Juicy's Hi-Jinks

Oi. It's been a whirlwind few weeks. Over Memorial Day weekend,  Juno told Mr. Wild Dingo, nay, she demanded Mr. Wild Dingo to give her the once over that he normally does every day. He feels around for foxtails, bumps or ticks and Juno is well aware of his job. That Saturday night, she glared at him until he came over and found the bump on her belly that she'd been licking. It was already healed over so I thought it was just a scrape that became infected.  As soon as we found it, she never licked it again, knowing that we'd take care of it.

The next day, Sunday before Memorial Day, we took her to the emergency vet just in case there was an embedded foxtail. They opened it up, flushed it, but found nothing, and sent her home with antibiotics and instructions on how to drain it. The first night, though she was wearing one of my old cycling undershirts to cover her belly, I tried to enforce the cone of shame at bedtime because I couldn't stay awake to watch her all night, but she wouldn't have it. She came to the side of my bed and begged me to remove it. Of course, I did and do whatever the husky demands me to do.  I mean, Internet, she is a husky. Since huskies do whatever they damn well please, that means her human companion better do as she demands else she lives with the consequences of a husky's revenge. So I removed the cone, but not the tee shirt. She tolerates the tee shirt because it's mine and it's a bit like wearing a harness, which she loves. But then she threatened to sleep downstairs for my cone transgression! Oh Internet, huskies don't need English to tell you off, do they?

"Let's get this over with so I can get back to my mousing and mole hunting duties in the tall grass!" 

A week and a half later, the bump was not reduced so Juno's main doctor reopened it, found the scar tissue (or mass) went much deeper and is near the abdomen wall. She couldn't get good tissue to sample it because it was too close to the mammary glands, so again we thought this could be a tiny particle possibly left over from a broken down fox tail that formed a ton of scar tissue around it. They too, couldn't find anything. All other signs look good. She had some blood tests a few weeks ago for an eye issue (no biggie, just an ulcer, and her blood and hormone levels were fine, so we're not thinking cancer. Vets still think this was a foreign object. We just can't see where it is, or if it's still there. They flushed the heck out of it, gave her a stitch and instructions on how to help the pus and fluid drain. Lucky for her, she doesn't need to wear the cone of shame, just a tee shirt. Other than a little less energy for long walks, Juno is acting perfectly normal, bouncing around every morning beseeching the bounty that follows her morning treat dance ritual. But we're still uncertain of the source of the bump and while we follow up with a surgical consultation on our next steps should the bump not resolve. Until then, we wait and work on reducing the fluid inside the bump. Keep her in your thoughts this week and hope that her bump will resolve without the next steps of more surgery.

Between their long fur and daily hi-jinks of masticating anything in sight or romping in dangerous tall grass, huskies cost a fortune to maintain. And Juno is living up to the reputation of being a real husky. But she's worth every penny. Mr. Wild Dingo and I agreed: we never had a dog as sweet, funny and loving as Juno. We'd sell our souls to make sure she is healthy.  Let's just hope it doesn't come to that!