Bubba had five sebaceous cysts removed plus a dental yesterday, but you'd never know it today. He's been frisky as a pup and full of beans all day. He wanted four walks! He sure wasn't in such great shape last night, though, after I brought him home from his surgery. Poor guy looked like he'd been through a meat grinder, all covered with staples and wearing bright green tape on his forepaws and tail where the vet removed the lumps. Erin go Basset! He was wearing one of those stupid Elizabethan collars, which made it impossible for him to navigate. They told me he hadn't urinated for them and was full of fluid, but a basset has to put his nose to the ground to piddle or do anything else, so the E-collar came right off as soon as we left the vet's. He's never been one to chew at sutures, anyway. He's such a good boy and is in amazing health for his age. He's the oldest basset we've had to date--13. It's always been my lucky number.

The cool, rainy weather today probably helped make him feel better. Bassets love cool weather. The Rimadyl he had last night and this morning sure helped, too. Thank goodness they recommend pain killers for dogs after surgery these days. They never used to not that many years ago, not even for major surgery. I let him sleep in my bed last night, too, which seemed to comfort him. I kept Peaches out until he got up toward morning, so he could stretch out as much as he liked.

His appetite was voracious today. He's been eating everything in sight. Worse than our little fatty, Peaches. I guess a day with no food contributed to his unusually good appetite. I'm glad it's all over, as I'm sure he is. He seemed happy today and wanted a lot of attention from me. It's weird, but I think dogs know when you've done something to help them, even something like this. He seems to like going to our vet, though. They love him, too, and baby him like he gets babied at home. I just hope Bubba Gump (aka Bubba Lump) stays lumpless for a while now so we don't have to put him through surgery again for a long while.

Even though he seemed to bounce back quickly after the procedure, I don't like putting such an old dog through that unless it's absolutely necessary, which in this case it was. The big cyst on his neck had burst and kept oozing and wouldn't heal up, so it had to come off. They found another small mass right next to it, so they sent the whole oogy mess off to the lab for analysis. The two lumps on his paws were large ones, and I knew it wouldn't be long before the tail cyst became a problem, too (he's had one removed before), so that one had to go. If they get too large, they are hard to suture because there's not much skin on the tail to pull together. The last vet (now ex-vet) wanted to lop off his whole beautiful tail for one lousy cyst. I said, NO WAY! A Manx basset? What could she have been thinking?

After all this, I realized today when I was lifting him in the car to go to the park that we missed another small one on his rear paw. It looks like a little bubble. It's burst several times before and just puffs up right again, but has not created a problem. Yet. At least we got the worst ones, including the unsightly growth on his lower eyelid, which was dragging the lid down and didn't look cosmetically appealing.

It's good to have our old fella home again where he belongs. The pack is complete, and that makes us all happy, especially Peaches, who missed him terribly yesterday, as did I. The house just wasn't the same without him in it. Unbearable, even for a day.

As an endnote to this blog entry, Bubba will appear with me in the November issue of Sacramento magazine. I'm thrilled! I'm so glad they'll be using my favorite photo of Bubba and me with the article. In the years to come, it will be a very special memory that our special pound puppy was once included with his adoring mom in our hometown's premier publication.