lilythetigerdog

FawnFan - We are giving Lily Tramadol right now too and the only thing she will eat without searching for the pill at the moment is liver pate (we use cheap liverwurst from the grocer) and wrap the pill in that. Not sure if it will work for you, but liverwurst has been great thing for us lately. Glad he's resting now.

I'm sorry to hear about Ben. I hope you get more time with him.

What great news about Twiggy!!! You must be so relieved!! A quick update on Lily-hound... She is doing well on her 3 doses a day of Taramadol (50mg) plus one dose of Metacam a day. Her limp is amost gone - she limps a bit if she gets up from sleeping on her bad leg, but otherwise is a prancing, zooming girl :0) I took the day off work yesterday to hang out with her. We put some seeds in the squirrel feeder and spent some time watching "wildlife" in the yard.

True. Amputation is indeed an option, but not one that the vet feels will give her any more time. We have decided to manage the pain as best we can. And I will definitely call. A lot.

I just got off the phone with my vet and we spoke at length about Lily’s meds and I shared all of the information I have from here and from my own research. Almost everything I read tells me that 2x/day – 50mg of Tramadol is too low. He told me that he often does not prescribe such a low dose as a starter but he said that we discovered Lily’s osteo at a very early stage. Lily’s cancer went mis-diagnosed as a cruciate tear twice and then was only evident when we x-rayed her good leg and compared magnified images of her two femurs side by side. There is no distortion of the bone or “starburst” pattern in her marrow. He feels that the Tramadol 2x/day plus the Metacam 1x/day is enough, but said to increase the Tramadol if I want to and he will prescribe anything I need. I’m also concerned that I won’t recognize her pain – there has been no yelping, crying, and her limp has been sporadic at best. He told me I could bring Lily over to the office any time I like and as often as I like and he will watch her walk (for free) and will make suggestions/write prescriptions as we need to. He also gave me the name of his college who is familiar with Lily’s file and said that if I can’t reach him, she will be able to give me whatever we need. He is also familiar with Dr. Coutu and the work they do at OSU and said he would consult with them if I wanted him to. I’m not at that point yet (although I have become a member and been all over that site), but after all of this support from you all and my vet, I am definitely feeling a little more confident. I’m also worried about her life expectancy. Like everyone else has said, he confirmed that her life span could be shorter or longer. Fortunately, in his opinion she likely has months rather than weeks or days given how early we detected the cancer. I hope he’s right. DH and I went home at lunch and Lily was jumping in circles in the living room, so I suspect the Tramadol is working.

I have no idea why amputation is not an option. I tried calling this morning to talk to him and the best I could get was that prescription filled. He is in surgery all day and I won't get a chance to talk to him/ask questions until tomorrow. And to be quite honest, I have been so upset and surprised by this diagnosis I really didn't get an opportunity to think clearly until today. Is there anything else I should be asking/doing? Thanks for supporting our decision. I keep feeling like what ever I do, short of having her see her 12th birthday, I'll regret it in the end.

We x-rayed her lungs and they are clear. I was looking at the OSU link earlier this morning. I'm not sure if a second opinion would change my mind about the treatment, but it would be nice to get confirmation from the industry leaders on this. When I talk to my vet tomorrow I am going to get him to help me with this.

We are seeing a general vet. I am so sad about this diagnosis too. Lily is such a good girl.

Hi KF, Thanks for the quick response. Super helpful! I will definitely take the results to the vet. Lily weighs 62 lbs. She will be 8 years old on May 14th. Unfortunately, amputation and other treatments are not an option. Our vet told me that amputating her leg and providing additional treatment won't give her any more time with us so we chose to manage her pain as much as we can. :0(

Ahem, reading this back I realize that I forgot to ask my question; What dose of Tramadol did you all start out with and what do you think about my 50mg 2x/day dosage? Also, I should have done a spell check... if I could only remember how.

