cavNrott

Zed &Q. How is Zed today? Wolfgirl.....hoping Pearl is having a better day today. Only a few more days till xray now so then you'll know what you're dealing with. Thanks to those posting their support and encouragement for those of us with sick dogs. It really helps so much. Looking after our dogs, knowing they are dying can put us well into the doldrums and your support encourages us and lifts our spirits.

I would suggest a couple of one on one private lessons. Personally, I didn't find group training helpful at all and went the way of a private trainer. The difference in my dog after only one lesson was fantastic. As for the peeing, I'd watch carefully, she may have a UTI. This is exactly what my young dog did when she was fully house trained. A trip to the vet confirmed a UTI.

Rest In Peace Scruff

Kaz, that's the way it is, isn't it? Every waking moment is spent with Sophie. Life as it was has changed, everything revolves around her. I treasure our time and she's getting away with things she wouldn't try on before. I don't want to verbally correct her, I want her remaining time to be happy. I know she'd forget about the correction but I wouldn't. I'd second guess myself about just how important it is that she behaves perfectly. I want the memory of her sense of fun and mischief. She sleeps on my bed, I'm a light sleeper and if she's in distress I'm there to know about it. She has no trouble getting on my bed so thankfully I don't need to sleep on the floor with her though I've done it before with a sick dog. Some of the medication she is on can have nasty side effects so I need to be around her to keep an eye on her. They've given us time she probably would not otherwise have had and she's responded very well to them. I'm glad I went down this path with her. Hoping Zed is ok and Pearl too.

Thanks for thinking of us Kristie. Sophie's gum tumour is growing again. I had the idea of remission in my mind when it hadn't grown in that 3 weeks but it seems it's not to be. I was advised not to expect remission, just a slowing down of the progression of the disease. I guess we've already accomplished that. I have to learn to live one day at a time the way Sophie does. It's easier said than done. She is still happy and pain free, that's the main thing. I took her for a walk today and I haven't done any training with her since she was diagnosed. She was pulling in her haste to get out and we had a few false starts to her walk. I guess I'll have to pull her back into line. I find it difficult to give her commands now. She probably doesn't have much longer and I just want her to be happy and enjoy the time she has left. Thinking of Pearl and Zed.

I would have a vet go in and have a look without further delay. My Cavalier with an obstruction showed much the same symptoms with an extra symptom of not being able to get comfortable when lying down. She kept moving to different place trying to get comfortable. Nothing showed up on xray except we could see plenty of gas. The vet did emergency surgery and found an obstruction caused by three loquat stones. She had 15cm of dying intestine resected. My dog vomited only once in the early morning and then refused her breakfast which was unusual for her. I took her to the vet straight away and surgery was done immediately. I wouldn't bother with tablets and blood tests. The vet needs to go in and see what the problem is. My girl almost lost her life and she was acting quite normally the previous day. You're right Miranda, this dog doesn't sound good at all.

Thanks Wolfgirl, Chell and Jodie for your kind thoughts. Wolfgirl so glad to hear than Pearl is feeling better. Which day next week is she having the MRI? Sophie is a bit of a puzzle at the moment. The tumour looks different every day. I don't think it's as stable as I hoped it was. Her gum is very red and inflamed, more so than yesterday. I don't much like the look of it today. From what I can see I think the gum is stinging rather than causing tumour pain....might up the paid meds tonight to see if that helps. I took her for a walk this morning, maybe I had her out for too long. I think she can have a restful day at home tomorrow and see what the day brings. If it looks worse tomorrow I'll take her back to the oncologist instead of waiting another couple of weeks for her appointment. Hope Zed is doing ok.

How disgusting not to take this dog to the vet. If it is ringworm I hope he catches it so he'll know how it feels. It might be worth letting him know that to fail to treat a sick animal is against the law. If he refuses to take the dog to the vet, let the RSPCA know. They'll probably do nothing but keep on their back about it and eventually they might pay this dog owner a visit.

Gospeed lovely old boy. Sorry for your loss.

