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Tuesday, January 11, 2011
Update 6:30PM:
Luna is home and all things considered is doing very well. She has about 6 stitches in her ear and a few more on her elbow. So far, the elbow incision seems to be giving her the most trouble. She was very happy to get some dinner a few minutes ago. She is still a bit drowsy. We are going to curl up on the sofa and just relax. More updates coming tomorrow. Thanks for all the good wishes. Luna is back home and on the road to recovery.
Update 1:30PM:
Luna is out of surgery and doing well. In total, they removed 3 mast cell tumors. Two on her ear, one on the inside, one on the outside and one tumor from her shoulder. All 3 have been sent out for testing and hopefully we will have the results soon. The good news for today is that Luna is waking up and will be ready to go home this evening.
We dropped a purple spotted Luna off at the vet this morning for her tumor removal and a dental cleaning. We marked all the little bumps that we could find last night and I am hoping that none of those come back as mast cell tumors.
Unfortunately, the only thing we can really do now is wait. I should hopefully hear something by 1PM (Eastern Time). As soon as I know something, I will give you an update.
Monday, January 10, 2011
On Thursday night, we were watching TV and Luna was on my lap. I was petting her when I noticed a bump on her ear. I moved her fur and found a bump that looked eerily similar to the bump that Benjamin had on his chest a while back. Knowing that Benjamin's bump was bad news, I call the vet first thing Friday morning and made an appointment for Friday afternoon.
The vet was optimistic at first because the lump seemed very superficial, but he still did an aspiration and took a look at the fluid he extracted under the microscope. After he took a look at the cells, he confirmed our suspicions that the bump was a mast cell tumor.
So, Luna goes in for surgery on Tuesday to have the lump removed. After the tumor is removed it will be sent to be biopsied and we will get the grade of the tumor. If we are really lucky it will come back a grade 1. But grade 2 would be OK too, as long as there are clean margins.
The only good thing about this situation is that we have a pretty good understanding of the process having been through the same thing with Benjamin.
Luna has a few other bumps on her that we don't think are trouble, but we are going to have the vet take a look at all of them since she is going to be under. With her skin issues, Luna does tend to get a lot of little bumps that come and go. Our vet's advice was to mark her up with lipstick so that he could find them all easily. They will do their own search as well, but that way he will be able to easily spot all the bumps that we know about. So, we will be taking Luna the leopard in for her surgery on Tuesday. Luna is taking it all in stride, but I just can't wait until we have her back home on Tuesday night.
Wednesday, December 8, 2010
Last weekend, we dug the electric blanket out of the closet and put it on the bed. I know, I know. We live in Florida. What on Earth would we need an electric blanket for? Before, I lived here, I used to feel the same way. I laughed at the Floridians with their fireplaces and boots and gloves and thought they were all crazy. Then I lived here for a few years, and now I really regret not getting a fireplace in the house.
I have learned that cold is relative. Plus, I was talking to a neighbor who spends a lot of time in Colorado and she said that 30° in Florida feels colder than 30° in Colorado. It has something about the amount of moisture in the air. I'm not exactly sure on all the details. What I took away from the conversation was that I was totally justified in buying the electric blanket.
In any case, we put the electric blanket on the bed last weekend and the pugs love it. They are in toasty, pug heaven.
However, the recent cold snap does have me very concerned about Benny. He has been very stiff and slow going the last few days. Right now, I am chalking it up to the cold weather taking its toll on Benny's aging bones and joints, but nonetheless it has me very concerned.
While I am working, I have been keeping him in a sweater to help him stay warm. He seems warmer, but it doesn't seem to be helping his stiffness.
Yesterday, I had an idea and I thought I would create a mini electric blank for the pugs to use during the day while they are on the couch. So, I dug out the heating pad, put it on low, stuck it under a double folded blanket and within seconds there was a pile of pugs on the heating pad. The heating pad isn't meant to stay on all day, so I have been turning it off and on throughout the day hoping to keep the pugs feeling good.
Hopefully, the cold will pass and Benny will get back to his usual spry self.
Tuesday, September 28, 2010
Last Friday, Luna went to the eye vet for a checkup. I am very happy to report it was the best checkup she has had in some time. The tear production in both her eyes was great and there have been no major changes since the last visit. Which means all the drops stay the same and we don't have to go back for another checkup for 6 more months. Go Looney!
