Foxtail Tales

SUMMARY: So small, so dangerous

Started with my response to a Facebook post about dogs wearing anti-foxtail covers over their heads.

They can be beautiful, early in the morning, glistening with dew

I've experienced two unpleasant foxtails encounters, and others not so bad, with my dogs. In the early '90s, one evening while out in our big yard, my husky Sheba started sneezing and couldn't stop, and then started sneezing blood. Ran her to the nearby open-at-night emergency vet , where they sedated her and found and removed a teeny tiny foxtail way up in her sinus. Expensive. And of course the toll on the dog.

And Jake, in the late '90s, we were out of town at an agility competition--we went hiking at a nearby lake one evening and the dogs went swimming [this is where I discovered that Remington loved loved loved swimming; that's a different story]. Foxtails in prime sticking form surrounded the trail to the lake. Back at the car, I must've spent half an hour trying to get them out of Jake's long silky coat and tail.

A trail like this: Narrow; foxtails ripe and abundant.
All it takes is the dog to stick his nose into those for just a moment...

There they are, almost ripe and each
seed ready to torture a dog

The next morning, before the agility competition began, he started scratching at his ear (he had long floppy long-haired ears) and shaking his head. He was prone to ear infections, so I always carried special goop from the vet.  I figured he'd gotten water in his ear while swimming and an infection was starting.  Applied goop per the normal schedule. We went to the vet when we got home--actually the next morning when they opened. Vet said, nope not an infection, but was able to pull a foxtail out of his ear fairly easily without anesthesia--he said that's because the goop had softened it so much that it couldn't stick in anything and he could just grab it with long tweezers(?) and glide it out, no anesthesia. Disaster averted.

So, not too expensive, but of course going to the vet just costs.

Tika had extremely dense fur. Like a husky's. Fun fact: Dogs have, on average, 15,000 hairs per square inch. A husky can have up to 83,000.  (Otters have even more!) Tika had such dense hair, particularly with her winter coat, that I'd have trouble seeing even a speck of her skin.  Her hairs were not particularly long--in memory, I think 1-1.5 inches. But they were perfectly straight and, as it turned out, exactly the length and texture of a foxtail seed. When she managed to dash through a field of foxtails, you couldn't *see* whether she had any in her coat, even though she'd have dozens and dozens.  You'd have to hunt. Wrong kind of treasure hunt, but it was what it was. (Not something I encouraged, I assure you.)

Once, when petting her at home, I found a foxtail halfway embedded into her skin. Fortunately, when I tugged gingerly at it, it pulled out fairly easily with minimal blood. I cleaned the spot and added a little neosporin, and no infection. I tried not to think about what might have happened if I hadn't accidentally found it.

"Bubble head" protectors--friends have posted about their dogs wearing them for several years now. Two people today recommended OutFox brand. Expensive. But compared to some of the horror stories shared in comments to that post...

Note: I have so many photos of foxtails! They are gorgeous, actually. These photos came from different years and locations.

Everyone Drives to the Vet

SUMMARY: Chip is with the vet. What is up with him?

Backfill: From Facebook June 14; posted here July 2

Well, here we are in the vet’s new waiting room, Chip inside the building getting checked out, Zorro and me hanging out in the back seat of the van, watching the world go by.

Oops... Apparently human mom is sitting in the back seat and Zorro is taking over the driver seat.

(They'll check him over and draw some blood and call me back tomorrow. )

(Vet says to watch and see whether he's having trouble breathing when he's not stressed at the vet. I find that he really is at times--take a video for the vet. It is not hot, and he has not been active recently. Here I can also see how much weight he has lost so quickly. He still looked good 2 weeks ago but that was another symptom--)

(Tonight I'll make a list of his symptoms over the last couple of days to give to the vet tomorrow as needed:)

Zorro to Emergency Again -- Probably Nothing

SUMMARY: Poor Zorro's tummy--

I opted to take Zorro to the emergency vet late last night (WHY is it always nights or weekends? Usually nights?!).

Yesterday evening I wrote:

Poor Mr. Zorro. Lying around, drooping around, like he’s miserable. He might be. I realized after I gave the dogs dinner that he was still eating his very, very, very slowly long after Chip was done. He’s usually done in a flash.

He had no trouble whatsoever about 8:30, when he heard a squirrel, racing at several miles per hour over the speed limit out of the house and all the way across the yard. But then right back into the house drooping and lying miserably and walking slowly, head kind of down.

I did notice him earlier out in the yard eating plums. I’m hoping that he is merely overfull of plums and then just forced dinner in on top of it because it's a law among dogs to eat the food if it's in front of you because otherwise the other dogs might get it.

I hate when my pups aren’t feeling well. Things could go wrong, even though all eight of my dogs have always eaten plums every summer, pits included. And I’ve never had trouble. It’s just sometimes figuring out: how long do you wait and watch before you drive your wallet over to the emergency room?

 (I wasn’t really aware that plums were coming rip until late this afternoon when I was out in the yard and saw both dogs munching on them. I need to go out and pick up fallen ones a couple of times a day now. To reduce this sort of happening.)

Poor little guy. Just drooping around the house.

This morning, post-Emergency room visit:

(P.S. the branch of the emergency room that has been just around the corner from me for the last 19 years has closed permanently, apparently. So now I have a 20-minute drive to Campbell, which the one that's there used to be around the corner more or less from where I lived before this. Very sad.)

I think that mostly he overate, plums coming ripe, then took forever to eat dinner, and then lethargic and looking unhappy, wanting to drink and not doing so. Chewing a treat I gave him! That never happens. Took twice as long as Chip to eat his dinner. After 4 hours and no change, I worried, and when he chewed a treat lethargically again at a late bedtime (because I was staying up late, periodically walking him around the yard, hoping I'd see him poop then gave up) I called them.

They said I could be right but they could take a look just in case. They saw nothing obvious but gave him some fluids and antinausea meds and he seemed perkier at that point (midnight-12:30,) of course. I opted not to do an x-ray to see whether plum pits were blocking him, because they felt no sign of it. So my bill was quite reasonable. Whew! So sleepy I had no trouble almost literally falling into bed and asleep. Did sleep maybe 6 hours but still feel groggy.

He’s fine this morning, pooped fine, ate normally, doing his usual activities. The only thing that I found interesting was that, usually, after a dog has been given subcutaneous fluids, they want to pee maybe sooner than usual and also a lot. Zorro had no particular urgency to go outside this morning after being in bed for over over 7 hours. Didn’t wake me up to go, didn't rush downstairs, etc. When I finally let them out, he peed a fairly small amount. So maybe a little dehydrated, although vet said no signs of it so it’s all based on behavior.

But as I said, seems fine this morning, eating and drinking normally. It’s always something.

[And this was stream of consciousness so long & repetitive. Too tired to fix now! Sorry.)

Problem Dog Children's Visit to the Vet

SUMMARY: Chip was mostly good, then bad, then a little good. Luke was mostly ok, then scared, then crazy, then good.

Both dogs were perfectly happy to walk from the car into the vet's office and put their feet up onto the receptionist's wall to get some treats.  Luke was a bit nervous, leaping from floor to bench to floor to another bench (yes, pet-proof seating of course).  Chip seemed fine.

Both dogs were perfectly happy to greet the vet and get treats.

Chip wasn't thrilled about getting onto the exam table, but did it with a little collar tugging, and stood there quite calmly during the whole exam. Although you could tell that inner turmoil existed from the size of his pupils.

Luke became agitated and a bit fearful when the table for Chip raised and then later lowered.

When it was his turn, I had to lift him onto the table and hold him there firmly while he went into full "this is a slippery surface on a scary thing that I don't understand" mode.  He did put up with the exam and shots once we convinced him to stand up on his own (rather than leaning or the toes-extended, legs-askew thing).

Vet said that Chip's heartbeat, despite his adrenaline factor, was 90/minute, which is nicely healthy for a stressed dog.  Luke, however quietly he was standing, shook all through the short exam, and his heart raced at 150ish, so  he was, as usual, wayyyy overstimulated by what he was experiencing.

The vet takes the dog "into the back" for the blood draws for heartworm tests. He said that both dogs sat, not the first time, but when he used his big, commanding, deep voice.  Other than that, Luke was apparently a wild thing but entertaining to some degree back there.  Chip, however, snarled and showed his teeth when they tried to hold him for the draw, so he had to wear a muzzle briefly.

