Annette
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Posts posted by Annette
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Pogo is back at the vet school. We took him back yesterday. He hasn't eaten a full meal since we brought him home on Wednesday. We have a hard time hiding his meds in treats because he just refuses to eat. Forcing medicine into him is impossible. He is a big dog and when a foreign object such as a finger or hand is in his mouth his natural reaction is to clamp down hard with all his might. When we got to the vet school he had a fever of 106. When I spoke with the emergency vet after we got home, she said his temp was down to 102.5. His CBC and chemistry were basically unremarkable for a dog who just had their leg amputated one week ago. They found bacteria in his urine, probably from the catheter they had in him. They are now treating him for a urinary tract infection. He is scheduled to get his stitches removed on Thursday. We feel we have no choice but to keep him at the school until he improves enough to eat regular meals and snacks that we can hide meds in. If we can't give him his meds, he will never get better.
Spoke with the vet school about an hour ago. Pogo is doing better. His fever is going up and down. When his fever goes down, he will eat. Last night they offered the chicken we brought along for him, but he turned it down, but he ate chicken baby food. He ate more chicken baby food this morning and a while ago he ate a combination of Prescription ID dog food, baby food, and our chicken. He is on Tramadol for pain, Trazadone to calm him, and an antibiotic for his UTI. He had an accident in his crate overnight and his pee was pretty close to a normal color. I just spoke with who I assume is a student and not the actual veterinarian. The veterinarian is supposed to call us later with an update.
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Pogo is home. We got home about 9:00 tonight. Were able to hide his amicar in summer sausage.
Anyone have any food suggestions? We have tried chicken, cheese, cheese burger, and baby food. He does not want to eat.
Thanks,
Annette
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Just got off the phone with Pogo's vet. There is an outside chance he will actually come home with us tomorrow!!! It sounds like he is living up to his name (and probably scaring the crap out of the staff) jumping around in his crate. They want Miriam to stay at home so Pogo doesn't go ballistic, so she will stay behind. It is probably best. I will let everyone know tomorrow if he comes home with us.
:banana -
Had an interview this morning so I was unable to take the call from the vet school. They removed Pogo's catheter and had him up and walking. They did not say if he had eaten. I am sure we will get an update again tonight. Also, we asked Roy's sister to call and talk with the vet school. I am sure there are questions that I haven't asked and Anne will know to ask since she is a vet. We will be visiting him tomorrow. I will cook up some chicken breasts for him and see if he will eat that. We were going to take a rotisserie chicken but changed our minds in case the spices don't agree with him. More later
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Well Pogo is taking us on a roller coaster ride. He has not eaten at all today so now they have a feed tube (if I understand correctly) in him. They think part of problem with his appetite might be the lidocaine so they are weaning him off that (he is still hooked up to an ekg machine). His blood counts have stabilized, so they don't believe they will have to infuse him anymore. They also think the lidocaine has him feeling "punky" and less energetic than he should be, so hopefully that will help him in the walking process. They have been standing him up regularly and massaging his neck area because of bruising there. He has a catheter in him along with the compression bandage, so that really isn't allowing him to walk well. They did manage to walk him just a little ways to the scale. He most likely will not be home till the weekend. We were hoping to pick him up on Wednesday. Our plans now will be to drive down and visit him hopefully.
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Got off the phone with Pogo's vet student this morning. He ate a full jar of baby food this morning. She said the bruising is not that bad. Also, instead of laying on his side, it sounds like he got into the Sphinx position. They will probably try to walk him tomorrow with a sling. I also asked what type of arrhythmia he had and she said it was a Accelerated Idioventricular Rhythm which is faster than ventricular escape but slower than ventricular tachycardia. I am just reading the information off a pdf file I found that was written by a cardiology vet and it is all a different language to me. i just know it was not the worst case scenario.
