Max catches a fish...

Max looking for stuff floating in the creek

I think we've finally found the right dose of anti-seizure medication! While I'd prefer Max not to be on any at all, I think this works for him. He's now taking 125mg of keppra 2x a day.  He seems to be more himself, sharper, curious, and active.

This morning he got fed up with Rex pushing his way in for attention and decided to let him know about it!  That's the old Max we know! And boy was Rex not expecting it!I was petting Max and Rex shoved his way in between me and Max and Max lunged at him and growled to let him know that wasn't acceptable!  Go Max!

Max examining oysters from the "Save the Bay" project

Video of Max & the oysters

 Video of Max catching Fish... and eating it

Later this morning I took #2 and Max out for a walk in the woods and down to the water. We met a little guy named Tyson who had just been adopted last week and was having a great time with his new people! he's a 10 yr old Tibetan Spaniel, and has wonderful new owners!  So happy to hear someone adopted a senior dog from a shelter! He was going with his new people down to the dock to go fishing!  That was where we were headed!  Max loves to go down to the dock and watch things float by in the water and hasn't been down there in a few months.

Max & #2 heading back from the Creek

 I didn't know how he was going to respond, but he enjoyed hanging out with Tyson and when we got down to the dock he walked the edge looking for floating things.. there wasn't much in there though, so he watched Tyson's dad fish, and then a man came down with a big cooler. He's a teacher and had a school project going under the dock as well as inYorktown where they were helping to replenish the oyster population in the York River and the Chesapeake Bay.  Max turned right back into his normal curious self as soon as he pulled the first basket of oysters up!  There were little shrimp flopping around, a few crabs and some little bait fish.. and some good smells!    Max was very intent on catching these fish! He tried to step on one, then caught it in his mouth, we had to remove it.. and then caught another and ate it!

Max enjoying his walk in the woods

2 Back seat drivers

I think that's the first thing he's ever killed in his whole life..  but down it went after a big crunch..   Hopefully he doesn't catch anything from it.. nasty.. but he seemed to have a really good time!









After our visit at the dock and the creek and adventures catching fish, crab and shrimp (and leaves, and mud) , we headed back up into the woods and went for a little hike!  Max seemed to really enjoy this as well but I could tell he started to get a little tired after a while so we headed back to the car..  he kept up a good pace though and was alert, watching leaves fall from the sky and running over to see what fell. He also chased a frog/toad through the leaves!





When Max & #2 got up to the field house they both remembered that the guys who worked there toss bread out in the mornings for the birds and deer and they went over to look for some.. a little late though! It was all gone!


It always seems like someone is looking over my shoulder!

Max heading back to the car.. but side tracked by a John Deere mobile..   (notice - he's walking in a relatively straight line and should now pass a sobriety test if pulled over while he's driving!)

Max's Eye 10-30-11

Max's right eye (on your left) has a bulging pink thing

Closer look at the pussy ping swelling on Max's eye

I know it's been a while since I updated Max's blog. The good news is he's doing fantastic!
To follow up on his eye situation, I took him to the eye doctor on Fri. (Did you know you can't call an eye doctor down here directly and make an appointment? You need to go to get your regular vet to refer you?) Anyway, the eye doctor took a look at his eye and stuck some strips of paper in his eye and then showed me how much moisture came out of each eye. The good eye - his left eye read 18 and the bad eye read 8.  He pointed out when your eye hurts you usually produce more tears but in Max's case he was producing less. He then told me that with any kind of radiation they commonly see "dry eye" as he put it, and the tear glands dry up or stop working. He said the fact that Max had radiation on his head makes him 99% sure that that is what is going on. Where Max has the attrophe above his right eye, is where he said the tear glands are generally found. He looked at a few more things and then said, "yup that's it. Dry eye."
I then got a quick lesson on the irrigation system of the eye and he told me that because Max's eye was dry, the abraision from when he fell wasn't able to heal because the surface of his cornea was dry and bumpy vs. smooth and lubricated.

The end result is that Max was prescribed eye drops that he gets 3 times a day and an ointment that has some antibiotic and bacterial properties as well as anti-swelling properties that he gets 2 times a day.  He said in a few days his eye would start to look better but it would be a while until it was back to normal, but it should go back to normal, and wanted to see him again in 3-4 weeks.

It's been 2.5 days and I'm starting to see his eye being a little more clear and definitely more lubricated. He's started to rub his eye after I put the ointment in but all in all he's tolerating it pretty well. I also think he's starting to be able to see a little better as of tonight.

As for Max's over all progress, he is doing FANTASTIC!  He's had a ton of energy, he's no longer super lethargic, in fact I think he's been getting bored hanging out at home so much. This morning I took him and his brother Buster up to the park to see how he'd do and he walked a good 3/4 of a mile and was ready to keep going! We explored the playground, he stuck his head in a bush and apparently caught the scent of some critter, but I thought it wasn't a good place for his eye so we had a little battle of wills to get his head out of the bush, then he discovered where the park workers had tossed bread on the ground for the birds and deer and he and Buster tried to gobble up as much as possible (nope.. that's not on his diet at all). Then he decided he wanted to walk the mile path down to the water. We got about 1/4 of the way down there and I decided that wasn't going to be a good idea, just in case something happened. So.. we wandered around the field, sniffed for critters (yet managed to avoid the possum arm that some other larger critter had ripped off and left in the field - yes kind of gross and I feel bad for the possum, but also am a little worried about what critter in the woods down the road is ripping arms out of possum).

Friday after Max's eye appointment we took a pitstop at PetCo (where the pets go) and Max was very excited to explore and search for fallen food, and play with the critters behind the glass (fish, ferrets, guineapigs, mice). He had a very active day and did really well!

He also can hear, all be it selective hearing, he definitely can hear when he wants to. I also caught him attempting to climb up on the kitchen table to finish off my salad a little while ago. We've reduced his prednisone down to 10mg  every other day (we did increase it back up to every day early last week because he had started to lose his hearing again).  Max is back to leading the barking when someone comes home, or there's someone out front and he sees or hears them.