Herc’s big day out

February 24th was a big day for Herc. This was the day when he could say goodbye to his valentine bandage. He was very excited about that in spite of the 90m drive to the vet! Herc’s coordination and strength has been getting much better over the past weeks. When it was time to load up he jumped from the ground into the truck with no help and without using the running boards. Our truck has a 6″ lift and 37″ tires so this was about a 40 inch jump which he made effortlessly. He was pretty excited at the start of our journey.

We got down to Knoxville and checked in. Unfortunately, this was a slow process. Herc needed to have his bandage removed and then given his first intravenous chemo treatment. The treatment takes about two hours and the big guy needed to be sedated so we ended up spending the day in Knoxville. Herc was pretty tired after all this but so glad to be going home!

By the time we got home Herc was sound asleep. Once home, he got some water and headed straight for his crate to take a well earned rest. He slept very well through the night, probably due to the anesthetic. Morning came and a much more lively Herc was out and about to do a bit of exploring. His fur is growing back nicely and he has a good start to his undercoat. What is really interesting with Dutch Shepherds is their brindle stripes go all the way to their skin, so even with his white undercoat coming in you can still see his stripes in the picture.

Herc is getting around very well today, still a bit groggy from the meds but, he does not seem to be in any pain and is mostly just sleepy.

On his first day back (so far) he has had no appetite, but that is not unusual for him after sedation. I picked up 6 pounds of chicken breasts so he’ll have something new to try after he’s feeling a little better. As Elisa mentioned, Herc has not been very excited about his regular dog food. To keep his nutrition up we’ve been feeding him a mostly raw diet along with his favorites like biscuits and grits. Thankfully his dry food is very high in protein so we can add a lot of meat without upsetting his stomach.

Herc will need to get bloodwork done over the next two weeks to monitor is white cell counts. His next treatment is in three weeks and hopefully will go faster than the first one. In total, Herc will have 5 treatments on roughly three week intervals.

Your continued prayers are always welcomed.

Al