rascalsmom

Thursday morning update. I got there to pick them up around 5:45 last night. Rascal was still pretty out of it, she did wag her tail as soon as she saw me, but she was having a little trouble controlling her tongue....it kept slipping out the side of her mouth. She did have one extraction. She's got some sutures where they removed the lump. She was very happy to be home, but seemed to be in some pain, when she tried to lie down on her left side, which was the side the lump was on. I did get her to take her Tramadol in a peanut butter sandwich, and she seemed to have a restful night. This morning she seems a LOT better. I made her some rice, added in a scrambled egg and some canned Turducken dog food, along with the Tramadol, and I am happy to report that she gobbled it all up! She is resting now, and she's sporting her Troy Polamalu t-shirt. I take her back on the 20th to get the sutures removed, so she'll be wearing a shirt until then. The vet tech reported that Buddy was a good boy, too, and she gave him lots of loving. They really like my dogs. Last night I gave Buddy some dinner of the new Hills k/d kibble plus k/d canned. He ate it all and then promptly heaved it up on the family room carpet. In hindsight I probably should've waited till he'd been home for a couple of hours, but live and learn. This morning I gave him the same, but added a little bit of regular canned food. He ate every little bit. I sure hope he continues to like this food, as the vet thinks it might be enough to bring his blood pressure down. He goes back on the 20th too, for a BP check and if it's OK he'll get his dental then. I'm so glad to have my pups back home...

Dental yesterday was $120. Pre-op bloodwork was $72. She had one extraction which I was not charged for. Tramadol for pain, five day's worth $11. So basically $203 for that. However, the bloodwork showed some funky numbers on kidney functions, so it was $24.50 for urinalysis, and they did a BP for $13. My vet's prices are quite reasonable, I think.

They didn't tell me, but I will ask when I go to get them. Should I go with Hills K/D or Purina N/F? I noticed the Purina has corn in it, and the Hills doesn't. My cat is on feline canned n/f. Just my opinion but I would use the Hills.We've had excellent results with the Hills vs the Purina Thanks, I was leaning toward Hills, just to avoid corn.

They didn't tell me, but I will ask when I go to get them. Should I go with Hills K/D or Purina N/F? I noticed the Purina has corn in it, and the Hills doesn't. My cat is on feline canned n/f.

Here's the scoop. Rascal: Blood pressure was fine, they did the dental and removed the lump. Lump was inconclusive, looked sort of like a fatty tumor but not like the "typical" one. They will preserve it, and we will decide if we want to have it biopsied. Sutures in the shoulder where the lump was removed will be removed in two weeks. Buddy: No dental. His BP was up a bit. The vet wants me to give him rx diet (KD or NF) and then take him there again on the 20th; at that time they'll recheck his BP, if it's OK they'll do the dental. She said the diet is lower in salt and protein, and might be enough to bring the BP down. She doesn't want to go straight to meds when it's only up a bit. She also said we can recheck Rascal's urine, and if she's still got protein in it in a few weeks maybe she should be on rx diet, too. Oh my; my poor old pups.

Right. The vet gave me the option of going ahead with them or not, assuming the BP's were OK. Since unhealthy teeth can put a strain on the kidneys, I want to go ahead and get them done. They definitely needed it. Maybe if the teeth are clean, the kidney values will return to a normal range....if they don't then we worry about what to do then. She was going to be sure to perfuse them adequately, since the anesthesia also puts a strain on the kidneys. She's put my dogs out many times, and they have always done well. I trust her 100%.

Nothing yet. She (vet) told me that if their BP's were high, she would call; that if I didn't hear from her, assume the BP's were OK and the dentals would be done. 90 minutes till I can call....

Well, it is an hour and a half later, and no word from the vet, so I am assuming the puppers' blood pressures were OK and they are going ahead with the dentals. I get to call at 3:00 to see how they're doing, and when they can come home..... It was weird today to walk with only one dog. On one hand it was nice, because Ruby doesn't make many stops (like the other two), so it was actually like exercise! On the other hand I felt "empty". Two people asked me where my other two dogs were!

Buddy's had what I think were several episodes of vestibular disease. It can be very frightening. Fortunately, his only lasted a short while--once it was just a few hours, once it was a couple of days, that sort of thing. They act "drunk" and Buddy actually walked into a wall once.

UPDATE: I just had a call from the vet. She told me the following: Rascal--her creatinine level is up a bit; looking at previous bloodwork, it is higher than it has been. She is concentrating her urine OK, but there is a lot of protein in it. She took a needle sample of the lump, it was inconclusive. She thinks it could just be a fatty tumor. Buddy--his creatinine is also up a little, and his BUN is elevated. He is also concentrating his urine OK, but he also has a lot of protein in it. Here's the plan. She's going to check their blood pressures, and if those are OK she will proceed with the dentals. If the BP is up, she will NOT do the dentals but try and control the BP first. She told me that certainly having bad teeth can cause the kidney values to be "not right", so as along as their BP's are OK they will have the dentals....as for Rascal's lump, as long as she's doing OK with the anesthesia, she'll just go ahead and take that off, too. My poor pups. I just hope the kidney numbers being off is because of having icky teeth....I already have a cat who is on prescription food for kidney function.... Any of you vet peeps, feel free to educate me further if you can.

