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kudzu

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Everything posted by kudzu

  1. This reminds me of a comment my BF made long ago. “Anyone who says Venus is a beautiful dog hasn’t seen her sleeping.”
  2. Wiki knows the secret to catching your prey is to pretend you're too tired to eat. Well done, Wiki, both your hunting and your burger.
  3. See there. You've gone and made me hungry for brindle brownies.
  4. But maybe it’s twerly for twirlies. Better ask Guinness.
  5. Good news so far! May recovery go as smoothly as possible.
  6. I have considered a broodie. Their reputation makes them appealing.
  7. Wiki, I love your grey Grey face! Everyone should have some watermelon for July 1 and July 4 or everyday from 1-4.
  8. This is such sad news. Give her all your love. Remember that letting her go is also a form of love. Though that is so very, very hard as most of us know from experience.
  9. Oh, LaVida, you silly girl That is what I used to refer to as "making a kill before dinner". Venus always did that. She'd sometimes stop throwing toys in the living room, peek around the corner into the kitchen and if I was taking too long she'd return to the living room to continue the killing spree. When Venus left us, Soleil took up the job. He was very, very enthusiastic, sometimes managing to throw toys up into the spinning blades of the ceiling fan. He once got hit by the toy he just threw.
  10. It's a 3-way tie. Rocket gets bonus points for attitude. Mark looks like he was born to wear it. LaVida wins the class & glamor category, especially with her matching collar.
  11. Super Hot Momma came to me as a foster, but I couldn't find a way to let her go. She became my Sunita, our super sweet Su and LittleMissPickyButt. She only ate enough to maintain her, as one vet phrased it, "runway model thin" physique. Someone else described her as a Art Deco. Sunita was the sweetest, gentlest dog I have ever owned. Her greatest love was human attention and in that she was not the least bit picky. Su loved everyone who would give her even the tiniest amount of attention, but stop petting her and she just moved on to the next set of human hands that would touch her. I was never sure whether to be more in love with her for that or flat out offended, but all you could really do was love her. She leaves a huge, gaping hole in my heart, my life and indeed our entire household. Gabby the outdoor feral cat misses her terribly. Tasty Kitty, the indoor dominatrix cat, misses her as well. Though I suspect she liked Su primarily as a bed warmer. Everything I see & do during the day is a jolt as I realize how much our household had come to revolve around such a little Greyhound. The dog beds have been picked up and moved out of site. And now I realize how much floor space was dedicated to a 45 lb dog. Ditto the camper. Too much empty space in my life with no Su to fill it. We were blessed to have her for 10.5 years. We will miss her forever.
  12. kudzu

