julesluvscavs

Thank you CHA x Awww thank you Kirty, we have tried to give him the best life. x Yeah well that could explain Joey appearing more alert now than before.. Ironically hes had an eye problem ( due to Miah scratching it ages ago) and he needed a procedure, and its been taking forever to heal, and now its the best we have seen it in long time arghhh Thank you also CRC x Thank you also OSoSwift x Id love to report back this morning that hes moving around with ease and hes showing some significant changes, but at almost 7am, theres none that i can see yet.. hes still in the crate. Hubby had him on our bed last night just for a little while and Joey ended up weeing a little bit on it (hes never ever wee'd on the bed) and hubby has had to help him outside and help hold onto it so he do his wee's etc a bit easier.. I think Joey is holding onto them now .. I cant say ive seen him in a lot of pain during this time, hes never yelped even when the Neuro did all those tests on him last week! but I know hes not comfortable and i think it must bother him he cant just get up and walk now I think the plan is that my husband will call the vet today and see when he can come out, hopefully around the time hubby gets home from work. If anything gets worse, i will ring my husband and he will come home earlier. At least by then we have given it near enough to 48 hours for the cortisone to have started kicking in.. to see if its going help at all Thank you Pers, i have really appreciated your support throughout this time x Both hubby and I are emotionally and physically exhausted atm.. I had quite a few anxiety attacks yesterday and had some throughout the night too.. we both hardly slept much last night.. I'm sure my blood pressure is really high atm! I guess my next update will be when we have given him his wings, unless a significant miracle should happen in the meantime. I'd like to think theres always hope, but i'm not expecting one now..

Thank you Biker Girl x

Thank you Pers and Rebanne. This could be possibly be his last night with us. Its now in the laps of the gods or power of the Universe or whatever we all believe in.. We cant do much more.. Id like to think the Cortisone is going change it all by tomorrow before we make an appt later tomorrow... but even if does, its not a cure anyway, it will just be delaying what eventually going happen anyway.. I have hundreds of photos of him that I will always treasure.. I hope his old Mum 'Renae' will be ok.. Least we have young in our face Miah to help us through all of this . I always thought she came into our lives at the time she did for a reason.. altho I thought it was because of Renae..

Thank you Tassie x Thank you again Trish, and yes you would understand also what this time feels like *hugs* I truly thought i would be going through this first with Renae, and I have been more prepared for her to leave us, than Joey I rang our vet up before and told him the latest, that altho Joey's eyes have perked up the rest of him is not getting better, if anything hes not able to even walk far as he has been without laying down again. He said well its up to you both, only you can make that decision and no one can judge you for whatever one you make. His only advice to me was that if it was him in this situation, since we have resorted to trying the high doses of cortisone, that he would wait another 24 hours before making any final decision (It can take up to 48 hours to kick in properly for some dogs). He said he would not want his dog suffering too long either. He said if we were to make it before the 24 hours were up (unless Joey goes really badly downhill and its obvious) then we will always be regretting and saying what if we had waited just a bit longer.. I do agree with what hes trying to say to me.. I said i will give it another 24 hours but by tomorrow before the clinic shuts, ill be wanting to make my decision if no real improvement. He agreed. I have spoken to my husband about it all as he came home for 15 mins from work to take Joey outside to do his toileting, and hes agree that we will give it one more day.

Thanks fantastic, excellent outcome !!!, so happy for you and Crumpets !! Thank you also x

Yeah thats true Pers Ive given updates to my husband via sms's today, and said how Joeys just not wanting to move at all now.. but i think the fact i told him earlier is eyes seem more alert today has given him some false hope the cortisone is helping ( and perhaps it is ?) He just wants to wait one more night so we know we have given the meds enough time to work any magic thats its going too.. I can't see that anything is going dramatically change to be honest But you are right, i think this stage is the worse.. I keep saying to the Universe, just give me one real proper sign.. well apart from the obvious signs.. it hasn't helped hes looking around more now more wide eyed. And when i go to talk to him or pat him he wags his tail and then i think maybe he will improve arghhhh When our last dog Jenna had to put down, there was a definite sign in her eyes and we just knew the time was right.. but i haven't seen that in Joey yet.. well yesterday i thought i had seen it not today Ps Thank you again Pers.. x

Thank you Poodle wrangler.. No the MRI is not going change the outcome I don't believe .. Initially it was thought it was his spine, but now its highly suspected theres a mass in his brain or top of neck area. Just giving the high doses cortisone a quick try but so far im not seeing any significant changes yet. (apart from he looks a bit more alert today). I've taken him a few times out for his toileting and he just keeps flopping down, hasnt been yet.. was really runny with no 2's yesterday. Im not going drag this out much longer, I do not want to see him suffer, its heartbreaking watching him as it is.. the weather is heating up. I do have the aircon on but hes still panting ;( My condolences on the passing of your Mother In Law *hugs* My husband and his sister are the executors , but i dont think it will require many extra costly expenses (except funeral etc fees), as she didnt have a lot in her bank. Her house was never in her name, just in her deceased husband's name and he had in his will that it would go to his daughter and son ( my husband) but the Mother was to have life interest in it.,. so i guess we are already on the title ? Hubby's still sorting stuff out with his sister .. there will be some expenses along the way of course associated with the house until they can sell it..

