Surgery scheduled and stuff.

Well, Mom has scheduled my bladder stone removal surgery for March 18. She wanted to wait until after my 8th birthday, so I could celebrate. Though we are all gonna be watchin' my weeder to be sure it doesn't get clogged, of course.

Dr. Klingborg said it would be 1 to 2 days of me being completely contained, then 1 to 2 days of resting and partial containment, then on day 4 and 5, kind of back to normal, but careful.

We are so curious to see if anyone else has had this and what they experienced during recovery. Did they have blood in the urine at first? Did they dribble? We were told I would have to go out to pee every hour and a half or so. If that's the case, I know they wouldn't have taken me out that often at the vet. What would I do there? None of the vets were going to catheterize me. I'm happy about that!

Mom asked Dr. Klingborg's office if she could stay with me while they get me ready for the surgery. They will have to get back to her on that. :-(

I have to go in next Monday or so for my pre blood work.

So, I sure hope that this is gonna be my only bladder surgery and it goes easily. I've never been away from my Mommy. AND they might have to pull a tooth! Gosh, what a day I'mna have. Poor me! BOL! At least I get to have soft food! I loves me some Cottage Cheese and White Rice! :-)

Buggy Surgery...

Looks like I will be having my surgery to remove those pesky bladder stones in about 2 weeks. :-(

Mom is beside herself over this one. Looks like I'm going to get spayed even though I was neutered at 8 weeks of age. Jeepers! Can't a bug get a break?

Back from Dr. K and the follow-up.

We left to see Dr. Klingborg at 11:00 am, and boy was his office busy! But in true Dr. K style, he still spent time with us, and talked to us, and was wonderful to Mickey.

He looked at the photo of his poo (yuck) to see how bad it was on Saturday morning. He said it was significant and he was very glad we went to Sacramento.

He looked at the xray of his gut and easily saw the stones in his bladder. He could see the size and said they will have to be removed in weeks or months, but not days. He must get over this tummy trouble first. He did warn us that there could be some in there that are small and could get stuck in his ureter, which would cause him a great deal of pain. His abdomen would be hard and he would be extremely uncomfortable. He told us NOT to drive all the way to Sacto then. He said get him to a local e-vet and they could catheterize him and flush the stone back up.

We were able to catch a sample before we went in, and they found a few amorphous crystals, so they don't know what kind they are, but the sample is being sent to a lab to be sure there is not bacteria and find they type of crystal.

Dr. said the surgery is similar to a spay surgery but not a difficult for Mickey because he would only be dealing with one organ rather than 3 in a spay (ovaries, womb, and cervix) and there would be no blood source removal. He would not need to be catheterized and as long as we were able to keep him quiet and contained, we would be able to take him home that night. He will also do a dental and possible a molar extraction at the same time depending on the results of an xray on his mouth. He still has a swelling on his muzzle, and we do think he broke his nose and molar.

So, the past 2 poops have been blood free and perfectly formed. Though the color is weird, because of the white food (cottage cheese & White rice) we are super happy.

He feels much better now, too.

Thank you all for following and for your prayers and Muffins Special hugs! :-) Thank you for the tips and advise. We really appreciate it!

Urgent hospital run....

We drove to Sacramento on Saturday morning because the blood was so much worse. About 60% blood in the stool and he was vomiting, so with what we've been through with Bernadette, we knew better than to wait.

He did well on the trip up there, and we took samples with us. They said he wasn't in dire need when we got there, not being dehydrated (one of my main worries) and his gums were pink and capillary refill was good.

They took his temp 100.9, and the emergency vet "probed" him. He wasn't happy. When she removed her finger, it was entirely covered in dark blood. :-O
They did a blood panel and found nothing out of the ordinary, and did xrays and found no obstructions. They did find he has a small liver and that he has a BUNCH of bladder stones. She said he will have to have surgery to have them removed.:((

They gave him fluids, sub-q, and some anti-nausea injections as well as some anti-diarrhea injections. By the time he was back in my arms, he felt much better.

They said we could feed him white rice and cottage cheese when we got home, and if he got worse, bring him back.

He is doing much better, and though he has had more blood in his poo, as of this morning, we are clear!:D

Dr. Klingborg let us know his blood test came back negative for Giardia and roundworms, and he wants to see him today at 11:20.

He said it is possible the stones could be irritating the colon.:? They are so tiny, more like big pieces of sand, but I'm in no way a vet. Not even close.

I'll update you when I get back.

Buggy Butt Troubles now.

Momma is gonna write this. My tummy hurts too much.

Hi, folks,

My little man is having a rough go of it. We don't know if it is the Meticam or something else.

My husband took in Mickey's stool samples this morning to the vet because Mick is having a lot of stomach issues. He is in obvious discomfort, laying down at odd times like during a walk in the back yard, almost mid-stride and not being able to lay still for long periods without having to change position. He has a history of doing this in the past. He is not crying out or whimpering.

Yesterday morning he had a very loose stool. Not liquid but close. I thought I saw some blood, but put it down as being upset from the new meds. What got me was the smell. He has been passing a lot of gas for the past couple of days, too. Very bad gas. Not normal dog poots.

It is possible he was exposed to giardia at the cabin while eating snow. My husband worries about Parvo from the vaccination (he was vaccinated on Monday), but even though he was late on his vaccination (5 months), I don't think he was THAT late, and I don't think he was exposed to it at all.

We delivered 2 samples. One was from last night at 6:00, I froze it (not sure if that was good or bad) and the other was from this morning at 7 am. Better to send too many than not enough. This morning's stool was slightly firmer than last night.

Mickey's appetite is GREAT and he is drinking well.

