Well, she had a bad weekend and went to the vet this morning for observation. It was obvious she was in pain of some sort. I knew she was constipated but even after that she wasn't herself. She hasn't been herself for a month and I've thought it was because she was missing Sasha. But this weekend she started really acting odd. She was panting and trembling. I had a bit of laxatone and that helped her have a bowel movement but she still wasn't right.

I called the vet this morning, nothing available till tomorrow but I could drop her off and they would observe her (usually between surgery times and other appointments). I gave the okay for xray and bloodwork.

They ruled out Lyme, which is a relief. We used Frontline but nothing is 100% foolproof. Doc said her tonsils were twice normal size. Could be allergies. It's ragweed season here. Mild palpitation indicated pain in cervical area of spine and further down her back. He said that could be why she ended up constipated, her back her and it was painful to "assume the position". She wasn't consitpated today so that's not an issue anymore at least. Xray revealed signs of compression and narrowing of the discs in the neck and low back. He said age related wear and tear. Not degenerative disc disease. She has arthritis in her neck.

Her little heart was racing too and she has a small murmur and fluid in the lower chest/heart/lungs... I forget exactly what he said. I was trying to take it all in and not break down. My kids were with me, oh yeah, great! It was after school.

Her thyroid is in check, still low but now in the normal range. We are to continue the Soloxine, the dose she is getting won't have side effects for the heart. She is now on Enalapril 2.5mg in the morning to lower to blood pressure.

Her kidney levels were very elevated still, even with the K/D diet. I don't know what more to do. He said they are functioning at 50%. NO treats I guess, even if they are low protein. She always managed to sneak a morsel of Sasha's treats so we don't have that anymore.

They gave her a shot of steroids for her back. She has a week of Amoxicillian with a small dose of steroid mixed in to help her back.

We have to wait for the rest of the blood work results, he only had half of them this afternoon.

I pray she will be okay. I can't lose her too. I feel so bad that's she's been so uncomfortable. She was sitting on the deck not because she was looking for Sasha but because she didn't want to walk in the yard. She hurt!

Keep us in your thoughts and if you are so inclined, your prayers as well.

Took Ruca for a play date with a GSD puppy named Ra. He is 2 weeks younger than Ruca. They had a blast! They were very evenly matched in their play style. Mostly prefered to wrestle and chew on each other, but had a few rousing games of chase coupled with some zoomies. :)
We are hoping to make these a weekly event.
Because it was our first time at this off leash area, and Ruca's first time meeting Ra I had her drag her long line for a bit. It soon became clear that while she was very focused on playing with him she was still very attentive to me so I took it off.

...and give a brief report on how our summer went? Things have been very quiet all summer. :announce:

We saw Dr. Baggaley today and she was given a clean bill of health, to a gradual return to normal activity. We're all thrilled. The weather was gorgeous today. . . perfect, so we just sat in the back yard together, enjoying the fact that she was off lead and there were no bars between us. I've removed the big chest and set of stairs at the foot of my bed so she won't get up there anymore, or rather so she won't jump down from the bed anymore, and hopefully that'll prevent mishaps in the future. It's almost enough for me to want a new bed, although I love my log bed. Hmph. Maybe I'll just lose the box springs. That'd reduce the height significantly. Anyway, it feels like it should be a holiday. Happy Liberation Day everyone!

I don't need it yet, and may not ever, but I have a neighbor who I thought was freindly who has called and left a rather angry message about how I take care of Suzie and intimated she would call 'someone else' if I didn't change what I was doing. This is a long post - my apologies.

It was a rough day - Mom has had a minor heart attack and is in rehab to strengthen her walking, etc. and I had several errands to run on her behalf that day. Suzie had had diarrhea the night before due to a new treat from another neighbor and I had left her outside for three hours while I was gone. Four neighbors on the other side of my condo were listening for and watching her and were going to put her inside at a specific time. Suzie was not in any danger - she had shade and water and had been outside while I was home the day before and earlier that day - but was on a lead outside and was barking/howling at maintenance guys. My 'dog sitters' all spoke to her and she shut up right away, but this neighbor came from the other side after they went inside and believed Suzie had been outside all day and she gave her fresh water (fresher than two hours before!), moved the water in the shade Suzie needs things in the same place or she gets anxious), and took off her anxiety shirt which she called a 'sweater.'

