pampa

Doesn't she know she's ill and shouldn't be doing silly things

Thank you all ! She's totally off the cortisone/prednisone now and she's only had one single tiny bruise in the last two days, probably due to her "still too low" platelet count, but things are looking good Can you all please keep an eye out for a good pet friendly rental in Melb

I've FINALLY got some good news We got Thursdays blood results back this morning and she is now NEGATIVE to Ehrlichiosis therefore able to travel Not only that, but despite reducing the Prednisone, her platelet count is up a little (up to 75.000 whereby a low satisfactory is 100.000 and her former count was 50.000). This means that the "shock" treatment and anti-biotics have got the bug under control and her immune system can now concentrate on working itself out again. I've weaned her completely off the cortisone (Prednisone) since today, so I just hope her platelet count continies to rise slowly but surely as it should do... Anyway, I hope everyone else is having some good news too, or at least a nice week-end. Thanks for your support, well wishes, candles and good vibes as it is obviously working wonders :rolleyes: PS: Abergavenny, ta for the PM :cool:

And just when we thought we were making head-way, or that we at least had a direction to our meandering I'm so sorry that things appear "more complicated" than expected. Has she had her first medication yet and if so, how did it effect her (I imagine if it is a "blocking" agent, a bit like the medication I was giving Talia), it has an almost immediate effect... Thoughts as always

Yeahhhhhh!!!!! Wonderful news Jodie ;) Let's hope the Chemo doesn't set him back a tad, as each time he undergoes treatment he unfortunately has a couple of "off" days afterwards... Fingers crossed that this time he'll fly through without a hitch. PS, you just made my day ;)

Oh dear Isaviz, I hope your poor boy is just going through a teenage "ungainly" period and will pick up again real soon... Please keep us updated

Hi buddy Are there any side-effects to be expected from the pre-op drugs you are about to receive for Kal, are are they relatively "soft" on the system ?... It would be great if they have no negative effects on her at all... What exactly are they supposed to do ??? So, it looks like she could be ready for surgery around the 18th-20th May ??? I might not have a computer up and running around those dates, so could you please PM me your private phone number so I can give you a call... Its going to be an anxious couple of weeks for you sweetie... Try not to let Kal know you are fretting She'll be fine, and as Rusky says, she'll be in the best possible hands

Oh,Helen, your photos / website are magnificent It's definately "Helens Haven" or more exactly, "Helen's Heaven"... Superb ! I'm glad to hear Lucinda is "not too bad" at the moment, but I'm looking forward to you telling us she's "good"... Thank you (AGAIN ) for all the info and photos on MCT and I'm now feeling so much better about our lumps

Excuse me Lucinda & Helen and thank you Jodie :rolleyes: A suspect lump (red and wort-like) has come up on her lip and is very hard, as mentioned above... The vet is not worried in the least but I'm not so sure, especially considering what you say here, Jodie... I'm going in to the vet's on Thursday for blood tests so I'm wondering whether he could do a fine needle biopsy at the same time ? Can this be done without an anaesthetic or must they be put under to aspire ??? Here is a photo of her lump... Sorry again for Hi-jacking here but I'm quite worried and I know you people know more than anywhere else (BTW, just to remind you, she's been on Prednisone for over a month now and the lump hasn't shrunk... on the contrary, it seems to have grown My girl is only 4 years old)

It must be difficult (to say the least), each time a new bump raises it's ugly head Please excuse the hi-jack Helen, but could you please give me an idea on what a MCT looks like / feels like because after much googling, I cannot get a good idea on size, shape or colour All 3 of my dogs have one new "lump" each at the moment and although the vet looked at my as if I was a martian, I'd just like to ensure they are not those horrible things you and Jodie are dealing with... On my kids they are tiny hard lumps... One is almost like a shiny red wort (as hard as stone), the other two are small round blackish, flatish bumps under the skin... The vet squeezed each one in trying to "make it pop" and decided that there was nothing in there :rolleyes: A very brief rundown of your experience would be great although I'm sure my paranoïa is getting the better of me... Big hugs to both yourself and the beautifully bedraggled Lucinda

Thank you all very much (again :D )... She seems to be a bit better this evening... I gave her the antibiotics with her main meal tonight, (last night I gave them to her around midnight and having already digested most of her dinner, they must have burnt her gut ), so I'm hoping she will cope better with a full tummy. I hope everyone has a lovely weekend with your doggies and that they all stay well

Thank you Rusky, she is absolutely adorable and wouldn't hurt a fly and, apart from the stick thing, we have no issues whatsoever. I can take bones off her, can put my hand in her food bowl and the vet can do all "horrible" vet things to her without a problem. She is soooo trustworthy and friendly with everybody... She's a dreadful watchdog Nekhbet, thanks for your hints... I actually tried today your first option, the one you used for your Mal... It actually worked !!! She still unfortunately shredded the stick when I gave it to her once the work session was over (when she had actually given up the stick repeatedly 4 times)... I didn't want to push my luck, so, after the forth release, I gave her a food treat, then handed her the stick as a "reward". I probably shouldn't have, but she was just about busting her gut to get it, despite her trying hard to understand and obey me... I figured that if she knows she'll get the stick in the end, she will not regret giving it up to me Anyway, thanks again to everyone who has spent the time to answer me, it is greatly appreciated. I will be applying some of the other training methods suggested here on all three of my dogs, just to heighten their general obedience and their focus on me :D

How is Wags going ?.... We haven't had any news from you since the 12th ???

I'm glad to hear she's eating without assistance which is a good sign... Hopefully her Nephrons are working overtime to repair themselves and tiring her out, thus explaining her loud snoring :p Seriously though, hoping she starts to improve soon.