Thank you Yonjuro x

Thank you Trish.. Interesting enough i have noticed Renae hasn't really been going up to Joey, she did have a little nap with him yesterday in their crate, but hasn't been overly fussing over him as I thought she might be.. She sleeps a lot these day, so maybe thats a good thing? Miah has been at times going up to him and stirring him up, but is bit grumpy when she does, understandably! We have tried to keep her away from him over last few days.. I do think she knows something is going on but that could be her seeing our emotions atm.. The other day when Joey could hardly get up, I went and layed next to him (hard with my spine problems!) and young Miah jumped up on my back and was trying to cuddle me with her paws around my neck awwww. Im sure they know something is up..

Thank you Jules P :) x I do think hes a tiny bit more alert this morning, his eyes look a bit wider , not sure if thats from the cortisone ? I will see how he is by afternoon, thats when hes always at his worse.. Ness, How are both yours going atm ?

Thank you so much everyone for your support. I cant say theres been much improvement over night, but hes not got any worse either. Hes had a couple tiny walks to outside to do no 1's.. but hes still quite listless and dull. Hes mostly resting in his crate. Its going be a very warm day today so i'll switch on the aircon later and just make sure he keeps drinking water throughout the day. Hard to say yet if the high doses will be giving him any horrible side effects, as they cant tell you like we can when we are feeling weird from meds! Even if it works, its only buying some extra time and making him more comfortable. I will gauge how he goes .. I need to do a few things outside of the house but atm i cant, because I want to stay home to keep an eye on him. Its hard when you have sick dogs isn't it.. We have been mostly lucky with them with their health apart from Renae's liver issues months ago and Joey's eye being scratched a couple months ago.. Renae's getting old now but shes doing ok considering.. Miah hasn't been to vets *touch wood* other than for her vaccinations and desexing.

Thank you every one for your kind words.. x

Thank you Yonjuro . If it should work it will buy us a bit more time with him.. he would have to go onto a couple other medications x ps My husband lost his Mother a couple weeks ago, so its been a really rough time for us both

Thank you Ness x

Hi Ness.. We were intending to give him his wings tonight, as hes had a really bad day.. But we have been in touch with our vet and the neuro tonight, well they spoke to each other also and we are going try high levels of cortisone.. if may or may not help him.. if theres no improvement over the next 48 hours or hes get any worse overnight, then we will give him his wings.. We just trying this one last year before totally giving up Thank you for caring enough to ask x

Im glad to hear Kayla is remarkably better, still sad shes not 100 percent.. long as she comfortable and happy enough thats the main thing :) Yes very sad about our Joey, we trying one ditch at some treatment starting tonight, the next 48 hours we will know if it will help or not. If it doesn't or gets any worse, we will be giving him his wings Please give Kayla a kiss from me x

Hi Kayla, I feel bad no one ever replied to your post in May How is your old girl now ? I just came across your post because ive been looking through threads of dolers whose dogs have had neurological problems.

I know Pers, thanks.. none of them have ever wanted to do any blood work on him, our vets or the specialists.. should I be requesting one? usually they are the first ones to want to do extra stuff when you present an ill dog.. Hes seen 2 different vets now, an eye specialist ( a few times) and a neurosurgeon ..

Seeing him through all of this that he has been very one sided with the way he walks .. meaning hes been very weak in one side of his body, makes me keep thinking if he's had a stroke at any stage in the past.. He threw up a little last night and my husband said it was frothy.. We really dont like the look of how this is going.. but despite it all he even tho quite listless a lot now, he still wags his tail. The ironic thing is even tho hes getting worse, his eye is finally starting to heal after all this time !

Yeah thats when Joey seems to be going more downhill towards end of the day too..

I agree re us noticing our dog's pain levels more.. I think thats why he would like Joey for a day to observe him..

i've actually got some here for myself but too nervous to take them (for my spine problems) as im super reactive to meds.. Well i will ring the specialist Monday just that he wasn't convinced Joeys is in that much pain going by all the diagnostic tests he did that day on him and he put joey through heaps I have read tramadol is often used on dogs for pain.. i wouldn't give it to him without specialist/vet approval

The neurosurgeon says he doesn't have to be, we have still been giving him his mild ones (just low dose) as we think hes worse not on them.. will ring the specialist monday and check with him again.. Joey just had another accident inside (no 2's) so unlike him ! we are taking him outside a fair bit.. hes not yelping in pain .. but he does pant a fair bit now(which we told the specialist)

i understand.. he did have a good day and there was some spark in him , but tonight hes gone downhill again..

ive had him on some of them for a while now, the current probably just over a month... but hes getting worse if anything Hes been laying or just slowly pottering around in the sunshine today, which has perked him up a little bit :)