TwiggysMom

Twiggy continues to do very well, all things considered! Yesterday she started getting up on my pull-out loveseat bed for snuggles or to tell me she wants to go out. She has been going up and down the 2 steps into the downstairs room well and is sleeping in her slumberball frequently, Just now, we got home from her longest post-stroke walk yet. about 4.5 blocks total. She wanted to go further, but between her wobbly back end, icy patches and a bunch of ice melting products of some of the sidewalks, I figure it was best to cut it short. She does seem to have plateaued a bit, and she still has a significant head tilt along with a tendency to misjudge the location of things on her left (causing her to knock her head into door jambs if I'm not careful. However, she does very well on walks when she can lope along with me jogging next to her. We started 1/2 low-dose aspirin per day, along with a pepcid (per Dr. Couto's general recommendations & her vet's approval), and also 25 mg meclazine per day (per her vet's recommentation). Although she may not improve all that much more from here, she is clearly enjoying her walks and life so this is very very good!

Congratulations to Taylor and family on a! wonderful anniversary!

Tricia & Burke, I can't begin to say how heartrbeaking this is. You did every single thing right for your boy, but sometimes life has other plans. I am so sorry that Murray had to leave you for now.. Please take care of yourselves in this time as well

Twiggy had another very good day! Jamie came back today for a half day to sit with Twiggy & she refused to take any money! Also, the vet's office refused to charge me for her stay yesterday and gave me a big discount on the previous day's office visit. Needless to say, they have been amazing!! ( and a variety of people-treats will be making their way to their office soon!) I am beyond delighted to report that Twiggy is still improving, & tonight she decided to go on a (very short) adventure walk. First, we walked to the corner to the vet's office where she weighed herself and then got cookies and pets from everyone. Then, she had to walk another block to the flower shop for more cookies and attention. She also can go up and down 2 steps awkwardly, and up/down 1 step with relative ease. She continues to amaze me! Tomorrow, she will board at the vet's again and get numerous tests to evaluate her kidney values. It now seems that she will be able to stay at home unsupervised for 3-4 hours at a time by the time Monday rolls around. Continued THANKS to all who are pulling for my willful little girl!

Twiggy has been getting Dasuquin with MSM, Duralactin (which was highly recommended by several of her vets (primary, oncologist, and physical therapy), and Adequan injections (I give them to her myself). All are considered very safe.

No, I am so very sorry to hear this. My thoughts are with her people in their grief. Run Free, Wrigley...

Thanks for asking! Making good progress now, I just updated her thread. All the details are there (and you know I give details! lol)

I'm sorry for not updating sooner! I just couldn't get to it yesterday. Overnight on Monday, Twiggy started making some progress - she actually got herself up in the middle of the night, hopped to the bed next to the one she was on & laid down by herself! That was huge progress. Then, the next morning (yesterday), I wanted to let her drink some water before I got her back down on her bed & while I was reaching for her water bowl, she decided to do a full body shake. All the motion threw her off balance, and she careened into a wall, then fell down the two steps into the downstairs room, landed on her butt/back, did the splits, crashed into the table and finally mostly got back up. I was only 2 feet away when this all happened, but I couldn't stop it! I felt awful. In the process, she got a huge bruise on her butt, cut a chunk of skin off a toe and broke open the scab on her back leg from when she got cut up during her stroke last Thursday. Whew, not a good morning! She had a pretty good day with Jamie (the rockstar from the vet's office who offered to spend the day with her) Then, she had a vet appointment in the evening, which was stressful for her. Twiggy loves going to the vet, right up until she realizes that it is one of those rare times that she is going there for an actual appointment!! Even though I was discouraged with her progress, her vet was actually very pleased with it, & OK'd low-dose aspirin, pepcid, and also recommended that I add dramamine (which they had given her on Monday & seemed to help). This morning I needed to take her back to the vet's office for day boarding and Twiggy was really resisting walking. I'd try to move her front leg, and she would practically refuse to move her back feet. I decided to take a moment to collect ourselves and then I was just going to carry her the whole way... But out of the blue, I saw that spark in her eye (the same one she gave the first time she decided she was going to go across the street after her amp) and OFF SHE WENT! With me at her side keeping her from careening off the walkway, she started trotting. She has only gotten better through the day, and she decided that she was going to go for a little walk after I picked her up tonight. It was only a half block, but it was her decision and she did it all by herself. Twiggy will be Twiggy, after all! Funny thing - This morning I wasn't going to put her collar and leash on her to go to the vet because she "wasn't going to go anywhere"... LOL! She proved me wrong. (good thing I thought better of it and put them on her anyway!)

