Gus: Phew!

I went to the vet yesterday and it turns out my biggest problem right now is an ear infection. We were so worried it would be something worse. Dr. Sarah said my labored breathing might be caused by the pain in my ear. She listened to my lungs and said they sounded just fine. Phew!

It's a pretty bad infection, though, so now I have to take antibiotics and prednisone for a couple of weeks. Mom also has to put ointment in my ear twice a day. Dr. Sarah said when my ear is cleared up we'll talk about doing laser treatments on my arthritic joints. As a matter of fact, she said that if my ear doesn't heal soon that she'll do a laser treatment on it. Pretty cool, huh?

We're very thankful that Dr. Sarah didn't find anything seriously wrong with my health. Mom, however, is feeling pretty bad that she hadn't noticed my sore ear before yesterday. She checked my left ear just the other day and commented on how clean it was, like always. I've never had ear trouble. So because my left ear was okay she just assumed the right ear was fine, too. I tried to tell her not to worry about it. She didn't know and I didn't have anyway of telling her. Like I said, it's just an ear infection and I'll be okay.

Oh, there was one bad thing about my vet visit and that was getting my ear washed out. I HATED that! They actually had to muzzle me. Mom was surprised because I have never been aggressive toward anyone. Never ever. I LOVE humans. But when your ear hurts like mine did and people are messing with it, well, you'd be pretty upset, too! I understand why they had to do it and my ear does feel better now, so I guess it was worth it. I have an appointment to go back on Friday for another cleaning. Ugh! Maybe my ear will be completely healed by then and I won't have to go through that again. That's worth a prayer, I think.

Love,
Gussie xoxo