Sadie Fits In A Walk Between Storms

Once Sadie saw sunshine outside she thought she had a chance but we needed to go outside and take a few steps into the field just to see how wet the ground was. It looked and felt dry enough, although wet, that we could get a walk in today.

By the time I walked inside to grab the camera and came back outside, Stella was already starting the walk and was out in the middle of the field before the first turn, ready to go.

It was an afternoon of exploration. No trotting, no running and no jogging from either hound, including me. I have felt the field being wetter in the early morning dew last week than it was now. Hard to believe it had rained the the last 20 hours off and on. Yet it is nice and hot this afternoon.

Sadie was thrilled we were outside. It doesn't take much for her to get cabin fever when she cannot get outside a hundred different times a day. At least it seems that many from my doorman experience.

Stella's ischium is back to being the same size as her right one. I have to think that swelling over the weekend through Wednesday, had to be rabies shot related. She enjoyed her back rub with the rubber hound mitt that collected a small amount of shedding hair.

Not nearly all but along the edges of the field where the hounds walk, the grass seems to be getting taller by the hour. It will not be long before I'll have hard time seeing the hounds while they walk with their noses to the ground.

After hanging out left of us for most of the walk I was a little surprised that Stella slowly walked in Sadie's direction near the far right corner. I didn't have to call her by name thing but later on she turned on her stubborn feature and made the walk a little longer than planned.

Even with distance between them, still no trotting today by Stella.

She followed the edge of the field behind me and Sadie all the way up to the last turn. We had to wait on her to catch up, as she was in the ultra slow pace this afternoon. Maybe too soon after her afternoon nap.

I had walked quite a while not really paying attention to where she was. With Sadie right next to me I just figured that Stella was slowly walking behind me. When I turned to check on her, she was nowhere near behind me !!!! She was barely visible just on top of the small ridge of the field toward the north woods. It took my 200mm zoom lens just to look this close to her.

I called a few times and she never moved. I took this from a long ways away so I had no choice but to start walking her direction. She still did not move as I approached her. Then once I was about 10' from her, she raised her head and slowly walked toward me with not a care in the world.

So an unexpected walk was fit in the schedule today thanks to the actual weather compared to the forecasted weather last night. I have a feeling though that Sadie will still want another one later. We might do one without the camera but will have to see.

I still have the urge for some reason to go to Best Buy. There must be something over their that needs my money but I don't know what that would be besides some printer ink. Walmart is closer but they only have the box of three colors for $14 more than the same box at Best Buy. I don't need all three colors, I am not even close to being low on the other two colors besides cyan.

I do not need any computer stuff, no camera stuff so I can't figure out why I can't get that trip out of my head. The Epson scanner that scans negatives and slides in addition to pictures, does interest me quite a bit but I am not sure I am in the mood to jump right in scanning pictures or slides if it were sitting on my desk.

I guess the best way to sum up this afternoon is like when you are hungry but do know know what you want to eat.

Dr. Jeff's vet show on tv tonight may turned out to be the highlight of the evening here in 'the tropics' of southern Indiana.

Stella 's Left Ischium

We were up before 7am with a cool wind blowing strong through the open windows. If it stormed last night, I never heard a thing. With rain predicted for the next three days, the daily routine of the hounds will change.

Stella barely took a step off the carport floor, felt something wet and sat down. She had to think what her next move would be. She didn't move from that pose until we went back inside.

Sadie did almost the same thing. This was the second trip outside since it was daylight but she never left the gravel drive. I can see cases of bloodhound boredom these next three days as forecasted.

I took a look at Intellicast radar a little after 9am. That looked clear even though the skies outside were covered with dark gray clouds. If it was dry, then we could still get a walk in. Based on the ground, it did not look like it rained much at all while we slept.

With tail wagging Stella took off out into the lead. She was trying to gradually veer toward the left of our route with hopes of returning where she went yesterday. About the time I started to say something, I felt small drops of rain. Looking at my jacket sleeve it was sprinkling harder than I could see or feel.

With the rain becoming a little heavier, I could tell it was time to turn around and head home. Sadie had not left my side the short time we walked. Stella had to find one more spot to pee before she called it a morning.

We gave it a little time to see if the weather would blow through and it looked like it was doing just that. Once again Stella tried to talk me into feeding all of them about an hour early, close to that 10:30am mark again.