Sunday, September 26, 2010
The boys recently had their annual checkups and many of the things that cropped up in the exam were related to age. Since then, I have been wondering how the pugs will age. I have also been thinking about Henry and his cataracts a lot and how they will progress over time. Will they remain fairly small or will they grow and eventually take most of his vision?
I try not to spend too much time worrying about it because, ultimately, these are things out of my control. But the thought of Henry losing confidence and some of his spunk because of bad vision does worry me. Henry has always been the adventurer. The first to stray from the path, the one that always wants to go new places. I would hate to see bad vision take that spark away from him.
So rather than focus on things that I can't control or that may never even happen, I have been thinking about things that I can actually do to help.
While brainstorming, I thought of a dog I met at a dog park a few years back. I didn't meet the dog up close and personal when we first arrived. Instead, I spotted him meandering around the dog park having a good time meeting other dogs and smelling all the dog park smells. I could tell by how the dog walked that it was on the older side, but I thought it was great that the dog was at the park because it was clearly having a fantastic time.
The dog started to come my way and as it got closer I could hear someone calling out the command "Slow".
When the dog got up to me I could tell that it was blind. A few seconds after the dog arrived at me feet, I met the owner and they confirmed that the dog is blind, but gets around great by listening for verbal cues. I got to see the cues in action when a few minutes later the dog was quickly approaching a tree. The owner called out "Slow" and the sure enough the dog almost came to a complete stop, started to sniff a bit more and then found the tree without bumping into it.
What struck me the most about this dog was that it was completely comfortable in the new environment, where it does not have a good idea of the lay of the land. Plus, there were other dogs zipping around, but none of that seemed to bother the blind dog.
So, I am going to try and teach Henry some verbal commands while he still has all of his vision. That way, if the cataracts do start limiting his sight, hopefully it will be an easier transition for him.
I haven't started training yet, because I have no idea how to even start. I was trying to come up with a small list of words that would handle the most amount of situations Henry might encounter.
It's an ambition goal, but I like training with the pugs, so I figured I might as well teach them something that could possibly come in very handy later in life rather than go for something that is just cute.
I'm sure progress is going to be slow, but I'll let you know how it goes.
Monday, September 20, 2010
Over the last year, I have noticed that the top of Henry's nose is very dry and has even started to crack. Concerned that it might be a sign of a more serious issue, I talked to the vet about it during Henry's last checkup. He assured me it was nothing to be worried about and gave us KeraSolv Gel. Our instructions were to apply it to his nose once daily for the first 10 days and then as needed. Today is the one week mark and I am impressed with how quickly the gel seems to be working.
Above is a before and after closeup of Henry's nose. After a few days, the dry bits of Henry's nose actually started to fall off (gross). He isn't 100% back to normal, but a lot of the buildup has started to come off and I'm sure the rest will continue to come off over the next several days.
I'm not sure if you need a prescription for the KeraSolv gel. Ours came from our vet with a prescription sticker on it with application instructions.
Friday, September 17, 2010
After Benny was done being poked and prodded on the exam table it was Henry's turn. Henry got a little fussy when they were drawing his blood, but other than that he did OK.
My main concern with Henry was his eyes. I have noticed that he is missing a lot of treats when we play our treat toss game. I know that he has the beginnings of cataracts in both of his eyes, but it is extremely early in the process.
The vet took a look and said that it looks like the cataracts are getting a bit bigger, but again it is still early. At this point we should just keep monitoring him to see if we can pick up on any type of vision changes.
Not great news, but it certainly could be worse.
The vet also checked Henry's hips and knee to checkup on his arthritis. Henry has had a bit of arthritis in his hips since he was about a year old. The arthritis has been attributed to his hip dysplasia, but we have done a pretty good job managing it. As he gets older, we do our best to keep an eye on it because the problem is certainly not going to get better as Henry ages. The arthritis might be a tad worse than last year, but all in all Henry is doing great in that department. Henry was also down a pound which I was thrilled about. Keeping Henry at a healthy weight is pretty much the only thing we can do to help his hips and arthritis.
Another small item on Henry's list was his dry nose. Henry's nose has gotten to be extremely dry and cracked. I wasn't sure if this was a sign of some other problem, so I jotted it down on my list of things to ask the vet. The vet said that all is well and that a dry nose is just a part of aging. He gave me a gel to put on his nose to help put a little moisture back into his nose and by golly does that stuff work. Henry is almost back to his puppy nose!
