malleerr

:D BILBY YOU ARE A CLASSIC........lol....... You have managed to put a smile on my face once again at the begginning of a horrid work day... Mallee just has one question......................whats the rate of pay...???...

Hehehehehe - a bit of a pokie fiend are you hey Kel - i don't mind dropping a few coins in them either, I actually play Poker every Tues and Thursday night in a Poker Comp... Its heaps of fun, no money winning just prizes and points, but its good for a laugh.....i usually last longer than Brock and always find him sitting at a machine pushing that button - mind you we never really win much but hey - if you can afford to loose what you put in and not take it all too seriously and know when to stop i don't see the problem in them. Yeah, Mallee will probably always have dicky ears, but i can cope with them just not her becoming or trying to become a stunt dog and jumping through windows in a single bound. What a spolit little Chlo Bo - but hey she is worth it - just don't forget to treat yourself also. Cheers and take care Antoinette

Hey Kelly - we must have posted at the same time - great minds think alike you know.......update above chicky dee.....

HI All, Well, Mallee got a gold star last night, while the stitches are still in the vet is more than happy with her poor little toe and pad. Although the tendon was severed in the toe, it is not at all sticking up as he thought it would and still pretty much looks like the other foot. So no more plaster on her leg, she was soo happy to have that off. She is walking around fine and seems to be coping really well with the whole foot drama!!! YAY stitches out next week which should be an interesting vet visit. I think i am going to have to sit on her bum while Brock handles her head.....lol.....i can just see Brock and I being dragged around the vet clinic by freaked out Mallee......god she can make things difficult at times. Her ears were another thing though, while nothing to really worry about, i hate it when she is uncomfortable or seemily a little unwell or unhappy. Our new vet Anthony, who the three of us love, straight away as soon as we mentioned her ears, did a swap of each one, (something we asked our last vet to do and were refused as he said its too costly for us ?? and she would need to go under and have it done that way and then sent off somewhere) and within about 2 mins we had results. Her ears are full of yeast and she has another slight infection, he seems to believe that its starts off us some kind of pollen allergy and as she has big hanging down ears it gets so warm in there that things just seem to cook a bit and exagerate the issue. So she is back on the Ottmax (spl) drops the first vet gave us just at a totally different dosage, not the 5-6 drops he told us but .5 ml in each ear twice a day as opposed to once a day. We will get another swap done next week in the hope that this has knocked it on the head if not, onto another mediciation. So there you have it good news all round really. Mind you Mallee was hoping that she could go for again, but she has to wait another week, and the naughty thing has put on another kilo - whats going on with that - no diet change decreased her food intake - go figure Bilby - you are spot on - Brock and i always joke about Mallee becaming a search and rescue dog, we play lots on sniff things out games, including hide and seek. One of us will hide somewhere in the house or outside and the other will tell Mallee "Wheres Brock" or whatever and she sniffs and sniffs until she finds us - its soo funny to watch her and the excitment in her once she has found you is a classic. We also play "touch" were we line up all her toys and she has to touch the right one that you are saying - she is not as keen on this games as any of the find things games, but it helps to keep her amused.... Must go and do some work. Take Care all - hugs to all the dicky legged pooches and owners. Antoinette and Mallee Moo

I am soo sorry Open Arms, i cannot think of anything to say, other than you are in my thoughts....... Take Care

Hey Bilby Glad to hear that Bouf is coming along well, and weight bearing yay.... special hugs coming Bouf's way........ Good luck with coming off the pain killers, hopefully by now he will not be needing them anyways..... fingers crossed for you guys.... Also glad to hear that your son is doing ok - one armed son and 3 legged dog, gees you almost have it all....lol..... You are also right about spring in the air, its hard to be down and gloomy when every thing around is singing and blooming....Nothing like hearing the birds in the morning with the sun streaming through the bed room window, only thing wrong with the picture is the ruddy alarm clock beep beep beeping and knowing you have to get out of bed and go to work... arhhh sometimes i wish i lived the dogs life.....lazing away the day in the sun (not jumping through windows after cats though) I just love the way bouf is using Axel as a pillow in the first photo its way too cute, and in the second he somehow reminds me and a naughty naughty girl i know!! Glad to hear all is ok with everyone, hopefully Jordon is still coming along well. Hugs to you all....... I see Kelly is also posting - HI KEL :rolleyes: - special hugs to Chloe also - hope the weight watchers is still going well. Cheers Antoinette

