Smiling on Friday

I missed Thankful Thursday yesterday, but that doesn't mean there's nothing to smile about this week.

I have some before and after shots of Samba's legs.

This was taken a couple weeks ago. She was losing hair and had red sore spots on her skin form the prednisone.


This was taken today. The red spots are gone and hair is starting to grow in. Right now it's fine black peach fuzz (disgusting image) and because her feet are wet, it's hard to see, but trust me, it's there.


The right rear foot a couple weeks ago.


The same foot today. As you can see she continued to lose hair and had rather naked feet, legs and tail for awhile, but she's going to have fuzzy feet again by summer. I'm sure of it.


This is the best thing ever. She chases her ball and picks it up to bring back to me. This ball is larger than a tennis ball, so she has to open her mouth pretty wide to pick it up.


Although she seems to be carrying the ball more on one side of her mouth, it's actually the more damaged side on which she's holding it. Not only can she carry the ball now, but she can catch it. This is huge, because at the end of November she couldn't open her mouth wide enough to pick it up.
Had the disease progressed, she wouldn't be able to open her mouth enough to eat and would have needed to be fed paste like substances with a syringe.

I have found a support group of others whose dogs have MMM. We offer each other information, advice and most importantly, hope. They feel that Samba is doing well and I appreciate their feedback.


Samba puts her head in my lap and says 'Don't worry Mom, I feel good and I'm going to get even better." This dog never fails to make me smile. What a trooper.