After they were fed at noon, we saw the rain was gone, the yard wasn't that wet and Sadie thought it was a great time to walk. So we tried it again. To cold for Heidi so she sprinted back inside for her position on the couch for the afternoon

Stella trotted out to the front with Sadie. She seemed normal and looked normal. You will see what I am talking about later in this post. It was late last night that I thought we might be going back to the vet this morning. I'll explain later in this post.

With all the growth the past few weeks, the bushes are once again hiding most of the wooded area. You can barely see the chewed tree limb from last winter. Since we are getting just the right amount of rain, everything has gotten nice and green without a lot of rainy days.

So you might be asking what a "Ischium" is and where did I come up with that. It's part of the pelvis that you sit on or in this case that Stella, Sadie or Heidi sit on. The are sometimes called the "sitting bone" and are on each side of the tail. As Heidi's use to be when she was ultra thin, too skinny, those two ischiums are pretty visible.

The pictures will show below that Stella was having some swelling around her left ischium as of Monday morning. I'll tell more of the story below. How did I find the word "ischium" ??

Last night I did a google search on their images for "canine skeleton". On that picture I was able to identify the bone I was looking for and noted the name. I found it strange that when I went to petMD online they did not recognize that word when I did a search on their website and asked me if I had misspelled it.

Sadie was heading down the path home, stopped suddenly and looked over at the small wooded area behind the neighbor's house. With a strong 15mph wind I am sure they were picking up a scent of that large blonde cat seen last month.

Stella was practically begging me to let her head that direction and it took me a few times telling her "let's go" before she moved in the direction of the house. You will notice her left ischium protruding out and you might think that is not normal ... but since she is so skinny, that is the way it is at this time on both sides. It was like that for Heidi too when she was having problems with her lack of weight.

Monday afternoon as we were walking along the back edge of the field, I noticed that large lump to the left of her tail. I waited for her to take another step to see if it would disappear and was part of her hip rotation as she walked. It did not disappear, so I took a picture of it for reference.

When I felt it on Monday night it felt like all bone. There was nothing soft around it and when I pressed on it lightly, she did not react. With her getting that rabies shot Friday night a little after 7pm, I thought this might be a side effect of that shot but found nothing online telling me it was.

About the time I thought about taking her to the vet on Tuesday, she had been wagging her tail that morning. She was shoving Sadie out of the way with her hips when standing at the door. She does that when she wants to be the first inside. Her tail was upright and as soon as we started the walk she started running just a little faster than a trot.

So I figured things were fine and no need for a vet trip.

Yesterday morning during breakfast that lump looked smaller but I thought I'd wait until she moved around before I would claim it was better. While she was walking that afternoon it did look slightly smaller. When I got home I pulled up this picture next to the one taken on Monday afternoon to verify that yes, it was smaller in size.

Here you can see that both sides are the same size. This picture was taken early this morning. So comparing it to the one taken Monday afternoon I can see a lot of difference. Whatever it was, it's gone.

Last night as I was standing over her looking from a top view so I could compare the left and right side, both ischiums looked equal in size. Once again since she is so skinny right now I expected to see them more visible than normal. For example, now that Heidi has gained her weight back I do not see hers.

The thing was when I felt it, she reacted by turning her head toward my hand and maybe a slight whimper. That is when I went to the internet to find all I could about this area and what might be the cause. At that time I was planning to be at the vets office as soon as they opened at 8am.

I did not come up with a lot of information about that specific bone, the cause of swelling and if there were issues. Some of the worse things I read were about hip dysplasia, and bone cancer. Yet, she was not limping, she had been trotting in the backyard just a few hours earlier. Plus she did not yell in pain when I pressed on it, just a slight whimper.

This morning it looks like the swelling was totally gone. I felt around each one, they felt the same. As I pressed on the left one a little she did not response but wagged her tail and wanted her back above her tail rubbed.

I'll keep an eye on it and look for swelling or limping. She has no problems walking up the two steps into the house, hopping on the couch or climbing on the bed. Her gait has always looked like she might have a small limp but she is always dragging her feet when she walks slow, so it's hard to tell if she is favoring the leg or just walks that way.

All I know is when I saw her wagging her tail, barking and howling for breakfast, then pushing Sadie out of the way with her hips I decide a trip to the vet was not needed today.

I am thinking of putting her on the Taste of The Wild dog food with bison as the main protein. That has 35% protein and 18% fat which would help her regain the weight she has lost, barring there is nothing else wrong with her.

It's a quiet day here in 'the tropics' of southern Indiana today.