Earlier today I blogged about how distracted I was with Grace at the vet. I just wanted to let everyone know that Grace got through surgery just fine — her cyst was removed successfully (as well as another one they found), and her teeth were cleaned without needing to have any pulled.
The bad news is that she was major hip dysplasia (and, as a result, arthritis) in her right hip. I rather suspected that was the case, but it's worse than I had hoped. The vet said we may be able to control it with painkillers and anti-inflammatory medication for a while, but indicated that might not be the best long-term plan.
Unfortunately, for a dog her age, there are only two surgery options available — a femoral head ostectomy (FHO), where the "ball" on the femur is cut off to eliminate friction in the socket, and a total hip replacement (THR), which basically replaces the problem joint with an artificial one. Here is a comparison of FHO and THR.
An FHO isn't really recommended for a dog Grace's size (83 pounds as of this morning), and my vet seemed a little skeptical, even though he did mention it as an option. I think we will probably need to control it with medication for the time being, and opt for surgery in a year or so.
Showing posts with label the menagerie. Show all posts
Showing posts with label the menagerie. Show all posts
Monday, June 02, 2008
Thursday, November 29, 2007
In Memory of Manny
Manfred "Manny" Hamster (a.k.a. The Manster) died tonight at approximately 10:40 pm. His exact age was unknown.
Manny was rescued from being eaten by the neighbor's cat on July 21, 2006. Despite a cat bite that left a hind foot virtually paralyzed, he showed remarkable courage in dealing with his disability. He enjoyed exploring the top of the bed and rolling around the kitchen in a yellow-colored plastic ball, and never let his bad experience with the neighbor's cat affect his relationships with his new family's cats and dogs.
A defining moment in Manny's life was when the vet used a dental X-ray machine to check his gimpy leg for broken bones. His favorite foods were peanuts, sunflower seeds, pumpkins seeds, and Krunch-A-Rounds (sesame seed-covered peanuts).
Manny will be buried this weekend under the lilac bushes in our backyard, very near to where he was snatched from the jaws of death (literally) 16 months ago.
Manny was rescued from being eaten by the neighbor's cat on July 21, 2006. Despite a cat bite that left a hind foot virtually paralyzed, he showed remarkable courage in dealing with his disability. He enjoyed exploring the top of the bed and rolling around the kitchen in a yellow-colored plastic ball, and never let his bad experience with the neighbor's cat affect his relationships with his new family's cats and dogs.
A defining moment in Manny's life was when the vet used a dental X-ray machine to check his gimpy leg for broken bones. His favorite foods were peanuts, sunflower seeds, pumpkins seeds, and Krunch-A-Rounds (sesame seed-covered peanuts).
Manny will be buried this weekend under the lilac bushes in our backyard, very near to where he was snatched from the jaws of death (literally) 16 months ago.
Manny's days are numbered
Almost a year and a half ago, Michael and I rescued a hamster out of our backyard. Although I don't believe I ever mentioned him again on my blog, we have had the little guy ever since.
Unfortunately, hamsters don't live very long, and it seems that Manny's days are numbered. He has been aging noticeably for months, losing hair and developing age spots (which I didn't even know hamsters got!). For several weeks, he's had an eye infection in one of his eyes; I've gotten a less linty type of bedding, and tried putting a warm, moist compress on it to loosen the gunk, but it has sealed shut anyway. In the last week or so, we've noticed that he seems to have had a stroke, because he is suddenly quite unsteady and stiff, and his legs on one side don't seem to work very well.
Manny has gone downhill quickly, and now I'm not sure he'll even last through the weekend. Tonight, as I was getting ready to write this, I opened up his cage to check on him. At first I thought he was dead, he was breathing so slowly; and when I picked him up, he felt cold. I held him cupped in my hands until he warmed up (and perked up) a little, but his low body temperature still seems ominous. We've set his cage up in front of a space heater for now, and made plans to pick up my dad's heat lamp tomorrow, but I honestly think this is probably the end of the road for our gimpy little rescue hamster.