Grumpette thank you for such a lovely post. The support is so important to us and I know it gives me strength as I'm sure it does to others with sick ones. Hope Zed is doing ok too.

Thanks for thinking of us Kristie. Sophie's doing well and is still pain free. The tumour in her mouth looks different. I don't know whether it's a good or a bad sign. I don't try to examine her mouth because Im afraid I might hurt her. I try to be in the right place when she yawns or pants so I can see what's going on. We see the oncologist on 28th Feb so I'll find out then. If Sophie seems unwell before then, they'll see her straight away.

Sophie and I thank you very much for your warm wishes and kind thoughts. We are thinking of the other sick ones and sending healing thoughts and prayers.

I'm so very sorry to hear about Choppa. R.I.P. Beautiful boy.

I hope there's better news for Pearl after she has the MRI WolfGirl Zed n Q: How is Zed going?

Yes it has given me a huge reality hit. BP and I were talking this morning about 4.30am so I knew Kiesha's journey with BP and Jeff had come to an end. I made a few decisions after talking to BP. I know a turn for the worse usually happens suddenly yet I was shocked at how suddenly it came on for Kiesha. I've been wrapping Sophie in cotton wool and not daring to walk her off my property for fear she might pick up a bug. I thought about BP taking Kiesha to the beach to have fun and realised that having fun is a big part of quality of life. I took Sophie out for a walk at 5am, she was so happy to be out and about for the first time in a month. She ran and sniffed, rolled and piddled and was totally happy. She loved being out, she inspected every plant, shrub and fence post. She was happier than I've seen her for weeks. In my effort to protect her I was depriving her of her joy of life. The life she has always known. I can't protect her from her disease or make it go away. Pain free isn't enough, she needs more than that from me. She needs to have fun while she can still enjoy running and sniffing, rolling in the grass. Sophie is a great roller, she rolled in every patch of green grass and the look of joy on her face was priceless. This is quality of life. I've been going on about quality and haven't been providing that for her. I've been so obsessed with keeping her pain free that I lost sight of the other things she needs. I learnt a hard lesson early this morning about taking things one day at a time. Today is really all we have. I'll do what it takes to make sure Sophie is pain free but she needs to enjoy the time she has left and have fun. Sophie and I thank you Kiesha for teaching me a lesson. My thoughts are with you BP and Jeff.

My thoughts are with you and Jeff BP. Godspeed Kiesha. No more pain.

I'm so very sorry for your loss BP.

I saw you signed in to msn just after 1am but by the time I opened it you'd gone. You can always phone me BP, you know I'm a night owl. Not that I would be of much help. I hope Kiesha has settled down and is sleeping now.

Sorry to hear that Kiesha had a bad day Feldene can cause GI upset. I've used Maxalon from the start with Sophie and the only time I missed one with her breakfast she vomited later on. I haven't missed another one and she hasn't vomited again. Sophie hasn't had any obvious nausea so her appetite has been good all along. Maxalon is working well for her. Your vet probably wants her off the Feldene for 48 hours to allow her stomach to settle. I'm going to give Sophie 1/2 a Slippery Elm in the mornings before the Feldene now too as she's showing signs of some gastric bleeding. What are the injections you have? I haven't needed to use the ones I have for Sophie. Sophie has 15mg of Feldene with breakfast and 100mg of Tramadol just before dinner. This seems to keep her pain under control. She's more active and happier now than when she was on Tramadol twice a day though she wasn't taking Feldene at the time. I did discuss codeine phos. with the oncologist but she said she wants Sophie on Tramadol. Evidently it's compatible with all the other medication she's taking. We don't use the Feldene and Tramadol together though, only Feldene in the morning and only Tramadol at night. Sophie gets a full blood examination each time we go to the oncologist so she can tell from that how the organs are coping with the medications. She has urine taken every time too because the chemo drug (I think it's that one) can cause cancer of the bladder. Kiesha and Sophie are now on a similar diet. I mix Flaxseed oil with the cottage cheese. This was recommended in the cancer diet and Sophie likes it. She's always had flaxseed oil but I used to mix it with her BARF. I get chicken breasts, cut them finely and cook them in a small quantity of water She has the chicken in the broth and manages to eat that without me hand feeding her. The only raw food she eats is human grade minced beef or lamb. The oncologist told me to feed her a fatty diet and she's putting on weight. I've always kept her at 42-42.5Kg and now she's up to 45.5kg. I guess she'll lose it quickly enough in time. I hope Kiesha and YOU have a peaceful night and that she's feeling better tomorrow. I think you'll find the Maxalon will relieve her nausea, she'll feel much better and get her appetite back. Please let us know how she is tomorrow and I'll try and get on earlier tomorrow night so we can chat.

