, she was panting non-stop and laying on her right side. I physically picked her up and scooted her to the left and she went to sleep peacefully. Today during her visit, she got on the sofa and I noticed she laid on her right side and within 15 minutes she was panting heavily. I snuggled with her a long time and  when we got up, she put no weight on the back right leg. The doctor said she would tap that leg for fluid today and check. She said it felt inflamed.

So far we know that with the double dose of antibiotics and fluids her temperature has come down. Her other taps (joint and spinal) show mild inflammation but nothing significant. Now she’s showing a huge limp in the back leg. It all makes me wonder if she had a virus, turned infection, that also made her body respond with auto-immune in the joints. Auto-immune disease is hard to diagnose because it shows up when you get sick (after the immune system kicks in and then it attacks the good cells in the body) and there’s no real pattern. We’ll know more tomorrow when we tap that back right leg and I speak with both doctors. For now, Juno Jodhpurs continues to be an unsolved mystery. But at least she’s resting comfortably and in good hands.

Oh heavens. The gumdrop nose is turning pink. The dogtor thinks this is a sign of something is up.

“Mom, they are taking my coat apart, piece by piece. Do not let them near my jodhpurs or my gumdrop nose.”

“Finally, something other than hospital food! Though you can’t be serious and make me actually work for it, right?”

This shot is for Khyra. Power of the Floof!

“I’m withering away here. I’m already down 54 lbs. There’s not much more of my beauty I can lose here. Bring me the bloody mary tri-tip!”

Puparazzi Headlines read: “Juno Belle Jodhpurs Caught with her Tongue Down”

Juno’s not actively licking here. She fell asleep with her tongue out and resting on her paw. And now its on the Internet. Oh the shame!