    Taylor

    It is hard to let any of them go, but heart dogs take a bigger piece of us with them. Time dulls the pain, but our heart always stays with them.
  13. Thank you for the reminder on planning. I've had to do this too many times already, but my brain gets fried everytime so advance planning is much better. And, sadly, the reminder was timely. Su's pain level is ramping back up. We've had a good two weeks since diagnosis. While there is more we could do for pain control, she is already on 4 different pain meds and at max dose for 3 of those. Her hind end is getting more wobbly, either from shifting more weight to hind legs or from the meds or likely a combo of those. She's landed on her bum a few times now. Balancing pain control while keeping her on her feet and managing risk of a pathological fracture is hard. And if she gets too stressed it can trigger her LP. Making sure things are good in Su's world is starting to feel impossible. With the help GT and a very caring vet, we've had a good two weeks. I am very thankful for that. We have Su's last vet appointment tomorrow morning. She'll get trazadone before we leave. The vet will come out to the van. From now until then Su gets whatever littlemisspickybutt wants. That means lots of eggs, meat and cheese. She'll get at least a couple bacon cheeseburgers with an egg on top. She can also have junk food like Beggin' Strips and Pupperoni. Not sure how, but a couple bags of those just fell into my grocery cart (my hands were involved) so I had to buy them. I never get stuff like that, but I figured now was the perfect time. Su approved.
  14. This sort of thing happened to Sol twice. Have to admit that we didn't find the cause either time. Bloody Greyhounds!
  15. Day 5 Post Diagnosis Someone is possibly too perky this morning. She was out in the yard for her morning doodies. She looked over, saw me in the porch & decided to trot across the yard & then broke into a run all the way up the ramp. She still has a limp but it is so much better. I do worry about a break but her energy & enthusiasm, for a lazy 13.5 yo, made me very happy. So the change was made to up the gabapentin dose & we did switch NSAID. Crossing fingers & toes this improvement holds for… is hoping for a couple weeks too much? Also, I have in my possession alendronate. Not giving it to her yet as it is someone else’s leftovers. Will be speaking to vet about it. A few days like today would be gift enough. (Thinks my pessimistic self) A few more than that would feel like a miracle. Wish us luck.
  16. Su heartily agrees with the recommendations for spoiling her. Right now she is demanding feta cheese omelettes. (And it makes me hungry!) She is still eating canned dog food but it doesn't hold a candle to omelettes. Am picking up more supplies tonight. I think tomorrow will be cheeseburger sliders day. She is also getting a lot more attention. Thanks, all. Su is doing okay right now, but I would still like improved pain control. The pronounced limp shows we can do better. Thank you for the suggestions there. The vet did give us 100 mg gabapentin capsules so we can customize that dose more. Will definitely ask about a potential switch in NSAID. I'm hesitant about Tylenol 4 because it makes me feel ill. Then again, I am not Su so I'll have that discussion with the vet, also. We are doing new xrays Friday to see if there are changes. Am trying not to ponder in advance what I will need to do if it is worse. Had made up my mind long ago what I would do if I had an osteo dog. The first one was Salsa, the humble little lurcher. Her shattered leg took us completely off guard & her lungs looked really bad. There was only one thing to do, really no decision to make. Still I knew if I was in a position like I am with Su it would either be immediate amputation, if a good candidate, or immediate euthanasia. So easy to think that until it happens. Clearly, I chose a third path. Now I'm off to the store for Suni supplies. She's looking like she wants another omelette.
  17. We’re ending our third day post osteosarcoma diagnosis. We have ruled out amputation. There are already spots in the lungs. It’s the upper, right humerus. She already has a weak, wobbly & arthritis in her hind end. Su was already on Galliprant & gabapentin for her hind end trouble. Now we’ve increased the gabapentin & added tramadol. It took a day for visible pain reduction. Today she is finally wagging her tail, putting ears on full mast. She tried to have a spring in her step but quickly relapsed to limping. We are monitoring & looking for further short-term improvement. At this point it appears the outer portion of bone looks solid enough to give me hope a break won’t happen in the short term. (It’s all short-term now.) We already had a ramp fit the outside stairs. We’ve put the baby gate up to block the stairs inside. This did not please little miss picky butt! Doesn’t matter that were brought The best bed downstairs. What else can we do? I know she won’t be with us long & I’ve no interest in dragging things out if she goes back to the pain she had Friday. But… but, well, I’m … lost
  18. First, are you sure it is a Cocker x Lab? Once I adopted a dog who was supposed to be that mix. She was more likely a Lab x Aussie Shepherd. She grew up to be a large dog with a huge appetite, like 1 lb of dry food daily when an adolescent. It was at that point I whined to the veterinarian, "How much bigger will she get?!" He speculated that maybe her mom or dad was one of those 100 lb Labs. Eeeeeee! She would try to chew on anything and everything including attempts to eat woks, cupcake tins, the arm of the couch, etc. Seemingly everything in the house had tooth marks. She was so active as a pup that the only way you could "pet" her was by holding your hand still as she ran back and forth underneath. None of that is an exaggeration. On the flip side, she was the sweetest, most loving dog I've ever had and had a fantastic personality. For the first year of her life I wondered everything what I was thinking in getting a puppy. For the rest of her life I thanked heaven I had her. Decades later, when the intense pain of rearing a puppy was mostly forgotten, I got a Staghound puppy. She was wonderful also, after the first year of puppy pain. As great as the puppies were in the end, I think I won't repeat the mistake. I think... probably... maybe... or not... maybe I will... Puppies can have that effect on you. eta Maybe I should read the rest before responding. If I had I'd have seen you are springing for the puppy bait breath
  19. The lump under her chin hasn’t changed. That tooth is now a little loose. It will have to go but will see at next recheck. We had more of a discussion about anesthesia procedures with LP dogs. Tbhounds, he actually said basically what you did. I laughed when he said “chewing”. I’ve not decided about canine dentist. The ride to & fro, even with anxiety meds, might be asking a lot of her. It’s odd that we can hook up the trailer, load her in the van & it the road without much stress but drive around without the trailer & we have issues. Of course, if I tow the trailer to the dentist… Can imagine the phone call, “Hello. My dog needs a dental with extractions. How big is your parking lot?”
  20. She is currently on antibiotics for a suspected tooth infection. There is a lump under her chin, along jaw line. It’s in an area where one lower tooth sticks out. Tooth has been that way for years, well before a prior dental, but the lump is new. She has a recheck in a week to see how that is doing. Right now the size is unchanged. She very much needs a dental cleaning anyway, but the infection is why I am so concerned. Besides the many other health implications of dental infections, I don’t want my girl to have toothache. Sunita has been with me 10.5 years, longer than any other dog. She is starting to show her age, but I still hope she will be with us for a good while longer. She is petite & appears rather delicate but is a lot tougher than she looks. Getting old ain’t for wimps.
  21. My girl, Sunita, is 13.5 yo and has laryngeal paralysis. She needs a dental. The dental seems essential to me, still elective but very needed. Somewhere in the back of my head is a caution about intubation in dogs with LP, like it is something to be avoided if at all possible. However, I do not remember why. There are some possible laryngeal related problems, like inflammation, that can occur after intubation. Presumably the consequences of such problem may be worse for a dog with LP. Still those risks seem less worrisome than those posed by not doing the dental work. And I keep reminding myself that intubation itself is actually a treatment for a severe LP crisis. At her checkup last week, the vet mentioned a dental and immediately said it was okay for LP dogs. (Felt very much like he was reading my mind.) After doing some searching, I do not see anything to contradict this. The risks do not seem to be significantly elevated for LP dogs. I will add that our first visit to this vet was on an emergency basis during a breathing crisis. They handled everything as well as regular or e-vet and their only a couple miles away. (Had previously avoided this practice but has new owner, vets and staff.) Our regular vet is 30 minutes away and the E-vet 15 mins minimum. Car rides stress Su and at this point the trip to the vet in itself triggers a breathing attack. So we have switched vet practices to have a 5 min ride instead. I know Su needs the dental and really want to believe what this vet is saying, but... I guess skepticism and worry are my nature.
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