Dolly

For those seeking advice on caring for incontinent pets and animals with kidney-related problems.
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critters
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Re: Dolly

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I'm glad she's better!! :wub:
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CarolC
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Re: Dolly

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Yesterday Dolly completed 10 weeks of crate rest. She needed 8 weeks for a disk, and because it was a disk in her neck and it's harder to rest the neck, we did 10 weeks to lessen the chance of relapse. She seems fine, I hope she is. She has been GREAT during this whole time. You never saw such a perfect little dog about being crated.

I set up a small x-pen in the grass and put on her diaper and she went outside for 15 minutes. I need to get a bigger x-pen, but we'll be using some kind of confinement from now on, and limiting time outside. I have decided that since this was her 4th episode of neck pain, and we almost didn't get it under control this time, her life is going to have to be different from now on. She can go out, but I will carry her. No more bouncing up and down the ramp. No more bouncing all around the yard for 2 hours. She is 13. We'll figure it out, but she just can't keep straining herself like she has been. Trying to tell myself most of us face limitations as we age.

Bringing her back inside yesterday was OK, because we did Pip's wall treats exercise right after, and when Pip practices walking for treats, everybody gets treats. She was wagging her tail for a while after that.
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Re: Dolly

Post by Christine »

Oh :wub: , that story is precious. She just loves you so much that she knows whatever you ask of her will be the right thing. So glad she is better. Your plan sounds perfect and she is so adaptable, she won't even think twice.

I think I missed something. Who is Pip???
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Re: Dolly

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Hmm. Yeah, bouncing probably is hard, and hard on her... Glad she's doing so well!
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Re: Dolly

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:thankyou:

Christine, Pip is a little 8 lb black and tan chihuahua. He was pulled from a shelter April 8, quadriplegic from a neck injury, by Lizzy's Hospice that specializes in special needs such as elderly or terminally ill pets. Karen at Lizzy's said she pulled him thinking nobody would adopt him. I saw him posted here and after discussing it with her and really considering, I adopted him July 19. (I was mainly worried I might not outlive him. I would be more comfortable with an older dog, he is 7, but it was the right decision.) At that time he had just become able to hold his head up. His head would still loll around if I carried him.

I thought I was getting a permanently paralyzed dog, but he has been recovering. He can use all 4 legs. He has central cord sydrome, a kind of spinal injury that leaves the hind legs working better than the front legs. He has bladder control unless I am late taking him outside in the morning. He has learned to walk with only the support of being next to a wall to lean on as needed. We practice that twice a day. I put Pip next to the wall and put a treat on the floor by the baseboard on the other side of the room, and he walks to get it. Of course, when Pip gets a treat, everybody gets a treat! He's a great dog. I had no idea what he would be like when I got him, other than paralyzed, and he has this wonderful personality and is as sharp as can be and full of drive. Also, one of my cats who has never had a friend seems to like him, they are both boys.

He had no PT for the first 3.5 months he was paralyzed, and now he is making great progress. His left front leg has been the limiting factor. He's had his shoulders working since I got him, but on the left front leg he just got his elbow back in the past 2 weeks. He's still knuckling, but I don't think it's as much, I'll have to pay attention today when we practice. The neurologist thinks he has either FCE or ANNPE and the treatment for either one is PT. I am retired and home, and we do PT 5x a day and are really having a great time. :wub:
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Re: Dolly

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Wow...that sounds just short of miraculous! Don't you wish you had been videoing his journey from when you first got him to now? What an inspiration that would be. I also think you should write a book about your animals. It would sell very well and Critters can attest to Amazon in that respect.

"Love and Lessons from the House of Ahimsa"

I love that the cat now has a new friend!
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Re: Dolly

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I do need to do a video of his wall exercise because it might help somebody someday. I did a video of his early wall exercise to show the vet, but I didn't want to post it here because I am in the video, mainly the back side of me bending over! :blush: :lol:
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Re: Dolly

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CarolC wrote: Mon Nov 08, 2021 9:08 am Also, one of my cats who has never had a friend seems to like him, they are both boys. Would that be Paddy??? :twisted:
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Re: Dolly

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Yes! Paddy the tormentor of other cats, who seems to like Pip the chihuahua x German shepherd. :wink:
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Re: Dolly

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Amazing!
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Re: Dolly

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The things we do for pets. :) I was remembering Christine's bedtime routine with Bailey.

