PatricksMom

He sounds like a special little guy, I'm sorry for your DD's loss.

I would ask the vet to walk you through the procedure--will they be pushing IV fluids (good for older dogs), what anesthetics will they be using, will their be pain relief during treatment, what exactly will be done during treatment, how does wakeup work, what drugs if any will be used post-procedure. What will be the costs, with a breakdown for the different parts. A good vet, imo, should be willing to explain all this to you, and you'll probably feel better understanding all of it. I wait through Patrick's procedure (not necessary, but I worry), it usually takes maybe an hour total between pre-op stuff to him coming out, then I leave while they monitor him for several more hours, and come back and pick him up later in the day.

My vet uses it in her elderly dog, she really likes it although said it seems to produce a similar effect to using cosequine (and suggests whatever is easier/more acceptable to the dog.)

Are you bathing him first? That always seems to cause shedding.

Darcy, if you end up bald you'll be the prettiest bald girl ever! It's great to see her playing.

She looks very pretty in her PJ's. I'm glad to hear she's doing well

It's not inevitable that every grey will need extractions--so far Patrick has all his teeth thanks to (not so vigilent) brushing and yearly dentals and a good vet. That said, if my vet said he needed an extraction, I'd do it. I can't imagine the pain that waiting until a tooth rotted enough to fall out would cause, let alone the health implications.

I'm so sorry you have to make this difficult choice. You sound more comfortable with doing it at home, which I would probably choose to if it's possible. I can't imagine your vet would offer if she didn't feel like it was a reasonable option.

He looks so cute--I hope he feels better soon.

Great to see Darcy eating--good girl!

Glad to hear she's coming home. I hope she is feeling better soon, such a sweet girl

I use a ear cleaner from the vet (sorry--don't remember the name). For that gunk in the folds, I dip a gauze pad in the cleaner and gently wipe it out. For deeper cleaning, squirt a little in his ear, gently sort of hold it closed and massage it (they usually love this.) Since he doesn't like his ears petted, I'd start with that and not worry about the cleaning until he becomes more adjusted Be sure to ask your vet if you see any redness or a funky smell, or if handling them gently seems to be causing any pain.

Personally, I'd go with whatever is keeping her comfortable at this point and not worry a lot about long term health risks--quality of life seems very important to me. Tramadol is a good, safe drug--Patrick has used it for some time with no problems, Deramax has also worked well for him and is relatively safe. Prayers and good thoughts as you and Pebbles cope with this challenge.

Here's to a good year Darcy, and thanks to your mom again for sharing you with us all.

As a result of surgery she had 20 staples and 4 drains running up the length of her neck....the vet shaved her fuzz down and it's starting to grow back already. She's well into the healing stage, but it's itchy and gets angry red when she scratches since she has no fur to protector her. She's wearing an old leg of a sweatpant on her neck to keep her from scratching it directly. Stupid me, sorry. I've had sucess with vitamin e oil on my own forming scar tissue.

Poor baby, I'm glad he's back home with his family.

Have you identified the cause yet?

If it's a very small wound, you could use that bandaid wound glue. Patrick got happy tail, from the amount of blood on the walls I thought it was going to be a huge gash, but it ended up being very tiny and the wound glue kept it from reopening.

Glad to see he's feeling better.

Poor baby, hopefully now that it's cleaned up he'll start to mend.

What a good, brave girl Darcy is. Have fun spoiling her at Christmas

Poor Flashy, hoping and praying its just a little bug or something.

Patrick cut his tail and a ton of the bandaid wound glue finally got it to stop bleeding. After that, it healed up just fine on its own. Granted, the actual cut was very very small, just bleeding prolifically.

2 should be fine--Patrick takes 2 twice a day for arthritis. Poor Monty.

It's not a choice I would make, even though I adopted through them.