westiemum

Belated Happy Birthday from us too Odie - who couldn't love that gorgeous face!!

You said it VM and T. I can't stop watching that video - Iris would have been devastated if anything had happened to Missy - and thanks to her they are both still with us.

Yep TSD - Iris is an amazing woman - I don't know too many 88 year olds who could do this and live to tell the tale - she's a salt of the earth Brit who adores these two rescue westies and it would never have occurred to her not to go to Missy's rescue. What a woman!

Thought you might like to see this short video of my gorgeous friend Iris . She lives with her son Paul and daughter in law Meg in the Adelaide foothillls. We have all become great friends after Meg and Paul took on our most difficult westie rescue Eddie, then a couple of years later took on Missy who needed a new home, to keep him company. They have been the brilliant adoptive 'parents' all rescue services dream of - and Iris has been 'grandmother and westie sitter' to these two beautiful rescue dogs. I'm just so pleased Iris and Missy are still with us.

Tomorrow's the big day ( technically today !) that new pup Leo, the Mini Schnauzer arrives to his new life In the Amuse household. Amuse the first rule of DOL is pics!!! Thanks everyone for your help. Really proud of these guys - it's been an 18 month process to get the right breed, the right breeder and the right puppy. I just wish everyone would take such care when taking on a 10 - 15 year commitment to a new family member. Congratulations guys and have a great day tomorrow/today.

Kwirky what's the start date and duration? Might know someone very good and experienced for you if its not immediate...

:) Indi when I was researching doggie dementia for Mac some years ago, I came across some research out of the University of Sydney who were doing some really interesting canine dementia work. Dr Sarah O'Toole is the contact and her email is sarah.toole.at.sydney.edu.au. She is happy to talk with people who are concerned about her dogs (and I think she's a DOLer as well). Here's a link to the University of Sydney canine dementia rating scale which might help. http://www.surveygiz...ting-scale-CCDR A further study I read some years ago suggested that 60% of dogs aged ten years or over exhibited some signs of dementia - which is a far bigger proportion I think than most of us realize and suggests its more common than is often reported or diagnosed. Vivitonin is a drug often used to help dementing dogs (and there are others) and I think it helped Mac a lot and slowed his disease for 3 or 4 years before it seemed to stop working. I must say what you are describing sounds suspiciously like early dementia. BUT - and its a big one - be sure the panting and pacing overnight and the going very quiet isn't something else. I mistook Mac's overnight pacing and increased panting for an increase in his dementia behaviour when he actually had laryngeal paralysis. Because both the vet and I missed it (understandably), he went into severe respiratory crisis and had emergency tie-back surgery to clear his airway so he could breathe at 11 pm on a Sunday night in June 2013 - he was a new dog after surgery and some of his apparent dementia behaviours lessened somewhat after surgery although he still has some symptoms (eg occasionally getting stuck in corners and not able to wok out how to get out again and similar to Karma, going into a room and just standing there until I move him on). So I don't want to alarm you - but canine dementia is a diagnosis usually of exclusion - in other words if its not other things then its likely dementia and you need a vet who will work with you to exclude other causes. In Mac's case he has both laryngeal paralysis and dementia signs - but the laryngeal paralysis presented similarly to his dementia and made him look more demented than he actually was/is. Hope that makes sense. And its better to avoid respiratory crisis and emergency surgery if possible. And without wishing to offend any of the terrific DOLer vets on here - my experience suggests that they are not well-tuned into laryngeal paralysis and its possible accompanying generalized neuropathy. Lets just say my vets are now much better informed, including about post-surgery medication protocols (terribly important to these dogs) and we're all still friends! Hope all that helps. Will be very interested to hear how you get on.

BC where do you get your cornsilk powder? TIA. :)

Yes do try the corn silk tea, sweet potato & tofu route first. One of the side effects of Propalin can be aggression (pays to read the label as I eventually did ). Mac was on Propalin for a while and he seemed to become a quite feisty irritable westie. The moment he came off it he was back to his usually snuggly self. So I use Stilboestrel with him - and a belly band when he's inside. Similarly with my Sarah who developed spay incontinence at around the age of 10 or 11 from memory. Because Propalin seems to make her snappy I only use it short term with her to tighten things up - Stilboestrel seems a better long-term option for her too. Good luck with it all and will be interested to hear how you get on.:)

My 15 year old Westie Mac (who's currently snuggling so much he's pushing me off the bed!! ) has a generalised neuropathy with pronounced hind end weakness which is probably associated with his laryngeal paralysis. He has acupuncture which really seems to help and he's on Gabapentin at night, an old drug but a good one which assists with neurological pain. He's also on Loxicom in the morning. And although it seems like a lot, getting his pain management right has made a huge difference to his mobility and quality of life. Might be worth a discussion with your Vet to see if either might help.

What Boronia said???? My westies do best on a raw grain free diet. My Sarah had a black yeasty tummy - looked like a bitumen runway it was so black - and she was horribly itchy ????. Removed all grains from her diet and only use grain free dry food in an emergency and its cleared completely. My theory is that the grain/carbohydrate feeds the yeast and makes it worse - similar to hoomans.

I'm Anglican and I understand that there's no doctrine either way. So it's good to hear Pope Francis come out in support of animals going to heaven. My God is a kind, just God and I can't see him/her not having furry friends for eternity. And the Bible is silent on the matter - and it's humans who demand sentience to go to heaven. And who says our companion animals don't make active choices??? Only God knows. So I'm looking forward to spending eternity with my four- legged companions.

Super cute and clever humour so highly unlikely to be a council worker!

Yep I feel for you. Its a hard road. Mac is very wobbly - probably with a generalised neuropathy, with oesophageal involvement, laryngeal paralysis, arthritis and probably some dementia. He's also deaf, losing his night vision and pretty incontinent these days and although I love my general vets I didn't feel they were taking me seriously enough. So after a bit of a tussle, I diplomatically asked for and got a referral for ongoing management to an internal medicine specialist. Sorting his medication has made a huge difference - Gabapentin at night and Loxicom in the morning. (He's also on compounded Zantac and Cisapride twice a day and Stilboestrol twice a week.). I think an internal medicine specialist is the key - mine has been very helpful and Mac has been much happier and more comfortable since he spent time with us and really helped us sort through his symptoms and got his medication regime right. Good luck.

Out of the Adaptil products I found the spray works best - a couple of pumps on the fav bed and a nice firm pair of PJs (works similarly to a thunder shirt I find) and Andy is much calmer. Although it makes me wonder how the poor little man got on in thunder storms in a puppy farm cage in the middle of nowhere.

Go piglet!!!

Lovely story - happy gotcha day Scottie! (Great name!)

Oh and I forgot - cutting a tail hole in baby disposal pants of the right size works very well too.

Sorry to hear that DD. Boronia is right - my Mac and her Mac are both on the same dosages of incontinence medication. Here its a case of manage it and medicate it. Perse suggested these to me in August 2013 - not cheap but they have saved my sanity. I also bought a 'proper' incontinence mattress protector from this site and it works brilliantly. So as far as the bed goes - I have a proper incontinence mattress protector, then my sheets, then I put a set of the Conni Critter mats down the other side of the bed and Mac sleeps on that with a belly band. In winter they also have the $3.95 Ikea acrylic blankets which are the perfect size and wash like rags and dry very quickly. And its pretty much been problem solved as the Conni mats are easy to wash if there's an accident, the wee doesn't go through to the sheets - and I have enough for a second set while one set dries. I also have a single mattress protector which I put on the lounge - that way no-one is banished from anywhere. Mac is poo incontinent as well these days - he'll be walking around and the poo just falls out. But I find that easier to deal with than the wee - down the loo and an antiseptic wipe and a good going over of the floor every couple of days. And I have been known to put girl knickers from Petstock on him if he's having a really bad day - but that's rare. And I buy the Poise pads (orange ones) on special in bulk - this is one time the Woolies 'Select' don't do the job - they leak. I'd be in the loony bin by now without Perse's Conni suggestion and the belly bands, medication and Poise pads - sounds a lot but its actually easy once you get into the habit - and get organised. Hope that helps. And before anyone asks - Mac still has great quality of life and is a very happy, snuggly and spritely old fella who happens to be incontinent. When he gets to a point where he has more bad days than good and I can't manage his incontinence at all then I'll make a different decision.

Brilliant everyone - thank you - will pass it on.

The same with the westies and those 'plastic' cheese slices!

DD I'm not sure about the liquids but certainly the powder in the capsules can be compounded together. And even if liquids can't be compounded together I can't see why you couldn't combine the two meds in the one syringe at the time of administration if you are giving them at the same time anyway. I wrap the capsules up in those homebrand 'plastic' cheese slices. Mac is on quite a cocktail - the ranitidine/cisapride combo three times a day (although I find twice a day - morning and night is ample), he's on gabapentin (a very old but good drug) for nerve pain/neuropathy, stilboestrel twice a week and loxicom once a day for his arthritic pain and inflammation. I've just stopped his Vivitonin as after a number of years I think its stopped working. And this regime is working well for him - although some vets have queried if he needs quite so much pain relief - but at 15.5 years I'm reluctant to mess with it all again as he's doing so well on this routine. Luckily for me, my three foodaholics line up for cheese slices and the meds are down the hatch before they realise whats gone on!

Thanks all - keep it coming. They are now leaning towards a wire crate - the vebo one looks good. But assuming a mini schnauzer runs true to temperament (i.e. a bit on the independent side) a bit of crate training before a long 4wd trip probably won't go astray. :)

DDD I'm so sorry to hear this - I'd just ask SASH how their pricing works - good for reference - and then go elsewhere. I too have Mac on a compounded ranitidine/cisapride combo and rang around to get prices - and they were all around the $70 mark for 90 capsules. Not cheap but a damn sight cheaper than the two bouts of overnight care at the Emergency Hospital for aspiration pneumonia - and haven't had a whiff of it since I stamped my feet and got the compounding script.

Yep in the old house I used to leave it on for the day if the temp was climbing into the high 30's and beyond - or subsidise the mother to have them in her aircon. Although I didn't like the increase in power bills I figured it was still cheaper than a vet bill.