I thought it would pass (no pun intended), but he is still miserable. I have stopped the meloxicam, as the snout swelling is almost completely gone from his broken nose. I was giving him prepcid with it, but have stopped that, too. The vet said I could give him Immodium, but I haven't yet. I gave him pepto this morning, and don't want to give him too much at once.

Just now, he went out and pooed again. The first part was pretty good! I was relieved thinking the worse had past. I was wrong. He walked to another place, squatted and then out streamed something not right. Consistency of melted chocolate ice cream with new blood in it. I have let the vet know. Unfortunately, the results of his fecal won't come back until Monday.

I'm so scared! My tiny buggy boy hurts.
Thank you for reading my novel.

I broked my nose!

As anyone else ever had one? A broken nose?

I was super excited the other day. Mom was getting ready to go, and asked Jenny and I if we wanted to "go for a ride in the car"? Those are magical words, you know.

I was standing close to the wall, at a corner and turned soooo quickly and WHACK! Smacked my little snout on the corner so hard I yelped! Mommy didn't make a big deal of it and laughed it off, thinking I was being a bit of a baby. She loaded us up and off we went. I was fine, until 2 days later when my snout was very swollen on the left side and my eye was watering.

We weren't sure if I might have broken a tooth, had an abscessed tooth, a spider bite, or worse. But we were snowed in up in the mountains for Mom & Dad's anniversary, and couldn't get home. Mom did check my nose by gently petting the fur, which I was fine with, until she put a little pressure on it, then I yelped.
Yesterday, we finally got dug out (thanks to Mr. Jim for his tractor) and they took me to Dr. Klingborg.

He thought I possibly had an abscess or broken tooth at first, but when he looked at the gums, they were fine, and putting pressure on the tooth caused no reaction, but putting pressure on my nose did!

He said my eye was watering from the swelling blocking the tear duct so the tears had to go somewhere.

Now I'm on Meloxicam for a few days to see how I do. If it doesn't go away, then we are gonna have xrays.

Has anyone else broken their nose out of happiness?? It hurts! Watch out for those walls, they move!

I chew my toenails!

This isn't a new thing for me. I've been doing it for years. Mom wonders if anyone else (not humans) does this?

I will be on my bed, just relaxin' and then I get my little back paw into my mouth and put my toenails into my back molars and chew like I've got my own personal rawhide! Sometimes I'll pull, but mostly just chew.

It grosses Auntie Alison out. Mom checks my nails, and there's no breaks or hang nails there. I HATE my nails to be cut, so maybe I'm doing a self-trim?

My appointment with Dr. Klingborg

Hi, efurryone!

Well, I went to the doc on Monday with Jenny to get checked out. We thought she was gonna have to have a tooth pulled, but thank goodness she doesn't. She'da looked like a real redneck pup if she'd lost that front tooth! BOL!

I got my toes done (just the tips) and the stole blood and pee from me and I donated some butt juice for good measure! That'll teach them to drag me out from under the chair! BOL!

Today Dr. Klingborg called Mom to tell her the results of my tests. I'm doing good! Mom knew some of the stuff he was gonna say, but I'll tell you what we know.

My blood test came back showing a high red blood cell count as well as high protein. Dr. K says that denotes being dehydrated.
My Alkaline phosphate was 243. the normal range for that is 10 to 150. High, but he said it isn't a red flag until it gets up to 400. My CK was elevated again at 262. It was 303 last time it was tested. Normal range is below 200, but it can get elevated when a dog is very scared. Sammy had elevated CK, and Jenny did last March, so we aren't too worried about it.

What Mom doesn't understand is this: I was fasted before I went in. No food or water after midnight. Explains the dehydration. But not the dilute urine. I had good quantity pee 3 times before we left to go in (9:00 am appointment), they were able to get plenty of pee out of me cystocentesis, but it was diluted, and when I got home after, I peed again! This is all without any water since 8 the night before! What does that mean?

Doctor said it could be a few things. Diabetes Insipidus (very rare), Cushings disease (bloodwork doesn't support this either) or behavioral (most likely). He called one Psychogenic Polyurea. Now, how is it behavioral if I am dehydrated cause I didn't drink but my pee is diluted??

The thing that does worry Mom is the fact my Alp is higher. That is the number that went up in Cousin Shelby and even Cousin Ginger's. Ginger has masses on both her adrenal glands. They are non-producing, so it isn't cushings.... yet.

I just don't understand. Anyway, Mom is changing my kibble to something less controversial, and hopefully I will be a healthier pup because of it. Mom is trying Natural Balance LID Lamb & Rice because of my sensitive tummy. We will take about a week to switch, so I'm not gonna get sick.

Anyway, I feel good. Oh, and one last thing, I have to lose some weight. Doc said I should lose at least 1.5 pounds. I'm 35, and should be 32.... but we'll compromise.

Love you all, and thanks for readin'!

Itchy Toes

O.k. I know I have Buggy Toes, but do my toes have to bug me?

My goodness are they itchy! Nothing has changed in my life other than the seasons, so I must be allergic to something in the grass. The skin under my fur, on my knuckes is really dark pinkish red and I'm nibbling them and licking them like crazy!

We were in the mountains this weekend and I got sap on my toes so mom put mayonnaise on them to get it out. Well it worked but ouch did it sting! So I ended up getting a toe bath. >:-( I didn't like it!

But I got my super treat and forgave Mom. Until she started looking at my toes again! I mean, nothing has changed in the past 2 weeks, so why is she looking at my tiny tootsies now? MINE! My toes! Not YOUR TOES! My tiny buggy toes!

;-)

River....

My little "pretend Valentine" has been chosen as Dog of the Week!
Her name is River.

She is a very sweet little girl with a heart of gold. She loves everypup, and adores her Mommy & Daddy.

Please, take a moment to stop by River's page and give her a hug.

Thank you!