My heart goes out to you dfa. To see our dogs going downhill is an awful thing to live with. Is Bonnie seeing an oncologist? I ask because Sophie has come on leaps and bounds since we started with the oncologist. Without her I doubt Sophie would still be here. It is so very expensive though. I wish you all the best with Bonnie and please do keep us posted. Sophie is still feeling well. I appreciate all the good wishes, hugs, prayers and healing thoughts. Hugs from us for all the sick dogs and their owners.

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Thanks guys. I'm terrified to put the mozz on Sophie but this tumour has not only slowed down, it has not grown at all in the past 3 weeks. I'm hardly even game to say that but it seems that's what's happened. I wonder if to hope for a period of remission is pie in the sky. I guess it is. The oncologist said at the beginning of all this that the best we can aim for is to slow down the progression. Then again, no one expected Sophie would still be here at this stage. The onco told me today that it is unusual to see a cancer dog show an improvement at each visit as Sophie is doing. She said usually you can see the decline in the dogs but with Sophie she sees improvement. I think that has a lot to do with adequate pain relief though and Sophie is very stoic, she doesn't give up easily. The Reiki master says that cancer can be arrested with appropriate conventional medicine together with the healing energy used in Reiki. I'm too scared to even think that could happen to Sophie and besides if I get my hopes up too far instead of dealing with it one day at a time I'll lose focus and maybe miss something I should be watching for.

Jodie, thanks for that info. That Ollie is still going strong is testament to your dedication. Hope Kiesha and Zed are doing well too. Sending good thoughts to all dogs and owners.

Update on Sophie: The oncologist is very happy with Sophie. It seems her tumour has not grown at all in the last 3 weeks. It is also less painful to the touch and the onco was able to actually apply some pressure to it without Sophie pulling her head away. At the beginning she couldn't even touch Sophie's mouth to examine her because it was so painful. She had to rely on the vets observations and the pathology results. This means we now not only have her pain under control but the metronomic protocol is definitely working. Sophie's blood and urine test results were good. That the tumour has not increased in size is a big deal. It was growing at an alarming rate before, I could see it getting bigger every day. It also hasn't gone back to the blue colour it was before we started this therapy. It also seems to have flattened out more than it was. We don't know what's happening on the inside but what is visible is very encouraging. We're assuming that since what we can see is a huge improvement, that what we can't see is probably going along the same lines. I admit I was very sceptical about this treatment and agreed to it only on the proviso that if Sophie felt sick then we would cease immediately and use only strong pain relief for her remaining days. This improvement is far better than expected. I know this can change at any time but Sophie is no longer having any bad or painful days. She has a good quality of life and that's what I want for her We have no change in medication because after a couple of additions and subtractions we seem to have hit on the right mix of drugs to slow the rate of progression of her cancer. I've been advised not to walk her due to her immune system being compromised. That's ok, she's happy to have a game in the backyard. I figured this anyway so I haven't taken her outside the property since her walk early on New Years morning. Despite my scepticism Sophie is also being treated by a Reiki master. That it will do no harm and may in fact do a heap of good is why I decided to take this route as well as conventional medicine. Many people assured me that Reiki does work so despite my doubts I decided to go ahead with it. All in all things are better than expected by the vet, the oncologist and me. Apart fom Sophie's joint problems she's never had a sick day in her life so I think her general state of good health prior to the cancer has helped in all of this. Her next oncology appointment is in 3 1/2 weeks.