Meandmy

I'm sorry you are going through this. Please don't second guess yourself! I'm sure they were glad to have gotten the call, especially since you acted quickly and got their baby taken care of. Things happen, and all we want is to make sure our babies are cared for when we're gone. You obviously did that, and did it well!

I'm wondering if this may be the case. Shadow has always been very, ummmm, meticulous about keeping his hoo-hah clean but with him wearing sweats to keep his knee covered, he hasn't been able to get to his parts very easily. So, uh, how exactly do I go about this?

Good thoughts for Casey, and for you! Please keep us posted on how he's doing.

I'm looking to see if anyone has any ideas on this. Shadow had surgery 2 weeks ago to remove a hemangiopericytoma from his hind right knee (you can read that saga here) He's doing great and healing up nicely. Since his surgery he has been dribbling a bit of urine. It's not all the time, only for a short while after he urinates, or when we mess with his wound (which we have to do fairly often). It's not usually a lot, just a few drips, or occasionally up to maybe a tablespoon or so (not that I've measured!). I've also noticed that when he pees, he'll sometime still go a bit after he drops his leg and starts walking away. He's been on amoxicillin since the surgery, but the vet took a urine sample anyway, just in case. He doesn't have a UTI. The vet is going to call me tomorrow, but seemed perplexed when I spoke with him about it today. Has this happened to anyone else? Is this something that might be related to the surgery and will go away with time? Or do I need to start looking at belly bands? Thanks for your thoughts

He is getting better every day, thanks for asking He goes in tomorrow to get what's left of his sutures out (they're really not holding anything together). He's off the pain meds and just wants to go, go, go! We've given him free reign of the main floor and he's much happier. His wound is slowly but surely healing. Another couple weeks and it should be pretty much scabbed over. In the meantime, we're still keeping it covered with sweatpants. He's gonna feel naked once those come off!

Thanks for checking in. Shadow is doing much better. His wound looks gross, but is healing up fine. He's feeling better, which means that he's hating being confined to one room more and more. He also wants to go on full walkies. I don't know how much longer before we will have a full rebellion on our hands! It's going to take a couple of weeks at least to heal, but that's ok. I'm feeling much better about it. If you know how to get in touch with Kathy who does the 3rd Saturday meet & greets would you PM me with the info? Unfortunately we're going to have to miss this month (we missed January and February, too) so I want to let Kathy know what's happening. She and Ernie get concerned Hope you and your guys (and fosters!) are all doing well.

My Shadow's looks exactly like Flashy's. Completely bald. And, he's got a super skinny tail, so you can see the bumps of the bones. He's fuzzy everywhere else, and the vet said it's nothing at all to worry about. He's never gotten a scab or anything there.

Oh, poor Harrison. Good thoughts headed his way!

Robin, I'm so sorry to hear about Loca. We'll be thinking of you.

Good morning all, Today is dawning much brighter than yesterday was I feel a bit silly for my meltdown yesterday, but I was tired, scared and overwhelmed. I'm over it now and moving on! I picked up Shadow yesterday and he was doing fine. He seemed a lot more comfortable, although they hadn't given him any pain meds while he was there. They sent me home with some Tramadol. His wound is ugly and is bleeding/seeping like crazy, but the vet said it's normal and, as long as we can handle it, leaving it open at this point is our best bet. He's still wearing his sweats (which the vet loved, by the way) and that's helping to control the blood. He slept through the night last night with only one minor bout of whimpering. He's still eating great and wags his tail every time he sees the leash come out. So that's that. He should be pretty much healed in 2-3 weeks. Then we'll take it day by day. Hopefully it's a long time before it comes back, if at all. Yesterday I felt like a terrible mom, but I did the best I could with the information I had and we'll just move forward from here. Lucky for me, dogs are really good at forgiveness Thanks again for all of your kind words. I can't tell you how much they've helped me this past week.

Took Shadow to the vet this morning. He popped open his sutures and things are looking pretty gross. But the vet is happy with the healing process and feels the swelling is normal, given the circumstances. We are giving up on the sutures as the skin is just too tight there. Shadow will be getting better pain relievers and will be coming home with me tonight. It's going to be messy, but I'm glad he'll be home with us.

I got this cordless Dremel from Home Depot. Nothing fancy about it, but it works great! I would highly recommend getting a cordless - much easier to go to the dogs than to get them to come to you when it comes to nails!

Hi Adam, You've posted a couple of times and I haven't responded to you personally. Just want you to know that it means a lot that you're thinking of us. I hope Mary is doing well. I can't believe they'll both be 10 in just a few weeks!

Well this just isn't going well at all. It started yesterday when it looked as if Shadow had popped one of his sutures. Called the vet and off we go. He said it looked better than he thought and sent us on our way. All afternoon Shadow was uncomfortable and had a hard time laying down. Then we noticed his foot had swelled up quite a bit (like almost twice the normal size!). Called the vet again (he has been so great with us). He told us some things to look for, but otherwise to watch and see if the Metacam helped the swelling go down. If not, bring him in today. We had a long, sleepless night last night. This morning Shadow's foot was still very swollen and his wound had seeped a lot overnight, so called the vet to let them know we were coming in. Went to change his leg covering (he's wearing one-legged kids' sweatpants) and he had completely popped all of his sutures in the main incision. Now he has a huge hole right over his knee. It made me cry to look at it. And the worst part is that the pathology report came back and the didn't get all of the tumor. It's a hemangiopericytoma, which is slow-growing and doesn't usually metastasise, but if it recurs, the chances of that increase. The vet said he got all he could without actually cutting apart the knee joint. So I've put my poor dog through all of this and it's getting worse not better. And now it doesn't seem like it's worth it. I just hate to see my poor baby in this state. Please think of him the next few days - he needs all the well wishes he can get.

