Sedation Reaction In Dogs - Run Run Run Thump is Not Far From True

 

Rack was diagnosed with Cancer.  Left side of the tail Gland, and while you may raise an eyebrow at that, it is where it happened.  I don't want the search results to be ruined by using the clinical term for the location of it, and for this discussion, it's not completely required.

Just think of Expressing That Gland In The Butt.  On the left, specifically.  If you mention that line to a vet or a vet tech they will tell you exactly which gland.

He went in and the surgeon believes that he got all the cancer out, which is the best you can hope for in a 12 year old McNab SuperDog (TM).  That does not give me a prognosis.  It only puts Rack on something that I describe as Permanent Hospice Care since he could easily live 16 years or more, or just 16 weeks more. 

We.
Just.
Won't.
Know.

(For dramatic emphasis.)

Anyway, what happened is that Rack has always been tough to sedate.  As in he's been stitched back together when a pit bull attacked him standing rigid on a table full of meds.  Three times the expected rate of sedation for a normal dog of his size.  He simply did not go to sleep. 

And before you get on me for Breed Specific Behavior - it was a Pit Bull, so save your pontificating.  Oh and get off your own platform as you are getting a nose bleed.  There are a lot of irresponsible dog owners out there.  The owner solved the problem by moving away.  Vanishing.

So stuff your attitude.

Fast forward to today.  Rack came home from being sedated.  My "Very Reputable Veterinary Hospital was amazed at "How Much Sedation We Had To Put Into Him Before He Went Under".  Yeah we know, and that was why we warned you.

They brought him out.  He looked like a cartoon character.  Cone of Healing on, Doggie Depends Diaper on, legs not getting traction so he was galloping down the hall.  His pupils were so dilated that they were reflecting light from down the hallway.

Oh he was trippin' balls, as they say!

We got him home.  It was as if the episode of the Paul Reiser show "Mad About You" had cast Murray the Collie in my house.  You know, where Murray was obsessed with a mouse in the walls of the apartment and was running around the entire episode trying to get the thing.  "Run, Run, Run, Thump!" as Murray collided with a wall or a piece of furniture.  Strange, annoying, bizarre, whatever you want to call the behavior.  Season 2, Episode 2, Mad About You, called "Bing, Bang, Boom" for however long that link lasts.  Definitely worth a watch if you like Paul Reiser like I do. 

No Dogs were Harmed in filming the episode, he said so at the end of it.

This was what we went through that night. 

 

Youtube links do not last forever, so watch it while you can - Bill, Feb 14, 2024

For about 6 hours until Rack wore himself out and the night medications (Tramadol plus Gabapentin) kicked in, he was going around the house, cone and diaper on, and banging into things.  Then he'd back up, turn around, and return repeating the path.

The only other time I saw something like this was on an "Animal Documentary" where an Antelope was walking around in circles, compulsively, due to a parasite.  The predators of the area stopped that behavior, eventually. 

Rack's imitation of Murray stopped around 10 PM and we were able to get a few hours of sleep.

So if you are back from your Vet Visit, and your dog is compulsively and excessively pacing your house, what we did was to give him more.  Literally another Tramadol tablet brought him down to the point where he could sleep.  Turning off the lights kept him asleep.  The next day he did not need any more sedation for a while, until the second meal and the broken stitches meant we had to go back to the vet for a "repair".

It has been a rough road.  Rack is healing.  He has been under medication and some of those are sedating, for a week and a half now.  The first few days were frankly quite dirty.  Blood and gore flying when he would shake.  Any time you operate that far down the intestines, you will get all sorts of infections, and he is on some pretty strong antibiotics right now. 

But we're hopeful, and we're watching, and that is about all we can do for now.

Wish us luck.

Managing My Dog's Pancreatitis Flare Up Requires Dietary Management

Standard Internet Disclaimer:  I'm not a vet. 

If you have a problem with your dog's health go see a vet. 

I can't be responsible for any "bad advice" that you apply - GO SEE A VET if you suspect a problem. 

I am but a blog writer, don't let me be your only source of information.

However this is what worked for me.  I am not a Doctor, or a Vet.  I am however someone who has been on an "Athletic Training Diet" since 1979, so some of this is a lot of applied knowledge that came from my own trial and error.

The symptoms were that my dog got sluggish, started vomiting, and started refusing his food.  We had a bout with Diarrhea. 

The Vet suspected Pancreatitis, and after research, it seemed very likely that this was the case.   We also suspected that he has always had this but it just hadn't flared up yet.

It took a couple weeks worth of fiddling with his diet to figure this solution out.

The solution was "nuanced".  There were a few subtle things that I was doing wrong, apparently very wrong for my dog.

The result was that he's now healthy, two pounds lighter, and probably will always be on a low fat diet.


We never have completely figured out Rack's nutritional problems.  I got him as a rescue puppy with some pretty severe problems.  Worms that took three cycles of de-worming powder to kill off.  What turned out to be an allergy to poultry and grain.

His nutrition as a puppy at 7 months took him longer to get figured out than I would have liked, and it resulted in him being on the "small and light" side for the breed.

He always got the grain free dry food, when I could convince him to eat it since his teeth were naturally missing in the back.

While that is a lot to manage, it triggered my own training diet mind in gear and I figured out what was wrong.  I lost 75 pounds in 2 years when younger and have maintained a better than normal build through nutrition and exercise in the too-many years since, I should be able to figure this out.

When the prepared dry food we were giving him moved production to the US, and to a state  known for lax enforcement of food quality standards, I panicked.  The quality would suffer so we needed a different way.  That brand later had a food recall for some reason and we heard that there were dogs endangered as a result.

I was forced to prepare his own food.  Twice a week, I would take 2 1/2 pounds of cooked and browned ground beef, add water, add powder and feed him that.  He did very well on it although he got bored with it after a while.

That should have been a cue something was up.

So I did an internet search for a crock pot dog food.  Found one recipe that is human safe, although very bland - I even tasted it.  He did very well on that but it did tire him after a while.

I kept feeding him the two foods, alternating every week between recipes.

Then the Pancreatitis hit.  I recognized the symptoms from my old dog, Lettie, who had it
before she passed of kidney failure induced by "recalled dog food".  The same symptoms.  Refusing food, sluggish, loose stool, occasional vomiting.

Rack at this point is in the prime of his life.  Five years old herding dog.  Should be beyond active. 

I did some research and realized that treating him well was the problem.

We have a routine.  He gets his food at breakfast and dinner.  I rarely give him treats.  Almost never give him table scraps.

I have Pork more often than I have anything else.  I can make a pork tenderloin into something that is High End Restaurant quality.  Pork Tenderloin is a very forgiving recipe - 250F Slow oven until internally 140F.   Takes around two hours.  Marinade the Pork the night before in sauces of choice, I prefer Barbecue Sauce.

Try that recipe on Pork Loin and it works, although Pork Loin is much tougher.  Pork Loin also has a layer of fat left on it so it can soak down into the roast. 

That was the problem.

Dogs do not digest pork fat well.

Two days before the incident, I had given him the fat from the top of my lunch pork.  I did that again the next day.

The third day, he later started refusing food. 

HIS food never changed.  MY food had.  I went from the Pork Tenderloin which is just about the leanest meat you can get to Pork Loin and feeding him an ounce of fatty scraps.

On research it turns out that you should never feed a dog pork fat.  That includes Bacon.

Dogs can not digest it well, it tends to cause problems.  Like Pancreatitis.

So all snacks were cancelled.  He got a Fasting Day to clear his system of the fat.  His "regular food" was cut down to a quarter and served on a bed of white rice to be mixed in.

He began eating it slowly.

As his system cleared out, I mixed in proportionally more of the regular food.

He had a small flare up.

