malleerr

Hi Bella, Hope all goes well with your x-rays and that it is not HD. If it is think long and hard before making any decisions on surgery and get all the info you can on all options available, if she does not seem to be in severe pain or pain at all from personal experience i would opt to try and maintain the HD first. But that is just my opinion. Give me a yell if you need any info. As i said in the last post Mallee has had the bilateral TPO and also after that she has had a bilateral femoral neck and head excision. Hope she is ok.

Hey Bella - Mallee had a bilateral TPO last year and Ill just say they are expensive especially if they go wrong!!! All up including hospitalisation we spent over $15K - but as i said hers went wrong - i would say around $6000 for both sides???? I can't remember exact figures.

Hi ILA, When Mallee had her ulna's done she was only in for day surgery, dropped her off the day before when we had our 2nd consult which was in the afternoon to save us having to drive her back in the next day and picked her up around 3ish the next day after the op, but that being said i don't think all surgeons would allow that, we were on really good terms with our surgeon and he trusted us alot. I am not sure if it had anything to do with the fact that she was up and about pretty much straight away after the surgery walking around. When she had all her ops for HD she was in for 3.5 weeks......poor mite. Diesel should be fine at the hospital, they might not let you visit him though if its only for a short while that he will be in, as it might stress him to see you. The first night i would say he would probably be pretty out of it. Mallee had staples instead of stitches and i think they came out after 10 days, you should be able to start Diesel swimming after that. Good luck - i will watch for your updates

You might need to get him a little life jacket - Mallee couldn't or wouldn't swim till she learnt in a life jacket....lol......

No she wasnt too impressed at all...lol...poor little girl... It was not nearly as bad as i thought it would have been - she was walking around straight away although for a few days she did kind of look real leggy, stiff and funny, but it was only i think two weeks of house confinement and 4 weeks of no walks....so not as bad as the last lot of ops she had..

Good Luck ILA. It all sounds exactly the same as Mallee's did - arthritis with bone fragments and also bilateral ED. Her right side was worse than the left. They cut a small piece out of each ulna bone (Ulna Osteotomy) to reduce it in lenght so the two bones ulna and i think its radial will meet up and be the same lenght. Mallee also had a bilateral arthriscope. Mallee's was 100% successful and still no signs of arthritis a year later so touch wood we can keep that at bay. Hope you dont mind but here is a pic of her the day we picked her up so you can see what your poor little Diesel will look like . Although she was shaved heaps - she only had two little incisions on each leg and cos she had the arthriscope a little hole on the underside on each elbow. Her scars are really little now and the hair has covered them well, you hardly notice them. Good luck again, if you have any questions give me a yell. I'll be waiting on your update

ME WORRY NEVER YOU MUST HAVE ME MISTAKEN WITH SOMEELSE..........................

Corine - OMG there is never a dull moment when Duncan is around.... I would hate to think of the mischief that he and Mallee would get into if they ever met!!....lol....BTW thanks for your post in the photo section - we had such a great time and it was just fantastic to see Mallee really enjoy life... Well she is home and feeling very sore and sorry. She cried most of last night, and when she was not crying whimpered. I felt like such a bi**h for putting her through it but its best in the long term. She still has not had anything to drink or eat so thats a bit odd but hopefully today while Brock is home he wil be able to get something into her...

Hey Kel, Thanks for checking - i get to pick her up at 4.30 today - i have been hanging out with batted breath i can tell you. I totally freaked at the vets this morning when i had to sign the permission slip - i had to tick whether i wanted her resusitated or not should it be needed did not have to sign anything like that with all the other ops, i didn't know what to do.....anyways ticked yes and thank god i have had the phone call to say that its all over with!!! NO MORE OPS FOR MALLEE YIPEEEE..................provided that is that she stays out of trouble. The vet could not believe how well Mallee knew the routine, as soon as she brought out the stetherscope (spl - ive spelt that shockingly) Mallee laid down and let her listen to her heart and then rolled over so she could do the next side wihtout being asked......awwww I will update you tomorrow so you know how shes going. Bigs hugs to Chlo Boo for me and to you to Antoinette and Mallee Moo minus a few bits......

