TwiggysMom

Thank you again to everyone. I just got back from the e-vet, and unfortunately she is not yet improved as described to me earlier. She is not able to right herself sternally, and while not paralyzed, does not move much at all. She is still battling the tilt-a-whirl in her head, and is struggling against a vertical position to the degree that she needs 4 arms to support her and keep her upright to stand. In addition, her left hind foot is knuckling under and she is not righting it. She is eating and drinking and off of iv fluids. The only meds she is currently getting are her usual gabapentin and tramadol. Unfortunately, I will have to leave her there until she can be more stable on her feet. It is likely that she will need to stay there at least until the end of next week. At that point if she is not improving I will have them do a MRI to see the size of the lesion (or whether it is a brain tumor instead). Thank you for the info about the kidney diet. I am wanting to keep her protein relatively high but reduce sodium/phosphorus for now as her kidney issues seem only marginal, so I definitely want to look into what you were feeding. Thank you so much for the info, I replied to your pm. I forgot to mention, she is leaking a small amount of protein in her urine. Urinalysis from a month ago showed 1+. Thank you so much for linking this! Because her condition worsened significantly after the initial event and because she has no nausea & has been eating/drinking the whole time, they do not believe this is benign, but rather likely a bleed or clot, with tumor a good ways down on the list. Thank you so much to all for your good thoughts and stories of how your pups did with ckd and strokes! I know Twiggy is a fighter. This is hard though, she isn't bouncing back from this one just yet, so she still needs to fight some more, and can use your continued good thoughts!

Thank you, I'm heading off to visit her and hopefully bring her home now. I'll give an update when I have it.

Around 2am Thursday, December 31, Twiggy was struggling to get around. I heard unusual noises, and saw her pulling strongly toward the left and looking up at the ceiling. At this point, she was still able to stand and walk, albeit with great difficulty. She even waited until she was in the garage to pee! Those who know Twiggy know she doesn’t have her left front leg, so her brain telling her that she has to lean as far to the left as possible to keep from falling off the world really doesn’t work in her favor. She stood in the car the whole way to the evet, and stood as much as possible in the kennel in back, but her right front leg kept sliding out from under and she eventually had to lay down. Since then, she lost some additional function and yesterday afternoon was unable to stand, walk, or even right herself sternally, so unfortunately I had to leave her in the hospital again. The doctors believe this is a central vestibular event because she is still eagerly eating and drinking and doesn’t have any nausea. As far as I’m aware, that means a brain bleed or clot. This morning, she has recovered a little and is able to right herself sternally after being placed on her side and she is no longer staring at the ceiling constantly. So I am hopeful that I may be able to bring her home today. I would have brought her last night, but after seeing her, I knew I would not be able to handle her on my own & wouldn’t be doing her any favors by trying. I hope today is different, even if I have to keep her at the vets office when I have to go back to work on Monday. Recent bloodwork has also shown that she is in the beginning stages of kidney disease, probably due to all the chemo from four years ago. However, she is barely over the normal limits (meaning her normal limits), so we will need to keep that under close watch as well. How lucky I am though that she is still here to be having “old dog” issues. She is 11 years old and nearly four and a half years post amp for osteo now, one of the longest I have ever heard of. I wish I could take some time off to help her, but I am losing my job soon and can’t afford to take the risk of getting immediately fired by taking any days off. If anyone could send some good wishes for Twiggy’s brain to start firing off in the right directions again, I would appreciate it! She is as willful and strong a creature as I have ever seen, so if any dog can do it, I know Twiggy can! Here's the pretty girl looking at me wondering why I stopped petting her!

I am very late, but wanted to pass on my condolences about your lovely Effie. What a wonderful, beautiful girl and a fight well fought. Also an update on La Twiggiletta. She lost 10 teeth in her dental (including her little front grass-snippers, much to her dismay...) But, she is now back to her playful self of a couple years ago. I thought she was bored, or getting older, or something, but lately she has been getting excited and searching for exactly the right toys in her toy box, spinning and throwing stuff around like days of old! As always, I am thrilled to be able to continue to watch her journey, and we are planning our 4th Mountain Hounds trip with Twiggy as a tripod!

Diane, I am so sorry your had to let your best boy Huston go.

Adding my best healing thoughts for you and Chase.

My Twiggy was about 1 year post osteosarcoma when she developed what her oncologist told me was a plasmacytoma after doing a quick needle aspirate on it. He told me these often go away on their own and not to worry about it. I of course, googled it and scared the bejesus out of myself because I omitted the word "canine". Her oncologist was right, it faded away after the aspirate and has not returned (about 2.5 years later). Not that this is always the outcome, but in her case it was. I hope the same for your guy.

I have to apologize for dropping off the end of the earth. Life gets in the way... BUT, I had to pop in today to note that this is Twiggy's 3.5 YEAR ampuversary! Her last chest x-rays were in early January and still clear (though showing signs of old age - which I never thought I'd be able to say - Twiggy being an old dog!!) We aren't celebrating quite as we'd like today because she is feeling kind of icky from the antibiotics necessary after her successful dental last Friday, so her filet will have to wait. She is still her happy, nutty, quirky self, and I am thrilled to be able to continue to spend my days with her. Once this awful cold and snowy winter gives us some relief, I will update with some new photos!

It is so wonderful to hear about Jaynie!! Keep it up!

Oh no, I am so sorry. Such a tremendous loss.

I haven't given a Twiggy update in ages, but she is doing great! We've had some more milestones On 10/21 she turned 10! amazing for a dog who was diagnosed before her 7th birthday! She is now 3.25+ years post-amp and her back issues have actually been better recently. I've been able to cut back her pain meds by about 1/3, and she is even more active than she was last spring/summer while getting the higher dosages. December 1 will be her 7th Gotcha Day. I am so fortunate to be spending my life with this nutty little girl who wakes up every day with joyful anticipation of the adventures it will bring!