It turned out that the beef I was serving was a problem as well.  There was too much fat in the meat.  This was a "Utility Grade Meat" and as such had a significant quantity of added fat.  You could actually smell the fat in the resulting dog food.

Now my own cooking skills were brought to task.  I had a freezer full of Utility Grade Meat that needed to be de-fatted.

If you won't eat it, don't feed it to the dog.

Brown the meat and skim off as much fat as possible. 

I was getting as much as a cup of fat skimmed off of 2 1/2 pounds of "beef".

Prepare the normal recipes.

Success.

The only side effect was that he started losing weight.  That I can manage since he was acting hungry again.  His serving sizes were increased by an ounce at a time over the next couple weeks until the weight loss stopped and the begging slowed.

Now he's doing fine.  Begging for Yogurt here is at a normal level and since I make the stuff for my own use, it's not a problem.

Stools are normal.  Coat is shiny and soft.  No vomiting.

Best of all the energy level is higher than I remember it.  Which means that I get more exercise as well.

So:

• Reduce the fat to the utmost minimum.  
• No table scraps ever.  
• No added sugar, ever.
• No added salt, ever.
• No treats of Bacon or other fat from the roasts.  

It helped him out big time.  I'm back to being run around by a herding dog with a big personality.

Rack Was Attacked By A Pitbull

I will quote myself  here: "Stereotypes are Sometimes Correct.".

Not every pit bull is a vicious dog, but when they are vicious, they are far too "good" at it.

Florida passed a law banning "Breed Specific Bans" in the state.  If you asked me last night when I was knocked off my feet while on the ground kicking the side of this more than 60 pound pit bull to get her off my dog, I would say it was a bad idea. 

Logically I know that pit bulls aren't all bad.   My neighbor had a pit, Babygirl, who was the definition of sweet.  He now has a part-pit Ellie that is Rack's best friend.

The problem isn't the breed, it's the owner.  In this case an owner that did not think that his pit bull had any problems with any other dogs and allowed her off her leash.

My neighbor's part-pit part Heinz 57 dog, Ellie, knew this dog was trouble.   We all met in front of the house the night before.   While Rack was being his usual goofy puppy self, Ellie was doing a much better job of reading this dog's mind.  It decided to pick on the weakest dog of the three in her mind, and started a fight.  I managed to pull Rack out of the middle and Ellie got yanked out as well.

From that point on it became a Dog Of Interest, or One To Avoid.

Last evening's walk I didn't have that option.  This pit bull was off leash in front of the property where the owner rents.  It spotted us before I did, at least 50 feet if not 75 away. 

Rack saw it first and began to back up to hide behind me.

Oh thanks, kid!

When I saw the dog, I grabbed Rack to lift him as high as possible to buy time.   It didn't work.

The pit bull charged me landing on me and knocking me to the ground.  At the same moment it grabbed onto Rack's front leg skin and would not let go.  This was when I tried my best to stop this by kicking the dog off of both of us.

The owner comes and finally collects his vicious pitbull.

He's trying to tell me that the dog is not vicious.  He also told me not to call the police.

My response was "If it wasn't vicious, it wouldn't have attacked us".

He of course said "If you are going to be crazy like that, I am not going to help you".

I then immediately called 911 and got through to the Wilton Manors Police Dispatch desk.

What had to have been the entire police force on duty arrived in under five minutes.

I rehashed the story to the officers who arrived plus Dave in Code Enforcement. 

While you may not have Breed Specific Bans in place, we do have a very good law in town about vicious animals.   Whoever formulated this law has my gratitude. 

I will paraphrase the legislation:

If your dog attacks a human or domestic animal (dogs and cats) and draws blood, causes a laceration or cut, or any other sort of trauma, your dog is defined as being vicious.  Vicious dogs are only allowed in the city limits of Wilton Manors if they are registered with the City Clerk and a bond of $500,000 is posted.  All of this must happen in five business days.  The dog will be retained by the city and sent to the county animal control to make sure that all shots and licenses are up to date at the cost of the owner.   If this bond is posted, the dog may not be allowed off property without muzzle and other protection for the safety and the good of the people and dogs in town.

Since the person who owned this vicious pitbull is a renter and had moved in within the month, I sincerely doubt this will happen.   Most likely the owner is a flight risk, will abandon the dog, and move out of town.  With an absentee owner in Maryland, and the property managed locally, I doubt that he will be allowed to remain in the property.  I think it's fairly obvious that the dog will be and should be put down.

I was told by the officers that we were very lucky in this attack.   Rack will heal.  The skin was ripped open for a "thumb length" and you could see muscle and sinew underneath.  We got him to the veterenarian who remained open for this emergency.  Rack now has a bare patch on his leg with some stitches as well as him wearing a spare T-Shirt.   He's also sitting as close to me, physically, as he possibly can.

There have been pitbull attacks in Wilton Manors before where small dogs had their legs flayed open like a sleeve, and worse.  This is the reason for the law.  There are too many people in this city with dogs of all sizes that are badly trained.   While a Chihuahua with an attitude is bad enough, even comical, an aggressive pit bull is deadly. 

To say "Keep your dog on a leash" is an understatement.  There is never any justification for this sort of situation.  Some people shouldn't own a stuffed animal let alone a deadly and vicious pit bull.  They make it harder for the rest of the people out there that are responsible owners.

Waiting on the Vet Day 4 - Not Good News At All

When I got to the vet at 5:30 last night, I got some bad news.

The number that was quoted to me was incorrect.  The nurse had read the wrong BUN number.  Since the right BUN number was almost unchanged from the first day, that basically says we need to consider our options.

We talked, and the conversation was basically a "You don't have too many things you can try at this point" speech.  In other words we are pretty much on our own.

This morning I went to grab the food and feed Lettie.  A syringe took me about 25 minutes.   The second took 15 minutes.  That was for about a small paper cup worth of food or 2 1/2 ounces.  She should be getting 12 ounces of food a day minimum.  Doubled, I'm giving her 5/12 of her daily diet. 

It was a battle all the way.  Squirt in about a teaspoon.  She would grumble and almost immediately spit it out.  Keep squirting in teaspoons and sometimes she'd chew and swallow, but only about 1 in 10. 

This is a dog who has given up.  That is the nature of Chronic Renal Failure in dogs.  You can want them to last forever, but the reality is that they won't.

So things don't look good.   I have to bring her back to the vet today.  I'm really thinking that the best course of action is to schedule her end and stop treatments.

If things change, of course, I'll let you know.

Finally, Some Good News From The Vet

This Chronic Renal Failure is a bear.  Especially in a pet since you can't really do Dialysis or a Kidney Transplant. 

On the other hand, sometimes you get a pleasant surprise.

Lettie was in the Vet's office for two days of fluid replenishment via IV.   When she first got there they did blood tests.  Her "Blood Urea Nitrogen" levels were three times higher than normal at 120.  

Today they were in Normal range of below 40. It wasn't even listed on the "Exception" report I saw.

She snapped back.

Of course it still takes me 30 minutes to under-feed the dog.  That's by her choice, not mine.  I'd give her cans of the stuff if she'd eat it.  My understanding is that there isn't a dog alive that likes "I/D" food.

So today I get to bake a can down to "Dog Food Jerky".  Slice the food down to under 1/4 inch thickness.  Roast at 350 until the thinnest pieces are crispy.

Only then will Lettie eat the damn stuff willingly.

That's what Chronic Renal Failure does.  It makes you have to eat food that you don't like.  At the end of it, you have to be forced to eat it.  One can is 10 syringes.  If it is roughly 700 calories per can, that's 70 calories a syringe - about 1 1/4 ounces each.  She should get 5 in the morning, 5 at night.

Last night I managed to get 4 into her and 3 this morning.

If you are reading this because you're researching feeding your older dog, that is why I am writing this down.  I'm also writing it down because I can be absent minded.

What happens is because the dog will starve themselves, literally, to death, you have to make allowances.   Push food at them.  When your dog is at the point that you are taking them in for IV Fluids, the gloves are off.

Today I got the following recommendation.   Since she's starving herself, the "Creatinine" levels are high.  That indicates that she is "eating" her muscle mass.   To reverse that, feed lean meats - raw or cooked.   Just make sure that if it is cooked, it is cooked without salt.  If it is raw, make sure that it is clean.

Cook the chicken, cooked or raw meat from pork or beef. 

Chicken bones only if they are uncooked - Personally I will avoid that due to the risk of salmonella.

So Mrs Dog gets another day or so at the spa.   It will buy her some more time.  Maybe a month, maybe more, maybe less.  We just don't know.

I strongly doubt I'll put her through this again.  Her demeanor is much less "fiesty" than she had been.  Right now, on day three, she seems to be much more passive, as if she's giving up.  This is an alpha dog, or a strong beta dog.   She's also very fearful.  So to see her personality just "flatten out" says a lot.

For now, my friend will be sleeping next to my bed.  She will be waking me up no doubt since they're
leaving the catheter in her leg and I'll have to keep the blue "Cone Of Shame" on her.

But for now, we're hopeful.

Waiting on the Vet - Day 2

This was the view when I opened the bathroom door this morning after my shower.

Mrs Dog, waiting on me, and our daily routine.  The problem is that the daily routine has been interrupted.

This is day 2 of the latest treatment regimen.  She's been to the vet before, and generally doesn't like it.  I can tell that she's not feeling well because she's a very passive dog about it all.

Yesterday's results were very bad.  There's a specific measurement of the "Blood Urea Nitrogen" levels.   It tells you how well the kidneys are functioning.  In my dog, they basically aren't.  I was told "normal" is 34.  Hers was 120.

Four times higher.

While that was before any treatment, we do know she's not feeling well and her kidneys aren't working. 

What we're doing is taking her to the vet for an IV drip of fluids to see if we can get the numbers down.  She'll have her blood tested mid day today after a day of fluids yesterday and the morning treatment.  At that point we'll see where she is.

Another day at the "Day Spa" for elderly canines.

Chronic Renal Failure is not an easy thing to treat in a dog.  If it were a human, she'd get dialysis or a kidney transplant.   For an almost 13 year old dog, that just isn't going to happen.

Tips for Syringe Feeding your Dog with Chronic Renal Failure

Standard Disclaimer:
I am not a vet.  I am not a health professional.  Consult your vet.  Any advice you find here that is helpful, is merely intended to be that.  Help.

I keep mentioning that "Chronic Renal Failure" simply because as a part of the progression of the disease, the patient will slowly stop eating.  They basically starve themselves to death.

This is what happened with my own Lettie two weeks ago.   She survived because we realized we needed prompt professional veterinary attention.

What happens is that when the illness flares up, the dog gets nauseous and stops eating.  Nobody will last without food and when you're not metabolizing it correctly because the kidneys are failing, there's a very short period of time that you can act.

Sunday she stopped eating and drinking, utterly.   Monday she was in the vet.   They rehydrated her with intravenous solutions, and that continued through Thursday.   Her blood numbers for the various chemicals were extremely high, the hydration helped flush that all out.  When the week was done her numbers were either normal or very slightly "elevated".

Now it is Monday as I write this, a week later.  She's just taken her first bit of solid food from me and has more energy.   Clearly she is improving.

Chronic Renal Failure means for as long as she remains alive, she will continue to have these episodes and eventually hydration will not allow her to recouperate.  She must be on a prescribed diet that is low Potassium, low Protein, and low Salt.  The prescription food is pretty much despised by dogs so they won't eat it without being tricked.

Since she's refusing food, how do you combat that?

I was told after four days of intravenous fluids that if I couldn't feed her she's at her end.   I wanted to fight for her but how?  The vet tech Danielle at the excellent Family Pet Center in Fort Lauderdale gave me a can of prescription diet and two syringes.  I was to use these syringes to insert the food into Lettie's mouth and basically make her eat. 

She is a 47 pound dog, or at least she was before she started losing weight as a result of this disease.   As a result she will need one can of prescription diet a day.   You will want to feed twice a day.   Larger dogs get more food, smaller get less.  Ask your vet how much you should feed.

The first trial I used a fabric Muzzle.   That was overkill.  Here is the list of supplies that I use:

Feeding syringes - five.  35 ML in capacity.  The opening at the end is about the size of a common drinking straw.  35 ML is about an Ounce and about a quarter.  Even if the dog or cat in question is small, you will need a large opening because dog (or cat) food is thick and won't "inject" easily.  Five syringes will fill with 6 ounces of food by weight with enough "wiggle room" so you can work with the syringes to get them filled comfortably.  For larger dogs, you can get a larger syringe to make your work easier.

Microwave safe Large Coffee mug or mixing bowl of 16 ounces or more.  

Tablespoon to blend the food until all large clumps have been smoothed out - or alternately use a blender.  I found a tablespoon and a large latte or coffee mug to be perfect.

Microwave - you will warm the food to around "body temperature".   Warm food that is around 100F or 40C will be easier flowing.   Colder food tends to be more firm.

Large light color plastic mat.   You will be feeding the dog on the mat and you will be on the floor.  Why?  Psychology.  You are big, the pet is small.   If you are "on their level" they will be more relaxed.  It really is all about the pet.  Your comfort is secondary, you are saving their lives.  The goal is to be at eye level or close to it with your pet.

Oh the light color is so that you can find any mess later.  A towel can be used but washing a towel after every meal twice a day gets tedious.

Sandwich sized Plastic Bag with a corner cut out.  You want a small, drinking straw sized hole cut in the corner of the plastic bag so that you can work with it like a pastry bag.

Scissors to cut a hole in the plastic bag.

Bowl of water.   The dog may need water during feeding.  You would have a beer or soda with your pizza right?

Dog Collar and Leash.  I find my own Lettie tries to wander off.   Keeping a leash "at hand" slows her down.  When she wanders, you can gently guide her back to task.  She doesn't really want to eat, you have to help her along.  I basically sit on the leash and reel her in when need be.

Any medicines or pills that need to be added to the food.  

Assembly and Process:

Open the can of food.  I'm currently using Hill Diet I/D food.  She also has Pancreatitis on top of her kidney problems.   The food looks like a pate or a chopped liver paste.

Spoon 6 ounces (1/2 can) into the coffee mug.

Warm the mug and food for approximately 20 seconds.  It should feel warmish to the touch, but not hot.  Remember, you will be working with the food and you don't want to burn your pet's mouth as well as your hands.  The food will thin out a little bit and make it easier to work with.

Use the tablespoon to mix the food and break down any large clumps.  It should be smooth when you are done.

Spoon the food into the plastic bag and seal the bag. 

Tamp the food down toward the opening that you cut.   You will be using the plastic bag like a pastry bag.

If you are adding a pill to the food, you can add it after partially filling a syringe, then dropping the pill in the syringe, then finishing the fill.   Make sure the pill is broken small enough to easily run down the nozzle of the syringe.  You're killing two birds with one stone here by sneaking the pills in the food.

Fill the syringes until you have a little more than one ounce in each syringe.  You will do this by squeezing the plastic bag and letting the food run into the body of the syringe.  Basically you're decorating a cake.  

Tamp the food down to remove air bubbles.  Squeeze more food into the syringe if you have any leftover room.   I find that 6 ounces fill 4 1/2 35ML syringes.  Place the syringes on the mat.  Make sure the first syringe you feed is the one with any medicine.

Put the collar and leash on the dog and walk her over to the mat near the water and the syringes.  Place the muzzle near the syringes.

