Week Two: July 20, 2009

(Elvis has been here one week now!)

Elvis got his second bath this morning, though since my back is acting up and I'm tired, I bathed him in the kitchen sink. I think that will be the new procedure for him. He was much calmer than last week. Hopefully this will do it for awhile, because I plan on putting on a topical flea treatment on him tomorrow morning. I want to be sure and do this in the morning in case he has a reaction to it. I've never had a problem with any of my other guys, but I really don't want a night emergency with him. His coat is definitely improving, and once he's been on the Pro Plan for awhile, I suspect it will be pretty much normal.

I'm also cutting his food back to 1 1/2 tbsp twice a day, and I'll weigh him again Thursday or Friday to see how it's going. I also want to talk to Liz or the vet and find out if heartworm treatment is a forever no-no or if it's something that can be worked for if he meets certain goals. I just don't know enough about the situation. And that's one reason I want to put the topical treatment on him. We don't have fleas, but we do have mosquitoes, and I really would like at least some protection for him.

Another afternoon/evening of not much happening since yesterday's project knocked me on my butt and I had to spend time in bed. (For those of you who don't know me, I finished a daily, six week regimen of radiation treatments for oral cancer in April 2008. It STILL effects my energy level.)

I weighed Elvis again, because after I picked up Skeeter, I thought Elvis was lighter than him. Not sure what's up, but these are digital scales and the battery may be going south. Anyway, Elvis weighed lighter than he did yesterday by a pretty significant amount. With that in mind, I'm going to go ahead and way him daily at 4 pm and see if there is any variation. I'll post what he weighs on Thursday (mainly so I can remember LOL).

He's been a bit spooky today. I suspect the scare in the kitchen two nights ago coupled with the hammering yesterday has him frazzled. He's taken a step back, but I'm not concerned. He's doing very well, overall, so I won't worry about it unless I see him stalled for a few days. And another good sign is that he hasn't had any sort of coughing fit since last week, so he's not had a cough tablet since last Tuesday.