WOW - you are soo lucky - glad that it all turned out alright.... We use beer to kill of the snails, maybe try that next time!!!

Good luck ILA, When Mallee had her x-rays normal vet picked up arthritis straight away so hopefully, everything crossed for you, there is no arthritis there yet, and hopefully if an operation does go ahead that will nip it in the butt then... Let us know how you go tomorrow. Cheers

ILA, when are you going to see the ED Spec, fingers crossed for you that all goes well and you get a result as good as what we got with Mallee and her ED ops. I think i may have asked before but is there any sign of arthritis. ED or any dysplaisa at that, is such a bugger of a thing.

Well Mallee is booked in for her final operation *hopefully* next Wednesday to have her desexed. I wont lie and say i am not a tad nervous about it - this will be anesthetic (can never spl that word) number 15 if my memory serves me correct........No wonder we call her a dope - thats 15 less brain cells.......... eta - heres how much of a disaster area she is - stung by wasps on the head on Tuesday - swollen face/glands, hives and bumps all over her right side and three egg size lumps on her head - when is it going to end with her!!!!! I think i may own the most health troubled problematic hound around!!!!!

Our view from camp i wont bore you with anymore except.....when we got home we were cleaning up the yard and Brock pulled out Mallee's old cage, i thought she would hate to see it, but she was sooo excited and went and sat in it for the rest of the day and this one cos i love it - one of her walks in the local park Hope all is well with everyone!! Bilby Bouf looks just fantastic - its soo exciting when they start redeveloping their muscles, Mallee now has more muscles in the hind legs then ever before....Bouf is such a stunner!!!!

Fishing in the boat Brock (wild bush man of borneo....opss i didn't say that) and Mallee Home for the next 10 days - Mal loved the tent (this was the day she got stung by the bee - looking a tad sad)

Well as promised the holiday snaps ARE FINALLY HERE!!!! So i will now bore you all with them........... First day there....how happy does she look - aww so this is what a river looks like she looks like she is walking on water in this one

WOW - Kel its just beautiful and in the shape of a heart - awwwww makes me all mushy......Wishing you all the very best now and in the future...!!.... God knows you deserve it Girl.!!.

:p ;) :D ;) :D WOOHOO Kelly - CONGRATULATIONS!!!!! That is just the best news - so fantastic and soooo happy for you!!! So whats your secret (or can't you say......) how did you manage to get him to do that, Brock and have been together since 1994 and theres no bloddy ring on my finger........ Will be awaiting pics........ Slightly ;) i have not forgotten about Moo's holidays snaps i just still can't find the USB Cord....still looking though

Hopefully for you and Diesel a trip to the bone cruncher will be all that is needed, there is nothing worse then your pups/dogs being in pain. Poor Mallee had it bad right from the start, with our original vet that is. When we had her first x-rayed we had hips shoulders and elbows done as we told the vet we were not sure if it was hips and elbows, but told her the elbows tended to be worse. She told as "i have good new and bad news hips are fine but elbows are shot" only to be told be her 4 months later when Mal went lame again, "oh thats right her right hip did have some HD signs there", as you can imagine i was ready to kill her and had to be held back .....needless to say we changed vets pronto..... I have everyting crossed for you... let us know how it goes