Thursday, September 16, 2010
At his checkup last Friday, we found out that Benny has an ear infection in his left ear. Since Benny just started shaking his head a few days before, I was expecting the diagnosis. The infection isn't too serious, so we have to flush and add some drops to his ears for the next 10 days. He is handling his new morning ear routine better than I expected so that is making things a lot easier.
Our other chief concern was his hiatal hernia which makes him have a little coughing episode anywhere from 3 to 6 times a day. We were prescribed a new medicine that works great in some dogs and not at all in others. We are trying it out for the next month to see what kind of effect it has on Benny. The first two days he was on it, he had no coughing episodes, which had me on cloud 9. However, since then he has had at least one coughing episode per day. So, they are less, but not completely gone. But, I'm not sure if we will keep him on the medicine because the main side effect is jitteriness. Benjamin is naturally hyper enough, so once the medicine got into his system he was bouncing off the walls. Although, he seems to have calmed down a bit the last few days.
With the two big items out of the way, Benny got his shots and the rest of his exam. The scar on his chest from his mast cell removal has healed wonderfully. Other than his teeth, he got a good report. His teeth don't need a cleaning now, but probably will in about 6 months. As much as we try to brush his teeth, he still needs to get cleanings. The vet attributes this to the arrangement of his teeth in his mouth. His teeth are packed in there which makes it very hard to get them cleaned. Henry is on the same tooth brushing routine as Benny and he got a stellar report on his teeth.
Monday, September 13, 2010
On Friday, the boys had an appointment for their annual checkups. It was actually pretty good timing because the day we made the appointment, Benjamin started shaking his head. It didn't take us long to figure out that something was up with his left ear. So, I added Benjamin's ear to the list of things to discuss with the vet.
Overall, the visit went well. I will give the specifics for each one of the boys later in the week. Each has little things that are common for their age that we will need to keep an eye on, but to summarize we have two 8 1/2 year old pugs that are "looking good". The thing I can't believe is that the boys are 8 1/2 years old.
Wednesday, July 14, 2010
On Monday, we took Benjamin back to the specialist for his post surgery checkup. When we arrived we were promptly assigned a room where we waited to see the veterinarian.
The rooms at the facility serve as a small private waiting room and a consultation area where you get to meet with the veterinarians and surgeons. There is no exam table or other items that you typically find in a veterinary exam room. Instead, the rectangular rooms are filled with a long bench that runs the length of the room and a couple of stools. All exams and pet evaluations are done in the back section of the facility, away from nervous pet owners. The rooms have two doors. One that leads to the back section of the facility where all the real work is done and one that leads to the lobby.
When we arrived for our checkup, Benjamin immediately remembered where he was and he quickly became a bundle of nervous energy. We were assigned a room right away and we waited in our room for our turn to speak with the veterinarian. Both doors to the room were closed and Benjamin ran from one door to the other. Taking a second to peer and smell under each door. Back and forth and back and forth, pausing each time a little longer at the door leading to the lobby as if to give us a clue that that is the door he hopes to be leaving from. However, he couldn't ignore the other door because he could hear voices coming from that direction. So, back and forth he paced, heading from door to door as quick as he could go on the slippery floor.
To distract him, we had Benny pose with the framed collage of the agility dogs in the room that have had surgery at AVS and are all healed up and back on the agility course. This served only as a mild distraction because as you can see Benjamin's gaze is intently focused on the door that leads to the exam side of the facility.
When our veterinarian entered the room, Benjamin gave him an overzealous greeting and jumped around a bit while we talked and gave an update on how Benjamin has been doing. Then it was time for Benny to get a thorough examination, which meant it was time for him to go through door #2 leading to the back of the house.
Once he realized he was being led through door #2, his tail uncurled and he tried his best to dig his nails into the floor to resist being taken for his dreaded exam. He looked at us and gave us a look of "Oh, no! Not door #2!" So I casually mentioned that there might be treats back there and his little tail curled right up and off he went.
After his exam, he came back to the room and promptly went to door #1, which leads to the lobby, and scratched at it. As far as he was concerned he was done and he would like someone to take him to the car. But, we still needed to hear how his exam went. And, despite not wanting to get his exam, Benjamin got a great report. Everything is look great after his surgery.
When we wrapped up our conversation with the vet, Benjamin bolted out door #1 and right to the front door of the facility where he scratched at that door was well. Once he was outside, he marched directly to the car, as if to say, "I'm not letting you forget to take me home this time!"
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