Mandibulectomy From Oral Fibrosarcoma, Just Came Home Today

[sweetdogs]

Good thoughts for Dunquin today.

[Guest racinmason]

Another Dunquin update:

 

Big news!! We both saw her today with her nose in the water bowl!! This is the first time she's even been interested in the water at all. After she pulled her tube out, she hasn't had any water that we knew of and was getting all of her fluids with her food. She has gained 2 lbs and with the new water interest, we're really feeling like progress is happening.

We've had very low temps the last few days, down to 12f last night so we're not taking her out for very long with her tongue hanging down, we don't want it to freeze ! Also, we're watching carefully when she goes out so that she doesn't lick something like frozen metal and get stuck.

 

So, she's happy, we're happy! I haven't figured out how to post pictures yet but will as soon as I do. I do have several hundred on Instagram but not here yet.

 

thanks for your thoughts and wishes.

mason

[galgrey]

That's a very good update. Continued good thoughts for your girl.

[Riverhound]

Good stuff! If you want to email me a couple photos, I'd be happy to post them here. Rachaeltpl @ yahoo.com (remove spaces)

[Charlies_Dad]

That is great news!

[Guest greytkidsmom]

Fabulous news! You go Dunquin girl!

[SPDoggie]

Fantastic!

[carronstar]

Wonderful update!

[sweetdogs]

Yay Dunquin!

[TwiggysMom]

Great news! I am so glad Dunquin is making such progress. You must have been thrilled to see her going to her water bowl!

[quarrystepper]

Congrats on the great news! What's your username on instagram? There are quite a few GTers on there as well, and you might find a few to follow on this thread.

[Guest racinmason]

My username on Instagram is Racin.

Dunquin drank out of the birdbath again!! Hurray!

[Riverhound]

I just looked at your photos on instagram. Dunquin is amazing, and so are you for doing this for her.

[EllenEveBaz]

Add us to Dunquin's cheering squad!

[tydyelady]

Just catching up on this - Way to go Dunquin!!!!!!

[Guest racinmason]

Post Holiday Dunquin update:

 

First thanks to you all for your kind comments and support and I hope you've all had a great holidays.

 

Our girl continues to gain weight and make good progress. We're weaning her off of the Max Calorie and working our way towards ground up kibble. So far, we're grinding it up in a blender, wow is it noisy!! Add water and she really likes it. It ends up looking and feeling kind of like oatmeal. She's still drinking out of the birdbath and now and then from an elevated bowl in the house. We're going to set up a shallow bowl higher and see what happens.

Big news! I came home the other day and she ran up to greet me then ran back to the toy box and PICKED UP A TOY to run around with! This is the first time she's picked anything up and it was very exciting! And then, and THEN, the next day I came home and she was holding a chew stick between her paws so it was sticking up and she was chewing away happily. The last big step was when she snuck in and was working on Lightning's bowl of kibble, she's found that it sticks to her tongue and she can get it to her remaining teeth and crunch it up. It's pretty funny, kibble ends up all over the kitchen but it's cause for a happy dance for sure.

So, progress continues, she's happy, we're happy.

[4My2Greys]

It was so nice to read uch a good update. Keep it up Dunquin.

[Batmom]

Now that made me smile. So glad she is doing well.

[Guest grey_dreams]

Wonderful news! Go Dunquin!

[galgrey]

Great update!

[claudiav]

HI racinmason,

 

I was hoping you could give us some advice on tube feeding... Sarge is coming home today with a feeding tube, and I was encouraged to read that Hill's A/D is soft and liquidy so it will go down the tube easily... I have a blender and will blend also, but concerned about a food that will be good to his tummy.... he has IBD and can't eat a lot of foods without risking major diarrhea and upset tummy... he will be able to eat regular foods too, but he is one stubborn, picky eater, and he doesn't want any dog food...

[carronstar]

Amazing update that has me grinning! Yay, Dunquin!

