LadyBailey

Andy is absolutely terrified of the vet. We are fortunate enough to have a vet that does house calls, but even then we are chasing Andy around the house to get our hands on him. At the moment, he is in desperate need of a dental. I brush his teeth, but it's not enough for him. the last time he had them done was 4 years ago while he was at the rescue. Andy is so scared of the vet that the one time he did have to get xrays, we had to sedate him and then reverse it. I know there are option for sedation prior to dentals, but I am concerned about him stressing out after the procedure when he wakes up. Can anyone tell me what they do for their hounds when it comes to this? Any precautions that vet takes etc? thanks, eva

Carrier Update March 9 The vet came over yesterday to check Carrier's blood pressure and heart rate. We were given Diltaizem after his last visit at OSU to slow down his heart rate, so we had to do a check after a week to see how it was affecting his heart rate. Well after a few days of giving it to him, he seemed not right - so I stopped and we just monitored him. We took daily readings 2 x a times a day of his heart rate and breathing. The readings that we were getting were 90-100 bpm and 12-15 breaths per minute. Which we thought were pretty good. I informed the vet that we had stopped the diltaizem but we still wanted them to come to our home to take a true measure of his heart vitals. The results were pretty good considering all that Carrier is dealing with. First reading on March 9th 133 systolic / 85 diastolic Heart Rate 137 bpm Second reading on March 9th 140 systolic / 92 diastolic Heart Rate 103 bpm The vet noted: "heart is arrhythmic but tens to be in clusters of 6-8 beats." He said that his heart doesn't sound terribly bad. We are waiting to hear back from OSU on their thoughts for those readings and will decide if any next steps are needed. Carrier is doing well overall. He is eating well, and has normal bowel movements. Plays with his toys and participates in everything the other dogs at home do - with the exception of long walks. Although the large amount of snow and cold temperatures are bothering his back, but we are helping him with chiropractic adjustments, massage and heating pads. He has another Reiki session on Thursday. His massage sessions are given by yours truly ... I want a massage, damn it . I can tell he enjoys them as his eyes roll back into head. I spent most of the day yesterday shoveling pathways in the yard so he can walk and do his biz. The vet of course commented... "I see that you have been shoveling your grass for the dogs " How embarrassing But in my defense we have a lot of bloody snow... poor little Ella is drowning in it. Carrier on the other hand gets these burst of energy and actually clears a snow bank... crazy boy!

Our vet came over yesterday to check on Carrier and I asked him to have a look at Andy's bloody thingy on his rump. He said that it was nothing to be concerned about. Basically he said, "it's like a wart that fills up with bloody guck. There would be no reason to remove it from a medical standpoint. it would be more of a cosmetic thing... like if it was on the dogs face and really large or if it was on his butt and kept popping and leaving blood everywhere." Andy has had these in the past and they have gone away on their own. The vet did pick it off yesterday but as of this morning it's back again.

Normal heart beat rate is 70-120 beats per minute in a large dog. Since Carrier is having heart issues and his heart is arrhythmic, we actually felt to see how the other dogs hearts were beating and it seemed that Andy's heart isn't completely as smooth as Ella and Bailey's. But Andy also seems completely normal, so we are not going to persue anything with the vet for him. How is the colour of Alan's gums while his heart is beating like this?

I am so sorry. Hugs to you and Scooter.

I am opting to ignore the "bloody" thing - no pun intended. Andy also HATES the vet. He had one of these things a few years back and it completely cleared up. Actually, the vet is coming to our house tomorrow to do a heart check on Carrier. I will ask him to look at Andy's rump and will let you know what he says... maybe it will save you going to the vet all together.

I hope Lou is feeling better today. Carrier has neck problems and it doesn't help that he has three legs, so the momentum when walking puts a lot of strain on his neck. If you haven't already, I would recommend having him seen by a chiropractor before you do an MRI. The adjustments have done wonders for Carrier and although he still hurts his neck occasionally, an adjustment puts him right straight away. Plus, it's only $30 as opposed to $1000 for an MRI. Also not to scare you, but Carrier also started having these problems before he was diagnosed with Osteo... almost the same situation as Kris (MorganKonaAlex) was describing above. I posted a topic about the signs we noticed with Carrier Signs we noticed with Carrier before he was diagnosed with osteo We didn't know it was his neck that was causing him the great deal of pain in the beginning, we thought he hurt his shoulder. Sending healing thoughts to Lou.

Carrier had a biopsy done on a mole like growth with local anesthetic and he was just fine. Funny you post this though, because Andy has the exact same bump on his rump and he has had it for some time now. Goes away and then comes back.

Sending a million good thoughts & prayers. all fingers and paws are crossed in the andrews house.

Carrier Update Mach 6 Today started out totally out of the ordinary. Here's what happened... Normally, Andy or Bailey, our resident roosters, wake us up at the break of dawn. Ella gets up as we come down and Carrier stays in bed until he hears the water hit the kibble in his bowl. No need to waste energy! This morning, we hear Carrier come bounding out of the spare room and I get out of bed, look over the loft and see him running into the living room with his tail wagging and him making happy sounds. How odd, I thought. Tim came down and found a very excited and happy Carrier waiting at the bottom of the stairs, ready to take on the day. He ate his breakie with gusto and then ran out to do his biz and ran back into the house... I thought it was actually Bailey who was running past me, but it was Carrier. The only thing that I could think of why he was acting like this was because he knew that Christine was coming over to do his Reiki session. A few minutes before she even showed up, he woke up stretched, looked at me and then waited and wouldn't you know it she pulled in not long afterwards. She started his Reiki and he began to fall asleep... she said Carrier asked if she could do it on Ella because she really needed it. So after she was done with Carrier, she went to see Ella. She said that Ella was pushing down a lot of sorrow how sad. Christine doesn't know about Ella's past, we have never told her... we know Ella has a lot of baggage coming from Spain, so we are going to work with Christine in hopes of helping Ella. Back to Carrier - she said that he feels much better since the last time she saw him. I have noticed a big improvement in him over the last few days. We have another session next Thursday and a chiro adjustment tomorrow morning. She even did some Reiki on me - what a weird feeling, in a good way.

I am sorry. Run free sweet Cullen.

Carrier Update March 5 Carrier is doing well he is still attempting to stress me out by barking his heart out outside ... but maybe he's on to me, because I distract him with treats when he does this. ummmm..... I picked up some Traumeel and rubbed it into his joints on legs - he was sitting up while I was doing this and actually fell asleep to the point where his eyelids dropped at the bottom and then finally rolled over on his side.... I massaged his legs, neck and back for about 20 minutes... can you say spoiled?!!!! He has been getting this over the last few days and seems to really enjoy it. Today he jumped for his breakie, roo'd with dad before he left for work, slept the morning away, ran out to bark at something, came in and begged for his mid afternoon snack, then ran out again and did a lap around the house, dug a massive hole in the snow - peed and then ran back to the house...... whew!.... came bounding into the house and played with Lambie and then rubbed his sweet head all over me with load groans and now is patiently waiting for his dinner.. I have 8 eyes staring at me as I type this... best be off to feed the sweethearts... Just wanted to let you know that today, and yesterday were good days for our dear Carrier. Tomorrow is Reiki at 10:30 and then a jaunt down to the park to get some fresh air. he's sweet.

Robin I'll be happy to share that wine with you this weekend. then we can laugh, cry and get drunk together. Glad to hear that she is eating and roaching.

I don't know how far you are willing to drive but the chiro that we take Carrier to is amazing. Dr Rosenberg who is the best in Toronto highly recommend her. We use to take Carrier to Dr Rosenberg, but he told us that there was a chiro just ten minutes from us. Her name is Dr Annette Langois - she is a people chiro, but has been certified in animal chiro since 1998. here is a link http://www.brantfordchiropractic.ca/services.cfm and also one more about the course that she offers. http://www.veterinarychiropractic.ca/index.html She does her small animal adjustments from her home in St George - which is only a few minutes north of Brantford. And it's only 30$ an adjustment - compared to 60$ in Toronto. Good luck

Just catching up on Darcy girl - I am sitting in a cafe with high speed - so of course the first thing I do is go on GT That is wonderful news that she got the all clear. I am sure her party will be fantastic.

That is so funny, because my nieces asked the same thing! They heard my sister talking about cancer and the 6 years old, was, like, "who has cancer?" They shouldn't know these words at such a young age But they said that we should just take him to the doctor and everything will be okay... how sweet. It's great to hear that Dempsey is doing well. I think back to when we were going through it with Carrier and I cherish those days of caring for him and watching him become himself again. They are super. hugs to you dempsey.

That's so sad. Poor girl. Hoping something can be fixed easily.

They are funny aren't they - "oh, just had major surgery, let me get up and check things out." Sending healing thoughts to Daisy.