How is Ollie Dog going Jodie ?... (no news is good news :p )

Thank you for the link DBS, although, unfortunately she is positive to the "canis" strain of the illness touched upon in the second part of the report, which (as far as I understand it), has never proven to be in Australia :p In the article, it is clearly written "Dogs must be serologically non-reactive to permit entry into this country" We have started the two treatments mentioned above and both are fairly violent on the system. Today she is trembling (especially when her tummy is empty), and she has diarrhea, so I suspect she has some pain/discomfort in the digestive system, which the vet told me to expect. I'm giving her little nibbles to avoid gastic acids from irritating her intestines and I'll give her some "Gastroguard" if she gets worse... Poor sweetie ;)

Bugger, I was wondering too Looking forward to you next update, buddy. Keep on keeping on :p

It is ME that was missing something... I was throwing the second stick so that she'd drop the other one, meaning she always had a stick at her disposition How did you guess ;) BTW her recall is very good, unless she has a stick

Thanks to everyone again... No, she doesn't EVER get agro at me, even when I try to take the stick out of her mouth... She does however, shake her head with such a force it almost rips my shoulder out of it's socket :p

Thanks Amhailte for your answer... In fact I'm worried that, if she can get so agro on a stick/toy etc. and she doesn't know/obey "release", what will happen the day she decides to clamp onto something more valuable than a stick :cool: Stopping her from picking up sticks is not "fixing" my lack of authority on "release"... When on a lead, she doesn't pick up sticks... When off-leash (most of the time), if she goes towards a stick, a firm "NO" will usually dissuade her from picking up the stick. I then stimulate her attention with something else to make her forget the stick. The problem is when we play/when she gets excited... The two stick method works very well... If I throw a stick, she'll run to get it, start ripping it to shreds until she sees I have another in my hand... She flies back to me with the original stick in the mouth and drops it at my feet when I throw the second stick. She'll play this way for ages and is tireless... I however, am not tireless and as soon as I decide "game over", this is where she will NOT STOP. She will take it out on the last stick until there is only "sawdust" on the ground. This is when she'll run off to find another one. Needless to say, trying to pry her mouth open, cutting her air-pipe, scolding, ignoring and tempting with food don't work and this despite her being VERY interested in food. I've closely read K9's triangle anrticle and I have begun training... I didn't expect an "easy-fix" but I didn't expect to have to start her training over, either ;) I tried the above this morning... We are going to have to work on it because she walked along, eyes fixed on the stick, dribbling with anticipation and promptly walked right into a park bench :D I made her obey a few simple commands to introduce her to the idea that obey = reward (ie: stick)... By the time she "won" the stick, she almost took my hand with it in anticipation (obviously stick was withdrawn and she was corrected for her brutality)... When I offered it to her again and she took it more gently, the stick was sooooo desired, it only lasted about 6 seconds flat

Thank you all for your replies. As far as the commande itself goes, there is no probs because we speak French and the release commande is "lache", not like anything else in my canine language :cool: Blowing on the nose doesn't work and her sneezing just makes her clamp down harder I tried the Susan Garrett method you mentioned Pax and even after almost a 1/4 hour wait, she didn't lessen her grip, nor did she remotely show any signs of doing so ;) I folded in, bored to tears and having trouble holding her still in "sit"... I will try again tomorrow however, seeing that we did not achieve any results today, i don't see that it will help any... K9 thank you... I'm about to do a search :D

**rushing back over the thread and web links to read up (AGAIN) on Cushing's** OK, so at least you have a direction to go on... Whatever the case, she is going to have to get that tumor out of her so I suspect you are not feeling so very much better after todays developments... :cool: She has gained weight though and 800 grams in less than a fortnight is wonderful ! What information exactly are you hoping to collect from the urine tests ?... Will you be able to determine "tumor type" or presence of "cushing's" from the urine or is it mainly gneral health levels to determine whether pre-op medication is necessary... It's all so confusing when its not black & white, isn't it... Don't forget to update us as soon as you get the results back. Big hugs to you both.

WOW!!! That is soooooo interesting ! If it is already present in Australia, why all the tests then ???... You've made my day Helen :cool: (this explains why, if treated, dogs may be allowed into the country)...

We hadn't yet touched on the illness Erny... It is one cause of the tiny bruises she is suffering, but because she has shown no other symptom, the vet ruled it out, despite DBS (and the behaviouralist vet I saw here) suggesting I test for it... I'm hoping the dipropionate and the doxycycline will knock the bug out so as to get a negative result within 2 weeks... We'll see. Yes Erny, it can be spread by means of a tick and we must therefore keep it off Australian shores ! Thank you Helen for the reading material !!! (bon courage with your BAS !)

Yes, my vet is feeling really shitty too... He remembers me asking him if we should do the test but he can't remeber me REALLY pushing to do it :D We had to do it 30 days prior to departure anyway, so he figured it would be soon enough. She is showing NO other symptom of Ehrlichiosis whatsoever... Her weight is stable, she is bright and energetic, she is not anaemic, not vomitting NOTHING apart from the bruises... The vet was soooo sure she wasn't infected, he simply thought it was silly to test for it before the protocol. Anyway, she has had a Imidocarb dipropionate injection yesterday and she is on doxycycline, the usual antibiotic treatment for the illness. I'll write to AQIS today to see what I can do to "make" her elligible for import... She may be OK.. The gov. laboratory here told me they recently shipped out an infected dog to NZ who'd been put on doxycycline... I'll keep you updated. Thanks to everyone and especially the words of wisdom from Rusky re throwing stuff out... Very true :cool: