Bronwynn is a perfect dog!
Sorry it's been a while - Bron has been very busy! On Monday she went to see Dr. Anne-Marie Gagnon at the Bureau Veterinaire Holistic in Ayer's Cliff where she got a full workup including bloodwork. The good thing is that her rabies vaccine is not due 'till '08, so instead of doing the annual vaccination - we chose to not vaccinate and Bron will participate in the Dr. Dodds titer clinic that will be held in April (unless of course, she's been adopted!).
Her blood work came back normal, and heartworm negative. Her pancreas is not producing the enzymes that Dr. Gagnon would feel comfortable with, but all within normal range. I am feeding her a low fat diet anyways due to her weight, and I add enzymes to her meals. She is eating raw, and loving it! No problems and no finickiness - she has devoured chicken frames, whole mackeral, liver, heart, tongue, ground beef and lamb and duck with no problems. I just trim the fat off hers and give it to Tap (and no complaints there!) She did have other worms in her stools so was dewormed with a mild de-wormer. After a day of diarrhea, all is well!
She does have a small "sty" on her eye, which bothers her a bit as she is quite squinty and teary in that eye. I am putting drops in 2x per day to see if it clears up. She also has a slight vaginal discharge - not alarming but good thing she is being spayed on March 6..One always worried about pyometra in older intact bitches, especially when they've been bred and whelped so many times.
She weighed in at 41.5 lbs, so she has definately lost weight since eshe's been here, but I think her ideal weight will be around 35-36 lbs. She is a big boned girl, a bit swaybacked from so many litters, but we'll get her body back! Her one OC behavior (turning in circles on her now invisible 3 foot chain) is still there, but we see it less and less - it seems she does it whn anxious and when she doesn't know what to do in a certain situation.
She has been to the groomer and was a star - sweet and gentle and seemed to love the bath - probably the first of her life ! The groomer said she is one of the sweetest and gentle dogs she's ever bathed. She even felol asleep in her cage with the dryer on - she is definitely NOT sound sensitive! Her fear of men is still very apparent - you wonder what kind of history is there....Poor girl. But she is warming up to John (even climbs in his lap!) and let the groomer's husband scratch her ears, but she will have nothing to do with the worker who is building our house, who adores my dogs and they adore him. I think she will probably do best in a home where there are not too many male visitors...I believe she would get used to one, but strange men would always be a problem, I think.
Anyways, she has not had a single accident, even though she is "not housebroken". She has also not been carsick, although that was supposedly an issue too. She is very responsive on walks. She is learning about lying down when cars pass, like the rest of my dogs, and learning not to come to the mail box with me or anywhere else near the road and she is learning so quickly! She is a joy, gets along with all my dogs and has found a special friend in Kap. She gets very excited by the sheep but is called off super easily. She is coming out of her shell (didn't take long!) and is right in the middle of the chaos during ball play, barking and having a blast!
Left: Here is Bron with her squinty right eye. Below is her "pre-bath" shot.
Bronwynn all clean and brushed! There were some bad mats in her tail and feathers - most of which had to be cut :(
So - off to be spayed on Tuesday!
I cannot stress how wonderful and loving this girl is! She will make a lovely companion for an active person, perhaps with another dog, as she is still very playful, even after the life she's had!
Posted by Creekside Border Collies
at 6:11 PM EST
Updated: Thursday, 1 March 2007 6:56 PM EST
happy
happy
