greyhndz

What an amazing family photo! Look at all those gorgeous faces.. oh, and the people look good too. I'm glad you're having more time to spend with Whitey. I think his peace is enveloping you and allowing you and Whitey to share this time with complete trust in each other. The girls are just beautiful! to you all

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Hi Ducky and Gracie I swear by robaxin (methocarbamol) as a muscle relaxant. You don't run the risk of oversedation or agitation that you might with valium. I use this almost daily with Dandi for his back, as NSAIDs aren't an option with him. He's got 750mg tabs, and take 2 tabs up to 3 times daily. I only give him one tab twice daily. Just another option for muscle pain and spasm. But her little nose is alright, isn't it?

Where did you get those? What a riot! Bailey's a little suspicous of those bills, though. He asks Nina if he could have a instead. HEY! Teo resents that! He had her first! Well, he's lived with me for 13 years, so.....

Oh my goodness, Ni~na! (can't get that accent right). Bailey is all excited about having his own toofie fairy! He wants to know where she left the money so he can go online to order a million jars of baby food. Bailey is home! He tolerated surgery without any problem. Me -- I needed an ativan. He lost a number of teeth (Fiona mentioned 12, but I see 7 listed on the billing sheet), had everything scaled and polished. There was really a mess in there -- lots of infection, pus, really horrendous stuff. Let's not even go into the guilt I feel for not pushing for the dental sooner. But I have to trust Fiona. I believe this has all gone down within the past 1-2 weeks,and all the bad teeth are gone now. I'll get one of the gels or solutions recommended for plaque control. But I feel so good that it's finally over. He recovered very quickly (Fiona likes me to take them home as soon as they're awake, so they can recover at home). He walked around, went outside, drank, and ate 2 jars of strained baby meat. I've got chicken breasts boiling as we speak. And Bailey is snoozing on his little bed. Thank you all for your loving wishes for my Bailz! Long Live the King!! (of Tinkle) (I know his sis, Angel Lexi, kept him safe today.) Jordan one of my favorites - Uncle Steve giving Bailey neck kisses:

2 in the morning, the night before Bailey's surgery, and I'm wide awake. I just want my little buddy to make it through the anesthesia and procedures OK. Don't mind me... I'm just having a mild anxiety attack. Here's Bailz just after I adopted him in 1997. He was around 3.

For Cofax, Tina and her DH, you will be in my heart and thoughts...

I'm so sorry, Jen. Whitey is experiencing physical pain but the emotional pain you're experiencing is just as wretched. You're in the state of limbo that I think we've all experienced: you depend on Whitey to tell you what he wants, but you're picking up on mixed signals and don't know how to interpret it. On the one hand, you want to follow your heart, on the other hand, you have the human trait of insight to know what lies ahead for Whitey. Sometimes, I've experienced such helplessness and frustration that our hounds are so stoic. They don't let us know when they start to hurt, and by the time they do let us know, we have to deal with an illness that has advanced beyond the point of cure. When facing the decision you're living right now, I've had to force myself to remember that it's possible for our pups to look at us with bright eyes and wagging tails despite the fact that they're having pain; they're very good masqueraders -- too good. The other thing that our pups cannot tell us is what we know will be happening to them in the days ahead. I'm always the first one to reassure my friends that, when facing their dog's end-of-life, the dog will communicate to them when they're "ready". But after losing so many of my pups in the past few years, I've come to understand that the sign we all wait for may not come as we expect. It's OK to be the one to make the decision with your intellect, even if your heart still hasn't made up its mind. Whatever you decide, it will be coming from your love and devotion to Whitey. You are a wonderful, adoring mom, and whether it was for 5 months or 15 years, Whitey found a home in your heart.

Unbelievable. I can't even imagine how you're feeling and what you're going through. But the fact that Manny has survived this devastating injury, and you've been by his side the whole time, attests to your strength and determination (and that includes Manny!). I'm still trying to figure out how a penetrating foreign body of that size could not have been picked up on any of the imaging. Holy 's! Please keep us posted as often as you can, and tell Manny that so many people are willing him to get better. to all of you

Thanks so much, everybody! Bailey is humbled by your well-wishes. Here's my beautiful King of Tinkle (I think you can imagine how he got that nickname). He's my main man!