Mallee was diagnoised with severe arthritis and ED at 4 months old, and was operated on a 4.5 months old. Her ED was bascially a result of the ulna bones in her front legs growing alot quicker than the other bone (god mind blank for the life of me i can't think what the other one is called maybe radial ), but the surgeon did say its most probably genetic as she was not over exercised, not allowed to jump etc. Mallee had heaps of trouble getting up and down really looked like an old dog, after puppy school she would cry and cry it was just terrible. We had a bilateral ulna osteotomy and bilatarel arthiscopes, poor little mite already had bone fragments and stuff floating to the joints. The operation was done by a orto specialist, she was only kept in hospital over night. They cut a small section out of each ulna bone and remove it, which left the ulna bones free floating to settle into the correct comfortable position and refuse. (the ulna bone is only suppose to take about 15 -20% of the dogs weight, hers was taking around 80% as it was longer than the other). She was confined to the house for two weeks (no crating) could walk straight away, and no exercising or no encouraged activity for a month. The op was totally 100% sucessful, she never showed signs of pain afterwards. She has two little scars on each front leg but the hair has covered them quite well. As the bone has to refuse her front legs are a tad bigger or wider than they would have been originally, if you know what i mean. I have all x-rays etc if you want to see them and pics of what she looked like afterwards. We had her front legs re-xrayed after all her ops for HD (she's had it all - bloody vets that can't read x-rays) which was probably around maybe 6 months later and everything had healed perfectly and no more arthritis. She has the strongest front legs and so powerful. They have kept her going through her HD and her recovery period after the HD ops. So yeah i would say that it has been 100% sucessful, and touching wood it stays that way, its been over a year now and no dramas, never presented a limp again, or intollerance to anything or any pain which is a great thing, and for there to be sign after that when only 3 months after the ED ops she had HD ops and relied totally on her front legs in amazing. If thats the road you need to go down, from my experience i would have no dramas in recommending an ulna osteotomy, that being said its a personal choice many people did not agree with operating on such a young dog with athritis already, the first vet we saw (idiot) said to put her out of her misery, but i am glad we didn't even with her getting the HD later on - she is one hell of a dog. Good luck with it all and if i can help you out at all just let me know. Cheers. eta - sorry long post i could have just said yes, sorry!!

Fingers crossed for you - hope all goes well

Hi ILA, Sorry to hear that Diesel is still having problems with his joints. Are the vets or surgeons suggesting that he has arthritis in his elbow joints, that being the reason for the arthriscope? Our pup had bilateral arthiscopes at 4 months old in her front legs... but with Mallee (RR) there were definate signs of arthritis and ED on x-rays??

WOO HOO CHLOE - Thats one BIG gold star...... The kids of today, i am not sure whats wrong with them. The boy that your georgous dad help (bless him) must have been scared half to death poor little bugger......I can just imagine the look of those little buggers faces when Chloe went into Protecto mode......hehehehe........Super Chlo, maybe we shoud get her one of those superdog suits....... Nothing stopping her...... aww i am proud. Its funny Kelly how similar things keep happening to me and you. No kidding here but Mallee did basically the same thing for us on Melbourne Cup Day. Our neighbours were robbed all there electrical goods, and the robbers came in through our yard. Mallee was locked inside the house thank god, but you could tell that they had tried to get into our back door as the lock had been fiddled with and things moved from near there, Mallee must have been going off her head, as the people behind us heard her carrying on and there was heaps of her hair right near the door (she looses her hair when anxious)..... We were not home so can't confirm what actually happened, but the robbers must have know we had a dog as we found a heap of dry food down the side of the house where they had jumped over to get to next door. Mind you if it was a face to face incounter i doubt that Mallee would have been so brave, i think she would have ran and went straight under the bed....lol...... Its just amazes me the things our bloody wonder dogs can do now.....Who would have thought Kel a year ago that we would be hear talking about the wonderful and active things our hounds are doing.... It blows me away when i sit back and really think of all we have been through all the worries, uncertainties etc etc. It is one year exactly tomorrow that Mallee had her first operation of her hips (the one that failed her) i can't believe that it has already been a year. Wow time flies....... Well my dear i must leave and do some work, i still can't believe how brave Chloe was - big hugs from me to SuperChloe...... and i think a special treat would be in order also. P.S. - have not forgotten about the holidays snaps just can't find my stupid camera cord for the puter.

Well Hello All, I am finally back, sorry for the delayed post. Glad that all are well, and coming along great guns. Sounds like Bouf is coming along wonderfully, and so fantastic that you have found a great new vet, we also were over the moon when we found a new friendly vet that was on the same wave length as Brock Mallee and myself, it just makes it so much easier.!!. Well we had a great holiday and are soo pleased of our Mallee Moozzle Bum. She is a bush dog through and through. I cannot begin to tell you all how proud and relieved we are with how Mallee coped while away. It was a real eye opener for not only Brock and myself but also Mallee i think. The place we camped at (Gunbower on the Murray) has no facilities or anything like that just lots and lots of bush and water. We were a tad nervous to say the least on how Mallee would cope with it all. To start with we have never ever had Mallee off leash and it was going to be a bit hard to have her on leash all the time while we were away, so to start straight off we had to bite the bullet and let her off leash and much to our surprise she was fantastic, came back when called, didn't stray too far away from camp and was generally in seventh heaven with it all, the first day there she actually had a smile on her face the whole time, night time didn't even worry her at all as long as she had her jacket on, that is until the Mopokes (Tawny Frog mouth owls) came out and starting calling to each other, then she would tremble and promptly take herself to bed in the tent. The other worry we had was the amount of exercise she would get, as she could and would do a hell of a lot more walking then at home, and it was a bit of a worry on how she would handle that. We took her Rimadyl just in case she was in a bit of pain, but at the same time did not really want to have to give her any, as the medication she has for bee stings cannot be taken in conjunction with Rimadyl so it was a bit of a toss up on what to do, but thankfully there was no need for either. We worked out that she was going for 5 kms walks each day with us and then doing all the normal walking around camp, running up and down the bank of the river and swimming. We cannot believe how well she coped with the exercise and amount of it and she actually thrived, you should see her hind leg muscles now, even better than before all the ops and dramas. Brock and i could not keep the smiles off our faces. She just made us so proud, we only wish her surgeons and nurses could have seen her, all the comments made about her and what little she would be able to do have all been squashed pretty much, she has really become our little big wonder dog.....lol..... ;) We did have a few dramas with her though, well it is Mallee we are talking about and not everything could be rosey for her as trouble does tend to be her middle name. Day 2 she began eating grass non stop, we tried everything to stop her as it was all in seed but nothing worked, a stint locked in the car just made for a noicey afternoon so we decided to let her go, which then proceeded to copious amounts of vomitting. I reckon she would have consumed around half a bail of grass towards the end, and as we are sooky lalas with Mallee thought something might be seriously wrong and drove into town to see the vets, but they were shut, and by the time we got back in the bush and to camp she had come good and got over her fixation with the grass and vomitting. Thank God!! Weird - not sure what the thing was there, but presume that she may have hurt her throat or something along those lines. Day 4 came the dreaded bee sting, a real worry for us as the last time she was stung by a bee we thought she was not going to make it, instant vomitting and swelling lumps and bumps everywhere, her head swelled so much her eyes were forced shut and the vets told us that the reactions would only get worse with each sting. Thank god they were wrong.....again....... We were having a lovely afternoon frolicking in the river swimming and generally having a good old laugh with Moo when all of a sudden she rolled over on her front right foot, and it look kindly strange like the two middle toes were missing. Brock picked her up and run her up the bank to the car as we thought she may have cut her foot in the River or something, but on checking i found the sting and bum end of a bee, pulled it out, rushed to find her medicine and by the time i got back she was up walking around, with no signs of any allergic reaction - so no medicine needed. She rested for about 2 hours looking sorry for herself, and that was it, over and done with, YAY no swelling or bumps, nothing, hopefully the bee sting thing was a one off and that is one less thing we can worry about..... Day 5 she was running around through the bush and came limping back to camp with a ruddy treble fishing hook stuck in her back pad of her foot, so a little bush surgery and she