Shadow is having such a rough time of it. I'm feeling like a pretty bad mom right now His foot is still very swollen, so I'll be taking him in this morning. He was uncomfortable all of last night and neither one of us got much sleep. The good news is that his foot, although swollen, isn't hot and isn't painful. I'll be glad when the vet is able to take a look.

Oh, and I hope I didn't come off like I don't appreciate the input. Just, in this case, there ended up being conflicting opinions. I was hoping for a resounding "No, it's perfectly normal, don't worry about it another moment!" The support I've gotten through this whole thing with Shadow has been great.

OK, just got off the phone with my vet (who, by the way, is an abolute gem!). Since Shadow got his daily dose of Metacam not too long ago, we're going to see if that helps the swelling. Fingers crossed that it does. If not I'm to bring him in first thing in the morning to be admitted for the day. If it gets any worse than it is now I'm to call him back. Thanks for your input. I was trying not to bother my vet for a second time today, but really it's what I should have done in the first place.

Shadow had surgery to remove a tumor from his knee on Wednesday. He's got 3 long (3-4" ) incisions running down his right leg. This afternoon I've noticed that his foot is pretty swollen. He's not bandaged at all - just a bunch of sutures and a pair of kid's sweatpants on The vet looked at his wound today because Shadow popped one of the sutures. He said it looked better than he expected at this point. So should I worry about his foot swelling? Or is this a normal part of the healing process? Thanks!

Oh, but this is going to be a long road to recovery. I picked up Shadow last night and his knee just looks awful There are 3 large incisions - two of which were made to help stretch the skin over his wound (there's a technical term for them, but can't remember it). There still wasn't enough skin to cover everything completely, so the skin is about 1 cm apart at every incision - lots of seeping and a bit of bleeding. They want Shadow completely confined, so he is in the computer room where there is nothing to climb up on. He's got 2 beds to choose from and there's room for all of us to hang out in here. He's only allowed up to go potty or eat. He's wearing one-legged sweats to keep from bothering his incisions (and to keep at least some of the blood off the carpet). The good news is that, even though he's in quite a bit of pain he's still eating with gusto and wags his tail at the sight of his leash. He also pooped for the first time this morning. Soft, but not too bad. And now maybe he'll quit farting for a while He's on amoxicillin, Metacam, and some liquid bandage. I can't even imagine how long it will take for everything to heal. But he's home and we're all much happier for it

I was told they would call me today with an update, but I couldn't wait anymore so I called them. Luckily, they're very patient with me They said that Shadow's doing much better today! He's been laying around, watching what's happening around him and is much more comfortable. So, I get to pick him up tonight. Whew! Now if I can just figure out how to get him out of the car (he screams when we try to lift him )

We'll be thinking of you today, and wishing you and Tara Sue peace and warm memories of each other until you meet again...

Thanks everyone for thinking of us. Shadow had his surgery today and they are confident that they got all of the tumor out. The bad news is that he is in quite a bit of pain. Enough so that they would like to keep him overnight. The vet said he screamed when they tried to get him up to go out and potty The incision on his knee had to be fairly large and the vet thinks it's going to take a while to heal. My poor boy is going to be uncomfortable for a while. It's going to be hard not to have Shadow home with us tonight. But, I know he's in good hands and they will be able to deal well with his pain. I'm taking Friday off to spend at home with him and make up for his time at the vet. ETA: The tumor will be sent out tonight and we will hopefully know exactly what kind of tumor we're dealing with sometime the beginning of next week. Hoping it's a one-shot deal.

Thanks everyone for your kind words (and Patricia for your orders that everything turn out ok!). I really appreciate them. Foxysmom, thanks for sharing your experience - I hope ours is the same! Thanks, Michelle. Shadow goes in for bloodwork on Saturday to make sure he's ok for surgery. My vet is being really great and rescheduled one of his other patients so Shadow could go in for surgery next week on Wednesday. Not that it's necessarily a rush, but because we had to wait so long for the results since the lab lost the first samples they sent. He knows how worried I am and is taking good care of us. The good news is that the lump hasn't grown at all and doesn't bother Shadow in the least. I'm hoping that this is a one-time deal. Thank you all again for keeping us in your thought

Well, after an extra-long wait (the pathology lab lost Shadow's slides) the results are in and Shadow's lump is cancerous They're not sure what kind of spindle-cell tumor they're looking at. The recommendation is to cut it out and send it in for a more definitive diagnosis. Poor pup. The lump is right on his knee - it's going to be tough to heal. Guess Shadow and I will be sleeping downstairs for a while. I'm just so bummed. Shadow's not quite 10. I'm not ready for this!

As soon as I saw the title to your post my throat caught. I sure am going to miss your little tusk-y girl I'm glad her passing was peaceful. I hope it was for you as well. My thoughts are with you.