Friday, May 27, 2011

Open Sesame

I think this is her way of asking us to open the blinds. You got to love the little girl!

Enjoy the weekend everyone!

Wednesday, May 25, 2011

Home & Resting

Looney Tunes is back home and resting well. We are so happy to have her home.

We learned a lot with our appointment with the neurologist. Luna will be meds for the next two weeks and we are to keep her activity to a minimum, however, she doesn't have to be on bed rest. Luna can go for a short walk each evening, which should help keep her from bouncing off the walls.

It will be a few days before Luna is a 100% percent but so far she is doing well.

Tuesday, May 24, 2011

Luna Update

Luna came through her breathing surgery with flying colors. The vet called and gave us an update at 5pm and told us that Luna was out of surgery and awake and looking around. She was alert and seemed to be in good spirits. Her only issue is that she had a noisy neighbor

During her breathing surgery they shortened her soft palate, widened her nostrils and removed her saccules.

We also received the results of her CAT Scan. The test revealed that Luna has a prolapsed disc in her neck and two prolapsed discs in back. Surgery is not recommended at this time and we meet with the neurologist tomorrow afternoon when we pickup Luna to go over a treatment plan. I'm not sure what the plan is going to be, but I sure do not want it to be 6 weeks of keeping Luna still. To me, that doesn't seem like a feasible option.

I will let you know more after we pickup Luna. I sure can't wait to have the little girl back home with us!

Monday, May 23, 2011

The Solsey Pouch renamed to The Luna Bag

As you open today’s OBP news, you may be asking, "Why is Luna in the Solsey pouch?!" Well, it is a long story, so readers, brace yourselves.

This photo was taken on the same day that Benny was in the Solsey Mobile. Last Monday night Benjamin dislocated his shoulder and we went to the emergency vet that night. Well, Tuesday was a pre-planned visit for Luna to go to AVS (Affiliated Veterinary Specialists) in Maitland about 50 miles from our home.

Luna has been in need of what they affectionately call the “nose package” which is the same surgery that Benjamin had done about a year or so ago. It is when they remove some soft tissue from the back of the throat, widen the nasal passages, and remove the air satchels all in the efforts to assist with breathing and respiratory challenges.

Additionally, over the last year, we have been noticing some other small but recently increasing concerns with Luna’s gait. During breaks on walks (like while waiting for her brothers to go potty) she stands still but her rear leg or legs will tremble. She is no longer confident jumping up on the sofa or bed and she has simply just fallen over for no apparent reason twice.

When her legs first started to twitch or shake we didn’t really think much of it. In the beginning, as it would usually happen towards the end of long walks we figured she was just tired (like a marathon runner whose legs are like cooked spaghetti noodles at the end of a race). Since she has to take about 3-4 steps for every human step and a step or 2 for each of her brothers then her pace was always quicker in relation to her body size. Well, when we realized that Luna was hesitant to eat we knew there was a major issue. We sort of put the whole thing together when offering her food closer to her face she would gobble it down as usual. Luna was apparently hurting so badly when bending her neck to get to her food dish that she would just rather not eat than to have to put herself in that position to eat.

So, we took her to our usual vet and he put her on an anti-inflammatory medication in order to see if that would help by reduce any back/neck swelling. It is also a pain reducer (its like doggy Tylenol). This was a 2 week dose. And while it helped some, it did not work considerably well.

Over time, we worked on managing the problem in other ways, too. We created a raised food dish for her so that she doesn’t have to bend over so far to eat. That has seemed to help tremendously in the area of eating. We shortened her walks so that the condition wouldn’t continue to be exacerbated. And when all of these things were not correcting the problem sufficiently, we took her back to our vet who recommended x-rays and warned that while that was a good start, a CT scan and/or MRI would likely be necessary to see what the problem was truly.

So, you can fast forward (or rewind-depending on how you look at it) to Tuesday. Tuesday was the day that she had the appointment with the specialist to decide how to move forward with the nose package and the neck/back issues. The appointment was for 10 AM. This means leaving the house around 8:30 AM (and Luna had to fast for this appointment since at the specialist’s office they never know if they will have to sedate the patients to do testing). So, out we went.

We got to the specialist’s office and the internal medicine doctor consulted with the neurologist. X-rays were performed on a mildly sedated Luna. They showed a "lesion" on her vertebrae in her neck. We were reassured that it was not a tumor or cancer but more like an area of swelling or a slipped disc. In discussing the options for treating Luna, between us, the specialists and our own vet, we are all on the same page with the upcoming events. That is: today, Luna will go under the knife to get her nose package done. While under, they will perform the CT scan. If the CT scan shows something that needs to be surgically repaired, then they will do that surgery tomorrow. The specialists shared that two short episodes of anesthesia is better than one long episode. And hopefully, she will not need the second go ‘round. Hopefully, whatever the CT scan shows will be able to be treated some other way.

So, getting back to why is Luna in the Solsey pouch? Well, the specialists tell us to keep her "on bed rest" for 6 weeks (regardless of surgery or not but if neurosurgery could be even longer). This is no small feat! She is a wiggly, feisty, willful little alpha female pug that won’t be stopped! So, we are doing our darnedest to keep her still. This is why last night we took Benny out in the Solsey Mobile and Luna out in the Solsey pouch. Henry actually had to walk. Benny is on rest until the end of the week and Luna for 6 weeks.

We are definitely not sure how exactly we will accomplish all of this but we will make it work. Somehow we always do. And somehow the pugs always get with the program, too.

So, we will keep you posted with the details of today's surgery and what the C/T scan reveals about Luna's back.

Thursday, May 12, 2011

Tiny Toon

The little gray lady keeping an eye on her brothers. The funny thing is the boys try and one up each other and be the last to pee on something around the yard. But, Luna always wins that game. She patiently waits for the boys and then struts over and pees on whatever had caught the boys' interest last. She always wins. The boys have pretty much given up and know they will never win against the little alpha female

Wednesday, April 20, 2011

Line in the Sand

While at the beach, this is pretty much where you can always find Luna. Just a few inches short of where the waves wash on shore.

Occasionally a wave will catch her or she will take a quick run into the water to cool off a bit, but for the most part she avoids the water. She reminds of a sanderling. Those little birds that always run along the shoreline poking at the water for little bits to eat. They go in and out with the waves at full speed and they always manage to avoid getting wet. That is pretty much how Luna plays at the beach.

Tuesday, April 12, 2011

Caption This #186

Rut-roh! Luna has Benny's puffy. Looking forward to your captions in the comments.