Loving my Oldies

To Wags: I saw a post on FB the other day which said, “Do you know how weird it is being the same age as old people?" Keep barking old boy, you have lots of company.

Blood result from yesterday. To quote the vet (who scared the life out of me by a phone call at about 8am) “All looking good.” Sooty’s blood counts and platelets are getting to the normal range and I need not worry about spontaneous bleed, even if she were to cut herself, it need not be of concern re bleeding. Pred dose can be slightly decreased and another test on Friday. Her legs are terrible and I have improvised to make Robert Jones wraps @tdierikx, but will little effect. I will keep trying to make them sturdier to try to keep her legs straighter. Sooty is amazing. What a shock though - I received my first Christmas Card yesterday from a couple who adopted a dog from me many years ago and she, too, has developed Thrombocytopenia !! She is doing well, too.

OMG, @Boronia, I’ve read only the first link, it was scary!!! That poor dog and thank god she was with someone who persisted.

My post wasn’t meant to be sad, it was meant to help and to illustrate that it can be far from clear . Over the years, I’ve seen many posts saying to the effect that you will know when the time is right. I don’t wholly agree with this because I (and surely I am not alone?) have found it very very difficult at times to assess when that time is and my examples of Danny and Bunter were meant to show the vast difference between knowing and not knowing.

Few things spring to mind: If possible, your vet needs to know your dog. Your vet needs to understand you - one of the things I always tell my vet is that my feelings are not under consideration. The only things that matter are the health, happiness and well-being of my dogs/cat. Each “case” needs to be considered individually. Three of my loved ones have gone to god this year and I don’t think Sooty (14+) and Mezza (17) will be far behind. Sometimes the decision is easy in terms of for the sake of the dog and sometimes the pet has an illness that can be managed for even a few years and that is when it become difficult, because like anyone, they have good days and not so good days and bad days. A couple of examples: Danny had been ill but well managed for a few years when I finally realised it was time. I booked the vet to come to my place on a Friday evening and when he arrived, I met him at the door and said, “Come and look at this.” Danny was happily hoeing into a meal, tail up, bright as a button. Vet said that he could not euthanise him and I agreed .... but we both knew it was a bit of a last hurrah. We had the most wonderful Saturday, Danny ate well, he pottered around the footpath, enjoying all the smells. On Sunday evening, he crashed and on Monday the vet came again to my house and Danny, my dearest little red man skipped over the bridge. Bunter sound asleep in the bedroom when I had to go out, so I left him. Still the same when I returned. Naturally, I was concerned and then I heard noises indicating he was in distress. To the vet immediately and to cut the story short, he too went to god the following morning having spent the night in emergency on a ventilator. So sometimes there is no question that the time is right, sometimes very difficult to judge and everything in between.

Thanks, T. Will mention that on Monday.

Update from vet this morning. All is looking “pretty good.” Platelets are well within normal range. Sooty still anaemic, but improving. Her white blood cells are still high but this would be because of Prednisolone and I still need to be vigilant for any signs of bleeding, which hasn’t happened to date, but I check her over regularly. @tdierikx, I asked about whether the tests they were doing showed anything to do with organ function, but vet said they had been just concentrating on the white and blood cells, but she will mention this to the other vet I have been seeing and whom Sooty and I will see on Monday for further tests. Until, we continue regime we are currently on. @Snook, because of your post, I said to the vet that it is a lot for a little old lady to deal with and she told something that made me feel sick and go weak at the knees. The other vet had said to her that we got to Sooty just in time before she had reached a stage where coming back would have been difficult. Many years ago, long before DOL and long before I knew much more about dogs other than they had four legs and a tail, a vet told me I was “a neurotic mother.” My little dog at the time was very sick and we had many trips to the vet. Calypso eventually died of congestive heart failure at the very young age of 3 and a half. I never dobbed her in to the practice owner, but I wish I had. So, if “neurotic” equates to knowing your dog and feeling that something is just not right and acting on that feeling, call me neurotic any day.

No imaging at this stage @tdierikx, but I will ask about liver bloods. She is very easily upset and I think they are trying to be as least invasive as possible. As bloods are being sent to pathologists, I imagine they have been, but will ask. She gets eye drops every day still after the unsuccessful operation to restore her sight and this morning I could finally see the veins in her eye again (it is usually a little blood shot) so I am hoping her results from yesterday will be encouraging.

So smooth and solid. They’re just beautiful.