Unfortunately, hamsters don't live very long, and it seems that Manny's days are numbered. He has been aging noticeably for months, losing hair and developing age spots (which I didn't even know hamsters got!). For several weeks, he's had an eye infection in one of his eyes; I've gotten a less linty type of bedding, and tried putting a warm, moist compress on it to loosen the gunk, but it has sealed shut anyway. In the last week or so, we've noticed that he seems to have had a stroke, because he is suddenly quite unsteady and stiff, and his legs on one side don't seem to work very well.
Manny has gone downhill quickly, and now I'm not sure he'll even last through the weekend. Tonight, as I was getting ready to write this, I opened up his cage to check on him. At first I thought he was dead, he was breathing so slowly; and when I picked him up, he felt cold. I held him cupped in my hands until he warmed up (and perked up) a little, but his low body temperature still seems ominous. We've set his cage up in front of a space heater for now, and made plans to pick up my dad's heat lamp tomorrow, but I honestly think this is probably the end of the road for our gimpy little rescue hamster.
Friday, October 05, 2007
Tuesday, October 02, 2007
A d*mned disappointing day
Today has been d*mned disappointing. Although I did succeed in improving my work time (lately I've been struggling with working slowly and being distracted easily), my small victory has been overshadowed by everything else that happened today.
1) The power went out. From about 11:30am until 1:30pm, the power was out at my house. Although my laptop battery was fully charged, allowing me to continue working, I had to do so without Internet access. Thankfully, I had already done enough research to continue working on my current project.
2) I forgot to feed the dogs. You know how when a bunch of things all go wrong at once, how a little thing can suddenly seem a much bigger deal than it actually is? This is one of those things.
3) I didn't get to the stables to see Panama. This also supports the feeling that I've been a bad mommy today. In the month since Panama first arrived, I've never skipped my daily visit -- until today. Unfortunately, I had a lot of work and I was running short on time. Of course, now I'm fretting about missing a day of cleaning his stall, wondering whether he has enough water, and imagining all of the terrible things that could be happening right now that I won't know about because I'm not there.
4) I haven't paid Panama's stable rent yet. Three strikes and you're a bad mommy! I've been behind on work the last couple of days, and with the beginning of the month and all that means being behind on bills, too. And no, reminding myself that I'll pay it tomorrow doesn't help at all.
5) I'm behind on work. The fact that I was able to work a little faster today notwithstanding, I am sadly behind on my work. I'll be working the rest of the evening for sure.
Now that I've griped about it, I'd better get back to work. With any luck, I can catch up by tomorrow evening.
1) The power went out. From about 11:30am until 1:30pm, the power was out at my house. Although my laptop battery was fully charged, allowing me to continue working, I had to do so without Internet access. Thankfully, I had already done enough research to continue working on my current project.
2) I forgot to feed the dogs. You know how when a bunch of things all go wrong at once, how a little thing can suddenly seem a much bigger deal than it actually is? This is one of those things.
3) I didn't get to the stables to see Panama. This also supports the feeling that I've been a bad mommy today. In the month since Panama first arrived, I've never skipped my daily visit -- until today. Unfortunately, I had a lot of work and I was running short on time. Of course, now I'm fretting about missing a day of cleaning his stall, wondering whether he has enough water, and imagining all of the terrible things that could be happening right now that I won't know about because I'm not there.
4) I haven't paid Panama's stable rent yet. Three strikes and you're a bad mommy! I've been behind on work the last couple of days, and with the beginning of the month and all that means being behind on bills, too. And no, reminding myself that I'll pay it tomorrow doesn't help at all.
5) I'm behind on work. The fact that I was able to work a little faster today notwithstanding, I am sadly behind on my work. I'll be working the rest of the evening for sure.
Now that I've griped about it, I'd better get back to work. With any luck, I can catch up by tomorrow evening.
