Two
Yellow Labs: Joe Beckemeyer & Angus Latta
Here
are Angus (the one coated in mud) and Joe frolicking around in one of the salt
marshes at Quivira NWR. You ordinarily can't tell them apart at a casual
glance, but Angus has been rolling in the wonderful mud. What fun!
Right: Angus pausing for a muddy portrait. Only his tail is showing his true colors.
Joe and Angus had the sad and strange misfortune to have each had to have surgery for a torn cruciate ligament of the left hind leg within a month of one another. Joe had been having problems with his leg for nearly 2 years (occasional bouts of limping in the evenings), but Angus's leg went bad all of a sudden. Angus was operated on in January, and Joe in February, 2003. They both had surgery at the Vet School at Kansas State University, and the TPLO (Tibial Plateau Leveling Osteotomy) procedure. Angus is back to walking after 12 weeks (as of 26 April), and Joe is nearly ready to start his exercise program.
Left: Angus being picked up at K-State. His mom is comforting him. The Elizabethan collar is to keep him from licking the leg. Right: the leg is swollen and sore after surgery.
Left: Angus getting a hand fed treat. When a guy is in post-surgery confinement, he needs a bit of special treatment!
Right: Joe's leg immediately after surgery. Ouch!
Left: Joe safely home, 2 days post-op. His leg and a patch on his rump have been shaved, the leg for the surgery, the rump latch for his spinal block. He also had a small patch shaved on his right foreleg for an IV.
Right: Our grandson, John, aged 19 months, and Joe, Easter, 2003. About 7 and a half weeks after surgery. Joe is now putting his weight on his leg and walking without limping, but is not allowed to be off leash or to go on long walks yet.
Below: More Easter pictures: Left, John tempting Joe with his ball. Right, "No, I changed my mind, you can't have it." Joe's hair is growing back pretty well already. Another month or two and the edges should be blending in a bit more.
