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Sorcha

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Posts posted by Sorcha

    Dementia Canine Style?

    in Health and Medical discussion

    Posted

    Maxie is my Llewellyn Setter (English Setter) and she is 18 years old (yes, eighteen). She is healthy in all other ways except head tremors when she gets very startled. She has not had an incident of what I call "doggy dementia" since early last summer. Saturday night I fed the dogs dinner, all was normal, I then had plans to go out for the night. The dogsitter came at bedtime to let them outside, all was normal. I arrive home at 6 am, take the dogs out and all seems normal. Maxie squatted to pee, then abrubtly stood up and stiffened, standing like a statue. I got no response from her when I called her name, not even a tail wag like she usually does. Her head hung low and she was simply out of it. I went over stood right next to her, she did not move. I gently touched her and she snapped out of it but was disoriented and made a huge loop back to the gate to go inside (instead of just going directly in a straight line to get there). She comes back inside, goes to my bedroom and stands on her dog bed, frozen again. She comes back to reality after a couple minutes and then started pacing before suddenly freezng up again as if someone said "Simon says STOP". She unfreezes and I call to her from the bed where I was laying down and observing her actions. She hops up, and freezes up yet again just standing there on the bed. I touch her and she scuttles up to me and acts like she cannot get close enough to me. I held onto her and said comforting things and she became less anxious. No more episodes since. What is going on? I fear the worse (brain tumor) but at her age do not want to subject her to testing to try and figure it out.

     

    I have mentioned it to the vet in the past, when she was initially having ths behavior but she had nearly a year without them. He felt it was age related and agreed there was no sense in running tests unless she was in pain which she does not seem to be.

     

    Anyone have a similar experience with a (much) older dog?

    Nola's Lump

    in Health and Medical discussion

    Posted

    Thanks, VCA on Kirkwood Hwy. is tops on my list to look into. My regular vet is a great vet but cannot do the surgery because he is not set up to perform surgery on sighthound breeds (he uses barbiturate anesthesia). So, the vet refers sighthound owners to a nearby animal hospital for surgery. When he (regular vet) saw the lump in July '09 he felt it should come off just by looking at it, and sent me to the animal hospital. When I went to the animal hospital with Nola, I fully expected they would do pre-surgery bloodwork and schedule the surgery. Instead the vet there did the needle thing and all that came out of the lump was fat so she said it did not need to be removed unless it became a problem in the future. I did not think I should insist on them removing it, because I don't want it to be done by a vet who does not feel it needs to be removed. Now that I think about it more, I don't want them doing the surgery anyways since I have not had a good experience at that animal hospital in the past with Tuna's dental.

     

    Thanks again for the suggestions. Any idea what something like this should cost?

    Nola's Lump

    in Health and Medical discussion

    Posted

    I've had friends use the Veterinary Referral Center in Malvern. Everyone I've talked to has been very happy with this practice.' It's a specialty practice so it's not cheap but has a very good reputation.

     

    Closer to home, I've also used Longwood Veterinary Hospital and have never had any problems at all. I've always seen either Dr. Andrews or Dr. Strine, both are greyhound/sighthound savvy.

     

    Longwood is where I have decided not to go back to. Malvern it a bit of a distance, but I will look into it. Thanks.

     

    Arrow goes in Monday to have one removed from him. It doesn't seem to bother him but the vet suggested it was time to have it taken off. He's having a dental so the vet it doing both procedures on the same day.

     

    Wishing all the best for Arrow's lump removal. Nola does not need a dental, that is a good idea to do both at the same time.

     

    Kodie has one on her leg, and it also has gotten bigger over time. If she ever has to go under for something, we will have it removed but at this point in time it doesn't bother her so we will leave it be.

    Basically, get it removed if you want to, it isn't an emergency so it's your decision :)

     

    I keep telling myself it's not anything "bad" so it does not HAVE to come off but it sort of shocked me last night to notice how large it's gotten. How much bigger can they get?

    Nola's Lump

    in Health and Medical discussion

    Posted

    In July 2009 I discovered a lump on Nola. I took her to my regular vet who sent me to the veterinary hospital. I fully expected they were going to say it had to removed. The vet there did a needle biopsy and determined it just a fatty lump and there was no need to have it removed unless it grew double in size or bothered her. Well, I looked at it tonight and I do believe it's now double in size. So, do I have it removed? The thing it, when I first took her in I thought it was urgent and had to be removed right-away-fast. Now that time has passed, I have decided I do not want her to have the surgery done at the veterinary hospital where my regular vet sends patients to for things like this. The reason is, they did a dental on my greyhound Tuna and she was never the same after it. So, I need to find another place to take her to, I don't want to take her just anywhere. So, those in Delaware do you have any suggestions?

     

    Here it is in July 2009:

    July09.jpg

     

    And here it is tonight:

    100_1042.jpg

     

    100_1047.jpg

    Happy Birthday, Tuna

    in Remembrance

    Posted

    Tuna

    November 20, 1995 - August 13, 2010

     

    I celebrated 12 birthdays with you, but today we cannot be together for one more. Today would have been your 15th birthday, you missed out on the celebration by just 3 months and 1 week. Your spirit lives on, and I hold your memory close to my heart. I miss you so very much, and love you always. Happy birthday sweet girl.

     

     

     

     

    Here is a photo of Tu celebrating her 14th birthday last year (can you tell she was not impressed?!)

    14651_1244726671289_1023035521_30783151_7160003_n.jpg

    Walnuts

    in Food and dietary discussion

    Posted · Edited by Sorcha

    So Nola stole a chestnut, I watched her as she licked it, then nibbled it, and then cracked it open. I took it away, she is very upset with me. Is it okay for her to eat the "meat" inside? She really, really wants it.

     

    Edit: Sorry, subject line is wrong! It's a chestnut.

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