I take a long time to figure things out.  Chip is very sensitive about his personal space being invaded.  He loves to be petted, but if I move slightly into where any part of his body is resting, he jumps up and moves away.  If Luke does so, Chip jumps up with a low-key snarl and open mouth towards Luke, sometimes putting his mouth on him.  No bites.

But the one time we tried to do a restrained recall with him at the few agility-basics classes that we attended, as I walked away, he turned and snapped at the trainer holding him.  She didn't say anything else, just that he was clearly scared and worried and we'd find some other way to do the same thing.

So now he's threatened to do the same thing with the vet, so ugh another thing to figure out how to work on.  So odd from a dog who'll lie there and let you pet him all over.

Still--successful checkup and shots for everyone and hopefully we won't have to go in again until the next bordetella shot.

Then we all went for a short stroll around a nearby park.

Camera batter expired, so no photos at all, darnit!

And more firedrills

SUMMARY: Continuing the timeline.

I'm wiped out, crushed, bruised, stabbed, thoroughly broken-hearted, and struggling to even breathe. Still in shock and grieving 20 ways. I can barely believe any of this.

I've gone from losing my wonderful Tika a month ago, to the diagnosis of stage 4 cancer 3 weeks ago in my Dad (for whom I've attended some oncology appts), to finding that I'm losing my wonderful Boost to cancer.

A week one wouldn't want:

I went from Friday
--Boost has some things going on that are odd but doc can't find a thing wrong with her so let's do some tests--
to Saturday and Sunday
--Boost eating slower and slower and acting slower and slower--
to Monday
--Boost's liver, kidney, pancreas, and blood numbers are bad--
to Tuesday
--Boost definitely has liver disease that can be eased somewhat depending on the cause but it's not good, oh and the chest X-ray shows some things that could be bad or maybe not--
to Wednesday
--yes she has cancer in multiple organs but her blood clotting is too bad to take a biopsy so it's my choice that that's the end of it--


to Thursday.

First thing in the morning, a friend through agility who's a vet offered to look at Boost's info if I wanted. So, sure, of course I would (grasping at straws, indeed).  I called my vet to ask them to fax Boost's info to my vet friend. Late in the morning, i called her to confirm that she'd received the info. She thought that there's a chance that it could be lymphoma rather than the other bad thing that's been diagnosed (and everyone's guessing w/out a biopsy). And lymphoma--if Boost can tolerate the treatment--she says can be slowed way down with an excellent (yes excellent) quality of life for maybe 6-7 more months.  Which is a good percentage for a 10-yr-old life.

So I call the recommended oncology place. They can't get me in until Monday without a vet calling them.

So I call my vet friend, who calls them, who then calls me back, and I call them to confirm the appt that she set up for 9:00 tomorrow morning.

All of that takes me to about 1:00.  And I'm having periods where I'm having trouble breathing.  This is not asthma.  I tried to work but couldn't. Sat in the car and did some deep-breathing relaxation exercises, some mindful meditation (OHHHH that was hard to do) and finally slept for an hour.

Then, to wrap up the afternoon, a visit with Dad and his oncologist where they're going to up the chemo dose since it's being tolerated OK at a minimum dose.

I'm useless for any purpose. Play with Boost, who still drives to the ball but wants to stop and rest quickly and often.

I barely slept.  Mind whirling around my choice to go see the oncologist. I had said that I wasn't going to. And then gave in to my own despair, and I'm not sure that's the right choice. But I'll go. And this makes me clearer--if it requires too much medical commitment for Boost, we're not doing it. She's not going to spend a lot of time in vet's offices or hospitals. And I don't really think that I want to spend many thousands of dollars for that little return for her or me. This actually is helping me to clarify my feelings and thinking.

Friday.

This place's parking lot has a lovely, peaceful setting with benches and lawn. 

And, Chip wants to mention, many, many, many trees.

The specialty vet place has more very busy receptionists
 than my vet has employees in his entire practice.

A very nice other patient who was waiting for her cancerous cat said
she loves taking photos, too, and would I like her to take a photo of both of us?

Another vet visit? When will the inhumanity end?

Met with the oncologist, who reviewed the records and Boost's history and symptoms up to now. We talked for a while.

Basically, she came back with what I went over with my vet--Boost's clotting factor is too low to do a biopsy without the risk that Boost would bleed out and die right there. She added this-- that they'd have to do probably 2 platelet transfusions just to get to where they could do the biopsy.  She also confirmed my vet's feeling that anyway Boost's condition is pretty far advanced, so it's likely that the treatment wouldn't be effective at this point.

Because, not only everything else, but Boost's body is breaking down more all the time, as now she has some jaundice which she didn't on Wednesday when my vet checked, and now she has a heart murmur (likely result of low red blood count) which she hasn't had with both of my regular vets checking her Friday/Tuesday/Wednesday.

Oncologist wasn't enthused about doing transfusions or attempting treatment, and I was absolutely not even interested in doing that. We left with a prescription for prednisone. This is supposed to actually ease some of the problems with and symptoms with the liver and her appetite. For a while.

In other words, essentially she's in hospice care. Besides the prednisone, I have that prescription for tramadol (same as me) and famotadine (pepsid) and the antinausea drug. And that's it. Might or might not take her in again if some specific thing seems to go awry that might be something they could ease or fix, but I'm leaning towards not.

Today, I cannot work or do much of anything. I'm going to try to sleep and do more relaxing and meditation.

MAGIC.

Over the last week, smooth floors have suddenly lost their evilness.  Apparently feeling ill leaves one with no energy to concern oneself with demon-spawned floor coverings, since obviously they can no longer hurt you more than you're already hurting. Dammit demons of all kinds.

Lobby--evil floor? Not. But Boost would like to mention that there is
a perfectly serviceable exit door that seems to be available for immediate use.

Examination room--evil floor? Not. But Boost would like me to notice that there is a perfectly serviceable exit door that we don't seem to be currently using at its highest utility value.

Tika's Mouth

SUMMARY: That odor. That dripping blood.

The symptoms were the same, Thanksgiving morning, as the previous huge lumpy infection/lesion thing that she had a couple of months ago that antibiotics (and losing part of her cheek) made better.

But no matter how hard I looked in her mouth (and, surprise, she was willing to let me), I saw nothing. OK, turns out it's because it's under her tongue. This--if you've never tried it--is an astounding adventure to try to see or get at.  Anyway--on antibiotics again.  (Actually a larger one and a smaller one, and then the original site is a little iffy, also.)

Tika was not thrilled with going to the vets (AKA "This torture on top of forcing me to swallow thousands of pills all the time").

I convinced her to overcome her justified concern and get out of the car. We strolled around the parking lot for 10 minutes, and her agenda consisted entirely of coming back to the parking spot and pointing out that there are doors on MUTT MVR that could conceivably be opened to let her back in.

But mostly she handled things OK and we're now both home, resting from the ordeal.

On a side sad note, the vet said that it's possible that these mouth lesions are as a result of her kidney gradually failing. Which I already knew was happening from the blood test that we did when she had that first infection.

She seems to be racing to find as many problems to survive as she can before she leaves this opportunity for extra Zukes and crosses the so-called Rainbow Bridge.  To prove what an over-achiever she is. Which, OK, Teek, I already knew.

I can commiserate. Aging is not for the hyperactive of heart and mind.  She's so slow now. Back legs weaker. Heart hanging in there against all odds.  Abdomen full of fluid despite aggressive diuretics. Occasional bouts of incontinence. The last two of which I suspect are not unrelated.

But just look at how beautiful she still is!  And smart. Good old girl, knowing exactly what car doors look like from the outside.

Chip Day 19 - Vet, Dogpark, and Other Random Stuff

SUMMARY: A few little notes.

Chip met our vet today. He cheerfully greeted the receptionist and got a treat. He slightly cautiously greeted the vet but accepted pets and a treat. He was completely calm through the entire exam, except that he didn't like being turned around on the metal table, but got over it.

Vet said that I should have him do a mind meld with Tika to try to get her to absorb some of his calmness.  My fear is that it would be the other way around and Chip would turn into a frantic screamer, too.

Chip checks out excellent. Joints seem solid, weight is good (33 lbs as Previous Owner said), heart rate is that of a runner (nice and low and even), rear is well-muscled.  A little tartar on his molars just on the right side--does he chew only on one side, maybe?  Eyes are a little red-- Boost's were awful a couple of weeks ago, very red and discharging, one of her allergy things that crops up, and she got a week's dose of eye ointment. Vet says Chip's aren't bad, just typical "hay fever eyes" and to keep an eye on them.