was all fixed up and ready to go again...... Day 10 last day there while packing the car up, she came over to me foaming and froathing at the mouth, i was thinkigh s**t here we go again, when she vomitted all over my foot (yeap thanks for that) - a pile of all things,..... steel wool, god knows where she got it from, some pig obvioulsy just threw it into the bush as we didnt take any with us. Obviously did not sit well with her stomach, funny that hey.....who would have thought that eating something like steel wool would do you no good. So anyways the few little dramas aside, we have been totally blown away by Mallee and her abilities. To walk so far every day, with running around, jumping and being a general terror in between has just opened our eyes to what she can actually do, and also i suppose how stupid and over protective of her we have been. But on the flip side we have been through quite alot with her so i suppose it is understandable to some point that we are protective of her. But gees we must look stupid to some people who don't understand the whole situation. She was soo funny while we were up there - when ever we went to collect fire wood she would have to assist us by bringing back logs and when i say logs i mean logs, they were huge branches, and if we tried to take it off her as it was a decent walk for her back to camp about 2.5kms round trip, she would really get upset and try to rip them out of your arms and fight with you the whole way back to camp, once back there she would drag the wood right up to the pile and place it next to it with the happiest look on her face and wiggle her bum as if to say look at me and my accomplishment, sooo cute. We enjoyed fishing in the boat and Mallee got quite use to the fact that you had to wait a while for some action with the fishing rods, she would sit there and wait and watch till the rod moved, quite funny though once it did, the three of us in a little tinny with the dog jumping around in excitement, a few times we all nearly went overboard, but it only added to the fun. She would cry down at the bank next to the boat if we were not in it and out fishing by the afternoon. So all in all we had a fantastic time, especially once we learnt to relax a bit and just let her go and try not to worry about her hurting herself, which i admit did take a little while. The only time i was totally mad at her was when my BIL and SIL came down with our little nephew for a weekend and brought there old ACD down (who was Brocks "borrow a dog" while we were inbetween our last dog Niki and Mallee) and she just wanted to fight him the whole time, and was actually quite nasty resulting in them both having to be tied up , not much fun for all, but i don't think the boys introduced them to each other probably when they first turned up and Mallee i think was a tad confused that people had just crased her camp site and was a bit protective of us all. So there you have it our holiday in summary, i could go on and on but i really don't want to bore you all with it. The best part of it all was learning Mallee's ability and coming to the decision that we can do a hell of a lot more with her than we thought or even really ever expected. So my dears - i must get back to work now, i started this post first thing this morning at 9am and its now 1.40pm so i am sorry if its a bit jumbled and all over the place but have a mountain of paperwork and files i have to catch up on. Just wanted to say Hi missed you all, esp Kel and my Chlo Boo, had a near divorce and was almost left up the bush by myself because of my excessive dog and DOL talk. Is there such a thing as DOL anonymous I will post pics tomorrow of Mallee on hols as i forgot my camera cord again. Till then take care and i will leave you with a pic of the bend of the river on the NSW side just up River from where we camped so you can see how pretty it is there.....damm NSW bends are always better than the Vic side...

I researched and looked into pet insurance, but in the end gave up on it as there were to many exclusions, and thought i could only imagine the drama if i had to ever use it and would hate to be stuck in a situation were you really need to and get refused. We decided to start a bank account up and put a bit in there each month and use that if it was ever need. Unfortunatley we did need it. Our pup's ED reared its ugly head at 4months of age and HD at 6 months of age. At least we had something saved but not nearly enough to cover all expenses which ended up reaching $15K mark, which of course is an amount that one would never expect to have to pay for their dogs. We would have been stuffed if we were going to use pet insurance as it does not cover genetic problems. I always advise friends that have pets or are getting a new puppy to start an account for vet expenses. I reckon thats the way to go rather than the insurance. I would be very very wary. But thats JMO.