My Boy Sym Update

On cat patrol

This is  my boy Sym.  

You may remember that I told you that he was diagnosed with Lymphoma some time ago.  Well, after a a course of aggressive drugs to combat his condition,  it was recently announced y his oncologist that he is in full remission.  His treatment still continues and will run it's course until mid August.  According to the specialist he has responded in a very positive way to the drugs and is in very good health,all things considered.

Letting me know what he thinks of his new haircut

As you can see from the pictures, he no longer has his trademark Border Collie coat.   His love of dirty river banks and brambles made the removal of most of his fur a necessity.  It also gave me the chance to dig out some well hidden thorn that he'd managed to collect.  He looks impressed, doesn't he? He looks,with the exception of his tail, like the puppy we brought home with us all those years ago ... with an oversized 'big dog' head.

His medication and treatment, being so aggressive, has weakened his joints somewhat so yesterday was the first time in quite a while that he was allowed to participate in his favourite activity: chasing his ball.

I did cheat quite a bit by throwing the ball more or less to him rather than off into space for him to chase, but he didn't seem to mind too much.

His appetite after treatment is a 'hit and miss' affair.   Normally he will eat anything that's put in front of him but  following a Vincristine treatment, his appetite seems to disappear and he may be sick once or twice.  This week however, he seems to have had a different reaction.  He has had real trouble 'going', if you know what I mean.

This morning, at 5.30am as I came down the stairs, I was greeted by a sight (smell first, sight second) that could only mean that the afore mentioned 'cork' had become dislodged. A sheepish and very sorry looking Sym peered around the corner of the hallway door.  For once his tail didn't way when he saw me.  He was waiting to see what would happen.

I did my best to ignore the mess, went through to the kitchen and opened the back door.  Out trooped Sox in her usual "gottapeegottapeegottapee" rush followed by Clover with an "it wasn't me"look in her face.  Sym hung back with his head down and ears back just looking at me.

I put on a happy voice for him and called him over and gave him some fuss and a big hug.  His began turning like a propeller, his ears popped up and he licked my face before racing out of the back door to join his sisters.

I will spare you the details of the clean-up operation ... it suffices to say that all is once again of an acceptable colour!