Bailey made it through just fine. Update is on page 2. Bailey is probably around 16 now. He's been part of my pack and my life for 13 years. Bailz has had a marked (IV/VI) heart murmur for several years, and even though he's not symptomatic of it, my vet has not wanted to put him under anesthesia because of the risk. He's really needed a dental badly for the last few years (he used to have regular dentals twice yearly) but Fiona did not feel it justified the risk of his not surviving anesthetization. Well, we don't have a choice now. I noticed his lymph nodes below his mandible were quite swollen, and he was eating gingerly. Fiona saw him Thursday, and unfortunately he probably blew an abscess in his canine, and now has a fistula communicating with his sinus. This could explain why he's had recurrent sinus infections, though there was no visible fistula 2 months ago when he had his annual exam. He's going in Tuesday, and Fiona will pull any teeth that need pulling (all of them if necessary), clean everything out, scale any remaining teeth, and cover the fistula with a flap. If she doesn't do this, food particles will enter the fistula and also the sinus. He's clearly having dental pain. And the surgery/dental isn't elective. He's on clavamox at least until the surgery, and probably for a while afterward. Please keep my King of Tinkle in your thoughts on Tuesday. I lost Lexi in August, and just couldn't bear it if anything happened to Bailey. Thanks from me and my best boy Bailz!

Hi Robin As long as you're going to see the vet tomorrow, I might hold off on using anything topical, just in case the vet wants to grab a culture. Putting an ointment on now might affect the culture results. Maybe just some warm compresses for now? ...

WHEW!!! What a relief! to the biopsy results!!! And a great big smooch on Gracie's nose.

I'm in love...

Here ya go: For 65 lbs, rounding up slightly to 30kg, BSA = 0.96. At 50mg/m2 = 48mg. That would be rounded up to 50mg, since the tabs only come in 25mg and 50mg. He'd be getting 50mg orally every other day. ETA: I had the wrong dosage initially - it's 50mg/m2 not 10.

Reviewing the literature, I see a dose of cyclophosphamide (Cytoxan) 50mg/m2 given orally every other day. There's a chart which calculates body surface area, measured in m2 BSA chart For instance, Say, Whitey weighs 35 kg. That = 1.07 BSA. Multiply that by 50mg, and it would give you roughly 50mg a day if you round it out. It's given every other day.

I have a full bottle of the gel here, if you'd like it (PM me if you do). I tried it on both of my iggies and they were not amused. I tried several different ways of getting it into their mouths (including on food) but no way. This is the salmon flavored gel. PS - Don't know if you saw Healthy Mouth being talked about on IG-L, but everyone was raving about it - it's put in drinking water. It's sold by IG Rescue so proceeds will benefit the iggies. I think I'm going to try this, too.

Here are several resources for funding and financial aid: contacts for financial help handicapped pets about.com Fundraising ideas fundraising ideas for sick pets From Pittsburgh, but has links not seen on other pages I hope these help. You really are an angel, Jen...

Glad everything went well with her dental and bx. Now, just to wait a couple more days for the results... Keeping everything crossed that it's nothing to worry about!

Sweet Whitey... 4-letter words are deserved, and I can think of a few 12-letter words that would work too. it's just not fair to Whitey or to you. If it's of any comfort, Whitey has found the family and love he has been waiting for all his life. I'll bet that his time with you has been the very best in his lifetime. He's been a gift to you, and you've been the best gift in the world for him.

Tons of good and positive thoughts for Gracie and for you..

Some good info for you. The most important question is whether or not Rex is still symptomatic. If not, his rising titre should not be assumed to mean that his infection hasn't been adequately treated: canine tick diseases more about Lyme (technical - see paragraph below) graph of antibody levels vs days after infection (the graph shows that antibody levels start to peak at around 90+ days post infection. This would put Rex's rising Ab titre within the normal pattern. Hope this helps!

I hope that the depo/acu/chiro combination works well for BooBoo (I LOVE that name!). And you're right about the acupuncture taking several treatments before you see results. I believe Dandi showed some improvement after the 2nd treatment, and significant improvement after the 3rd. It sounds as if you've got a great vet team working with you and BooBoo, and I hope your sweetie is feeling a lot better very soon.

Lumbosacral stenosis - detailed info by Dr. Suzanne Stack I'd also think about acupuncture - this has worked wonderfully for my Dandi.