After Keith and I were married and settled in after the big move to New Mexico from Virginia we decided our family wasn't complete without a puppy to love. After weeks of searching for the perfect match for us we found a sweet little boy at a local shelter. One look at the little while fur-ball and we were sold. We brought him home that day and named him "Rocky" which has turned out to be very fitting. Rocky has been a part of our family for about 10 months now- and we sure have been through a lot with the little fellow. Here are some pictures of him as a puppy!
Is he not the sweetest little ball of white fur, ever?!
This picture is from the first week he had him, and this face has become a very typical, "Rocky" face!
He has been such a sweet addition to our lives!
Rocky is a ball of energy and has been a lot of entertainment for Keith and I. With all the fun we've had with him, we've also had some scary times as well. In December we took Rocky to a Vet Dentist (disclaimer: we are not "crazy animal people" who go psycho over our pets... but Rocky's teeth were really messed up, and at only a few months old, we wanted to find out what was wrong with him. Maybe it's because I'm a nurse, or because he's just so darn cute, but we had to do something.) Anyways, while meeting with the dentist they did some blood work and found some very interesting results. Since I had to work, Keith was the one who took him to his appointment and when I got a call from Keith, I knew something was wrong considering he never calls me at work! (I'm usually too busy to chat!) Keith told me they rushed Rocky back to the examination room and that his blood work showed a very high potassium level (6.5!) and very low sodium level (118). I knew this had nothing to do with his teeth and that something else must be going on. They started Rocky on some fluids and ran some more tests including an ACTH stimulation test- to test his adrenal function. After a night in the doggy ER, the doctor came back with the results and they confirmed my thoughts: Rocky has Addison's Disease! It's a type of disease in which his adrenal glands don't function properly. With Addison's Disease the adrenal glands don't secrete proper amounts of cortisol or aldosterone. Cortisol is important in the regulation three main things in the body; stress on and in the body, converting food into energy, and in helping with the immune system's inflammatory response (to both stress and injury). Aldosterone is a very import hormone in that it helps the kidney's regulate the body's blood pressure and maintain adequte levels of sodium and potassium. (Sorry for the medical jargon) Basically, Rocky's body wasn't able to do these functions on his own. Luckily there is a simple fix for this disease: 2 pills to take every morning to replace the missing hormones. As long as Rocky has these every day he is a normal, active, happy pup!
Now, Rocky is 10 months old and such a fun puppy! He is quite the momma's boy, and has always been so:
At just a few months old he learned how to climb over the gate we used to keep him in a small room and just a few weeks ago he learned how to both push and pull open doors. Troublemaker! If I ever figure out how to upload videos on here I will share! Until then, I promise to try to keep up with updating the blog on a more regular basis! I'll leave you with a very funny picture showing what happens when you take away Rocky's favorite toy; his peanut butter filled Kong!
Mom, NOOO!
No comments:
Post a Comment