On Sunday night, Mr. Rosenberg was petting Levi and noticed a lump near his tail. Monday morning, we went to the vet. She pushed around on it and then felt it from the inside (ew) and determined that Levi had a hernia. She had the surgical specialist there at the vet hospital check it out also and she agreed. Levi would need surgery.
This morning Levi and I went back to the vet for a surgical consult with the specialist. She explained everything to me and was very thorough in such a way that I feel like I too am now a specialist in canine perineal hernias. She also discovered that he has an ear infection. We scheduled his surgery for this afternoon and I left him there.
I was not especially worried about the surgery but I was anxious waiting for the call to let me know it was over. Teddy, on the other hand/paw, was very upset. Of course he didn't have all of the information I had and didn't know what had happened to his pal. Teddy wouldn't eat his snacks. He let out big sighs and moped around the living room. He whined intermittently. He missed his friend.
Late in the afternoon, I got the call. The surgery was a success. Levi was fine and resting. Fine and resting hopped up on meds, wearing a cone, and sporting a shaved bottom hole. Bob and I went to the vet hospital this evening to visit Levi. We took him for a drunken-dog walk around the edge of the parking lot. When we went back inside, he sat next to us while I had my left hand inside the cone, petting his sweet head. He'll stay over night at the hospital tonight so they can keep an eye on him. We bought him a new dog bed on the way home.
When we got back to the house, Teddy walked to the door to say hi to us. When I sat down he came to my side and started intently sniffing my left hand - my Levi petting hand. He sniffed around for an extra long time and then he licked my palm.
Levi will be home tomorrow.
