Yoda went onto his furever home yesterday with his new best friend, Snickers... I admit to getting all weepy about it after he took off in the car at PetSmart with his new furever family yesterday afternoon... I'm going to miss that little goober - we went through a lot together... On Saturday morning before we left for adoptions, Simba and Yoda played an exhausting 'catch me if you can' in the backyard for at least 15 minutes... I know I have a PhD in anthropomorphism here, but I could swear they knew one had lucked out and got their furever home!
Now onto the matters at hand!
I've talked about Simba's splayed feet and although I haven't managed to get a really good photo of them, I do have one that would give a reader an idea of what I'm talking about... Puppy mill puppies commonly have splayed feet because they're raised on wire bottom crates and cages...
It's like a pair of snowshoes - the pads grow much wider and fuller than usual, the toes 'splay out' wide to give them as much standing space as possible and commonly the break for the ankles moves back further than normal... And the toe nails grow long to give them that little bit more to grab onto (so their feet won't fall through the wires)...
Simba has a BAD case of splayed feed (especially the front ones) to the point they are almost grotesque depending on how he is standing and where... I'm not so sure they are painful, but most PMPs develop arthritis in the feet joints as they grow into seniors... Hopefully the Synovi G3 will counteract this for him...
On another thought, I have noticed with Simba that he feels more comfortable with 'rules, boundaries, limitations' - AKA Cesar Milan - where would I be without you, dear Cesar?... Accordingly, I put a blankee on top of the crate that sits aside of my bed, then a soft doggie bed... He loved it, it became 'HIS' place, but he still had periods of anxiety that transcended into outright nervousness and the need to nibble-nibble... If you didn't get in front of it immediately, it'll move to borderline aggression...
So last week I went and got a nice square basket, lined it with plush fleece blankees and covered it with yet another one... Now he has to hop up and into the basket bed and when he's inside and laying down, you can't see him... And of course, he can't see the other puppers either... This seems to be working better now...
Usually in the middle of the (my) night, he hops out of the basket and burrows in underneath the covers aside of me... If he is polite (and he isn't always), the others allow him room to snuggle in and 'dog pile'... Eventually, everyone stretches here and there.... And before I actually wake up fully and get out of bed, Simba is stretched out, facing me, aligned aside of me...
This is my opportunity (and I seize it every time I can!) to explore his body with gentle rubs and massages... I have been all the way down to the chopped off tail (which has a bump on the end of it I'm concerned about) --- to his poor splayed deformed front feet --- and to the tip of his snout...
He doesn't go anxious on me when I'm doing this either, that's the joy of it... His hind legs are now full and muscular, ribs are covered once again with meat and he's darn close to being proportioned well again... The new cloth harness is comfortable to him and I'm going to try this week to get an ID tag on it in lieu of a collar (at least for now)...
I caught Simba and my husband sharing his BBQ dinner... Simba perches on the back of the couch and like a parrot, reaching down from there to get little bites from my hubby... He's also able at times to pet Simba and keeps working on his end to rehabilitate this little pupper... I've been able to get Simba kisses from this same roost in fact...
To demonstrate, I asked my daughter to snag a photo of this encounter (although this is on the counter and not on the back of the couch)... Simba comes in submissive with ears back and head lowered, recognizing me as the alpha, so I know we're moving in the right direction... Onward and upward!
