Mousse's recovery.

	Mousse was looking more like a very thin rescued boxer. He tolerated these session several times a day to change the dressings and to clean the feeding tube and the open wounds.
	After loosing all that weight, Mousse looked more like a walking skeleton. His skull had sunken in. His ribs and hip bones were sticking out. But notice the beautiful shinny coat. I never could figure that one out.
	Only one week after coming home from Gainesville I took him back for one last surgery. This photo shows the bed sore that had opened on his right hip after it was sewn closed. The sore was too large for the skin to granulate in and close the wound. Mouse had 6 surgeries in all; 2 with my local vet and 4 more at the vet school. And it all started with an 8 inch piece of rug yarn. By the way, I never found where the yarn came from.
	One year later, Mousse had gained a good portion of his weight back. Here he is relaxing across my lap to watch a dog show back at the show grounds in Brooksville. That's Virginia Zurflieh standing next to me.
	Two years after the rug yarn disaster, Mousse is trying to get me to throw his favorite stuffed toy. The toy was his going home gift from the staff at the vet school.
My undying gratitude goes to the surgical team, veterinary students and ICU staff at the University of Florida Veterinary School. I only met a few of those who worked around the clock to save this boy's life. Daniel P. Beaver, DVM, DACVS was the surgeon in charge of Mousse's case. Dr. Beaver is now in practice in Jacksonville, FL. Dr. Lori Wendland (pictured on the right) was the vet student who was assigned to Mousse's case. Lori graduated that year and went on with her studies to specialize in wildlife. Dr. Wendland is now in practice in Micanopy, FL. (The boxer shown in the photo with Dr. Wendland is not Mousse.) Back to Mousse's page.