Hi All Well we made it through the weekend with one very sooky girl...... just...... Thank god by Saturday she was able to move around with a lot more ease and was getting up by herself again.... I was really starting to get to panic stations with just how badly she was moving around. By Sunday she was back to her old self, bar the normal zoomies everywhere, she still tries every now again but is quickly caught and put back on her bed, much to her disgust and if she is not caught straight away she tend to slink back to her bed by herself and gives her poor little paw very flithy looks as she licks it - it must be quite painful for her poor little mite. Back to the vets on Wednesday for the bandages changed, and hopefully stitches out, she so hates wearing that bucket (E Collar) on her head but she just can't be trusted with the bandage not to chew it off. So, now we just have to get this front leg sorted, and her ears, she seems to have another irritation in them, she was scratching and shaking her head all weekend and on Saturday night scratch her ear so hard she cried and made it bleed. The last vet we went to said it was nothing to worry about, but i am tending to think she may have ear mites or something along those lines, either that or her ears are getting to hot.....i suppose sleeping under a blanket would not help that out........opps....So thats another thing we will get the vet to look at on Wednesday. Argghhhh it never rains to pours. BTW - i don't think she will be hanging around the window anymore, the curtain blew on the weekend and she nearly jumped out of her skin and ran and hide in our bedroom - i hate to think of her that day waiting for some one to come and save her she must have been soo scared. So Kel - hope you enjoyed your DVD's - it was kind of like that this weekend nice and lazy - well for me anyway, can't do much with a sooky lala dog around.......Special hugs to my fave ole red girl Chlo Bo and hugs to you Kel - thanks for checking that we were ok. Hugs and pats to Bouf and Jordon - hope things are still coming along well for you guys... i think it is about photo time again... ..what do you reckon!!! Take Care All Antoinette and the forever patient Mallee

Thanks Kel, Gees last night all of a sudden at about 8pm it just all hit me like a tonne of bricks.....just the stress and worry again was a bit much after so many months of goodness with her..... I am not that worried about the cut / slice to the pad its more the damage to the tendon, but hopefully as it is in her toe she shouldn't have too much problem from it - i hope anyway, she can't afford to lose any movement or it hinder her front legs in anyway as she relies on them soo much. When i saw all the blood i was really shocked, we are both just soo happy that Brock came home from work early as i would hate to now what could of happened to her if she was left like that for another 2 hours.... Poor little darling she was soo worried that she was in trouble and she must have been in a massive panic as she had piddle everywhere as well......she has been through soo much i just hope that she does learn from this.....but i wont be holding my breath.......The good thing that has come out of it is that we had to go to a different vets and the ones we went to were fantastic, showered Mallee in lots of hugs and love, she was so comfy there it was great....so we are going to change vet clinics now..... Anyway guys must go and catch up from leaving work early yest. Take care Antoinette

Well guys i have jinxed Mallee once again by saying how well she is going..... I got a very paniced phone call at work yest. from Brock at about 4pm saying he had just got home and there is blood throughout the whole house everywhere, he was not sure whats happened but the dog is also covered in blood he is rushing her straight down to the vets......... of course my heart stopped and my mind was racing as to what has happened. I left work straight away and met him and Mallee at the vets, were she was covered in blood all four legs......Brock told me just as he was putting her into the car he noticed that the lounge room window was smashed.......yikes.......i still hadn't seen the house so thought hopefully maybe he was exagerating the amount of blood - he wasnt it was like a murder scene. Anyways, we worked out that she must have seen a cat and pawed at the window which has shattered the window pane......we have had stray cats hanging around, 4 of them that we just can't seem to get rid of......So a heap of stiches later, a severed tendon in her foot, $400.00 more gone from the savings account we get a very sore and sorry hound home at 7pm. Mind you we left her at the vets at around 4.30 and from that time till 7 when we had to go back and collect her i was cleaning all the blood out of my nice white/cream carpet..........salt is a wonderous thing.....it came out easier than i had thought it would. I can't believe she has done this, god i am wondering how many cracks i have stepped on on the pavement or trying to remember if i have broken any mirrors in the last 7 years....She is coping alot better today than she was last night, its her right front leg, and her weakest back leg is her right so last night she could not even really get up or down, let alone walk on 3 legs, but today she seemed back to her old crazy self if not a tad quite. So there you have it a nice eventful Thursday night......the things she does to stop us going out (we go out every Thursday night) Hope all is well with everyone else. How Chloe going Kel?