Sit down and talk to her.  Most importantly you will want to make sure your "energy" is calm and cool.   If you are hyper and bouncing around, your pet will definitely be the same way.

The muzzle may be used at this point if you have a bitey dog.  My own Lettie is fearful and she is a fear biter, but I was able to do this without using the muzzle and no biting.   If you do use the muzzle, remember to leave it loose enough that the dog's mouth can be slightly opened.   You will need to get the opening of the syringe in that little gap.

Since I am not using a muzzle, here's how I do it.

Seated on the ground, I gently hold Lettie's head from under the jaw.  I show her the syringe and tell her "Hungry" as she understands that to say it is time for food.  Aiming the syringe, I get her to open the lips on the side of her mouth. 

There is a spot directly behind the main Canine teeth, the fangs, that there is a gap. 

Placing the opening of the syringe at that gap, I squeeze a little bit of food into the gap.   At this point the dog's reflexes will take over.   If your dog really truly hates this process, she'll clamp her mouth shut or snap at you prompting you to use the muzzle.   In my case, she opens her mouth slightly.   This was the signal for me to push the plunger on the syringe so that she got a slow but steady stream of food into her mouth.  

At this point she would begin chewing and accepting the food.   If you are pushing too quickly, the food will gather in the cheeks and she'll back away.  This is one of those things in life that you have to "finesse" and find the right speed.   Watch your dog closely. 

I am able to actually get the syringe into the cavity of the mouth and empty each syringe one at a time while she's eating.   This is after about 3 days of twice a day feedings.

After five days her energy is improving.  She won't ever be perfect again, she's just not going to recover.   This will buy some time with her but I understand that there will be another relapse and eventually The Final Decision will have to be made when I walk her to The Rainbow Bridge.

At least this gives us time to adjust.

Lettie's Satellite - Chronic Renal Failure Relapse

They warned us that it would eventually relapse.  It did finally happen.

When I took her in for a "Tune Up", they said that this time she may either not recover or the time to next relapse will be less than the 10 months we got this time around.

That's the summary I guess.

Saturday night we thought something was "off" but she's an old dog and we thought it was possible that it was just her being "her".

Sunday she refused almost all food and water so Monday we knew we needed to take her into the Vet for a checkup and rehydration.

This Renal Failure thing is a difficult thing to work with.  It makes a dog feel ill and nauseous. Not wanting to eat only compounds matters.

The vet did blood work and found that all her blood levels were elevated above where she was when she had her last episode.  She also has the beginning of Pancreatitis.

The course of action was three days of intravenous fluids, anti nausea medications called Cerenia, and more tests at the end of the week. 

Since she's a very strong willed dog, that also means that she's on sedatives.   That smile you see on her face is there as a result.   When we got her home last night after "doggy day care" she lay on the cold tiles not moving unless helped to her feet.

So this weekend is a watch and see weekend.   She will decide if she makes it.   I've been offering so much food to her that she's getting wary of my approach.   She hasn't eaten any of it so it all just piles up.

Day two of the three day tank up is in progress.

These Canine Chronic Renal Failure articles get read by people who are going through the same thing that we are.  Your prognosis will be similar - basically the challenge is convincing the dog (or cat) that they want to eat.   Each time they get sick, they will refuse food and lose weight.  That sets up a cycle where the next time will be sooner and more severe until eventually you have to make The Decision as to whether keeping your pet alive is more cruel than kind.

And that, my readers, is where we are.

LettieLettieLETTIE LEAP!

My old girl turned 12.  She's definitely showing it, but Lettie is a textbook description of the breed.  She's a McNab Dog, and it's a breed that has all the intelligence of a Border Collie, and maybe more, plus she's much more focused.

My Lettie expects everything to be Just So.  To the point that if I'm overexcited she'll cling to me and try to "help".  That usually just gets me more "overexcited" because now I have 47 pounds of mostly black dog getting in the way.

But that Just So Thing is important.

Everything really has a pattern.  In my life I try to at least keep things under control and she fits in perfectly.   Settling down to write this, I moved from my desk chair to the futon next to the window in the Florida Room and propped my feet up on an old Mac.   This is just not to be so she got up and began to walk away after giving me the look as if to say I have just lost my mind.

I may have.

When things are not "Just So" and she can't control them, that's when life gets comical.

Back in March she got sick and we were trying to figure out how to balance her thyroid medications along with her fading kidneys.   We spent way too much time at the Vet's office.   Mind you, I really like our Vet at Family Pet Medical Center.  They saved her twice when she had her seizures, and brought her back after this latest episode.   I now have a dog who is on a very strict regimen of low protein foods and any time she asks for food she gets it.  It's like watching someone go through cravings, they'll eat what they want until they get what they need.

As much as I like the Vet, she doesn't.

She wants in and out and home as fast as possible.  That's a shame because she is really well liked by all there, and in about a month is going in for her check up.

Get ready Lettie, things will get Weird.

Last time there we sat in the waiting room long enough for all three of us to get fidgety.  She wanted out.  She was dragging me on the purple leash to the door as I repeatedly pulled her back to the seats.  We tried moving around the office and each time it was back to the door.  We tried showing her the TV but she wanted none of that.   She didn't want the kittens either but I don't blame her.

Then out of nowhere it happened.

A High Pitched Sound was on the air as the one Vet Tech came bounding out the door to get my Senior Dog.

"Lettie?  Lettie!  LETTIELETTIELETTIELETTIE!"

It was a siren of energy to a dog who is not exactly a fan of that.

Who knew a 12 year old dog with a bad pair of kidneys, thyroid problems, and most likely a fair amount of arthritis had it in her.

I was sitting on the bench next to Kevin when all the sudden there was 47 pounds of fearful dog leaping through the air.  She deftly thread herself between the two of us while in the air.

This dog must have invisible wings because I swear she changed her angle while she flew at the bench.

Tail got planted firmly between legs, jaw gaped open, and she started to shiver as she hid behind Kevin's back on the bench.

We didn't even know she that could hear at that point, even though now it was clear that on that day she could!

The reaction was so strong and so out of character that even the TV went silent for that moment before the room broke out laughing.

Calming the old girl down, we told her that it was her turn and she got the expert care from Family Pet Center that we expected.

She's still out on that mat.  I'm still on the futon that functions as a couch.  I guess I'm being Weird.  She doesn't do Weird.

What do you do with a Picky Eater?

All her life, for about 10 years, my dog was a "Swiss Watch". 
Very regular, very predictable, very regimented.
Most of that reflects my own philosophy of life. 
Things have a pattern, and you get the best results when you stick to them.

Now she's getting old.  Not just older, but she's acting old.   The walks are slower, she gets creaky when she gets up, and she won't go as far as she did before without rolling to a stop for a smiling rest.

When I got her I was told "Purina Lamb and Rice and limit the treats".  We did and we had for the most part a very healthy run. 

Recently she began to leak at night.  First a spot on the mat, then puddles.  I know now that if I wake up at night to the steady rhythm of "LickLickLickLick", I've got something to clean.

The vets put her on a "Renal Diet".  She won't go near that stuff.  Refused to eat it, I gave in and put her old standby out for her to eat.   She picked at that.   Clearly a dog who doesn't eat well is having other issues.

I tried softening the renal diet with some pork gravy but that spiked her salt levels and she drank a lot more water.   That created more puddles.   So we threw our hands up, backed off the renal diet, and went back to the old standby full time with water softened in the microwave.

That worked for about a week until she bored of that.

Panicking we tried some soft dog food varieties.   Good results for a day or so until she started cutting back her meals.

This sort of thing always happens on a holiday.   Over the Labor Day Weekend, she cut back on her food until Saturday she practically ate nothing.  Sunday the food that I offered her was ignored. 

