The morning started off with me checking off items on my To Do list, and about to head to office for finishing up the latest chapter and then . . . we’re at the vets. Mordor, our youngest Japanese chin, danced on his hind legs for his treat in the office, then yelped loudly and was suddenly limping badly. He finished his treat with his rear leg out at a bad angle. Keiko and Sasquatch, chin and pug respectively, finished their treats with no sympathy at all for their wounded comrade. We hoped it wasn’t bad, but when Mordor walked he was putting no weight on the leg. *sigh* So, Jon and I are at the vet with our pup. I’m beginning to remember how a multi-dog household can complicate things. The dogs are totally worth it, but the To Do list is totally out the window, until we learn something about our fuzzy boy. He’s sitting on Jon’s lap now, smiling his chin smile, and he’s totally stopped shaking because no one had done anything bad to him. He’s a very social dog, and is willing to believe anything will be fun eventually. When he came to us he was so under weight you could count his ribs, but now he’s filled out, and his coat is coming in longer and fuller, and he’s just a pretty dog.
Did we remember to eat breakfast . . . um, no.
Mordor’s kneecap slipped out of socket this morning, and went back on it’s own. Our pug, Phouka, had this in both knees as a young dog and eventually had to have surgery, after that she was fine. Vet says, Mordor needs to lose about two pounds. He’s not overweight by breed standard, but apparently the more slender, dancer like build of the Japanese chin will not take weight gain. I do remember reading in the breed information that they can have issues with hips and knees if they gain weight, but we’re used to pugs. They can put on a great deal more weight and be perfectly healthy. Phouka’s knees problems weren’t about weight, but the socket where the joint fitted into being too shallow. Vet wants us to give Mordor a week to heal up any issues with the knee and then next week we start with more cardio. More cardio for everyone!
If loosing a couple of pounds and putting some muscle around the joint clears it up, then great. If not, we’ll eventually have to have surgery for him, but here’s hoping that exercise will do the trick. It’s likely that it will, and now we know that what we’ve learned about pug physique doesn’t really translate to chin physique. Lesson learned, we have little track stars, not just miniature heavy weight boxers. Different “workout” routines for different body builds, true for people, and true for dogs.