RIP Miss Jenny - run free girl - may your bones be young again. I was only just looking at your web page today Rozzie and reading all about her and all the others...What a wonderful wonderful job you and your family do...

Oh Bilby - cripes i hope all is ok with Bouf heres hoping that its like what Kell said and hopefully just a jarr or a sprain of some kind. God - i remember what it was like with Mallee - heart failure nearly every time there was a limp or a little groan or whin of pain... Hang in there guys it does get better......trust me.....would i lie......lol....... Kell - poor old Chlo gees she is begginning to take after Mallee a bit, just one thing after the other... I hoope she can be sorted and get some relief poor little mite.. I find with Mallee, when her wees tend to become really strong smelling and burning the grass that if we start adding rice back into her diet that it clears up again and her wee stops burning holes in the lawn, not sure if it is a coincedent or not, the my FIL does the same with his staffy and it works also, and i have also heard that carrots are good for stopping the grass being burnt. Mallee always chews on carrots so can't say whether its true or not as Mallee has never not had a carrot in her mouth for any period of time....she lovesss her carrots gets them whole instead of treats all the time to help keep weight off her.....maybe we should have called her Bugs. I will keep checking in for updates and have fingers crossed for you both and also for you Burly that all is ok with the hounds. Take care Antoinette

Hi All, Glad to hear from you Koza - so happy that Stella is going along so well - 7kmsss now thats a decent walk for her not to pull up sore after. Hey Kelly - i l:love:ve that piccy of you a Chloe - that smile is just too much......i have to thank you for always knowing the right things to say......Friday was a not so good day for me with Mallee why too much thinking and pondering going on....i actually went home after work and said to Brock that i had put a post up about how is was feeling and he was like "they are gunna think you are nuts and that you just plain worry about her too much". But i knew that you would understand and even if you didn't try to, so, a big to you to say thanks chickey.... Anyways we have come to the decision to just let things go as they are and progress naturally, will not be rushing anything and just letting her go along at her own pace, the only thing that we will be changing is trying to find some not so rough and tumble play or walkies friends for her......she definatley has missed that dog on dog time... I am glad to her that Chloe has lost some more weight.....thats fantastic!! Anyway guys just a quick stop in must fly... Hugs to you all and scratches for the hounds Antoinette and Mallee (2IC to Bionic Red Dog)

Hiya all...... Glad to see all are well except for the two spills by Bouf and Jordon a couple of weeks ago - its scares the begeezers out of you hey!!! Nothing like trying to slow a disabled dog that is used to jumping around like a maniac, sorry for the late post i have been a bit slack of late..... Kelly its soo hard to keep the weight off them esp. when they were not able to do all the wandering around and walkies that they did prior to the ops.....We have to get 3 kilos of Mallee ---- which is going to be tough as she does not look over weight at all, but the vets would prefer that she stay around the 30 k mark if not lower - and she is 33 which me thinks is within breed standards, but not for a hound with no femur bones in her back leg.....so she has had her morning and dinner meals cut in half, esp dry food.....she was not too happy for the first couple of days but has come around and does not seem to be missing anything at all... Both Brock and i could not be happier with Mallee Mozzlebum if she continues on as she is, if she can give us say another 3-5 years like this we will be over the moon. The only nagging little thing is what to actually do with her - its kind of hard to explain...... Her first op on her elbows was at 4 months so really poor little Mallee has missed out on all her puppyhood from the age of 4 months right up to 13 months of age (quite likely even before hand as she was always a pretty quite pup and Surgeons did seem to think she may have been in pain for quite awhile before anyone picked up on things). She came out of the cage in May this year to start her short little walkies and begin her new life, now she is better than ever, even before we had the elbows done. She can do everything a normal dog can do, run, jump, zoom, climb on things etc etc etc just does not have the same fitness due to what 11 months of house confinement and minimal activites. This is where the dilemna comes into it...........do we continue to restrict her activity and puppy playfullness etc etc and keep her wrapped up in wool in the hope that we may be lucky enough to get 10 years out of her - but what life does she get only really being a "back yard dog", or do we just bite the bullet and let her live the life she would love to live with social activities, lots of walkies and just keep a check on her extreme activites (like jumping over the couch :rolleyes: ) and hope that she can live a fullfilled normal life as a dog maybe just a shorter termed one.......its soo hard.....there has to be a line somewhere down the middle surely..... Oh what to do. We both feel like we are restricting her, and holding her back. But on the other hand we are both petrified of letting go and jumping into the deep end with her......Its really hard to get advice regarding it all as there are not many dogs out there, or vets/surgeons for that matter who have had experience with the last op that Mallee had considered its only really recommended for poodles and little hounds....definatley not an RR. Our local vet was just in awe of her when she had her vacc about 2 months ago, he could just not get over how well she moved around and the life in her for a dog her size that has had a bilateral femoral neck and head excision plus ED in both front legs, and shattered collasped pelvis etc etc etc (the list seems endless)................made Brock and I feel fantastic as they all told as to put her down at 4 months old when the ED was first diagonised, we pretty much had to argue for a referal to a surgeon. Anyways thats enough of me venting to you all i am sorry, but you are all so good at listening......not sure what i would do if i couldn't come on hear and either vent or get my frustrations out. I am soo glad that Chloe the Wonder Dog is coming along so well, has she enjoying strolls in the park of late..... Hugs to Bouf and Jordon.... Hope you all have fantablous weekend.....healing vibes going Bouf and Jordon's ways......slimming thoughts going ChloBo's way Cheers Antoinette xo Edited cos i still can't spell - and have to apologise for the jumbled post - just read it back and its slightly a bit over the place, nothing like a Friday afternoon with a full desk, a head full of thoughts and a mad rush to 5pm to get everything out to ruin the flow of your post.....lol....