While all of this was going on, I was cooking eggs.  I set up a pot of eggs and hardboiled them.  Knowing that dogs will eat the things, I kept them for after the morning walk.

We got back and she ate some of the dog food that she seemed to like so we didn't give her more.  

After noticing that she hadn't ate all that food, she was getting wobbly.   You see the old adage is nonsense.  "A Dog Will Eat When They Are Hungry" is only for "normal" dogs.  Mine has always been exceptional, and when they get old, their needs changed.

So she got the eggs, and devoured them. 

I spent the entire day in the kitchen Labor Day making boiled chicken, boiled eggs, steamed rice, and a few things for us.  By the time I was through, I had fed her 800 calories of rice, chicken, and eggs, as well as a few cookies, tablespoons of yogurt, and a few things that escaped the pot and landed on the floor.

Clearly she was hungry but not eating.

So today a trip to the vet is in order.   This picky eating continued to this morning where a bowl of Rice and Egg was only half eaten.  I pulled out the big guns and fed her a cup of rice and one chicken breast and she ate that like it was her last meal on Earth.

The trip later this afternoon will tell me more.   I may have a quiet house tonight minus one dog kept "For Observation".   Through it all she's acting normal, happy and Perky.   If a twelve year old dog can be described as perky, I guess mine is.

So why do I share all of this?   Easier for me to get my thoughts down on a blog so that if I need to remember it, it's in one place.   May as well, I have all this technology at hand, I can use it to my benefit.

"Lets Go!  Ride!  Car!"... and when we get there, I'm glad I can still lift her!

Finicky Dog Means Diet Changes

I've never really had any problems feeding my Lettie.   She's a typical Dog, will eat anything, anywhere, any time. 

As long as it's food that is.

She went through her Thyroid problem and is now on meds, 1/2 pill twice daily.  Set the little half of a rice grain sized thing on top of the food and she'll just eat it as well as everything else in the bowl.

Or will she.

Lately she's been sniffing at her food and taking all day to eat it.  I was thinking that the next step was more blood tests, different pills, and hope for the best. 

I have been feeding her Purina One Lamb and Rice since I got her.  With small exceptions like when I got a coupon on a different brand, she's almost never been off the stuff.   It smells vaguely like mutton, and I guess to a Mc Nab Dog, it is heaven in a bowl.  When I switched her off, well lets just say that I had to bring bigger bags to follow after her in a walk.  Other foods weren't being "processed" as efficiently and she'd have more Poo to pick up after.  

We don't like that... back to the original food.

All that history, 10 years plus of it, is why I was surprised that she was acting like she didn't like the Brown Triangles.

This picture started up right around when we were noticing she was getting fussy with her food.  Laughing at the picture and seeing your Best Friend get fussy is distressing.  Planning a trip to the Vet isn't that fun either.  She loves a trip in the car, but immediately stresses when she gets to the Vet.  It's not cause and effect, dog in car does not equal stress, but it's getting close.

After a discussion we thought maybe it was a tooth problem.  She is after all almost 12, and she does sometimes like to eat Ice.  Don't do that, you'll crack a tooth like Mom would say.  

Noticing that she was eating the ice slower and "differently" I went into action.

One cup dog food plus 2 ounces of water go into the dog bowl, microwave for 30 seconds.

Now I'm not only making gourmet food for me and my own, but the dog is now included in that list.

She gobbled that "new" food like it was going out of style. 

Since the Vet appointment is not for a few more days, we'll be watching her closely.  After all, this sort of thing only happens on a Holiday.

Training the Dog to Hate Peanut Butter

Pretty difficult task isn't it?  Teaching the dog how to hate peanut butter?  I think I've learned how.

You see Mrs Dog is incredibly smart.  In her younger days, we'd ask her questions and she'd follow through with the results.  "Show Me" wasn't Missouri, it was an invitation by us to have her show me what she wants.  When I moved from Philly to South Florida, the first thing we had done with her was to teach her the neighborhood by going out in a general direction and say to her "OK, Go Home". 

She never got lost.  She'd get us home every time.

Tricking her to take her pills was not too difficult when it was a random thing.  She was always a very healthy dog, just toss the pill over your shoulder and she'd scramble for it.  The pill would be gone in a bite.

She has a taste for Glucosamine.  The capsules are white, filled with a powder, and slightly sweet.  She actually bites down on them and scatters Glucosamine all over my kitchen floor, typically right after I have mopped it.

Now that she's older, pills are a daily occurrence.  Twice daily for the Glucosamine, twice daily for the thyroid hormones.  I can usually get her to take the thyroid pill by treating it as a treat.  She'll do a trick, then get the pill, give me a dirty look, then spit it out and of course eat it off the floor again.

There goes the Dining Room floor.

Lately she had a flare up.  We thought it was due to her thyroid medications giving her a reaction.  Her skin got dry and flaky, and she was scratching almost constantly.  After taking her back to the vet, we came home with weaker thyroid meds and some Antibiotics that we were to give her twice daily.

Great!  More Pills!  Lets do a dance around the microwave!

Why the microwave dance?  She decided she didn't like the Antibiotics after the second dose.  First it was sneak it in with the food, then that didn't work, she would eat around the pill and spit it out.   Forgetting that she still had teeth, I slipped the pill in the side of her jaw and tickled her throat.  She swallowed it but hated the experience.

Now for the heavy guns.  Peanut butter!  


The last time she had seizures, she lived on the stuff.   Peanut butter on a saltine with a steroid pill happily hidden deep under all that brown goo.  She ate them and didn't think twice.

Grabbing the butter knife, I would get a dollop of peanut butter, drop an Antibiotic on it, then roll it around like a little ball and then encrust it in dog food.   Sure!  That would fool her!

Guess again pal!  You see My Best Friend would bite down and have antibiotic flavored peanut butter now in her mouth. She'd swallow part, spit out the rest, then try to eat the food that wasn't "polluted" with antibiotics.

Time for another change in plans I guess.  Glucosamine and Thyroid meds on the food, antibiotics will have to be done separately. 

Luckily it's less than another week of this.  Her skin is mostly cleared now.  She's scratching approximately as much as she did before all this coincidental nonsense hit. 

When I reach for the Peanut Butter jar, she isn't begging nearly as much as she had been.   I guess today would be a good day to have a peanut butter and jelly sandwich for lunch.  I have a jar of Lemon Curd in the refrigerator plus one to spare, as well as a Cinnamon Raisin roll... Maybe I can have that without having a wet nose in the middle of my lunch?

Hypothyroidism in my old McNab Dog Lettie 3 weeks on

Back at the beginning of the month we loaded Mrs Dog into the Jeep and took her to the Family Pet Medical Center in Fort Lauderdale for her shots and annual checkup.  They drew blood, she was stressed but all in all if you're in South Florida this is the vet you need to have for your dog.

A couple nights later, I got a call from Dr Glass saying that I should come in tomorrow.  Mrs Dog had a "text book" case of early stages of Hypothyroidism.   It was common in an older dog and she'll survive well and may just rebound.  I went silent and took in the information, it was a bit much to take in at 845 when the dog walk was looming but we dealt with it.

Three weeks on, I've got a dog who has more energy back than I remembered her having for a couple years.  She has her will back too, which means that sometimes she tells me she wants the walk cut short by pulling me toward the house when we get to the end of a block.   I have a habit of walking her 3 miles a day, and sometimes she just doesn't want to do all that. 

Her hearing had improved too.  In fact greatly.  I had given her hearing up for a loss before the appointment thinking that maybe the vet could help, maybe there was a clot of something in the ears that could be coaxed out but didn't really hold out much hope.   Oddly enough I was shown recently just how much better her hearing had gotten.

She has a couple soft toys, in fact outside of the nearly empty peanut butter jar or rubber kong we've got here, she doesn't care for hard toys.  Her favorite is a small green frog with a squeaker in it.  She tends to keep that palm sized thing near her mat when she sleeps and when it is gone, she'll look for it.

Wednesday I tossed it into the laundry with some things that needed the "Superhot Sterilize" cycle on the washer since it was starting to have a definite fragrance.

She noticed.

When I pulled it out of the washer, she was there, watching me put it in the dryer.

When it came out of the dryer she wasn't in the room.  Her hearing is better, not perfect and she hadn't followed me out immediately.  She was standing out in the kitchen looking through the laundry room sniffing the air that flowed through the house in the cool breezes that are here this time of year when I squeaked that toy.   She couldn't see me, but she did step into the room and sniffed the air looking at me.  One more squeak proved that she could hear that noise.

So today, my lazy old soul was half asleep and we tried the squeaky frog again. 

One squeak and an ear perked slightly.
One more squeak and the ear perked upright.
A third and the ear found the source and she lifted the head.

Smart girl.  Decide if you want it when you're comfortable and your bones are telling you it's not exactly comfortable to move.

So basically she's on the pill a meal club for the rest of her days.

Her energy is better.
Hearing is better.
She is sleeping less.
She is acting like she is less achy.

I'm sure there are more symptoms that she's got but basically I've got "more" of her back now.   The benefit is that those little pink pills aren't nasty tasting and she just gobbles it down with her food.  None of that wrap it in bologna and hope for the best nonsense.

The Look Of Fear

This Weekend I did a terrible thing,

I took Mrs Dog to the Vet.

It was time for her shots, her annual poke and prod and time for a general exam.

She didn't care for it.  You see, a Mc Nab Dog has a "Soft" Personality.   There are things she just doesn't do well with like, say, Personal Maintenance or generally anything outside of the ordinary. 

That is to say anything outside of the ordinary is "Weird" and she doesn't like "Weird".


The preparation is simple.  Confuse her.  Get her all wound up and excited and tell her we're going for a RIDE! then stop off at the Vet's.   A Week or two early.  Mind you, I use an amazing vet.  They saved her life twice.  She had seizures twice in her life and was basically on life support for a couple days until she was able to shake it off enough to be able to come back home.   Then it was a month of therapy which consisted of me feeding her steroids and "walking" her by holding her up by the harness and letting her weak and wobbly legs do the rest.   The damage cleared and we're now into our third "Bonus" year.  

It has left her afraid of the vet and probably rightly so.  All that happened and it's been a while, but she's not exactly a fan of the place. 

I am a huge fan of Family Pet Medical Center on Federal Highway in Fort Lauderdale.  Dr Gonzales and Dr Glass are great people and treated all of us well when we went through all of that.  They're on Facebook too just like everyone is these days.

This year wasn't a big deal, it was more of her just being cranky.  After all we were returning to "The Scene Of The Crime". 

Of course we had to get there an hour before the appointment could be filled.  We sat and watched the trippy TV that was trying to die, and she just wanted none of this.

I practically had to drag her into the waiting room, then when I sat down she became Vector Dog.  She'd try to be as far away from any other dog and as close to the door as possible at the same time.   Hard to explain that particular episode but believe me, an insistent 49 Pound Dog can figure a way to do that.

So we wait.   They had on the dog show on the TV that was dying.  It was giving me and the others there vertigo since it was weird trippy trails of color on the screen that sometimes settled down to a picture, only to get swooped away into another realm of trails of blue.  Consider it a radio program with two demented presenters.

When we got up to go in to the waiting room, she again was trying to squeeze through the door crack.  It looked so sad that I snapped that picture above.  She's putting on a brave face but none of us believed it.

When it came time for attention, our grumbling girl got the muzzle treatment.  Just easier that way especially since I use one of those cloth muzzles for her when I have to give her a bath.

I think what happens in those kind of situations where you're there and the dog is being prodded you can take two attitudes.  One of just let it happen, two would be get involved.   The latter probably makes things more complex and takes longer but that's what we did.  Who knows whether it helped her or not but it helped me get through that.

70 thousand mile/11 year check up all done, she's good for another year.  Three for the rabies shots. 

Getting her home that day was a big change in personality.   All weekend she was glued to me like 49 pounds of fear fur.  If I got up to go into another room, she was there like a shot.   If she didn't notice me leave, it was going to be her obsessing until she sniffed me out. 

Yes, she turned into a very loyal tower of jello.  That's not a bad thing, but it did mean that she had a weekend of finding where she could stare at me as she laid down and would fall asleep.   With her hearing going I came to the conclusion it was a toss up as to whether or not I should make a lot of noise for her to follow me or just to get up and do my thing quietly so she wasn't disturbed.

Not like I'm exactly the quietest thing on the planet, mind you.

Dogs can be a puzzle can't they?

My Border Collie is Recouperating

The key word here is slowly.

We are all confident that my 10 plus year old border collie, Lettie has had a stroke.  Strokes are funny beasts.  Every one is different, every one effects us differently, and every one effects different species differently.  With dogs and cats, they say that a stroke can be an event that you can completely recover from.  On the other hand, my father's father had a stroke and was bedridden through my entire childhood.

We are also fairly confident that Lettie had a stroke around a year ago when we heard her yip in pain and then wake the next morning very wobbly. 

That is our story and we are sticking to it. 

I am watching her very closely.  She's resting most of the day, sleeps through the night, and I think she'll come back to most of her function.   It also sets up a pattern.  Some morning in the future I may wake to find her in this state again.  I'll wait until that episode to judge my reaction.

For now, she's safe.   I'm learning alternate ways to do things.

One example, food and water.   Yesterday she refused her normal food.  She would usually scarf down 1 cup a day of Purina Lamb and Rice.  Gobble Gobble Gobble... then want more.  She'd drink water to make it expand in her gut, and then walk out the door for her one mile walk dragging me behind.  Lettie took no food on her own yesterday so I tempted her with about 250 calories of Peanut Butter on Crackers.  I also used a bottle with a very small nozzle to slowly give her about a pint of water through the day.  Dinner was around one egg, scrambled, and a half of a pot of Activia Yogurt.  It was blueberry and she spit the fruits out thinking they were pills.

I have also had to get creative giving her pills.  She's on Prednisone and Cipro.  Apparently Cipro tastes vile.  Not only will she refuse the pill but will pass on what ever it touches.   The way I have been getting these pills down her throat is to hold her head up at a 45 degree angle, wait until she sneers, slip the pill through her molar, then irrigate her mouth with a slow stream of water.  It works, but it is not very subtle.

Today she walked a big figure eight around the Central Area Neighborhood in Wilton Manors.  Around my block, around Wilton Drive, and sniffing all the way.  Total of .85 miles.  Most humans won't walk that much in a day.

Her "scanning" of objects has stopped, which means her brain is recovering.  When she had the episode, the doctor noticed that instead of focusing on an object, her eyes would flick or scan the object and never quite settle on it.  Today her vision looks approximately correct - she focuses, constriction and dilation of the pupils are normal, and she "fixes" on the object.

My little girl is still wobbly on her feet.  She is also a fighter.  I am too.  We're going to fight as long as she wants.  There does not seem to be any pain due to this, but of course we can't be completely sure.

I am amazed that she is bouncing back.  Remembering my Grandfather laying in bed in a VA Hospital in Nazareth PA all those years, I never would have expected that my little dog would be walking around town with a purpose.   Last night she even dragged me past the bars as if to say "I want normal! Lets Try!". 

At least she's better than Yesterday when we had the first full day, or the first morning with all those symptoms.

I expect her to lay around all day like in this picture, asking her from time to time if she wants out or water or food.  I can be a mother hen if I like, it's important to have someone around to care for you when you're down.  

Besides, I can squirt a mean water bottle past the lips if I need to!

My Border Collie had a Stroke

That is the best guess of what she had gone through.

All the symptoms were detailed in yesterday's post.

Our day continued onward.  We had taken Lettie in to Family Pet Medical Center in Fort Lauderdale and she had spent a "Spa Day".  They did manage to keep her there for observation and got her to finally eat something.  The prognosis then was basically to allow her to rest and recuperate.

Apparently Dogs can have a Stroke.  They can get over the stroke and the brain damage will heal.  Mostly.  It will take time.

I had to lift Lettie in my arms and walk her to the car.  She was way too wobbly to walk the short distance to the car on her own power.  She's also got an Elizabethan Collar on her now, so her head looks like it is stuck into a blue lampshade.  A Canine Daffodil.

Lettie is a fighter.  She laid on her mat all night from when we got home until it was time to let her relieve herself on the front yard.  I was able to tell her it was time for walk, and got a wag out of her black and white tipped tail.  Up she went, and after I removed the e-collar, we hit the front yard in the evening cool.  Mrs Dog was not in a mood to run a marathon.  I did manage to get her out by the tree near the house and empty her.

I know she's a fighter because she had an interesting reaction.  She sneered at me.  I asked her if she wanted to walk, something she clearly understood both before and after the "episode".  I annoyed her enough for the teeth to come up, the grumbling to start and a general snit fit of attitude to begin to brew.

Good.  It means that she may make it to the morning.

I did break her out of her zombie phase out by the tree, and nudge her onward a few steps but I did realize that a long walk was out of the question.  I scooped her up into my arms, not a favorite place, and got a few more grumbles for my troubles.  Bringing her into the house, we refitted her with the e-collar so she would make it through the night with the catheter in her front leg, and will hope for the best.

...And now I am at the morning...

We got up at our usual 6AM.  She woke when the bed frame thumped under my shifting weight.  Smiling and wagging her tail inside of her blue lampshade.  I got ready to take her out and carried her since I didn't want to chance her taking the two steps to the driveway.  Since the irrigation was running, I had to walk her out to the street.

Once on the street, I saw that her mind was still there.  She wobbled around and looked at the grass.  There she begun to sniff and act like a dog.  I didn't expect it out of her, but over the next half hour she took me around the block.  Twice.   That's a mile. 

Her eyes are now more or less normal from the stand point of lighting.  Yesterday they remained dilated, today they will shrink to a pinhole if you shine a light in them.

She wanted nothing to do with her regular food - I can't blame her, the B Complex that the Doctor wanted her to eat was strong smelling.  She also didn't drink.  I solved both by giving her about a tablespoon on three crackers, then got a saline solution bottle from the cabinets and refilled with water.   I was able to get about 200 calories into her and probably about 1/2 cup of water at the first try.  I'm due for another shortly.

Lettie never was a good one for "Personal Maintenance", she'll actually give you attitude if you brush her too long.  I had to get three pills into her, and that was a trial in itself.  That is, however good news.  If they fight you they're going to fight for themselves. 

Now Lettie is on Steroids, Antibiotics, and Vitamins.  That's a lot to try to get into a dog who doesn't even want to eat.   When she's back on regular food, I'll start the vitamins, but the rest will get into her one way or the other.

The last time she had her "episode" it took her about a month to be near normal.  I'm seeing improvement already now that I know what to look for.  I'll fight for her longer than she will fight for herself.  It is the least that I can do.

A good friend here in Wilton Manors made a telling comment:

Unconditional Love Deserves To Be Rewarded.

Thanks Cindy, you said it perfectly.  I'll add "even if they don't want it". 

My Border Collie is Sick

Last night we had a normal walk until...

Lettie lost her dinner.  All over the pavement in one big pile.

Lettie is my 10 year old Border Collie.  To call her Predictable is an understatement.  Lettie runs like a Swiss Watch.   Actually, she ran like a Swiss Watch until last night. 

She did manage to pick up and continue onwards on the walk like nothing happened.  Her usual smiling self, once around town.  That was at 6PM. 

The second walk happened at 9PM and she was normal.

Lettie went to sleep like nothing happened and I thought nothing more about her losing her dinner last night until I woke up this morning. 

She has two mats.  One is right by my bed.  The other is in the Living Room.  She'll sleep by me until I am fast asleep then she will pick up and walk out to the living room and sleep the night.   Some time during the night she comes back into the bedroom and finishes off the night there.

So far so good. 

I got out of bed and put my socks on, stood up and thought that something's wrong.  She usually hears me, but not always, get out of bed.  I walked to the hallway and she wasn't on her mat.  Lettie's a cheerful dog, always smiling, her mind working out what she should do and enjoying her tasks.  I'm used to seeing her come and find me when she's not on the mat. 

There was no sign of her. 

The house was dark at 6AM.  I begun to turn on the lights and walk through the place wearing two socks and a watch. 

Hearing Lettie shake, I walked around the corner of the room divider and I saw her.   Lettie had pooped on the dining room floor.  This is something she has only done twice before in all the years that I have had her.

She was standing there looking up at me sheepishly but not standing still.

Lettie was wobbling.  I knew there was a problem.  We had had an episode that "cleared up on it's own" back in April last year.  Never really knew what it was, we assumed it had something to do with a neck problem she had developed, but really no concrete cause.

At that point the vet was called and a message left on the service that we were going to be there at 7:30AM when the staff gets in.  I managed to get Lettie out for a wobbly walk, once around the block for about 1/2 mile.  When we got home she still didn't eat, still didn't drink, still didn't look good.

I managed to rush through a shower, shave, and a quick breakfast and got her to the Vet.

Finally around 9AM, I got to speak with Dr Javier Gonzalez of Family Pet on Federal Highway in Ft. Lauderdale.  He and everyone else at Family Pet are excellent.  He also was the one who diagnosed that there were neurological problems.  In a darkened exam room, he shone the flashlight into her eyes and saw that the eyes were dialated and did not react to the light.

Not Good.

Where we are now is that my Mrs Dog is having a day at the Spa.  She's visiting with Dr Gonzalez and the rest being observed.  I will call back at 1PM to find out what is going on.

10 years is not long enough.  I want my best friend back.

This was the "Bonus Year".  We knew that back in April she may not pull through and was much worse then than she is now.  I didn't have her when she was a puppy, but I have had her through her adult years.   She was trained, then abandoned or lost in North Dauphin PA.  After spending six months at Angel Pets Rescue in Dauphin PA, I got her at 1 1/2 years old.  Now she is 10 and 1/2 years old.  Thoroughly part of the family.

The best that can happen is another "Bonus Year".  I will find out later if I am lucky twice and get my cantankerous and fearful Border Collie back.

Border Collie Fun is CatThumpSmile

She is resting.

A 10 year old Border Collie that shares my life.  We are in her second life now, I am still enjoying her and I am enjoying it to the fullest. 

She had an episode back in the Spring.  I don't know what caused it, the vet didn't know.  It was a month of my holding her up to take her out to do Her Business in the yard because something happened in the middle of the night that made her very unsteady and practically able to walk.  I took her to the excellent Family Pet at 2750 N Federal Highway in Fort Lauderdale and they managed to get her back to normal.  If you aren't going to them, call 954-567-2500 for your friend's care.  Speak with Dr Sharon Glass or Dr Javier Gonzales and let them know that you are ready to step up for the best care in Fort Lauderdale available for your friend.  Tell them that Bill, Lettie's dad sent you.

I walked in, all 6'4" and 225 pounds, filling the doorway carrying an almost 50 pound border collie that couldn't walk, crying into her fur.  After they calmed me down, they allowed me to stay with her as they stabilized her condition and got her to where she could heal herself with a couple bottles of non steroidals.  I think I finally left after about 5 hours of brooding fragile silence on my part.  She's on Glucosamine to this day.  50 pounds and 2000mg a day. 

