Lady Luck

It seems Lady Luck is on Nico's side and his foot isn't broken, not even fractured. He did need stitches in his toe to close up a large gash. $250 later, he has another pretty scar.

We're home

The wedding in CA was very nice. It was a very short stay for us after a very long drive, but it was worth it. Jake was able to see all of his college buddies. It was a lot of fun.

We come home to news that Nico had his foot stepped on by Reno. I guess Reno ran out of his stall and Nico wanted to head him off and they seem to have met in the middle and Nico's foot was squished. I just took him to the vet today where they will x-ray it and maybe stitch up a pretty deep cut that is between his toes. I'll let you know how it goes. I've included some pictures of horse's feet so you can see how much damage they can cause. I've been stepped on... it hurts.

Trauma

Today was Nico's second vet appointment. He had to have an ultrasound of his tummy and good news... HE'S NOT PREGNANT!! It also showed that he has no mass hanging around his spleen but his spleen is enlarged... a lot. His pancreas is also very inflammed and irritated. Both of these indicate that he has had "trauma" to the area. This also means that "Mr. Mahookie-Butthead Nico" probably was chasing the horses and was KICKED... again!! Big surprise huh? Well overall, it's good news and bad. He's going to be fine but she also saw in an x-ray that he has an enlarged heart. 75-80% of large dogs get this condition called Cardiomyopathy. Ultimately his heart muscles will become thick and it will be hard for his heart to pump. He isn't showing any signs of it yet, other than the x-ray. It will be awhile for it to really bother him and we know the signs to look for. So pretty much Nico is a healthy boy for now!

We did take the opportunity to take some pictures of him while he was sedated (snoring quite loud mind you) and having the ultrasound. Enjoy!

HEY!!... Did you know you can click on these pictures and they get huge? I didn't! Nico is even funnier HUGE!

Mass

The past few days, Nico has seemed like he was a little sore in his left hip. He would whine as he stood up, or cry as we petted his hips. Fearing hip dysplacia, we took him to the vet. As they were poking around, he just about jumped through the roof as they poked at his belly. We decided to do x-rays of his abdomen and hips. When we picked him up later that day, they showed us the x-rays. They pointed out his liver, spleen, stomach, bladder, colon, kidneys, and a large tennis ball sized mass they couldn't identify. They say it may be cancer, a hematoma, tumor, or even something else, they just don't know. Another view showed that his spleen and colon, which are supposed to run down the center are pushed to either side of his body. Nico will have to go back on Tuesday afternoon for an ultrasound so they can pinpoint what it may be a little more accurately. Now, about his hip x-rays... his hips aren't too bad-- They aren't great, just not too bad. He probably will have hip dysplacia at some point. Also, they think his miniscus in his knee is slightly torn. It's not so bad to need surgery for it but it is kinda torn. Also, he already has arthritis in his knees as well. Poor guy. We'll keep you posted. (I used a lot of big words that I can't spell, so forgive me.)

Poor Nico

Well, it has been a long time coming but Nico finally got kicked by Miss Soda Pop. He ran up behind her and tried to bite her on the back of her leg and she really let him have it. I originally thought she dislocated his shoulder just by the way he was holding it back and not putting weight on it at all. Thank goodness, I was wrong. She did slice his shoulder up pretty good though. It was about 2 inches long and about 3/4 of an inch was completly through the layers of skin down to the muscle. We cleaned it up and waited overnight to see how it would react. The next day, we decided he needed stitches and took him to the vet. Sure enough, he had to get 4 staples. They had to knock him out to do it so his recovery was pretty long. He was practically falling off the seat in the car on the ride home and he slept for hours once we were home. Well, this was definetly not something that made us laugh that day, however, it could have been SO MUCH WORSE! Thank goodness it was just a cut and not a broken leg, or worse. Poor Nico )-: