MP_the4pack

Great idea! I down with it, haven't had McD's fries in ages im in, what time? Tom I know you're a Jersey guy. If you're near Flemington, we could meet at their McDs and toast Ember.

Is a dog door out of the question? My girl's on lasix and she drinks and pees a ton as well. And I've had a dog door for 13 yrs without any problems. No critter or burglar ever came in. (but it's saved my butt a couple of times. Yeah, I had to get in thru the dog door). You just need to have the accessed area fenced. (No electronic fences) I used to use a panel that fit into the sliding glass door. I've since moved to a wall model next to the door, under the counter.

I tried to go to the tribute but I couldn't. At least not while I'm at work. It's already hard enough trying to explain my red eyes to my coworkers. I posted something for you at NJGAP BB.

Can you wrap it? Although Pearl has a totally different problem, she's had swelling in her rear legs periodically. Her problem is heart disease so her circulation is poor. It took FOREVER for the edema to go down. But I used to wrap horses legs when they got edemidus and it helped. I tried it with Pearl and got the edema way down. Check with your vet if they think it's okay. I can't see a problem with wrapping. good luck MP

While I check often in Remembrance I find I'm usually tearing too hard to be able to reply. I cry with each and every loss. Please accept my apologies for not sending condolences, but I would also like to extend my sorrow here as well, to all that have lost their babies. Mary Pat

Man has to stand in judgement because only Man has a free will to do evil. No other animal is evil just to be evil. Only man.

I remember writing to my manager 9 yrs ago how estatic I was that Topaz didn't have liver cancer, just liver disease. She was still gone 4 weeks later. Sometimes cancer is better. Isn't that a horrid thing to say? We have an appointment with her internist at Red Bank on Friday. This is the doctor that diagnosed GN. So, let's see what she says about containing it.

PS. You know she's doing this just to get you all excited.

She's gorgeous. I love the pix of her sitting in the chair. I too lost a 5 yr old. Sucks big time. But the loss of Topaz is why I now have Pearl and Bwat. (um, Opal). They are all white/black cowdoggies. Hopefully in the near future will be someone very special that Queenie will find for you.

Here's an update on my Pearl-girl. The new med Atenolol worked, her BP is down to 170. Granted the cardiologist prefers it under 160, but do you see me complaining right now?! With that news, it was felt she was safe enough to get an ultrasound. She was just way too nervous to push it on Friday with 280 BP. The news is neither good nor bad. Can't tell. The radiologist did not see a pheo. Now, if it was indeed a pheo causing the problem the past 3 yrs, it definitely should have shown up by now on ultrasound. That's the radiologists view. The cardiologist was out of town, I didn't get to speak to her. RIght now I'm thinking we don't need to do a CT, but the cardiologist may have a different opinion. As of Friday we were going to do one. Now that is good news if it is not pheo. It means I don't have to make the decision for a high risk surgery for Pearl (adrenalectomy). But.........here's the bad news. It looks like it's glomerulnephitis (kidney disease, caused by that darn abscessed tooth) that's causing the hypertension. So I'm almost sure I'm going to make an appointment with Dr. Ward (the internist from Red Bank Vet Hosp that discovered the GN). Maybe there's more treatment for that other than just low dose aspirin. There's a lot of questions I still have, but at least we got over another hurdle and got her BP down at least for the moment. Also, hydralazine is not a good drug for Pearl because it has an adverse effect on the heart and Pearl also has heart disease. So, it looks like until we get a handle on the WHY of the hypertension she'll be on atenolol. Thanks for all the prayers, I will keep you all updated because this ain't over yet. Just at a breathing spot.

We leave for the vets in 1/2 hr. Went to the tire store to fix the flat. It's couldn't be fixed because of the location of the screw. So instead of a $50 fix, I have $400 worth of 2 new tires. sigh. This year sucks already.

C'mon Harmony, please get better!

I do have the ability to take her BP, but.........I thought about it. What if atenolol isn't working? It's not down? I can't do anything about it until we go back tomorrow. Except cry and turn my insides out. So, even though I have it out, I haven't taken the BP. If it does come down tomorrow and I need to monitor it I will. But I just can't make myself take it yet. Oh.......and to add onto the pigpile, I go into the garage tonight to get their food and I hear a hissing. My *&(#$*^ front tire has a screw in it. I know how to change a tire, but at my age, these suckers are HEAVY. And there's not enough room in the garage to do it, I have to move the SUV into the driveway where it is COLD and DARK. It's a slow leak so I'll just fill it up tomorrow morning and drive to my local tire store. I've already called my boss and told him I have to use up the first of this years vacation.

I too am Catholic. Actually non-practicing. Too many things the Church preaches which I don't agree with. Just somebody with power somewhere down the line made that decision. God made man. Man made religion.

Farewell Master yet not farewell. Where I go ye too shall dwell I am gone before your face, A moment's time, a little space When ye come where I have stepped, Ye will wonder why ye wept.

Any update?

She looks like she's doing fantastic. I hope she heals fast and has no problems.

Other than the ministroke she had yesterday, she shows absolutely no signs of having heart disease or hypertension. None. She's perfectly happy. Which makes decisions more difficult. If she was sickly, putting her to sleep would be an option. But nothing about her says she's sick. Currently she's on enalapril, digoxin, lasix, aspirin, phenoxybenzamine, amlodipene and just yesterday atenolol. I'm just snuggling with her as much as I can and hope I can make some kind of decision on monday. If her BP hasn't come down I don't know what kind of options are out there. If it comes down a little I can opt for a CT scan. Thing is, if the CT is positive, I want the surgery done right away while she is still under anesthesia so that she doesn't have to go under twice in a short time. If she needs surgery it is called adrenalectomy and prognosis is poor. But I think I would rather have her leave me on the surgery table than sometime in the middle of the day while I'm at work. If she has a stroke while she's outside in 20 degree weather, or is partially paralyzed and panics inside........I can't have that happen to her. I can't crate her, both she and her sister are claustrophobic. Even locking her in a room doesn't work. Diamond did $200 damage to the bedroom when the babysitter accidentally locked her in there. Not to mention, she's on lasix, which means she needs to go outside frequently. She would try to hold it in and that in itself is not good. She'd would start to get upset needing to go outside and can't. Any change in schedule would up her BP, and we are trying very hard not to do that. They didn't do an ultrasound yesterday because her BP was so high. They were afraid she would stroke out. You know if it was cancer, I could at least have options like pain management or surgery. But there just doesn't seem to be a lot of choices for out of control hypertension.

I took my girls for their usual walks this morning and halfway thru it Pearl began to stumble and she had rapid eye movement. It looked exactly like what I had with benign positional vertigo. It's an inner ear thing. In 30 secs she had snapped right out of it. We finished the walk and I remembered today is Friday so I called her cardiologist because Pearl does have hypertension. We were asked how soon could we get there. They took her right away and did a BP. It's over 260 (and it was under control this past spring and summer). The Dr. checked for any damage and saw none and put her on another med for the weekend. We have to go back to get the BP checked monday. But she said it wasn't vertigo or vestibular disease. She had a ministroke. A couple years ago when it was high, the vet thought it was pheochromocytoma (adrenal tumor). We took a CT scan, removed an abscessed tooth and upped her meds. We got it under control. THe scan was negative so we figured it must have been the tooth which caused kidney damage which caused the hypertension. But she's thinking it still is a pheo, just slow growing. If we can get her BP down just a little, she's going for another CT. Two years ago I was ready to put her in surgery to remove the adrenal. but now she's 11. I'm not so sure. I don't know what to do. I cried all the way home. She's my heart and soul girl. Even though I have 4, she's the only one in here with me now. She sleeps with me and cuddles on the sofa with me. Please pray we can get this under control again.

My Pearl was diagnosed with heart disease and hypertension 5 yrs ago. She was give 2-3 yrs. She's now 11 and shows no signs of slowing down. She's on a plethura of meds (also for the hypertension) enalapril and lasix being some of them. If you haven't already, I would suggest going to a cardiologist. Good luck.

God speed sweet boy. Kris

I'm going thru the same thing as you right now with my 4 yr old. I'm going to check her for corns, but she's already been xray'd. They're currently clean, but she still has a bad limp (3-legged). good luck with your xrays!!

I sent an email to Dr. Couto. He said to check for corns. To date I've never had to deal with corns. Are they readily easy to see/feel? Or do I need to go to a vet to find them? My vet and chiropractor still feel the problem is in the hips, but I want to rule out everything before I break down and take a 10 hr trip to Ohio. (which I will do!)

So young!!! His granddaddy is my Bwat's daddy. She's just 4. Run free nephew.