TOO CUTE CORINE

:p :D :D :D :D :cool: THATS THE BEST NEWS - ITS REALLY MADE MY WEEK!!! YAY FOR CHLOE Kel, thats the best news, finally the loooong lonnng wait is over. Walkies in the park here we come....... I am soo pleased for you and Chlo Boo. Its just fantastic, i can't wipe the smile from my face. Please please please give my fave red girl a big congratulations hug from me, and keep one for your self also.... Even though you have the all clear you still have to keep in touch.......or else...............

Good Luck today Kel and Chloe, am thinking of you both. Don't start biting those nails Kelly....................

Hey Berly, When we were taking Mallee out in the car - it was a hugh stress so i know what you are going through - you have probably already left for the vets but i still keep on typing this out.......lol...... I was really worried about Mallee slipped and sliding all over the place in the car so we piled up heaps of cushions and blankets between the back seat and the front seats so that it was an even level and wider all the way across, so i then did not have to worry about her falling off the seat. Not sure about getting her in and out of the car by myself though, that would be a nightmare. Hope it all goes well for you two. Surely if you are there by yourself someone would give you a hand. Hugs to Jordon

HD is pretty much genetic, but there can be environmental factors as well, such as too mcuh exercise, jumping, over feeding etc etc that can also add to a dog developing HD. Thats just my understanding of it all. Gee, your guys have also been hit with a double whammy. Mallee also had ED - she had that first - well it was diagonised first, but we tend to think now that she develop ED from taking so mcuh weight and pressure off her back legs. She had bilateral ulna osteotomies when she was 4 months old with fantastic results - no confinement just limited exercise for around 2 months, unfortunately once she got the all clear to return to normal life at the end of the two months the HD reared it ugly ugly head. Both Mallee's surgeons highly recommended swimming over walking to build up muscle tone firstly. 10 minutes of swimming is pretty much equal to an hours walking. I have heard of a surgery for HD where they somehow fuse / burn one of the nerve endings in the dogs either legs or back region to stop it from sending pain messages to the dogs brain, not fixing the problem as such but elevates the pain for the dog.

