A Hunter Update

Hunter has stuck around this past week and Rob and I both have become quite fond of him. I was home alone with him a few days last week when Rob worked later than I did, and again yesterday morning, when Rob went into work at the Phoenix airport, which was busy with flights coming in for tomorrow's national championship game. Each time went very well. I love taking Hunter for walks (except for picking up after him, which makes me gag) and he's always exhausted after the walks and happy to lounge around while I bake or blog or watch tv. He still seems to prefer Rob, but I think is definitely warming up to me.

This morning, after our walk, we took Hunter into the backyard to play fetch. I can never get the rope toy we play with out of his mouth because he's so strong (the vet weighed him in at 86.5 pounds!) and he tends to give up on me and fight for his toy with Rob instead. I still like throwing things for him to bring back though :) Here are a few pictures of Rob and Hunter playing...

The sad part of the Hunter story is that he is sick. On Monday, he started up with this gross coughing/hacking habit that we attributed to kennel cough, which the shelter we adopted him from warned us of. By Tuesday, he had a fever and was shivering when he was laying on the floor. He went to the vet on Tuesday and we filled prescriptions for kennel cough. 

Then on Wednesday, when Rob came home from work, he found a bug on the floor next to Hunter's cage that we thought might have been what was making him sick. I took the bug (in an old plastic container) to the vet (who must have thought I was crazy) and she told me it was a super engorged tick. I was squeamish throughout our entire conversation. She warned us that if he had a bloody nose he could have a disease from the tick called tick fever. I drove all the way out to the pet store to buy tick medication and on Thursday Rob had a light day at work, so he was able to clean the house from top to bottom and be home for the exterminator to treat the inside and outside of our house for ticks.

On Friday evening we noticed that Hunter had a bloody nose. He was back to the vet on Saturday afternoon, where they changed his medication and ran tests for tick fever and valley fever that won't be back from the lab until Monday. He seems to have his energy and appetite back today, but after getting worked up playing outside, he comes inside to drink his water and hack it back up all over our floor. It's lovely.

It's a good thing Hunter is winning us over because he is quickly becoming the most expensive pet ever. I'm hoping that when the results of his tests come back on Monday, the vet will write us whatever new prescription he needs and we will be on the road to being healthy and back into the routine of just needing yearly checkups and shots for this crazy dog!

In other news...at school, my seniors have senioritis really badly. I'm hoping they get their heads on straight soon, or this second semester is going to be a really long one. I start track practice in just about a month, and am sure that will bring a whole new bag of stories (hopefully primarily positive). I'm still a little nervous about this whole coaching thing and how crazy it is going to drive me. Rob's hours have picked up at work, but he is still hoping to move on to the next flying position soon. We became Costco members (a pretty big deal) and are gearing up to seriously improve our landscaping in the backyard. Next weekend, my friend Ryan, from Miami, is coming to visit and we are planning on flying around Phoenix a bit and then out to Glendale for dinner and a Coyotes hockey game. I'm looking forward to the long weekend and catching up with him :)

We hope everyone is well and warm wherever you are! Miss and love you all, Sarah, Rob and Hunter