Dolly had to be crated for her neck several months back. The vet said put her in a room away from everyone so she wouldn't strain her neck watching activity. I put her in the middle bedroom. After her crate rest time was over, she seemed to be liking that room, so I did not move her back to the living room crate, she still has her bedroom crate.

But it started to get cold and she's in front of a double window. :cold: I used a 2" thick foam kennel pad between the crate and the wall to insulate her from that outside wall. Then I put a blanket over her crate, so she has a blanket fort at night. I fold it up every morning and make the fort every night.

At bedtime she gets a new underpad, new quilt, new fuzzy blanket inside her crate, and the foam pad and blanket around the outside.

But then someone I know developed a knee problem that was making pet care difficult. I thought, sooner or later my back will act up and having Dolly at floor level will be hard. Plus it's colder on the floor (it was fine in the summer and fall). Plus if I stack another crate on top and give her the top crate, she can see out the window. So I added a crate on top and moved her up. She's warmer, I still insulate the wall AND windows now (I got 2 more kennel pads for the windows) at night, and still make the blanket fort.

It's kind of fun. I like tucking her in at night and she likes it, too. My big worry all this time was I didn't want her to get chilled and risk having her neck tighten up, and if she was cold I didn't want her doing a lot of borrowing under blankets, in case that might bother her neck.

She is 13. She drinks quite a bit of water and I sometimes think she's short of breath. I don't know if being on so much medication for her neck for weeks was hard on her system, or it's just her age. She's doing pretty well, still bright and excited about meals and treats, sleeps quite a bit. And the upper crate is more entertaining, watching cats sitting on the recycling bin next door. :D

So that's our little bedtime routine. And in the morning when I go into the bedroom and remove the blanket and say "Good morning", she's on top of her blankets and not burrowed under, meaning she was warm enough last night, so it's working. :)
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Re: Dolly

Post by Christine »

I enjoyed reading about your routine and could just picture the whole thing. I miss having those sweet routines...just another way to show them love.
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Re: Dolly

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:wub:
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Re: Dolly

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Something happened with Dolly on Saturday morning. She was in her crate and I heard her crying. Went in and found her lying on her side craning her neck about an inch up off the blanket. She was crying in pain but I couldn't tell what it was. She's had neck problems before but in all previous cases she would be in a sitting position unable to lie down. This looked different because she was lying down.

She acted like she didn't dare move, then she kind of writhed slightly and rolled over on her back and I thought I was losing her right then and there. I wondered if it was her heart, or something with her organs. Then she rolled onto her stomach again and I just barely touched her neck on both sides and it calmed her, so I began to massage her neck just barely. We did that for a while and I decided it must be her neck because the massage was helping.

Then I was in a fluster because I thought it was later than it was, and thought the vet was closed. I checked and it was 11 so I called. They said I could come pick up meds. Not all of her meds, she usually takes 4, they could only give me 2. I was afraid we'd end up in the emergency room later in the day, but I went and got what I could.

I gave her the meds (including a loading dose of the muscle relaxer--experience!) and began our usual procedure for her neck problem.

This time, amazingly, she improved much faster than usual. She seems good now and it's only been 2 days, but I'm keeping her on the muscle relaxer a little longer to be sure it doesn't come back. Wow! I'm sure glad. Usually it's a lot worse than that.
:angel:
I can't figure what she did. I haven't let her strain it. When we go out in the yard, she is in a small pen so she isn't dragging and bouncing around. Maybe she was lying down and tried to sit up and did it then. Thank goodness she was lying down! She can go all day being unable to lie down and rest when it happens and she's sitting up. Since I've been restricting her activity, I really thought it would never happen again. :|

EDIT TO ADD: If I thought it was just a cramp I was wrong. Relapse 8/8, stuck sitting up 14 hours because I couldn't get meds, still on reduced meds 8/21, recheck will be 8/23.
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Re: Dolly

Post by Christine »

Oh my goodness...I felt just what you did when you found her in pain. I got to thinking about how sometimes, the slightest movement can trigger a hitch or some joint pain and advancing age is the culprit, in my case. Nowadays, in the morning, I have to get up slowly, hold onto the dresser, stabilize and then move forward. I am good the rest of the day, but that "restful sleep" seems to have given my motor muscles amnesia!

I hope she has fully recovered. It must be so comforting to her, knowing that you are there when she needs help. Sweet baby girl... :wub:
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