Tomorrow morning (Wednesday) Buddy and Rascal are going in for dentals. Buddy is 11, and Rascal will be 9 on Friday, so they aren't spring chickens anymore. Please keep my babies in your thoughts and prayers.....Rascal is also going have a lump looked at, and possibly removed. I think it's a lipoma, but it appeared rather suddenly and is nearly the size of an egg. It's on the "upper arm" part of her left front leg. I will leave it up to the vet's discretion as to whether or not it should be removed. Buddy's got a bunch of lipomas, but none that are that large. Buddy may end up having his little front teeth removed. They are awful looking, and obviously sensitive, since I can't really get near them with a toothbrush. Very nasty. So he may be having a bunch of extractions. I know it's just dentals, but every little prayer helps.

His teeth look great!! Scrambled eggs are a good idea....two of mine are getting dentals tomorrow, so I will keep that in mind!

What a relief for you that all went well!! He'll be back to normal in no time!

I occasionally have to do some "cleansing" and powdering of Rascal's girlie parts....she tends to get a bit crusty there, and then itchy, licks a lot, etc.....however, Rascal definitely does NOT seem to enjoy it. I never thought I would do this for a dog. Ever. Just goes to show what you will do for a pet whom you love so much....

I hope all goes well for Flashy. I have two of mine going in on Wednesday for dentals, so I know how you feel!!

I was buying dog food the other day, and also bought a tube of toothpaste. The girl at the checkout told me that the PetZLife stuff was really good (not what I bought)...that she has a couple of customers who really swear by the stuff. I didn't see it until I was already checked out, but may look into it....

One thing I've noticed is that cephalexin is very, very hard to get into dogs. It is extremely stinky, just stick your nose in the bottle and you'll see what I mean, so therefore impossible to *hide* in anything. Personally I prefer to spend the extra money for Clavamox and not have a battle every time they need a pill. For pain from extractions, Ruby got Tramadol; my vet charged $10 for 20 pills (50 mg each). They also had her on metronidazole ($5.80 for 14 pills) instead of Clavamox or cephalexin.

My vet told me that, in order for brushing to be of help, you really, really need to do it EVERY DAY. And yes, like others have said, sometimes even with daily brushing their teeth are just BAD. I've got one with gingivitis, so I have to be very vigilant with brushing....and she still gets a dental every year. But even with three dogs, brushing their teeth daily only takes a FEW MINUTES. It's such a little thing, and if it helps....

I actually think it was the fact that DH didn't want another vet bill. He really didn't want to pop that toe back, but I gave him the "I do everything ELSE for these dogs" look.... No, we're not going to GIG. It's just too much for Buddy anymore. He's 11, and has slowed down a lot in the past few months. Plus, I'm in the bell choir at church and we are playing on Sunday.

Last night I noticed Ruby's outer toe on her back leg was dislocated. The dogs had been running around in the yard earlier in the day, but I didn't notice this till bedtime. She was limping a bit, but nothing too bad. This morning I Googled "dislocated toe in dog" and up came a result from GT! I followed perfectweather's advice, and made my DH pop the toe back into place this morning. He didn't want to, but I suggested that I might have to take her to the vet tomorrow, and that did the trick. Ruby gave a big yelp when he did it, but she is feeling MUCH better now! Oh, the power of GT and its vast base of knowledge!!

Aw, Karen, that's exactly what happened to Buddy! He didn't want to bear weight on his front leg, and the vet narrowed it down (pun intended!) to a narrowing between two vertebrae in his neck. Same prescription: Rimadyl and HARNESS ONLY! Bud says to tell Marx the Rimadyl will work its magic, and he'll look just as handsome in his harness as Buddy looks in his! I highly recommend the Wiggles Wags and Whiskers harness, which goes on from the TOP. No pesky lifting of the feet to get into it!

What relief you must be feeling, Robin! That is WONDERFUL!!

Everything is sounding hopeful....

Buddy has a similar neck issue, although I'm not sure which two vertebrae are involved. He also did a course of Rimadyl, which seemed to help a lot, and has been wearing a harness ever since. He has been 100% fine with regards to his neck. It was a very simple "fix" to get him into a harness. I hope it goes as smoothly for Happy!

How sweet, thank you! She is a doll. All my pups are Molotov offspring. Just cause you're so nice, a gratuitous Rascal picture, with her daddy and sister Emily...