Wednesday, July 11, 2007
Taking care of a sick dog
Grace has been sick since last night -- and I mean sick! Almost right after I got into bed last night, I heard her throw up. I left a note for Michael, and sure enough, in the morning he found more vomit. This time, however, it was a huge puddle of it.
While I was trying to fall back asleep after getting the unpleasant news that part of the vomit was on my pretty antique loop rug, she threw up again -- another huge puddle. After Michael and I cleaned that one up, too, he left for work and I went back to bed.
More vomit and a lot of cleaning greeted me when I woke up just before 11am. (Hey, my sleep was interrupted. Gimme a break.) I threw two (modern) rugs in the washing machine, scrubbed, and Lysoled. Luckily, it appears the mess came out of the antique rug.
It appears Grace is done making messes for me to come up, so I am going to (finally) go to work. She seems to be okay, which is nothing short of a miracle to me -- I had no idea an animal could produce so much puke.
While I was trying to fall back asleep after getting the unpleasant news that part of the vomit was on my pretty antique loop rug, she threw up again -- another huge puddle. After Michael and I cleaned that one up, too, he left for work and I went back to bed.
More vomit and a lot of cleaning greeted me when I woke up just before 11am. (Hey, my sleep was interrupted. Gimme a break.) I threw two (modern) rugs in the washing machine, scrubbed, and Lysoled. Luckily, it appears the mess came out of the antique rug.
It appears Grace is done making messes for me to come up, so I am going to (finally) go to work. She seems to be okay, which is nothing short of a miracle to me -- I had no idea an animal could produce so much puke.
Tuesday, May 15, 2007
The post about Grace
In my post about the wedding and honeymoon, I mentioned that we came back with a second dog, and promised to blog about her soon. Unfortunately, I've been so busy that I haven't had a chance to do so. Today, however, I need some "creative warm-up time" before I get started on work, so I decided to go ahead and blog about Grace.
As you can see, Grace is absolutely beautiful. She looks like she is American white shepherd, which is (I was surprised to learn) a distinct breed. Her ears are huge compared to her face, which gives her a slightly comical look, and to make her even more endearing, she has a habit of cocking her head to the side when you talk to her.
Michael's brother rescued Grace last summer, after seeing a sign offering her to a good home. She had been chained up underneath her previous owner's trailer, abandoned, and left for dead. The neighbor started feeding her, and put a sign up when she realized Grace's owners weren't coming back. Grace therefore came into the family in terrible condition: dirty, skinny, and infested with fleas.
We wanted Grace from the very beginning, but Michael's sister-in-law didn't want to give her up. However, in the last few months there have been some issues in the marriage, and she was moving around a lot -- with the dog. Grace doesn't eat well when she's nervous, so she lost weight again -- and because she probably never got to her full weight in the first place, she's now so emaciated she looks like a holocaust survivor.
I often joke about our other dog, Emma's neuroses, but Grace has some more serious ones, all stemming from abuses in her past I'm sure. In fact, I see a lot of symptoms in her that would be taken for PTSD in a human. She has violent bad dreams on a nightly basis; she startles at loud noises and becomes terrified by certain stimuli (such as rainstorms); she paces a lot, especially during rainstorms or other stimuli, and with an intensity uncommon in dogs (which could be interpreted as an inability to get certain thoughts out of her mind). She also has other little quirks, such as being afraid to go outside.
Grace is in rough shape physically, too. Besides being way too skinny, she has a limp or lameness in her back right leg, which Michael's brother noticed shortly after getting her last summer. Michael and I noticed right away that it was still there, and that long walks made it worse. We thought it was hip dysplasia, which is fairly common in large breed dogs, but the vet at the vaccination clinic thought it could also be a torn ACL. We're going to make an appointment and get it checked out in the next week or so. In the meantime, we have her on buffered aspirin and glucosamine/chondroitin, as per the vet's recommendation.
