Beau needs Prayers and POTP (power of the paws)

Thank you, Ann of Zoolatry, for the graphic

Friday night, Dec 20, 2024, starting at 4 pm, Beau paced for 13 hours without laying down. I walked every step he did because he eats his own poop if I don't stop him, he did the pacing and digging holes for 4 hours, I was on the phone with the ER to see if they would see him, when he threw up the most horrid mess, it was 20 inches around in the kitchen. After that he laid down for 5 minutes and back to pacing, digging holes, spraying diarrhea and throwing up. At 8 am he laid down and went to sleep and that was the last of it and all normal until Monday 4 am, he did the same thing until 8 and that was it. 

the other awful part was his legs gave out. Beau has been on gabapentin twice a day for 2 years for his dysplasia and other back leg problems. He lost the meds from the vomiting. He started dragging both legs behind him and could barely walk, also did the same with the next bout.

 I got him back on the pills yesterday morning and he is walking and ate boiled rice and ground round for breakfast. 

I took him for half of his normal walk today and the left leg was not as good as it was.

Please send Beau your Prayers.

During all this I went to the hospital to see my best friend who is dying, she has been on Beaus blog several times, she is his best friend too. She is not expected to live much longer and no longer knows her family.

Because of all the walking I have done, my hip has given out and with Bob's dementia, none of us are doing well and as the cherry on top, I think I am getting a cold. We spent 13 hours outside in 45-degree temps and 15 mph winds.

thank you for your prayers...

Jackie and Beau

 

EXTRA! EXTRA!

 

 

I know I am not supposed to post today, but my Mama almost had to post a POTP on me yesterday. 

Monday at 5 pm, I got up to go outside and yelped and held my right paw up and could not walk on three legs. I whimpered and tried to walk and laid down. Mama thought I had something in my paw and checked all of me several times and found nothing. I wanted her to hold me which is unusual. See daddy? that is me right now this moment as I type, well as my mama types what a say to her. My rule is, Daddy's lap unless I am feeling sick, then it has to be Mama. Daddy has NO compassion flowing off to comfort me like Mama does.

From 5 PM to 7 AM I cried and slept, whined and slept, pitifully whined yelped about once an hour or if I moved. Back to sleep. All night long mama held me, hugged me, sat by me and sometimes I laid on her lap like I am on Daddy. She says I feel like an 81-pound rock on her tummy/lap. She did it anyway. Daddy slept all night in bed.

 When I slept, she could not sleep because she was going through mind stories of me being sick unto death, her words not mine. 

At 8 am, she called Vet office and talked to doctors PA, Victoria whom mama wishes were the vet. she is married to the vet and is much better than he is. 

She asked if she could give me extra Meloxicam! NO she shouted, NEVER give him extra Meloxicam. that might be a lethal dose. She said you can give him his Gabapentin every 8 hours instead of every 12 hours which is what I have been on for a year and a half. 

Mama gave me 1 extra Gabapentin and I passed out, I slept all day except for 2 meals and 3 snacks and a short walk slowly, without moving. Mama could not sleep because she was worried i was sleeping too much. Anyhow here is the bottom line.

Mama went to bed at 7:30 last night, and slept until 4 am, when daddy touched her and said are you ok? He had been up, had coffee in bed and I was still sleeping. I slept from 9 am Tuesday until 4 am Wed, and when Mama got up, I WAS BACK NORMAL. ACTING LIKE NOTHIG WAS EVER WRONG! 

We walked; we ate we did everything I always do. Mama's theory is Remember when mama went to doctor because she was doing what I was doing, yelping and crying, then daddy yelped and went to ER and Jackie got the same thing. Mama told the Vet PA about she thought I had what they had, and she said that is interesting, because when you had it I had the same thing. Just got over it. 

As you can see by these CURRENT Photos, I am on Daddy which means I am not sick! Mama is taking cell phone pics and typing. LIFE IS GOOD. she is still a tad worried, she loves me lots

Beau is better

5 AM today, did not want to wake him, so took this from afar. On Tuesday, middle of the night he started with diarrhea and each day it got worse, called vet, got probiotics, 4 nights no sleep for both of us, Saturday at 1 am he got worse and worse explosive diarrhea with stomach growls that were heard all over the house, nausea and did not lay down or stop pacing for 10 hours. I called the vet and picked up RX canned food, 4 dollars a can.

Two meds, endosorb for nausea, and marrowpitant for diarrhea and it forms stool.

At 11:45 i gave him one of the E and 5 of the M.. he took them by dipped in peanut butter. with int 15 minutes he stopped pacing, laid down on the sofa and slept until 3:45 when I woke him up to see if he would eat, had no food for 2 days. He ate 2 spoons of the below rice, veggies and chicken stew. and slept until we got up at our normal time of 3:30. He did not get up to go out and I made him get up at 5 am and gave him 1/4 of can and 6 pills, one was his gabamentin. Took him out and he did his thing, stool is still really loose but only once.  

He is still sleeping out his exhaustion. 

He will conintue for 48 hours on the RX food and the pills.. 

thank you all for your love and care and suggestions and emails and for being there in my need and thank you Ann for the email that added about 10 bloggers comments from people we do not know...  

I slept for a 2 hour nap at lunch time and slept good until 1:15 when I heard him move from closet to living room.  After that I slept lightly because I was listening. I feel much better and am calming down a little.  

 

Chewing My New Red Giraffe

 

I love my squeaky red Giraffe. I heard mama say when she took this photo that it makes her sad to see me chewing not walking and running...

this post was created on Nov 1, our world turned upside down. He has not touched Squeaky since we left him at the vet all moring in a crate where he was knocked out and tortured.

We are all doing well, the stress of the past few days has him with diarrhea for 3 days, the night after he came home. Today I went to the vet and picked up some syringe full of nasty smelling gel to shoot down his throat to stop the tummy problems. 

We will be ok, just will have to adjust to what he can and can't do. No more walks except to go to bathroom, no running, no orange thang.

we are now processing how to get him in and out of the car with out doing harm, using a towel to lift his butt. I want to get a way to give him rides since he can't do anything else. Yesterday some did not realize he is already on the three treatments that the vet suggested. Has been for a month. We will not be doing the surgery, but will do the wait and rest and follow what the vet thinks is best for Beau..

Unless i have something to tell you we will be quiet on this blog. I have 2 in drafts I will post soon.

We are going to lick this and give him the best life ever, and will make sure he feels no pain

Beaus Bad News

 

I can not type a post, my heart is breaking in pieces. Below is copy paste of Vets diagnosis.

More when I can....

David Doyens, DVM

Thu, Nov 4, 7:42 PM (10 hours ago)

to me

Sandra and Robert,

Beau's examination and images have been evaluated and his findings formulated.  Beau's got several issues of concern.  The primary cause of his R rear leg lameness is due to his anterior cruciate ligament.  Like a football player, Beau's ACL is injured and it's painful to walk due to movement of his knee.  His L knee is not great but it's relatively normal and functional.  Beau's hips add to the challenges.  He has dysplasia -- neither of his hip joints have smoothly operating parts.  The ball part of the joint does not sit nicely within the socket part of the joint.  Specifically, the L hip is subluxated or sits a little outside of the joint.  Both are likely somewhat discomforting and, again, complicate the issue with this R knee.

Options may be limited.  For large breed dogs like Beau, surgery for the knee is the recognized gold standard.  But, his other problems may preclude him from being a good candidate for such surgery or complicate the healing process.  Remember, while his R leg heals from surgery, he's got to rely on his L leg to support him and it's not in the best of shape/condition to do that.

Inevitably, most such injuries eventually heal through scarring and contraction.  It's not an easy path -- nor a short path -- but, given time and patience and the necessary mediations, most dogs with ACL injuries will eventually heal.  

My recommendations for Beau if you choose not to pursue a surgical consult (and I can refer you to any number of surgeons in the area for a better idea of what options are available): time, rest, restricted activity; a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug like meloxicam; an analgesic like gabapentin and a joint formula (GAG product) for supporting joint remodeling and physical therapy (water therapy, massage, or laser therapy).

You likely have some questions in regard to my findings.  Please don't hesitate to call or write should you have such.

Thank you,

Dr. Doyens

Beau update

 

Beau sporting Two shaved legs, the bandage she said was for the catheter. The other for drugs.

He was one drunken dog when he came home at 12:45 and this is how he laid until 2:45. 

No food or water since since the night before.

He would not wake up. When we brought him in, he staggered a few times and fell. 

the tech said he would sleep about an hour or 1 and 1/2. Then he cold eat.

I felt his paws and they were all four like ice.

I went into recovery nurse mode,

Slapping his face gently, gently saying

Beau, what's my name, what's your name, how man fingers do you see!

Over and over, he finally got up staggered around and around like a drunken sailor. Every 15 minutes I did the same thing. after 4 times of this we all three staggered out into the back yard and he peed and we clapped and yelled good boy. On the way back into the house he staggered and fell up against the book case and 5 yelps like a dog hit by a car, just ripped my heart into pieces.

Finally at 4 pm he ate two ice chips, 2 saltines and a piece of cheese to give him his pain pill.

He did not come back to normal until this morning.

Still half drunk he slept from 7:30 to 2.22 am, I heard him smacking his lips and immediately went into helicopter MOM MODE.. could not go back to sleep, got up and he did not follow me down the hall.

I fretted and fretted and Bob got up at 3 and came down the hall. Beau did not follow.

Bob hollered down the hall Beau come here.

He slowly walked to the back door, went out and stared around and came back in.

I took his water bowl and sat it under his face where he laid on the carpet and wonder of wonders he drank a good bit of water. I handed him a piece of dog food, he  ate it and i filled his bowl with his regular 3:30 am food and he ate it all and half a bowl of water.

He is back! I have stopped fretting except for the $420.00 the x-rays cost, we still don't know what they found. 

Will update when they call...... We have survived a simple TEST! I think it hurt me most!

Muah! My Heart!

 

Can you guess what I am doing/

Did you guess yet????   The next one will tell you what I am doing.... I am watching Daddy cook. My back end is not happy and I can't sit on the tile floor, my feet slide and I fall down on my tummy. Sitting is hard for me on tile floors now... I can sit fine on carpet or grass. Mama brought my bed in from the living room, and now I have the perfect spot to trip them up watch them cook.

Guess what? this is the bed from the living room that I have always hated and rarely laid on. Now I love it... Mama turned it bottoms up! I don't like lambs wool, I like hard, firm material. Now after they cook it goes back in the living room and I spend my TV time on it.... the good news is, it doesn't slip and slide on the carpet, the lambs wool makes it stay in place. Mama said Live and Learn!

I am on meds   1 Meloxicam every 24 hours and 1 Gabapenton at early am and bedtime. 

We don't know if I will ever be able to chase the ball again.

I am walking on 3 legs and mama has a call into the vet.Again! I was just there 2 weeks ago.

Mama here...Please pray for my sweet Boy, we will be dropping him off at the vet at 9:30, he will be sedated for X-Rays and when they are done and he is awake they will call us to pick him up.

Poor guy can only have water and his pain pill with a small piece of cheese.

His normal breakfast is his dog food at 3:45 and pieces of ours at 6:30. How do we tell him we can eat and he can't... I am not fond of sedating dogs, especially his age of 8.

Not every dog has a kitchen viewing bed