Cooper is a completely different dog than he was a week ago. He is acting just like a puppy should. He wakes us up every morning barking in his crate. Sometimes he is barking because he wants out, and sometimes he's just playing with his toys in his crate. When we let him out, he bounces through the living room while wagging his tail. He is able to go up and down the 6 stairs leading from the deck to the yard. He is playing with the animals, toys, and our hands. We have to be careful he doesn't learn to bite us, because he has some sharp puppy teeth. He also loves cuddling with us. If we are in the floor he loves lying down against us. Mason pulled him onto the couch and let him sleep against his belly the other night. This morning I woke up to Cooper sleeping between us on the bed! Mason is a such a sucker for whining puppies!
Cooper's hair is growing back and he is growing cuter by the day. I put a bunch of pictures from the past few days at the bottom of the post. He still has bumpy skin, but no more flakes. We think he is just about ready to find his forever home. But then we hit a speed bump...
Cooper's limping got really bad on Wednesday. I called Thursday morning and made an appointment for this morning. Of course, Cooper decided to stop limping just in time for his appointment. We were the crazy clients with a healthy puppy. Dr. Nemetz knows we wouldn't make something like that up, and he gave a thorough exam. There are a few possibilities for what could be going on.
First, it could be a soft tissue injury. This seems likely since he limped for a short time and then stopped. Also, it coincides with his increase in activity. He is now climbing stairs and jumping around a lot, so a sprain would be likely. Also, his joints could be weak because he doesn't have much muscle mass to support them.
Another possibility is metabolic bone disease. The biggest example is Rickets. This condition is usually caused by nutritional deficiencies and is the reason why vitamin D is put in our milk. It is commonly seen in puppies that are being fed adult dog diets. Cooper is on a good diet that is approved for all growth stages. He was extremely malnourished for the beginning of his life, and he may be having trouble recovering still. We were told to monitor the leg. If it keep re-occurring, it is more likely to be a growing metabolic issue. He is already on a good diet, so we might not be able to do anything but hope he grows out of it. If the issue continues to worsen, we will take him back to the vet for radiographs.
This all sounded fine and dandy, and we were glad Cooper was no longer limping. Until dinner time. His front left wrist jutted out again, and he was limping. Within a few minutes, his front right leg was bowing out too. Not good news. I took a video of him walking. We have noticed that his leg issues get more noticeable near the end of the day when he is tired from jumping around a lot. We are hoping that he just doesn't have enough muscles to meet his activity level. After taking a nap, the legs seem to improve. We will monitor those wobbly legs closely over the next week.
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