Hi Guys, It's been a looooong time since I've posted on GT, but here I am back when I need help the most. Lily was diagnoed with Osteo on Monday and confirmed via biopsy results yesterday. Origianlly we thought Lily had a soft tissue injury since her limp was so sporadic and occasionally non-existant, and then it was mis-diagnosed with a cruciate problem. This morning we started her on Tramadol. The vet prescribed 5omg 2x/day. I worry that this won't be enough. I already feel horrible that this is happening and I am marinating in guilt over the fact that she has been in pain for so long and I don't want my hang ups to affect her treatment. The prescribing vet is in surgery all day and our normasl vet has the day off so I am feeling totally lost here. I left the vet a message saying I needed more information on the Tramadol and I also lsaying that I needed Gabapentin and Rimadyl - his tech called back and said I should just wait and talk to him tomorrow. Well, I don't want to wait. Is 50mg 2x/day enough. A friend of mine (who has been through this more than her fair share) has told me that 3x/day is what I should be doing. Gah. DH and I are so devastated and confused. Here is my girl:

Lily used to be a whiner, but we nipped that in the bud quickly. It was easy for us. Every time she would whine, we would ask her if she wanted to go outside, then we would let her out. It worked mainly because it was December at the time, and she did NOT want to go outside if she didn't have to. Within a day or two the whining stopped and now we know for sure when she has to go outside. I second the water-bottle solution. It's probably a lot nicer to be outside in December Birmingham than it is in Winnipeg, so I don't think the outside training would work.

I think more time is needed. He will never be a Lab or a Border Collie for sure, but give him more time to be comfortable. It took Silver over a year to really play with stuffies, and some times I am still convinced he doesn't love me! lol. Maybe he just needs alone time? Lily is glued to me all the time, and Silver is more of his own dog. Lily has been with us for over 3 years, and Silver for almost a year and a half. I still see Silver changing more and more every day and I expect it will take even longer for him to act like he truly loves us. I'll wait. Hermes may never be the way you want him to be. What's wrong with letting him be himself? He might surprise you...

I'm so sorry for your loss

Welcome home Jessie!! Jilly would be very proud of and happy for you.

Welcome! And what fabulous photos!!! I especially love the one where Fanta is burried in the sand. lol You have a beautiful fur-family.

I have no words. for Susan and Jonah and Josh On the 24th we will indeed bid often and bid high.

Yay Jonah!! Congrats on your forever and ever home! We can`t wait to meet you!

I was jsut going to post about seasonal allergies and then saw this thread. So I guess dogs do get seasonal allergies.... Silver has been scratching his hind end for about a week and it seems to be driving him crazy. I'm going to try the leave-in conditioner, but I am always nervous about giving "people meds" to dogs. Benadryl you say?

Our cats get it. Never any problems. I think they understand each other more than we do.

She sounds happy to me. Ours groan and moan, but only when they are content. Silver just groaned now, and he is cozy in his bed with his mouth half open. It sounds like she is secure with you and your DH coming and going, which might be why she doesn't spring to the door anymore. Ours don't jump up when DH come home either, but they still love him. It will just take time to read her signals a little better. FWIW - I get stink-eye (and "dirty looks") all the time but I know it's because they love me because they don't do it for anyone else. Well, DH gets stink-eye too.

Hello Gold! and Welcome Back! Silver says "hi".

Good advice above. We had three cats when we got Lily (she was our first GH) and what really worked for us, were the safe zones for the cats, "NO KITTY!" and make sure you give Miles lots of treats when he does something good around the cats, like they walk by and he ignores them, or they are playing and he doesn't get in there. He will learn much quicker what "to do" rather than what "not to do". One more thing - it can be quite stressful at first, but it gets much easier and it's totally worth it.

http://www3.greyhound-data.com/d?i=1496591 Eeks! They are!!! I didn't know Silver had relatives in the goold ole' US of A! Teehee. How is Gold? And what does he look like? How exciting!! Lol, yeah I am so pumped that we caught the "Basement Pooper". Lily absolutely hates the word "no" so it is no surprise that there have been zero accidents in the basement since the scolding! Hooray! Yay! Gold is doing very well! He is really shy, but is blossoming before our eyes . He is quite the chewer and lover of "laundry toys." We really have to keep things out of his reach. He is just a delight, though. He had been up for adoption for quite some time, and it was our great luck that he was available when we were ready to adopt again. I noticed that they have the same black "eyebrows"! (I sent some pics to your email address.) Darn! I didn't get the email... when did you send them? carrie_epp at hotmail.com I'd love to see the eyebrows. lol. What is your email address? I'll fwd some more of Silver to you. I'm glad Gold is settling in. Silver loves stealing things too! His favourites are laundry, winter boots, and DH's running shoes. He hasn't destroyed anything yet but he loves to nap with his "stolen goods".

http://www3.greyhound-data.com/d?i=1496591 Eeks! They are!!! I didn't know Silver had relatives in the goold ole' US of A! Teehee. How is Gold? And what does he look like? How exciting!! Lol, yeah I am so pumped that we caught the "Basement Pooper". Lily absolutely hates the word "no" so it is no surprise that there have been zero accidents in the basement since the scolding! Hooray!