<p>Her fever has broken, although at last hearing it was still a little elevated. She is still knocked out in general, walking better for them, her WBC hasn’t risen yet. Still hasn’t eaten. She’s going to be there another night. I’m hoping she can come home tomorrow.</p>
<p>In addition to the worry, this is costing a fortune. :(</p>
<p>I know Consolation…
The emergency vet I suspect though we were nuts when we authorized surgery on our 14 yr old lab, but I had just lost my mom & couldnt deal with another loss.
Plus she was family
& she lived for almost two more years.
But, it would be nice if family health care expenses were deductible!</p>
<p>I’ve seen this before, but if you love dogs, you have to love this short clip…</p>
<p>[Which</a> is the Guilty Dog - YouTube](<a href=“Which is the Guilty Dog - YouTube”>Which is the Guilty Dog - YouTube)</p>
<p>Just an update: we finally brought our girl home on Sunday. She was still weak, but her WBC was rising her fever was gone and she was starting to eat. (On Saturday evening, I fed her four little jars of turkey and beef baby food by swiping it on her tongue. I am convinced that made a difference. 
) She has been steadily improving. Today she started showing some actual enthusiasm for her food. (She getting little meals of rice and boiled turkey or chicken every four hours.) And I just felt her tumors, and two of the three have virtually disappeared! Now if only she can recover sufficiently to continue with the chemo…and if only she doesn’t react as violently to the second drug…at least now I have a better idea of how to manage it.</p>
<p>Im glad she is perking up! Maybe she will start to turn around.
But I know that it is always up & down with illness & it is harder with pets, cause they have difficulty telling us what they want and don’t really understand what is happening.
Eating & drinking should help.
We even dipped cotton balls in coconut water for our older lab when she wouldn’t drink water.
But it kept her going till we could get her into the Dr.
Its much easier when they can do it themselves.
:)</p>
<p>I am so glad to hear your girl is improving. Bless you!</p>
<p>Glad to hear things are going better Consolation, it sounds like you had a Labor-of-Love-
Day weekend. Your dog is lucky to have you.</p>
<p>Great news Consolation! Hoping for continued improvement.</p>
<p>Bumping for support. </p>
<p>My 6 year old pittie has managed to tear her ACL while running with her doggie boyfriend. She is always sore after running for a long time so we didn’t think much of her limping afterwards (she always does). However, after a few days it didn’t get better so we took her to the vet and sure enough, she tore her ACL. Her surgery is next Tuesday and in the mean time we have to constantly keep her on a leash. It breaks my heart because she wants to run and play SO BAD and she doesn’t understand why we won’t play fetch with her. </p>
<p>We have to leave her overnight and luckily she loves the new vet staff and they love her (she moved with my parents so they had to switch vets). She is very comfortable in the vet’s office so at least there’s very little distress there. </p>
<p>Has anyone gone through an ACL surgery with their furbaby? Any special tips or tricks to improve her recovery?</p>
<p>I wish I could offer some advice, romani. One thing is that the pain meds for dogs–often Tramadol-- usually knocks them out to some degree, which makes it easier to keep them quiet. My experience is that it is wise to drug them up and keep them quiet at first, rather than trying to hold off on the painkillers until “really needed.” Tends towards faster healing.</p>
<p>To update on my girl, she sailed through the second drug–on a conservative dose–three weeks later with flying colors. She had the second dose of the first drug that made her so ill last Friday–again, a reduced dose–and she is absolutely fine. Moreover, after the second drug, her palpable tumors COMPLETELY disappeared. Since we didn’t opt for the $1K+ in diagnostics upfront we don’t know precisely what has happened, but if it has worked with the palpable tumors it would have worked with anything internal as well. She may have another round just for safety’s sake, but she appears to be solidly in remission for now.</p>
<p>This is probably a small problem compared to what some of you are dealing with in regard to your dog but I need some advice on my 13 year old cockerpoo.</p>
<p>She has been very itchy for the last few days in the area of her tummy/abdomen and the insides for her hind legs. Licking, gnawing, etc has become her past time. I don’t see any hot spots, fleas or dandruff, just an area that is slightly red on her tummy but no hair loss. She also seems to have a VERY exaggerated itch reflex. In the past it was very difficult to find that sweet spot on her tummy that would make her leg go but now it seems hyper sensitive to any touch in that area. As far as I know or can remember she hasn’t been exposed to anything new in the environment and her diet is unchanged.</p>
<p>It isn’t a constant thing that seems to be keeping her awake, etc and I will take her to the vet this week if it doesn’t improve in a day or so, but I am wondering if there is any over the counter remedy that will soother her skin safely. Last night I soothed her belly with a cold compress and she seemed better after that. What else can I do for her?</p>
<p>What sort of shampoo do you use?
As they get older they may become more sensitive to fragrances or other irritants.</p>
<p>It also may be something that is actually internal and not related to her skin.</p>
<p>Have you tried firm strokes to see if you can find sensitive areas?
(They usually arent as ticklish as light touch)</p>
<p>I don’t shampoo her. We get her professionally groomed about every month or so but it has been almost a month since her last one so I don’t think it’s that.</p>
<p>I will try the firm strokes when she is awake. Let sleeping dogs lie :)</p>
<p>Make sure there is no grain in her food. My itchy lab couldn’t handle any grain and his skin problems disappeared when the grain did. Does she need shampooing that often? The less bathing the better. They can get more sensitive as they age. </p>
<p>I don’t push the raw diet but switched my dog to it at the beginning of September and there are noticeable improvements in skin/coat/teeth/breath/stool already.</p>
<p>rule out mange.</p>
<p>[4</a> Ways to Identify Mange on Dogs - wikiHow](<a href=“http://www.wikihow.com/Identify-Mange-on-Dogs]4”>How to Identify Mange on Dogs (with Pictures))</p>
<p>Well, so much for “little distress”. She’s out of surgery and it went very well. The surgeon’s office said she is being very, very sweet and loving towards the staff but she is sulking and crying when someone isn’t right there with her. She is a big baby like that. So, they’re letting her come home tonight because they think the emotional toll would be worse if they left her in the vet’s office overnight. </p>
<p>In the mean time, my parents have been getting the house ready putting down mats everywhere so she can walk (it’s all hardwood in their house) and blocking off rooms so that she’s not tempted to jump on things. So now we wait.</p>
<p>I had to bump this because I am laughing way too hard at this:
[High-Speed</a> Photos Of Wet Dogs Shaking Their Heads Published In Book | DeMilked](<a href=“http://www.demilked.com/dogs-shaking-heads-shake-carli-davidson/]High-Speed”>http://www.demilked.com/dogs-shaking-heads-shake-carli-davidson/)</p>
<p>Lol, thanks for sharing! some of those photos look like Salvador Dali or Picasso paintings!! ;)</p>
<p>Have two dachshunds, older one 5.5 years and the younger one 1.5 years. Older one had a back incident about a year ago which healed close to 99% with 2 months crate rest and meds. Do our best to keep the weight off which is a challenge with the older one…the young one is hyper and skinny.</p>
<p>Glad we waited until the kids were older to get them, especially since dachshunds can (and ours do) have attitudes.</p>
<p>In answer to the OP, we do have pet insurance but it’s more of a catastrophic plan (high deductible). Glad we got it before the older one was diagnosed with the back problem…if she has another disc issue and surgery is in her future, we don’t have to agonize as much over getting it done.</p>
<p>Romani…</p>
<p>Thanks for sharing. I love the pic of the Chinese Crested. those are such funny looking dogs anyway. Have a neighbor who has one AND a hairless cat. She walks them both on a leash. Oddest sight ever. lol</p>