The Painted Warrior

The Painted Warrior is our fierce little Tattoo. Tattoo is adorable and looks like a stuffed animal, but he also has an attitude to be reckoned with. Puppies in our house learn early on that it is best to simply fall over when Tattoo walks through the room. Yup fall over on your side and hope he doesn't notice you! The girls all love him, but the boys know that the wrath of the painted warrior is something you really don't want to tangle with.

However lately our little Tattoo hasn't been feeling too well. He has battled some UITs lately and on Friday we discovered that he had bladder stones which were too large to pass. It was supposed to be Dr. Moore's day off, but instead he spent the afternoon doing surgery on Tattoo. And then after surgery Tattoo began to have trouble breathing. Dr. Moore shot an x-ray and discovered an enlarged heart. He warned us that Tattoo might not pull through this. We are lucky to have a vet who is not only skilled but also dedicated. He spent the afternoon and evening checking on Tattoo and helping him to battle the stress of the surgery. On Saturday morning Dr. Moore again went in to the vet clinic to check on our little guy and he decided he was well enough to come home.

I brought Tattoo home and put him in the living room where he could have peace and quiet. Well after a short nap, Tattoo woke up and told me in no uncertain terms that he had dogs to put in their place and bitches to visit. So I let him into the kitchen and he quickly announced to the pack that their fearless painted warrior was back and that they had all better fall in line!

It is now 48 hours since his surgery and he seems completely himself. We have never had a dog come back to normal so quickly after any surgery. Go figure! Tattoo will need extra meds from now on, but we hope he can lead a pretty normal life.