I would appreciate that the surgeon doesn't want to jump blindly into surgery, as some seem to. A full body ct scan seems like a lot, but if it could give a better indication of success of amp vs. palliative care, it would probably be worth it. fwiw, I took Twiggy to OSU after Dr. Couto's team reviewed her rads, and he recommended amp. (they did fna and chest rads there before surgery, but no ct scan) I am so sorry you are facing this decision. It is a terribly difficult one to make, whichever way you decide. Sending good wishes for you and Matawan...

I am so sorry that Echo had to leave. A very sad loss for you.

Oh, no. I am so sorry. Kebo was truly special.

I am sorry to hear that Barbie had such a tough time with her first chemo treatment. Twiggy had 6 rounds of carboplatin, and I never saw any side effects until after her 4th round. However, they did give her a Cerenia injection, and send her home with 4 days' worth of Cerenia tablets. I also kept her on twice-daily doses of omeprazole (generic Prilosec). I was fortunate that Twiggy has always been a total food monster. I think think this must be so much more difficult with a non-food motivated hound. Even so, after rounds 4-5, she was occasionally a little slow to eat her food, and she had a very bad reaction to her last treatment. She did have relatively frequent bouts of what I call "chemo poop", which is that orangey, mucousy, runny stuff that seems common with chemo. She did get metronidazole when things got icky that way, but her worst issues were mostly varied UTIs and skin infections. We used topical treatments for the skin infections (colloidal silver and medicated baths), and I started her on a supplement recommended by her vet (UroMaxx) to prevent future UTIs after we got the first one under control. I hope Barbie is feeling better and re-gaining her appetite!

Whoa, how scary, especially when you're out of town. I'm relieved that everything is turning out well (including the bill!) Unfortunately, I bet Xavi does not learn from this experience, stinker!

So glad to hear everything went well! Is it just me, or is that a little smile I see on his face there? Continued good healing wishes being sent!

I wish it were much more representative of what to expect. I don't even specifically recommend the amp/chemo route to people who ask me, because I know how rare she is. On the other hand, I had people (greyhound people) tell me that I could expect about 18 months regardless of which method I chose, and it would be better for her to have all four legs for that amount of time. I am so glad that I chose the route I did, but know things could have been very different I haven't taken any time for granted. I hate to even book hotel reservations for greyhound trips more than a month in advance because I don't want to make any assumptions about the future. That just means that I try to make sure every day is a good day, just in case. I forgot to tell Twiggy's other good news - she had her 3-year follow up at her oncologist's last week, and both he and the radiologist agree that her chest films are still clear! So we do a happy dance for that as well!

I had a foster once who had a similar spot above her nose, and spots below/around her eyes. Turned out to be a combo of yeast and fungal infections. I believe they were also considering demodex, but ruled that out. It cleared up pretty quickly with meds and never returned (I know her adopters, and it's been 4 years now). Just another possible avenue to explore.

I'm so sorry that osteo has been confirmed in Effie. It sounds like you have a great oncologist to work with on her treatment. I hope you have a very long time to still spend together. Beetle_Slayer, I'm glad to hear that Barbie seems to be recovering well now. I can't imagine dealing with a same-day amputee at home - I had a tough time with Twiggy, and she was 6-days post amp when I brought her home (I had a 6-hour drive home, so I didn't want to risk anything). I hope everything continues to get better exponentially from here! It's great to hear how great Jaynie is doing - what a fun hound she is! Yesterday was Twiggy's 3-Year ampuversary. I can't believe how well she has done. What an adventure with my nutty little girl! She continues to surprise me and make me smile every day!

I can't believe it's 2 years already. What a wonderful boy he was, gone far too soon. to you on this particularly sad day.

I so hope that this turns out to be something other than what you fear for your girl. I can't advise as to age (b/c it really is just a number), but amputation is a very individual decision, and it's not right for every hound/home/situation. For my girl Twiggy I did decide on amp, and have had a fabulously successful outcome, but she is not the typical result, so I can't say "look at her, this is what will happen". This is a major surgery, and I think recoveries may be more difficult as age advances (based on human experience only - dogs seem to be more inclined to look for the possibilities rather than the difficulties). If you choose to pursue amputation, do get Amicar on board for her beforehand to prevent the excessive bleeding that greys are prone to. Amputation (moreso for front-leg amps than hind-leg) has a lot of swelling and bruising, more than you can probably imagine. It gets worse before it gets better, and if you get to visit during the first couple days, you will barely recognize your hound. It does get better, albeit slowly. But, then, it gets better and fast!I I think those of us with tripod hounds have found them to emerge somehow more than they ever were (both personality-wise and even (ironically), physically). Sending good thoughts to you and your girl, I'm sorry you're going through this.

Agh - I typed out a long post and had it disappeared by an errant keystroke. Twiggy used to be oblivious to heat, period. Even the summer a year after her amputation. But, last year and moreso this year, heat (even mild temps around 80 degrees), cause her to pant a lot. (She is pushing 10 y/o now!) If you think Bootsy might be starting to have some arthritis or other pain (not that you said he did), you could look into Dausequin, Duralactin (highly recommeded by 2 of Twiggy's vets) - both non-prescription, and/or Adequan injections (you can do them yourself, but requires prescription). Of course, there may not be any pain involved at all, I think Twiggy's pain issues are unrelated to her newly-acquired heat intolerance. I just mention it b/c there's always the possibility of old-ish age pain issues as we approach senior status (ask me and my aarp card how I know !)

Way to go Harry! May there be many more birthdays heading your way!

Kristin, you might try the GPA_WI forum, too. I'm not sure it's as active as it once was, but there are lots of houndie folks there.