My thoughts are with Wrigley & her people as she struggles, and Rohan & his people for his diagnosis. All of us here know how difficult these times are and are hoping for the best. Annette, I am so happy to hear how well Pogo is doing!! And yes, he and Twiggy need to have a 3-legged race next year at Gala! lol

More baby steps today… At the vet’s office, she was agitated and standing in her kennel to the point that they were worried she would hurt herself and asked if they could give her some dexdomitor. I agreed, but she still didn’t settle much. They walked her around the office, and she decided she wanted to hang out in the back office with everyone, and spent the rest of the day more or less happy. When I went to bring her out of the office, she was so excited to GET OUT OF THERE, she practically ran to the door (all wonky and lopsided, but nonetheless…) Later I brought her back outside to go potty, but she told me she did not have to by turning herself around and starting to hop back toward the front door. When it was dinnertime, I knelt down next to her to position the bowl under her mouth, but she decided she had to eat standing up like a big girl, and so she did – attacking the food in the bowl until it was all gone. After that, I asked her if she needed to go outside. She immediately turned away from the door and started walking the opposite way down the hall. So I grabbed a bed that was close at hand and tossed it in front of her & she proceeded to make a good attempt at laying down on it (something she has been unable to do until now). Since then, she has been comfortably snoozing on her bed in the location of her choice. Not bad for a day’s work! Oh, & one of the techs has volunteered to pet sit her tomorrow at my house, so she will be in comfortable surroundings and in great hands! (Any ideas on what I should pay her? Today’s hospitalization bill was only $45, but that seems too low. A 24-hour in-house pet sitter I have used in the past is $75 (which still seems quite reasonable).

I did stop the trazadone, just in case. I believe she only had 7 doses total since the stroke, & last one was yesterday morning. Chris, I don't have a Ruff wear harness, but fond harnesses in general are ineffective for her because they slip around without her left leg to keep things anchored. Great suggestion about the log, Ducky. In general so far it seems the agitation is more related to having to go pottty, or being unhappy about which side she lays on. The tremors go away when she eats and sleeps, so I'm thinking it might be pain related. I am keeping Twiggy at the vet's office next door while I'm at work, but I will call an in home house sitter to look into that option too. Today's good news: when she was getting restless, out of habit I asked her if she wanted to go out to potty & she jumped right up! Stumbled a bit and I had to catch her and steady her to help her walk, but she did it. She got up on her own again a little later when I put her collar on to go to the vets office. So, baby steps...

It's weird. I'm thinking the tremors and agitation seem to be related to how badly she needs to poop. She was getting really bad again, and the only thing I did was take her out whereupon she pooped. Got her back in, flipped on her other side, and now no panting, agitation or tremors. She is sleeping comfortably. Which is fantastic right now.

Actually, it is easier for me to just support her with my hands. She definitely fights slings (did post-amp, too, lol!), but my kind of lifting and directing her seems to go over better. Now so long as my back doesn't go out again like it a few weeks ago when I was trying to put on pantyhose & couldn't walk for a week... lol!

OK, maybe I cut out the trazadone, then. She does seem a bit better this afternoon - resting more quietly. I haven't had her out since around 7 am, & she did pee on her pad, but I'm trying to weigh the cost/benefit of agitating her to get her up, out and back down (which is very stressful for her) versus her lying on the wet pad.

Ducky, thank you so much for the articles. They describe side effects very similar to what I'm currently seeing. The thing that I wonder about (and the articles don't seem to contemplate) is whether after being on the drug for years, at times at higher doses then the current dose, would an increase in dosage bring on side effects that had never been seen before? I'm guessing that's a question that hasn't been addressed anywhere before. Ah, I worry so much about my little girl.

