July 30 - August 1, Thursday-Saturday

Saturday

Slow news day here. :)

About the only thing to report is he spent most of the time on the sofa with us last night during our DVD Date Night. He was a whole lot more comfortable than the last two Friday nights, and even ended up laying down for a short nap. He does jump off and shadow me if I leave the room. Also, after he's had a bit of time in there with us, he is a whole lot more stable the remainder of the evening. If that holds true tonight, I think I want Randall to go in there every night (maybe do a quick five minute finish up on a DVD documentary we're watching with dinner) and see if that continues to hold true.

Also, his weight is down to 6.8 which is the lowest it's been. I want to keep an eye on him, but I'd rather him go a bit lower than higher.

Friday

While I was in the kitchen this morning getting something ready to go on the cooktop and Randall was getting the washer ready for the first load of clothes, Elvis was making himself comfortable. :) Skeeter has a wicker basket that sits right next to Randall's desk and when I came around the corner from the kitchen, Skeeter was at one end and Elvis was at the other. And Skeeter seemed not to mind at all (he rather minds Haley in there at times because Haley takes up the entire basket leaving very little room for him...fine when he wants the body heat in the winter, but not fine in July!)

I also had to give him a cough pill after he had his breakfast. The last one I gave him was on Saturday, and I have to wonder if there isn't some allergen or the humidity triggering it, because it always seems to happen when he comes in from outside. Of course, it may also just be something triggered by him waking up and moving around after 8 hours of sleeping. No real way to know, but it's not a bad cough, but there's no reason not to treat it since it makes him uncomfortable.

It's looking like Elvis has tried a couple of times to play with either Haley or Skeeter today. When they've come bounding out of their crates, Elvis meets them and runs along side in sort of a "chasing" mode. It's hard to describe, but it looks from my vantage point that he may want to play. He's only done it a couple of times, and I think it's mainly when he reads the excitement coming from the other two, but there's some definite change in his behavior. I'll keep an eye on this because, while I want to be careful because of his heart condition, I would like to see him feel comfortable enough to engage in a bit of play.

Thursday

Elvis got to experience vacuuming up close today. Since we brought him home, when Randall vacuums on Thursday, he does the living room, stops, and moves Elvis and his crate into there from the den. Today I wanted to try leaving him in here for the whole thing. He did very well. He was in the back of his crate alert, but not panicked, and when I brought him out to let him watch from a distance he was fine. He only coughed once or twice and then stopped. The vacuum cleaner itself (and the noise) actually didn't seem to bother him, but the cord snaking a few feet away and moving made him quite uncomfortable. He definitely showed some nerves when it would move, but, overall, he handled it very well.

I did forget to weigh him today. Oops.