Bob was back at the specialists yesterday

Good stuff first. Chest x ray is clear. whoo hoo
Urine test is all back to completely normal, so whatever he had is all cleared up and perfect. It's still a bit of a mystery, but seems like a kidney infection or virus of some sort. 

The original nodule on Bobs spleen that they found last month is unchanged. This is Good. If it had been something sinister it would have grown in the month. However a second small nodule has formed on the spleen wall. This wasn't there last month.

So we have 4 options

1) go back for another ultrasound in about a month. Get that nodule ultrasounded again and see if it's grown. If not then it's nothing to worry about either and it's likely that he's just a dog, of a certain age who grows wee nodules on his spleen.

2) get cells from them (nodules) to see what they contain- this is expensive and also sometimes you only get blood etc... so perhaps wouldn't get a good result anyway!

3) just have the spleen removed - if they are benign meh, but if one is cancerous then all good - supposedly dogs don't need their spleens and obviously apart from the risk of anesthetic it would have no side effects on him - like he wouldn't need medication etc. Seems quite drastic if these nodules are nothing...

4) ignore it. They could just be wee nodules he is prone to getting.

But, being us we won't go for option 4!

We reckon option 1 and then take it from there. The timing would be good to go back in a month as it would actually be the exact time I'd be going down to Auckland to drop mum off at the airport. Also the follow up ultrasounds are less expensive than the initial one :) 

All in all, the results were positive. And once we work out what this second wee nodule is it'll be all good!


Anyway, Bob seems incredibly happy. Yesterday he'd had no food all day and after a really early start we didn't want him to have to wait till late evening when we got home to have his proper dinner, so we did a bad thing! We stopped at Burger King and Bob got his first ever taste of a burger. He was a bit bemused at first and just sort of looked at it! Then he loved it. Savouring it and leaving the burger part till last!
I hardly dare break the news to him that this was his first and last BK burger!!


Three silly photos -

 What! A burger? For me?                                                

  Tastes pretty good! 

barbeque sauce all over his face!

Merry Christmas?

Lloyd and I thought we'd have an attempt at a funny family christmas card, but trying to wrangle three large dogs, into a photo is pretty difficult, especially as the more we try, the more excited they get!

But it was really funny, and they had a right good laugh ~ but as the saying goes, never work with kids or animals! Suffice to say we didn't manage to get a group shot! But we did manage to make some silly cards.

Anyway, here are some outtakes for your enjoyment!!

Handstand?

Hahahahahahaaaa! (Brodie)

Still hahahahahaaa! (Brodie)

MMMMmmmm tasty antlers...

Bob really loves his daddy.

So, the cards we sent...

and

We like them, anyway!

Roland's Wood

We kept hearing good things about this place. Roland's wood is an area of land that was donated to Kerikeri, years ago, by a lovely man, who was a dog lover. When he passed away he left it as a place where people could walk their dogs, freely. Anyone can go there!

The Rotary Club took it on and have done wonderful things with it. There's been a lot of planting and path making and maintenance.

Up until recently we've always taken our dogs to the beach. They adore the beach, but with Bob Dog having arthritis now it's not the best place for him. He forgets he has a sore hip and gets so excited, running into the water, doing sort of dolphin leaps! He always ends up coming home limping and suffers for a few days.

We thought we'd give Rolands Wood a go. And oh how I wish we'd gone yonks ago! It is an amazing place, and the dogs adored it.  It looks particularly lovely just now, as all the magnolias are flowering. In a few more weeks the bluebells will be out.

This is sort of the area of the wood  - it doesn't go back as far as the photo though!!

Shall we go this way?

Or this way?  Brodie and Lulah were on a mission to explore every inch of the woods!

Brodie is one very happy boy.

 Lulah smelling the daffodils as she runs by.

She's pretty well camouflaged in all the leaves. 

Swimming! She is SUCH a waterbaby.

Bob belted around the place having a total ball. Hard to believe he'll be 10 in a couple of weeks.

Poor Lloyd was on Poo Bag duty!

See, stunning!

Super delighted dogs.

There's an amazing amount of flowers out just now

Tired but happy, doodles. Except Lulah, who looks very sad to be leaving.

My favourite pic of the day - Bob in the magnolias.