Ohh Piximatosis I am sorry to hear about Kaeleigh. HD is just the worst. Have you considered doing all the alternate treatments until the pain etc gets to bad for Kaeleigh and then having a femoral neck and head excision done. I know that generally speaking they are not usually recommended for larger dogs, but that is the op that Mallee ended up having at around 9 mths of age and she is a Rhodesian Ridgeback (30 kilos). I have also heard of a couple of GSDs having it done with success. Mallee had severe HD in both legs, the right being the worse (it always seems to be the right legs for some reason) and had a bilateral TPO done which failed resulting in either having her PTS or the bilateral FNHE. That was done last November. After a while healing she is now bounded back into life and if it were not for the massive scars you probably would not pick it up. Just an idea........something for you to think about. Mallee was confined for quite a fair while due to the first op failing her, but she was definatley a dog that we thought would never be able to be crated or confined and she handled it really well. Good luck with it all hope it all goes well for you both. BTW - we have Mallee on Cosequin which seems to be working well.

Righto changing the diary note now

Yeah and doesn't she know it....................................

Yeah i did Kel ............... just chose to ignore it ..................... cheeky cheeky

The 15th *mmm.........makes mental note* mental note will probably not work so its off to the diary to make a proper note that will be remembered!!! Good luck Kel!!!

Hey Berly, When Mallee was in her crate we put that non-slip stuff down then a towel then just her blanket. The non slip and the towel really helped things not to move around too much, making it easier for her to get up and change sides....i found that when i had too many blankets in there Mallee just found it too hard to get up, and things did seem to move around more. We stuck to just a thick woollen blanket folded up and a fluffy on top of that. The fluffys are good cos in case they have a little accident in the cage it draws that moisture to the bottom of the fluffy, yet the top stays dry. Good luck with it - hope Jordon is home soon and that you guys are ok. Catch you all later Antoinette and Mallee Moo

Hi All, Glad you came over and posted Burly. I hope Jordon is going well and that he recovery is well and truely on its way and that all is going OK. Now that you have also joined into this thread you have to post pics.....its madatory!!!! ;) My suggestions for coping with the recovery period are pretty much the same as Kel's. In relation to the use of a sling, Mallee had to use the sling for around 4mths and it was not up until about the 3 mth that we were able to do it with only one person, so just be aware that it may take two people to use the sling effectively.....one to control direction and one to hold the sling, esp with a bigger hound. Getting the amount of pressure/weight i found to be the hardest thing, you don't want too much and you don't want too little but hopefully it will not take long to get him or you use to it. In the end Mallee would wait patiently for the sling, and was a tad lost when we no longer required it....would often go up to her towel and either give it a nudge or take it to the back door and wait......lol....so cute.... I also agree with Kelly as to setting your self stages so you can see where things are going. With Mallee, Brock and I would look at things kind of short term instead of long term. We would work in basically 6 week blocks - as that was the breaks in between seeing the surgeon for check ups... It made it easier, for us anyway, to see that things are actually happening (even though the process can seem really really slow) and it gave us something to work towards each time, like the surgeon saying "next time i see her i would like her leg to move this far".........we found it easier that way then just trying to see the long term results. When we got the all clear that Mallee didn't need to go back to see the surgeon for a yaer, we felt so lost and didn't quite know where to go from there or what to do really, it took a while to just take things as they come, but we could not be happier now. Although your recovery time will not be quite as long as Mallee Moos iam sure. While its a long road to recovery and some times you will doubt your self and your decisions - trust me it is well worth it!!! Bilby - Bouf is just to die for - he is one spunky hound Mallee would go crazzzzy for him Thank you for posting the pics - we can never get enough piccys. Kelly - how are you and ChloBo going. Hope everything is fine. Has she been back to the vets again or am i ahead of myself with that one....i am sure its coming up soon. Mallee is going along great guns - we are begginning to doubt that they ever actually did anything to her except create some big nasty scars down both her back legs....lol.....if she keeps improving the way she is going there is going to be no stopping her. She already does all the things we were told she would not do again such as, jumping and chasing a ball or stick. I will never forget how i felt when one of the nurses said to me that they weren't even sure if she would walk again....it almost feels like a life time ago. Although we try to limit these types of behaviours its hard whilst she is only a pup, and we do also feel a tad guilty that she lost so much time out of her puppyhood. Just have to get her back into obedience again....... Take care all Special hugs to all the recovering hounds - and specially to Chloe - awww i love her....... Kel in case you need a Mallee fix here is a pic of her doing what she should not do - being on the new couch..... she knows she is not aloud on it and i was home alone cooking tea in the kitchen obvioulsy, and came in the lounge to find her there - i could not kick her off before i got a pic - she knew it was coming though check out the greaso she is giving.......lol..(sorry not a real good pic - its scanned)