[Guest racinmason]

HI claudiav!,

 

I can't remember quite how much water we mixed into the A/D but it ended up being about milkshake consistency. The biggest thing they told us at WSU was to give it slowly, about 20 minutes per 50 ml food. We were giving 2 syringes per feeding every 4 hours and 2 of water on the odd hours so something was going in every 2 hours. With the prep and cleanup, there wasn't much time for a break. We usually mixed up a bottle to last a day or 2 and kept in fridge then microwaved a little bit to warm up to her body temp.

Dunquin was pretty patient with all the fuss, sometimes didn't want to lie there but mostly did.

 

I hope this helps, once I got used to the procedure, I treated it as meditation time for me and once Dunquin did, she often slept right through the feeding. Oh, watch out for air going in when opening the tube, what we did was when we connected the syringe, was pull plunger out a bit till a little resistance then start, that way you can get some of the air out of the tube. It wasn't a huge deal but if Sarge is tummy issues already, if you can minimize the air, he'll be happier and so will you. If you want to, you can email me direct at racinmason@hotmail.com.

 

You can do it! please keep us all updated, do you have a separate thread going for this?

[claudiav]

Thank you Racinmason. I do have another thread going about this http://forum.greytalk.com/index.php/topic/304396-feeding-tube-any-experienceadvice/

 

ER vets who put the feeding tube in and sent us home with 5 cans of CliniCare, which is already liquid and ready to syringe into the feeding tube. It's convenient, but it did give Sarge the runs, an awful dark brown sludge that poured out of him uncontrollably. It kept me up the whole night when I brought him home Wednesday, cleaning after him constantly, but Thursday morning, out of desperation, I gave him 2 Immodiums, and 4 hrs later, when my friend came over to give him his noon feeding, there was no sign of further diarrhea. He also got diapers but the immodium, and maybe his system having gotten used to the food, seems to have stopped the problem. I am still leaving diapers on him, until we use up the 5 cans and after we switch the food to Royal Canin gastrointestinal blend, until we make sure his tummy is ok with the new food. But it seems we have overcome the biggest hurdle and are only going up from here. I am loving the tube feedings, though our vet told us to feed 5 times a day, which works out to every 4 hrs.. We also don't seem to be going as slowly as you were, in pushing the plunger... though we aren't flooding it by any means... just not as slow as you... for example, I gave him 70 ml of food and about 100 ml of water in about 15 minutes... I give him extra water b/c he doesn't seem to be drinking as much as I would like on his own, and I do not want him to get dehydrated again... that's 2 60 ml syringes and 5 10 ml syringes, one after the other, lasting about 10-15 minutes... I have gotten better and the prep and fill all the syringes at one time and bring them to the bed, so I can continue without getting up and coming back all the time... it works and Sarge is sleeping thru the entire thing... As the food amount increases, it will take longer, and when the food changes, it will take longer to prep as I will be putting the canned food in the blender with water, and blending it to the liquid consistency, but it will be so watered down, that it will require more syringes... I'm just elated to not deal with his picky, stubborn ways, refusing to eat anything I give him, and constantly worrying that he can't afford to lose anymore weight, of if he's going to get dehydrated again and end up in the hospital... that's been my nightmare for the last 5 months, and I feel like we have finally found a solution that works... now I just have to be patient and watch him, make sure his tummy agrees with the food, his poops get healthy, and he hopefully gets well enough that he will want to eat the canned food on his own, so we don't feed by tube for the rest of his life... he needs to gain 20 lbs at least... but who knows if that will ever happen... He's allowed to eat by mouth, so I gave him some small milkbones. He ate them happily, and stopped when he had enough.

[Guest racinmason]

OH, I'm so glad he's feeling better!! I don't check on GT as much as I should. Dunquins poops were pretty runny when she was on the Max Cal only but when we started mixing with A/D, they seemed to get better and now that she's on ground up kibble, they are mostly back to normal.

good luck to you!!