The only addition to her normal Tramadol and Gabapentin is Trazadone. I've had her below the low end of her Tramadol dosage for quite a while. (prescribed dose is 75-100 mg every 12 hours, she has been well below that at 50mg every 12 hours for quite a while, though she has in the past had periods at the high end of the dosage range. And I know it should divided into 3 daily doses instead of 12, but with working a full day I haven't been able to make that a daily thing). While in the hospital she was getting 75 mg, and on their suggestion, I upped that to 87.5 (1.75 tablets).this morning. Trazadone is 100 mg twice daily, and same for Gabapentin. Other supplements (not given since her stroke) are: Dasuquin plus MSM, Duralactin, and Artemisinin.

Twiggy is about the same, or maybe a bit of a decline overnight. I can get her out to potty (and she pooped too this morning!), she can squat to go to the bathrooom, and she can stand for a little bit unaided, but she is not voluntarily taking any steps. I hold her up, move her forward, and her feet follow. She does not lay down on her own at all, so I have to pick her up tilt her and lay her down on her bed (she is very much not a fan of that process!). She is eating like a champ, and eats everything I put in front of her. I've been pulverizing her kibble and adding rice, hamburger and egg whites, along with a lot of water, because she isn't drinking much at all. One thing that I'm not sure about is that she has developed tremors overnight. At first I thought they might only happen when she needs to go to the bathroom, but it seems to be almost all the time now. They start with her squinting her eyes, then all the muscles around her head tighten up (quivering), and then that tremor runs down her whole body. They each last a few seconds with a second break in between. She also has periods where she is panting and whining (despite the fact that it is 60 degrees inside) The whining and panting do seem to be related to her needing to go out. Do the tremors sound familiar to anyone? I don't think it is seizure activity, because she is cognizant of her surroundings and can eat and drink while it is going on. I called the e-vet, but they said they couldn't evaluate her over the phone and suggested that I give her 1/4 extra tramadol. After that she did calm down and sleep peacefully for a good while, but that was also about the time I took her to pee and poop.

Thanks Ducky, I do have some of those and was thinking they might work. Chris, I have multitudes of both of those, lol! I have more or less carpeted my entire downstairs with washable incontinence pads, & have her bed innards covered with a waterproof mattress pad & covered with multiple washable pads. I also have disposable pads under her, so she is pretty well covered! I just want to make sure I'm using safe stuff to clean her up with because I can't get her to a bathtub right now. Thanks!

Any advice on what to use to clean her up? I just got her outside a few minutes ago and she stood, squatted & peed 100% on her own, However, she still lets loose while laying down sometimes, and I want to make sure she stays as clean and dry as possible. Earlier I used a paper towel with some nature's miracle, followed by very watered down paper towels. But, I'm guessing this isn't a very good option. Should I get baby wipes, or something else?

She is home! It was really hard getting her out of the car (she was screaming, and I felt awful having to put her through that) but once I got her out I was able to carry her in to her bed, help her stand for a while, and then got her laying comfortably. Here she is posing for her picture... This was right after I got her home. She is zonked out with a pillow under her head now. (They like her to have her head raised a little). Thank you all again for all of the encouragement and good wishes. They have been tremendously helpful. She still has a very long way to go, but I am hopeful now that she can regain some relatively normal function. Her improvement also virtually rules out tumor as cause, so that is reason to celebrate as well!

OK, GT - I think you did it! I just got a call from the e-vet. They say she stood herself up this morning by leaning and pushing against the wall. They got her to walk with some assistance (she was leaning against the tech). Then she squatted to pee (still with assistance), but then, she decided to walk several feet ALL ON HER OWN!!! It wasn't easy for her, she is still very wonky, but all I needed was for her to not fight against being upright and want to try. It sounds like she is doing that now, so I am going to head over as soon as I get a few things prepped for her & hopefully BRING HER HOME! I've never cried tears of joy before, but I have now. Thank you all - I'll keep you posted.

Love this! (seems appropriate for her situation) Thank you !

Thank you Ducky! You guys are great!

Ducky, I have no experience with LP, but I just love Percy. He is an awesome guy & I hope he stays well!

Way to go Taylor!! You and Twiggy are like peas in an osteo pod!