It has been forever since my last update!

Sooo much has happened since I wrote at the beginning of the summer. I'm now over half way through my first semester of my second year of vet school. Riley is about 9 months old and just had major surgery. Unfortunately, he had to have a bilateral ulnar osteotomy. Basically, his growth plates in his ulnas closed before the ones in his radii. So they went in, cut both his ulnas in half, and drove a pin through the two pieces leaving a space in there to allow the bone to elongate. That was 3 weeks ago, so he has another 5 weeks of restricted activity before a recheck and x-rays to make sure his legs are healing correctly. Thank goodness for my student discount! Without it I would have been looking at a $2500.00 bill.They shaved both of his front legs, around the front of his chest and left a 3 inch wide strip down his back over the top of his shoulder blades. I swore I would never do it, but I broke down and bought him a sweater to wear when we go outside since it is starting to get cold here in Michigan. At least its a Michigan State sweater, I figure that is less offensive than a foo-foo thing you might see on a toy dog.

As far as the summer was concerned, it went great! I LOVED my internship at Pfizer and I've already lined up a position for next summer. I can't wait to go back. Other summer happenings included finishing our puppy class at PetSmart and Riley meeting sheep and cattle. I tried to find a herding class in my area, but didn't come upon any. Our plan is to start agility next year after his legs are good and healed.

I guess thats all I can come up with for now. :)

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Comment by Cindi on November 9, 2008 at 5:27am: Glad to hear you were able to get surgery for Riley. That's one of the things we wish we had with Tank. His front legs are bowed. It hasn't slowed him down any, but still... At the time it would have cost about $2500 per leg and we just didn't have it. So, Tank is a little wonky in the legs but none the worse for wear.

I'm glad you enjoyed you internship. And to be into your second year at vet school! That would be such a dream. I have a feeling with how sweet you are with Riley, you're going to be an awesome vet!

Comment by Kimberly Ann on November 8, 2008 at 9:32am: I wish your little Riley luck in his recovery. I've also thinking about agility for my Riley next spring/summer, but there's not much in the way of organized events in South Dakota. And I love the sweater idea for the winter. Hope he's out bounding throw snow drifts soon.

Comment by Lindsay on November 7, 2008 at 9:35pm: He was lame from time to time on his right front leg, so I thought he had elbow dysplasia. I took him in for x-rays and they found the premature physis closure.