I had never left Suze outside while I was gone before and wouldn't have left her then except for the diarrhea and the neighbors who were home and were working and entertaining outside for most of the time I was gone. This has hit me from nowhere and I am stunned. This neighbor has been unusually likely to blame other neighbors for what is her responsibility in the past - leaks from her plumbing causing garage ceiling damage in other's garages, but is usually very passive and does nothing. If she starts to complain about Suzie barking/howling (she said 'screaming') inside my condo, I may have to do something to get Suzie to quit when I am gone.

Whew! If you're still with me, any advice about how it worked with Fennec? And anyone else who got this far, any advice other than to make sure all the neighbors/'dog sitters' have heard her voice mail, called my family lawyer (a childhood friend who told me to record every thing she said and not to initiate any conversation with her. He also said I shouldn't have called and left a tearful message aologizing to her!) and make sure she never even sees Suzie even when we go out for walks?!!!

Thanks for any and all advice, etc. Mom's still in rehab and we hoped to get her back home with Dad this weekend.

On Saturday Frank saw Kosha in the back yard rolling around, then smooshing her face into the grass. He thought she might have found a patch of dry bird poop. Then he saw a pop bottle beside her and wondered where she had gotten it. Closer examination revealed that she had taken an old wasp catcher bottle that had been full of flies and grenadine--didn't catch many wasps!!--that Frank had set by the baby barn, intending to throw away. Well, Kosha took it into the backyard and somehow had taken the lid of and spread the fly/grenadine mixture. Oh she was so happy! I had to hose her off. But since it was 37 C, she was happy!

Hi again-
well we went to the vet yesterday and he checked her vitals and they were all normal. He touched her lump and said that it was in the muscle area behind her ribs and not on any organs. He then did a fine needle biopsy. He had to try four times to get anything worth putting onto a slide for Histology at the vet lab. The third and fourth time Georgia cried and peed, the fourth time she tried to snap at the vet. Poor girl. He said that she was really spleeny. I said you would be too if someone poked you four times in a spot that already was sore. He hoped that it was a fatty tumour. I said I hoped so too. I took the slides to the vet lab across town myself. Hopefully we will have some results today and hopefully they will be good results. Georgia was really clingy last night and had to lay on my lap on the couch until bedtime and then she was good the whole night. This morning I rubbed her side and the 'lump' seemed larger, but that was probably because of all the poking yesterday. I also found two smaller lumps along her spine. Poor Georgie.. .I feel so terrible for her. I hope that she is not in too much pain, that I can not stand.

Again prayers would be really appreciated ....
Renee

I've pretty much finished all of the work on Cantope's site; now it's just a matter of adding a couple of champions and their pedigress. I'm really proud of this web site and wanted to share: www.cantope-standard-poodles.com.

Hello all-

I know that I don't write on here that often but I do read all the posts that cme by.

I need your prayers and good thoughts for Georgia today. Last Thursday I noticed a bump on her left side and she was very lethargic and didn't want to eat or move around a lot. I touched her side and she yelped. I told my husband that we were going to the vet right then and there. I called my vet at 9pm and we went right in. He just looked at her and gave her a shot of penicillin and gave some amoxil pills. Over the weekend she did drink some and ate some liver but overall she was very down. Today I got an appointment for 1. I am leaving work at noon and get her to her appointment for one. The 'bump' feels the size of a baseball now and is right behind her ribcage. If we are lucky maybe it is a uterine abscess and we can just spay her and be done with it. I hope that she doesn't have another tumour. She has already been through so much. She just lost her right leg in February.

Again .... pray for us today



Renee