Carrier Update March 3 Carrier seemed restless for the last few nights and we thought it was maybe the new heart med (Diltiazem) he was on. Well yesterday we got the answer... after what we thought was the drugs making him uncomfortable, we realized what it really was. Carrier had Reiki on Wednesday night - she pointed out that he had sore spots at the base of his neck, mid back and his back left leg near the hock was bugging him. So I took this information to his chiro on Friday and indeed he was sore in those spots. Except for his hock, which is actually a skin issue we are dealing with - lick granuloma. But it's hot and sore and he is bothered by it - we are getting cream for it tomorrow. Carrier felt great on Friday evening and on Saturday he roo'd a million times, barked his face off at all the things moving in the ravine and played with his lambie a few times and even did the figure eight head shake with Lambie in his mouth and ran in the yard and.... actually bounded towards Bailey to play. All of this made for a very sore Carrier. On Sunday morning, he went out for a pee and barked again like mad... and within minutes after coming in, he was in major pain. at 11am he was crying in pain and couldn't get comfy. So we rushed him to his chiro as we noticed his neck was super stiff and the pain was obviously traveling down his back. He literally ran to the car - I am sure he knew where we were taking him. The chiro said it was like his head wasn't screwed on right. The bones at the base of his neck were seized. She was able to sort him out and he came home and slept for 4 hours comfortably. But then, he got up and again started to cry in serious pain. We got in touch with his oncologist to confirm if we could give him tramadol with all his heart meds. The answer was yes. And then we also spoke to his local vet and he said to try and wait to see how he does once the tramadol kicked in. That was the longest hour! Carrier finally settled and we were able to put a heating pad on his sore spots. He managed to eat his dinner spread over a few portions throughout the night and we gave him another tramadol before bedtime. Surprisingly, he had an uneventful night and a normal morning. I know he is still in a little bit of pain, so we are continuing with tramadol, and another adjustment tonight and another reiki session on Thursday. With all that is going on with him, we are so scared when something else happens... one more thing, could be the last thing. But thankfully, we had his heart problems a month ago and he was able to recover from that, so I hope this too is just a small hiccup in his journey. Today he's much better - tried to bark outside, but I quickly distracted him with treats and then he decide to "disobey" me and Roo his heart out when he came in - bugger! God love him... I spoke with his Reiki master this morning and she connected (animal communication) with and told him to chill out and not over do it when he starts feeling great. On another note, we did an animal communicator session with his first reiki session - it was really amazing and informative. She said that Carrier is astounded by everything we have done for him... needless to say, my eyes weren't dry during that session.

I am just seeing this now and my heart hurts for you. But, wow what a beautiful way to cross... hugs to you. run free sweet Buycut.

I am so sorry. You were there for him... that's important and what he needed. Run free sweet boy.

How strange. Hope that fixed the problem... I don't think I could have watched either...

so not fair... prayers and hugs coming your way.

Hi everyone, Sorry for the delayed update and thanks to those of you who were emailing me for news - things have been busy, so I haven't been on the computer... here is the update Tim, me and Carrier drove down to Ohio on Sunday for Carrier's appointment on Monday morning. He was great in the car, but decided to stress the entire night while in the hotel - so we were quite tired when Monday morning rolled around. We dropped him off at 8am and spoke to his oncologist about what the plan was in terms of tests etc for the day. First, we had to assess his heart situation before we even thought of next steps with the cancer, so he was scheduled for a cardio consult, which included a EKG and ECG. The good news is that the mass at the base of his heart has not changed in size since it was discovered in December. It doesn't appear to be affect his heart function either. Unfortunately, his heart is still in atrial fibrillation and it reached 220-240 beats per minute when his stress level went up - which was when they were doing the tests. When he wasn't being evaluated, his heart beat was recorded at 156 bpm. Which is still on the high end of normal. OSU believes that the chemo drug that he received at the beginning of his treatment is the cause of his heart problems. They have put him on a drug that should stabilize his rhythm - so we have to take his heart rate twice a day and make sure that he is getting the right dose...too much of the drug would slow his heart too much, so this is why we are on heart beat duty. Although, they did start him off at a low dose... so he should be okay. He is also having a in-house blood pressure and heart rate check next Saturday to make sure that his heart is doing okay on the meds. In regards to the cancer and the possibility of another chemo treatment as scheduled...OSU recommended not giving him another chemo treatment and we agreed. They did speak to us about giving him a chemo drug (pill form) every couple of days that would inhibit the growth of new blood vessels which feed any tumors - such as the one in his heart... but we also decided that Carrier had enough potent pharm drugs in his system . Plus, there isn't any evidence of this drug works like the other chemo treatments, so we weren't going to take a chance. The other reason we decided that we didn't want to continue on daily chemo was because Carrier's exam to assess if the cancer had spread was GREAT!!!! His lungs are complete CLEAR!!! and there isn't any evidence of the osteo anywhere else in his body! This is really, really great as we are approaching the 4 month mark since his amputation. Sadly, we met a man and his Rottie at OSU who had the amputation only 5 weeks ago and the cancer had already spread to her lungs. It's so sad and we know that this could happen at any moment, but we are so grateful that Carrier has been doing well (aside from this crappy heart thing)! Next steps for Carrier include having his heart checked on a monthly basis at home (beating okay etc.) and a follow up chest xray in 3 months at OSU. Overall, he is good. He won't be going for 45 minute runs at Pinehurst anymore, but we will make sure that he still gets out and walks around at his own pace. In fact, last Sunday he went out the park for 30 minutes and did really well. He is learning to listen to the changes in his body and will slow down or stop if he feels he is getting to excited. He is continuing with his Chiro adjustments, and we have added Reiki to the mix. Which seemed to make him really comfortable. Over the last few days he has been running in the yard and barking at "bad" things in ravine. He makes sure that he does a Roo with the others at least twice a day and he is eating really well. Today I was reminded that we are in a leap year... one extra day that we normally wouldn't have... so, one extra day with our dear Carrier.

I would gage it by how she is moving and how active she is. Watch how she gets up and down - how often, how she uses the stairs or how often she doesn't use the stairs etc. how many bottles of Crown Royal she can carry Depending on what is going on with her, the metacam may be enough... maybe wait to see what the xrays show before you give the tramadol. hoepfully she'll feel better with metacam.