Now she's feeling normal.   This morning the walk was the Almost One Mile that I do three times a day and despite the rain that floated through off the ocean, she came back invigorated.

She was, I still needed my second mug of coffee.

Parking myself in the bouncy chair, mug by my side, surfing to a German pop music station at www.place2be-online.de I started on my Usual Morning Job Search Routine of 1000 links, 150 pages of job fun.

Welcome isn't what I'd call this side effect of the Republican Induced Great Depression, but it is what it is.

Lettie was feeling the music.  Being a German pop station, there was a piece of music on that I remember from the local dance stations in English that was particularly bouncy.  After listening to this station for an hour I've yet to hear anything in German other than the news broadcast...

Bouncy music means Bouncy Moose.   I'm in the bouncy chair.  The Poang that amplifies every major movement I make.   Lettie bumped into the chair setting me in motion and I kept up the bounce to the beat. 

Seeing The Cat, she bounced over to it and pounced on the toy making it squeak. 

Since I was at Border Collie Height in the brown bouncy Poang, Mrs Dog insisted that it was playtime.  Never mind that yesterday between all those links and job pages, it took me 5 hours to get through the routine, She Wanted To PLAY!

I found that she wanted more than my merely grabbing the leg of the cartoonish plush creature, she was happily whipping it and my arm around like a parody of a video on the Discovery Channel where an alligator is doing the death roll on some unfortunate impala in the African Savannah.  Having almost 50 pounds of insistent black fur tugging on a plush creature, and by extension my arm, we both were bouncing to the beat. 

Border Collies are amazingly intelligent dogs.  I have never met a dog quite as intelligent as mine, and while everyone says that who owns one, the comment is almost universally true of Border Collies and similar breeds.  I don't teach her tricks, I teach behaviors.  She knows "Show Me" means for her to go and take me somewhere then look at what she wants directly.  She also knows a very light touch on the nose to be "Hello".  So while I'm bouncing to the beat, and she's starting to tire of being the engine of the chair's rocking, I decided to reach around with my right hand and lightly touch her nose.  Smiling, she then decided "Daddy Likes This" and was reenergized.

We managed to get into a feedback loop.  Anyone who has a dog knows that anything they do tends to be short duration unless they're bored and in some sort of Obsessive Compulsive state.  The also know that most Middle Aged dogs tend to sleep a lot.  I won't call her Aged like the BBC did the other day, she simply does not act it. 

Instead of her being bored with my not being up out of the chair she started over and decided to try to get that cat out of my head by whipping her head around thrashing.  It was about that time when I heard a THUMP against the supporting wooden frame.  Yes, my border collie, the smartest dog in all the world smacked her head against the chair.   Did she care?  Not at all.  She decided it was part of the game.  I pulled the cat free of her mouth and she looked at me with those deep brown eyes, smiled and did another grab for the tabby toy.

Finally after I got tired of the game I started to toss the toy against the door.  Having to run and having to get the toy back to me slowed the feedback loop down until finally she was done.

An Hour Later.

She really must have needed that hour romp.  Finally, sated, she curled up onto the mat into a Dog Ball (TM) and is resting.

It is hard to say who enjoyed that more, Lettie or Me.

Lettie is Watching The Door

When you have a dog this beautiful you just want to show her off.

She's doing fine, although I was afraid this time last week that I had lost her.  I was worried whether I'd have to take her for that Last Vet Trip and wasn't sure if she'd pull through.

One evening last week I heard her howl.   Some dogs will bark or howl at the moon.  Other dogs will bark if the neighbor rolls over in bed even if that bed is a quarter mile away.  Not Lettie.  She hardly ever barks, in fact she has always been a quiet dog.

Lady of a few words needless to say had quite a few to say that night.  She let loose a sound like a dog in pain.  Howling she came into the bedroom and saw me.  Being mostly asleep and on auto pilot, I comforted her and thought little of it after taking her outside in case she needed to "go".   She wandered around a bit and came back in.  I thought nothing more of it and went back to bed. 

That morning, I awoke to a very different dog.   She was having trouble walking.  She was unstable sitting down.  She was definitely off her food, and that in itself is cause for concern.  I did manage to get her outside for a walk of significant distance, around 3/4 mile, and got her home but I was noticing she was wobbling around and stumbling. 

When the Vet was open we all agreed that she go in for a visit, so I gathered her up in the meantime and got her into the Jeep.  When I said to her "Lettie lets go for a ride" instead of her acting insane and jumpy and running toward the door, I actually had to help her to her feet.  By this point, she was unable to remain standing and plopped down on the mat in the living room.   I scooped her up and put her in the Jeep and took her to Family Pet on Federal Highway in Ft Lauderdale and visited Drs Glass and Gonzales. 

I tried to get her to walk to the door on her own and it was immediate, she merely toppled over.  Having a dog who has saved you, like mine has, you will make some heroic efforts to save her.  In my case I was only able to scoop her up into my arms and bring her into the office.   The ladies behind the desk knew that I needed her to get immediate attention as I buried my face into her neck sobbing.   Yes, all 6'4" and 225 pounds sobbing like a child.  I didn't care, get my girl well!

The doctors remembered her as being "Feisty" and knew she was not a well dog.  After starting her in an IV Drip of Saline and some other medications that I didn't quite get, I agreed that the best thing I could do is to take my emotional self home and let them do their job. 

Luckily they knew what they were doing. 

By that dinner hour, I was able to take her home.  She was still unable to walk for long distances and reminded me of a drunk on a bender.  Yes, she could stand, but not for long.  One step and the feet could go out in any direction.  It was clear that she was not a well dog.

With pills in hand, I cared for her and hoped she'd be well the next day.  The doctors were being guarded about the prognosis but thought she'd be best if she was at home with me.  So I pumped her full of Glucosamine, Pain Killers, and Muscle Relaxants, and hoped for a recovery that would allow me to have her back with some such level of "normal function". 

We don't know if she had a stroke, but they did find a vertebra that was "out of alignment".  After some massage and two days of Accupuncture, she had managed to make a startling recovery.  By the weekend she was able to walk, and drag me along the normal routes even if she would fall frequently.   The first walk was with me holding onto the leash and harness and support her weight as much as possible.   The second was less so but she was still wobbling and falling.

By that weekend she was walking so that the only people who could tell that she was not completely well were me and a few close friends.   Dragging her right feet on the ground was a sign that there was something wrong with the wiring.  Even if it did save on a pedicure, you don't want your dog to do that forever.

Now that the weekend is through and I'm about a week on, she is almost normal.   The feet are not dragging, and as a result of that dragging, her walk is quieter due to the filed nails courtesy of Wilton Drive, NE 7th Ave, and some of the surrounding sidewalks.  She's almost able to sit upright on my tiles and have her feet stay put instead of immediately starting to splay to the sides.  I hardly notice any "dancing" of the back feet where she resembled a drunken square dancer.   She's back almost completely to her normal fast pace and graceful step that she's always had.

I can't say I am completely clear what happened.  After a week of watching her fight back to normal function, or almost normal function, I'm hard pressed to see anything wrong.  Even in the heat we have been getting lately she's demanding long walks of a mile or more.   That is a lot if you're wearing a black fur coat and it is 88 degrees F out there.  It's not something I want to go through again but if she had it happen once, she could have it happen again.

I guess this is a way to get it back out to the family and friends who were so supportive.  Doing Physical Therapy is something I have had to do for myself.   Having to do it for the dog is something I wouldn't hesitate to do although some may question me. 

Now she's sitting on her mat, watching me type and hoping that I'll give her that cookie that is stuck inside the peanut butter jar but that is a story for a different blog posting.