We're Back!

Hi all,
We are back from our trip to Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. It was a wonderful time and I might add some notes here as I see fit later (also pictures of course!) Above in the title is a picture I took at the Mikumi Wildlife Preserve at sunset near the hippo pool.

On Monday of this week we woke up to our Golden Retriever Cosmo not being able to get up from his lying down position. He eventually was able to get up on all 4's but hobble around on 3 of them. After taking him downstairs to relieve himself he could not climb back up the stairs. Patty and Jessica took him to the Vet to see what was up. (That was a challenge in itself for a 90 pound dog!) In our minds we were seriously thinking that we may have to put him down. The vet later in the day was able to take x-rays and determine that he had 2 discs in his vertebrae that are deteriorating due to age. He gave him a cortisone shot and some pills for a muscle relaxant. (That muscle relaxant also works on his urinary tract too!) The doctor also suggested that he not go up and down the stairs for a week. When we picked him up at the clinic he was walking on all 4's again without much effort. The doctor saw this and was surprised and mentioned that that was a real good sign.

He is doing better each day. I purchased a roll of sod and put it on plastic and a cardboard box so he has a place to urinate. #2 is more challenging!

For those of you that are a regular reader of this blog, you know that Cosmo is a very important part of the Center and he enjoys a very good relationship with everyone! It would have been sad if he did not recover so quickly. We are also very thankful that this did not occur while we were in Africa.