He looks SO SOFT. You are going to have to love on him and post kitten tax photos or we will have to send a team to Rochester to have a talk, Nixxter.
Home safe now and away for the first and last time from his 7 brothers and sisters and mom.
He was an excellent wingman on the drive back, slept most of the time. He would cry (meow) every so often, but I remembered cats are like chickens when it comes to hypnotics. One of the best ways to establish trust is to look at them and then slowly close your eyes. Which establishes a similar reaction on their part. Rinse and repeat and you can get them to keep narrowing narrowing their eyes until zzzzzzzzzz. Also avoid rear ending car in front of you @ 80 mph. The tire drone and road noise helped too.
Last pic for a while, taken in his MN home. I think this action shot shows his batlike qualities. Way more sinister than his sweet nature, kinda looks like heās attacking his sister but they were playing with a long haired key fob. 
Sad day here in the household. My buddy Daltrey has been having an increasing issue with his eyes being goopy and since he had a vet visit for his vaccination I addressed it with my vet. They did some tests and it turns out that Daltrey has a serious immunity disorder call Masticatory Muscle Myositis. Itās a disorder where his immune system attacks the musculature in his face, degrading it to the point that he will eventually no longer be able to open his jaws. We are treating him for it and the prognosis is good but if treatments do not work, it can be fatal. Fortunately it is not advanced to the point where it is causing him pain and the vet feels we can reverse the effects of MMM with a very strong regimen of steroids and unlike my joints with RA, his muscle mass can be rebuilt if we do get it under control. Unfortunately, like most immunity disorders, MMM is not curable and he will have to be on a maintenance dose of steroids for the rest of his life. Having an immunity disorder myself, I really feel sorry for my little buddy. I know what I am facing and understand the treatments and effects. Daltrey does not understand whats happening. Anyway, itās on with the treatments and fingers crossed that everything goes as planned. Daltrey is the sweetest pupper on the planet and he does not deserve this. Life can be so unfair.
So sorry to hear this, hoping treatment knocks it into remission in a hurry and gives Daltrey the carefree life he deserves!
My parents first border collie was up there for best dog ever and was diagnosed pretty young with an autoimmune blood disease. Thankfully after the initial diagnosis and emergency treatment(he was severely anemic before they knew what was going on) he was able to spend a long time happily in remission.
Very sorry to hear this as well. I wish Daltrey luck with his new regimen.
Welcome home to the new addition! Did you guys decide on a name or are you in name observation mode?
Awful news - wishing Daltrey nothing but the very best.
Sending good karma to Daltrey & you. Hopefully he will respond well and rebound and keep that smile on his face for years to come!
@Skipper, we did go with Batz. I always like monosyllabic or short names for pets and the first mention here of the batcowl look I couldnāt move the needle from that. Apparently at some point in the birthing and record keeping process, he had a white streak on his upper cheek so someone called him āScarā (from Scarface) but that will never do and Iām not into blow myself for decades :). Then he was āOscarā with the cattery etc. That might have worked if there was a āFelixā (the cat) around here but our other cat is Grace. And my wife wasnāt going to accept Battisimo Glorioso - Batz for short. So Batz it is!
Hey, fugetaboutit, thatās a great name!
I can imagine him being a Soprano character for some reason. āHey, Batz! Take it easy!ā
Secretly between everybody except Mrs Nixxter that is his full legally biding name. Admittedly, 99% of the time heāll be Batz : )
Iām very sorry to hear about Daltrey. From just your photo I know heāll do his very best to be happy with whatever he has to soldier through. I hope the treatments do work as he deserves as much time with his papa as he can get.
Just an update on Daltrey. He is responding well to the treatment and has show quite a bit of improvement. I am looking forward to weaning him down to a maintenance dose of steroids as he has had incontinence issues when he is sleeping, a common side effect of prednisone in dogs and now has to wear doggy diapers at night. He has an appointment in 2 weeks to determine if we can start lowering the dosage and test to make sure there is no liver issues from the steroids. In the meantime he is already having a great summer. I got a new boat this winter and he loves it. With all that he is going through, he is still living his best life.
Good for Daltrey. Thatās great to see.
Heās ready for a cruise with the wind in his fur and a smile on his face!
Whoās a happy lad ā¦ You go Daltrey!
I love the boat pic (we should have a boating thread,) but also seeing Daltrey happy on the boat. Iām sure heās loving life right now, good on you guys for taking such good care of him.
Weāre without dogs right now but ours didnāt do well on the boat, at least not enough we took them much. They would either overheat due to the doggie lifejackets we had on them or they would get too anxious when we got in or when the boat was moving, etc. It was easier to just give them a nap day at the house when we went out. Iād loved to have had a more water-loving dog over these last few years. Maybe if we get another ā¦
Weāve had so many dogs the last 20 yearsā¦4 on average at one timeā¦and none of them ever liked the waterā¦I donāt get it as I always see so many different breeds of dogs enjoy the water. I cant even get any of mine to run under the sprinklerā¦so boring!
We had a shepherd cross that didnāt like the water for years. We rented a cabin out at a lake when he was about 3 and tried to get him to play and swim. We would carry him out to about hip deep slowly lower him and he would swim back to shore, sit there and watch us. When we carried him out there he wasnāt struggling or scared and just had a āwhy are we doing this lookā
The same trip. Iām teaching the GF how to flyfish. We are standing on a 3-4 foot bank above a nice pool. She catches a small trout and it starts splashing. From behind us Max runs leaps off the bank into the river and starts chasing the fish as it splashes around. From that moment on anytime he got near water he would run in and start swimming, playing in it.
Dogs are funny like that.
Grace loves to paddle, just paddle.
I donāt think she can even actually swim.
Stupid dog who I hate but also love.
Walking down the street towards a path and he darts into the edge bushes. Dead bird in his mouth, looked to be several days old.
I try to pry his jaw open but he has the prize of a lifetime in his mind. I try again and then try to walk him down a bit where I have space. Too late, he swallowed it whole.
So gross. Tried to punish him but heās all like āwhat?ā
Haha! I recognize that look!
Thatās the look from all my Ridgebacks over the years when they steal our food off counters and tablesā¦over and over and over.