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Annette,
You can call and talk to the surgical student or Dr. on call at ANY TIME. When Cooper had his jaw surgery, they would call after rounds, and then I would call in the afternoon and late evening. Don't feel like you can't call. That's what they are there for. Sandy
Don't worry. I call when I feel I need to. Of course, the person we spoke to in the morning said that we would not get a call till tomorrow unless there was an emergency. So the phone rings and it is from the vet school. Cardiology checked Pogo over and there are no problems with his heart. He is still doing fine. Now Roy and me on the other hand.........
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Just an update. Pogo's heart rate has normalized. He is hooked up to an EKG machine. He is getting 1200 mg of amicar. In addition he is on a constant rate infusion of pain killers in addition to a fentanyl patch. Cardiology is going to be checking him out today. We won't get another update until tomorrow morning if we are lucky.
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Pogo's condition has been changed to a question mark.
We are not sure what is happening with Pogo right now. We just hope he will recover well. On Thursday when he was in for his pre-op work, he threw up and the vet discovered an arrhythmia. We received a call at 5:00 am this morning regarding an arrhythmia. They are giving him medication for it. Also, even though he has been getting amicar every 8 hours, it sounds like he already may have significant bruising. Roy spoke to the vet school on the phone this morning. They will be doing an ultrasound of his heart.
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Just got home a few minutes ago. Pogo is still in Madison and doing fine according to the surgery student. Will update more tomorrow.
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The house is pretty much ready as much as it will be. We need a few more rugs, but I will pick them up during the week. We built a ramp up to the house even though we have a ranch, the outside steps are not the best. We built a 16 foot temporary ramp that is built like a brick outhouse. We will keep it up until spring unless Pogo needs it up there longer. I have a feeling he will do fine without a ramp once he recovers. I figured having a the ramp sticking out the side of the house would slow him down, but it doesn't. He just looks at it like an airport runway and tries to take off (we don't let him). I figured I would stand near the end of the ramp to discourage him from running. I did keep him from running, but the side rails weren't all completed at that moment and that little stinker just bi-passed me and jumped onto the ramp where there were no rails.
For the first week or two we will walk him on a leash even inside the yard till we can't keep him calm enough to get a leash and collar on him. We named him Pogo for a reason.
I am not sure what will all be happening on Thursday. We will meet someone from his surgical team, we will also speak with the vet in charge of the rapamycin study, and also he will be getting an ultrasound and required by the rapmycin study.
Friday morning we will be back there for the surgery.
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Prayers for Pogo. What Dr at UW is doing the amputation?
I actually don't know. Dr. Shaffer told me who would be doing it when I was there yesterday but I have completely forgotten. I sent them a copy of Dr. Couto's Limb Amputation Protocol for Greyhounds with Osteosarcoma. I had a call (finally) from the surgery coordinator when I was on my way out of the grocery store tonight. I didn't realize it was my phone that was ringing (thought it was someone elses) because it came after normal business hours and it was a generic ring tone. I hardly get calls after normal business hours by people I do not know. I will be calling the person back tomorrow. I called twice today to set up the surgery appointment and never actually got a call back from the coordinator. When I called Dr. Shaffer with questions regarding the Rapamycin study I mentioned that I had called twice today and never got a call back, so she just went to the surgery coordinator and set up the appointment.
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Pogo will be having his leg amputated on Thursday, November 19th. Went to UW Madison yesterday and it was a long day. We were gone a total of 12 hours. Part of his care team includes a person who has greyhound as part of his dna. Dr. Couto's son is doing an externship there. We will most likely be part of the Rapamysin study also.
I guess that is all for now. I really have to get something done around the house.
Annette
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Unfortunately we may be taking part in the study for Rapamysin. We were in Madison most of the day today. Can someone tell me who designed that city? Once you get there, there is no easy way out
Has anyone ever had their pup participate in a study? If the pup does not tolerate the drug, etc in the study, can they be taken out of the study?
Thanks
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Here are some ramp photos. Forgive the mess, we are doing some work at the back of the house.
