I haven't posted anything since I was travelling back home the last few days. What a strange trip. The weather was absolutely horrible the whole time, and it hasn't been any better since I got back on Tuesday. It's just raining and snowing all the time - back and forth - making a mess.

My mind is a little preoccupied tonight as I'm thinking about one of my dogs.

Tuesday, when I got home, I noticed Gibson was wondering over the fence and into the hay field a little to use the bathroom. The snow is still high enough that it's easy enough for them to walk right over, but all the dogs have been pretty good about staying in the yard all winter and I thought it was a little strange that he kept going out there every time.

Then on Wednesday while I was outside with them picking up some of the dog shit - and three labs over the winter make a lot of dog shit no matter how much you try and keep up with it - I noticed he was urinating an abnormal amount. He would just be walking around the yard using the bathroom in different spots. Then I noticed that there was only small dribbles coming out with each attempt. So it wasn't that he was urinating a lot, it was that he couldn't urinate properly.

Aside from that, he was his regular old self. He's been jumping and playing with the other dogs. He's had a good appetite and drinking lots. He didn't really seem to be in any pain even while using the bathroom, but I know dogs are fucking tough and they don't really show signs of pain unless something's really broken.

So today he went to the vet.

He got a nice checkup done which included a physical exam, blood work, urine test, and an x-ray. At first the veterinarian thought it might be Benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH), which is common in un-neutered dogs. It's just something that happens when they get older and getting them neutered fixes the problem. This info from the vet came before all the tests came back. It would have been good if this was the only issue.

What the problem ended up being was stones in the bladder. And to make it worse, there were some stones that moved down into the urethra to block his ability to pee. This is pretty serious and the only way to fix this is to perform a major surgery and remove the stones.

He's going in tomorrow morning for surgery and should be good to go home on Saturday.

I guess he'll have to be on a special diet for the rest of his life to prevent any further stones. This will be easier said than done with two dogs that have shared their food with each other for the last 8 years. At least the food is similar in price to the stuff he was already eating so the cost isn't going up.

I'm actually surprised with the price to get this sorted out. With all the exam and tests from today, plus the surgery, anesthesia, medication, and fees it's going to cost about $900 to $1000. It's sort of that number that is a lot, but not the end of the world a lot. This price could easily be $5000 with some of the other possible problems that this could have been. And I'm also really glad it's not something like cancer. $1000, although it's going to hurt, is completely doable for this guy's wellbeing.

Hopefully all goes well tomorrow and he's back to his usual self in a few weeks.

Wish Him Luck!!