Despite all of her little issues, Grace is a sweet dog, and my heart goes out to her for what she must have endured at the hands of her previous owners. She's a bit timid, but affectionate, and attached to us very quickly. She's extremely eager to please, and as a result quickly modifies her behavior whenever she realizes she is displeasing us. She has done well with our other dog, quickly taking the role of subordinate dog (although Emma is certainly lording that over Grace). She does have an unfortunate proclivity for chasing cats, but she is realizing that we don't like her doing that, and has backed off considerably.
I got a new camera last night (mainly because I was so disappointed in how pixelated my honeymoon pictures were), so of course I immediately tried it out on Grace. I took a rather amusing video of Emma pushing Grace around:
In this video, you can see more of Grace's cute little head tip:
She is whining because I mentioned the word "walk" when I was getting her to tip her head for an earlier video. Grace is really smart, and understands an astonishing amount of what we say. We've taken to spelling certain words and talking in code, just as parents do with small children.
Anyway, my work is calling me, so I had better get to it. I hope you have enjoyed meeting Gracie!
As you can see, Grace is absolutely beautiful. She looks like she is American white shepherd, which is (I was surprised to learn) a distinct breed. Her ears are huge compared to her face, which gives her a slightly comical look, and to make her even more endearing, she has a habit of cocking her head to the side when you talk to her.
Michael's brother rescued Grace last summer, after seeing a sign offering her to a good home. She had been chained up underneath her previous owner's trailer, abandoned, and left for dead. The neighbor started feeding her, and put a sign up when she realized Grace's owners weren't coming back. Grace therefore came into the family in terrible condition: dirty, skinny, and infested with fleas.
We wanted Grace from the very beginning, but Michael's sister-in-law didn't want to give her up. However, in the last few months there have been some issues in the marriage, and she was moving around a lot -- with the dog. Grace doesn't eat well when she's nervous, so she lost weight again -- and because she probably never got to her full weight in the first place, she's now so emaciated she looks like a holocaust survivor.
I often joke about our other dog, Emma's neuroses, but Grace has some more serious ones, all stemming from abuses in her past I'm sure. In fact, I see a lot of symptoms in her that would be taken for PTSD in a human. She has violent bad dreams on a nightly basis; she startles at loud noises and becomes terrified by certain stimuli (such as rainstorms); she paces a lot, especially during rainstorms or other stimuli, and with an intensity uncommon in dogs (which could be interpreted as an inability to get certain thoughts out of her mind). She also has other little quirks, such as being afraid to go outside.
Grace is in rough shape physically, too. Besides being way too skinny, she has a limp or lameness in her back right leg, which Michael's brother noticed shortly after getting her last summer. Michael and I noticed right away that it was still there, and that long walks made it worse. We thought it was hip dysplasia, which is fairly common in large breed dogs, but the vet at the vaccination clinic thought it could also be a torn ACL. We're going to make an appointment and get it checked out in the next week or so. In the meantime, we have her on buffered aspirin and glucosamine/chondroitin, as per the vet's recommendation.
Despite all of her little issues, Grace is a sweet dog, and my heart goes out to her for what she must have endured at the hands of her previous owners. She's a bit timid, but affectionate, and attached to us very quickly. She's extremely eager to please, and as a result quickly modifies her behavior whenever she realizes she is displeasing us. She has done well with our other dog, quickly taking the role of subordinate dog (although Emma is certainly lording that over Grace). She does have an unfortunate proclivity for chasing cats, but she is realizing that we don't like her doing that, and has backed off considerably.
I got a new camera last night (mainly because I was so disappointed in how pixelated my honeymoon pictures were), so of course I immediately tried it out on Grace. I took a rather amusing video of Emma pushing Grace around:
In this video, you can see more of Grace's cute little head tip:
She is whining because I mentioned the word "walk" when I was getting her to tip her head for an earlier video. Grace is really smart, and understands an astonishing amount of what we say. We've taken to spelling certain words and talking in code, just as parents do with small children.
Anyway, my work is calling me, so I had better get to it. I hope you have enjoyed meeting Gracie!
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