Ramp is 39" wide edge to edge, interior tread width is 36". Black strips are Skid Guard Treads (there is adhesive on the back but they are also nailed).
Full view:
Top view:
Side view:
The ramp is attached to the house. All the dogs love it.
I have found it is helpful to keep it swept off in the winter - diligently whenever it snows. It gets slippery on the wood to each side of the black strips whenever there is a wet+freezing combination. I keep a rubber-backed runner rolled up near the door, and put it out over the ramp when needed for traction, and remove it when the dogs come in to let the sun dry the ramp off. It helps that it faces south.
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You might want to look into this.
Lots of owners have had good results with it:
https://www.etsy.com/listing/225448995/greyhound-assistance-harness?ref=shop_home_active_1
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The ramp needs to be wide enough for the dog to feel comfortable, and very stable. Also the angle can't be too steep or it defeats the purpose. I will say, my boy was doing our three stairs in and out of the house about 6 days after surgery. We did let him stay at the hospital until he was mobile and going potty on his own. He was also ready to try the indoor stairs to the second floor about a month post-surgery, and eventually did them on his own shortly thereafter. Scared the crap out of me every single time he did them, but he was bound and determined to get up to our bedroom and on the bed. The Webmaster Harness was a godsend.
This is going to sound like a stupid question, but I watched the video for the Webmaster Harness and maybe it's my lack of sleep over the past week, but my brain just can't process the fact that you must put the dog's right leg through an opening in order for the harness to be adjusted. How does this work for a dog who will not have a front right leg?
After I posted this question, I found a picture of a tripawd greyhound on the company Facebook page that was missing its front right leg.
Thanks
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Since Pogo's chest x-rays and blood work looks normal, I am going to assume at this point he will be getting his leg amputated. I remember at least one Greytalk member building an outdoor ramp for their pups.
Has anyone built a ramp for their pup? If so, do you have pictures of what you did and how you did it?
Thanks
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Just another update.
Heard back from Dr. Couto.
He confirmed a primary bone lesion, it has not spread to his lungs and his alkaline phosphates are normal.
Our appointment is on Tuesday at UW-Madison. By pure coincidence, his son is doing his externship there and may stop by if he is able.
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Update: Pogo's x-rays and blood work are on their way to Dr. Couto today. His blood work appeared normal. Local vet unsure about the chest x-rays. There is one suspicious spot. His leg still looks the same. Don't know if there would normally be a difference this quickly. Have an appointment at UW Madison Clinic on Tuesday.
Hate all this waiting.
He has only been part of our family since September 20th of last year. Before we picked him up in Milwaukee that afternoon we had our 20 year old Lefty kitty pts. Pogo was in a home for 2 years (I believe) when the people who posed as his human family gave both him and his husky sibling up. Their reason for returning Pogo - he was too needy
It's hard waiting for a definitive answer. I really want this to be over.
Annette
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Just updating. I feel like I am in "hurry up and wait" mode. Our local vet currently does not have a digital imaging x-ray machine. They will be purchasing one in the near future. That being said, the vet called this morning to let me know that a rep was coming in tomorrow with a demo model tomorrow, so chest x-rays will be done tomorrow and the leg will be x-rayed again using the demo model so all x-rays can me emailed to Dr. Couto.
If Pogo is good to go for amputation, we will be having it done at UW Madison vet school which is about 150 miles south of our home.
Pogo is on Rimadyl and it is helping his pain.
Annette
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I don't have any suggestions for you, but if you end up in this area and need anything, let me know.
thanks
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UW Madison Veterinary Hospital!!!! They are the most compassionate, skilled people I have ever met. I have met with the Oncology team, Orthopedic team, Dentistery team, and all were phenomenal. Costs were in line, nothing extreme. Please let me know if I can be of any help with who to contact. I would be happy to help.
Sandy, I tried messaging you but I was unable to. Who do you recommend at UW Madison?
:banana 
So sorry.
Pogo's Surgery Appointment
in Health and Medical discussion
Posted
thanks