@Snook, the link below is the clearest description I have found while doing lots of trawling in the past week. While Sooty hasn’t had any bleeding, she is anaemic but this is improving. She is on Prednisolone which, depending on results from the lab, may be reduced. She is given Carafate before meals. it is a roller coaster, but she has shown time and again what a courageous and strong willed dog she is. I am certain these characteristics are what pulled her through when she first came here. https://www.ndsr.co.uk/specialist-referral-service/pet-health-information/internal-medicine/immune-mediated-thrombocytopenia-imtp

Sooty’s Initial blood results are good, but also being sent to pathology for more definitive measures. Both vets who have been monitoring her are very pleased and to see their big wide smiles was very heartening and they are feeling better about her prognosis. Her diagnosis is Immune Mediated Thrombocytopenia.

I question mine every day, @Boronia. And then I look at them sleeping . . . . We are off to the vet shortly for more blood tests - and as I type this, I see Sooty come into the room. She hasn’t left her bed in the morning for ages. Usually she sleeps on, or just sits there waiting for me to come and get her. She must be feeling better

Oh @grumpette, they are so beautiful. You must spend your days with a big grin on your face.

She did, actually, thank you . I was so worried yesterday because she was breathing heavily and her ears were white. I took video,of her breathing and a photo of her ears and sent them to my vet. He was reassuring and today she is much better (eating and toileting normally) and her ears are PINK.

He makes me laugh, he is so gorgeous

Thank you, Justice

Sooty definitely likes to be molly-coddled. Ate all her breakfast being hand fed. And is walking much better. I am still investigating the Robert Jones Splinting, thanks @tdierikx.

That’s it @persephone. I’m just gutted for her. There is still hope though. The vet has rung through her latest blood results and although her Platelets are up (couldn’t get an exact count as they clumped) her anaemia is worse Ate only a tiny brekkie, but I am about to go back to the beginning to see if she wants to be fed by hand.

She actually seems a teeny tiny bit brighter this morning. Walking a bit better. Please DOLers keep her in your thoughts; three of my Loved Ones have crossed The Bridge this year. I’m just gutted. What is playing out really really hard is that my mother died of Thrombocytopenia. I wasn’t living in the same city at the time, so didn’t see her decline, but bad and sad memories on the surface, now.

T has managed the photo (thanks T) I tried a couple of times without success.

Things are not well here. Just over a week ago, I noticed a change in Sooty. She seemed down, instead of having a little exploratory journey downstairs when I carried her down for toileting or just to have time downstairs, she would just stand there waiting for me to take her back upstairs. She just sat on her bed in the lounge, no wandering around unless she wanted a drink or to wee. I have always recognised that she had an occasional weakness in her back legs, but this was something that happened only from time to time. This was escalated virtually overnight whereby she is down on her elbows, has difficulty getting balanced and walking even on rough surfaces. Once she gets going, she is okay, but she is quite wobbly. I have put on her toe grips, but these don’t seem to help. I took her to the vet last Thursday, where she was examined and bloods taken to be sent away to pathologist. My usual vet doesn’t work on Fridays so I was surprised to get a phone call from one of his colleagues with the blood test results late on Friday evening. Sooty is very sick. She is anaemic, her white b/cells are elevated, her red blood cells are very low as is her platelet count. The vet wanted me to pick up meds there and then so we could start Sooty immediately on cortisone and she wanted to see her the following morning (Saturday) to do more blood tests. She just about scared the life out of me telling me to watch Sooty carefully through the night in case she started bleeding. If that happened - straight to emergency. So more blood taken on Saturday morning and again today. The bloods taken today are being sent to pathology so I won’t hear until tomorrow. She is also taking Carafate before meals. Her cognitive abilities seem to have deteriorated too, but whether that is because she is weak and sick we don’t know. With regard to her legs, has anyone ever used braces with any degree of success. I was thinking of those neoprene ones that clip around the legs. But where, other than on line which could take days, could I buy them, or make them. See below photo I took of Sooty down on her elbows. Please keep Sooty in your thoughts. She has had a hard life and I am gutted that she has to struggle through this. I am hoping she will get through it, but no certainties at all. She has been with me for less than two years. I really hoped and expected more time for her to have a good life. Edited to add : I can’t get the link to work, but @tdierikx has come to the rescue below.

Do you know what “little” means . He is a looker and that’s for sure.

It’s a bastard isn’t it? They are so loved and such an integral part of our family; Sari has been there virtually the whole of your children’s lives - they must be gutted. What a lovely Grand Dame Sari became. Deepest sympathies, @SarasMum. Farewell Sari. Loved beyond measure.

Oh wow. That is unbelievable. Hope neighbour hasn’t bred humans.

I wouldn’t wait, @sandgrubber. How many animals has that vet put at risk since Bonza, I wonder. Of course, the practice manager will defend her to the hilt, they all do. But we have to try. At the very least, the mistreatment of Bonza might be discussed at a staff meeting and other vets alerted to be more rigorous in their dispensing of drugs. So horrible and frightening.