Other notes:

• He doesn't know how to follow a pointing finger (as in, there's food THERE on the floor for you, or get THAT toy). He'll learn, I assume; most dogs do.
• Happened to be near a dog park, so took him there because I saw (when I first met him) how he liked playing with other dogs at a dogpark. Thought I'd use it as a teaching/learning experience (for both of us). The yummy treats I took, however, he spit out the first several rewards I tried to give, so that didn't help. Mostly my goals were to (a) see whether he'd pay attention when I said his name (he didn't), (b) see whether he'd come in my direction when I tried various attractive activities (he didn't), (c) see whether he'd miss me and Boost when we hid behind the fence on the far side of the field for several minutes (he didn't), (d) get him used to the idea that I can grab his collar, reward/pet/praise and release, and that would make him more amenable to me coming up to him to grab his collar (he didn't, not really... I followed him around the park until he'd stop to smell something long enough for me to get close to lean and put my hand on his collar, probably a couple dozen times, but every succeeding time he'd trot ahead of me just out of my reach until he felt like stopping).  And he spent most of his time sniffing EVERYthing, very little time paying any attention to other dogs.
• The wall of the building that forms part of the dogpark boundary has realistic pictures of dogs painted on it. He spent about 3 minutes barking ferociously at them, ignoring/moving away from me, before he somehow decided that they were not actually dogs.
• I'm very happy at how well he's sitting and waiting for his dinner, and waiting to be released out of his crate.
• I seem to be sleeping with 3 dogs on the bed now. How DOES that happen? As long as (1) they don't try to take my space and (2) Chip doesn't make Tika feel pushed out, that's fine. Everyone seems to be getting along.
• Tunnels--he has run through U-curved tunnels after Boost several times in the yard now. I set up a wobble board and a low table yesterday but ran out of time to try them out on him. 
• I should take some quick vids of him doing various things.  Yeah, right, like I'm going to. But I should.

Things I still need from Previous Owner:

• Info on his microchip registration.
• Info on his license expiration.
• Info on previous vet and innoculation history.
• Whether he's ever had heartworm medication.
• Confirmation on his birthdate--have it but the comment was "pretty sure". Not that it really matters exactly, since Tika's, Remington's, Sheba's, and Jake's bdays were all best guesses. But I'd just like to know for health reasons and for personal knowledge if the info is available.
• When and whether they're going to get together with Chip for a goodbye afternoon/day/weekend/week. I think Chip would love to see them from time to time over time, if they're willing. Waiting to hear.

Tika Goes To the Vet

SUMMARY: Things are a bit better.

We checked in with the vet this morning.

Have I mentioned lately that Tika hates going to the vet?  From the moment when I open the car door to see her quivering, to the moment when she races to the car afterwards and does NOT want to take a little potty walk thank you very much, she hates being at the vet.

So she gets tranks, one pill an hour before we go. We tried a new one this time that isn't supposed to be as potentially disruptive to her heart. It worked better.

First, the de rigueur sniffing everything at a hyperspeed rate. But this time, not so much whining as usual and took more time sniffing instead of immediately racing into--

--the pacing around and around. This time, not so frantic, and when I'd get my hand on her, she'd actually stop to be stroked (not the usual reaction at all).

Then, obsessively checking whether the door will open over and over. This time, no throwing herself at the door and screaming.  (And the tranquilizer we'd been using mitigated that behavior some but didn't eliminate it.) So this is also good.

Also, with the other trank, she'd be dopey and tripping over her own feet for a couple of hours afterwards (even at a lower dose). This time, she's pretty normal.

So.

Her heart rate is back to around 130/140, which is often where it has been in the recent past, but her pulse is still mismatched, about 90, which means that the heart is still pumping too fast for it to be efficient in its weakened state. But that's much better than over 200 with a low pulse. So the digoxin seems to be helping.

She's still been coughing more than I'd like (especially the half dozen, sometimes more, sometimes fewer, times during the night that wake me up, thanks a ton), but there's still no evidence of an infection or fluid build-up (although we didn't repeat the x-ray this time), but yes a bit of congestion. Sounds a lot like me when my allergies or asthma flare  up a bit.  Tried Tussin DX for a couple of days but (a) she HATES it, shakes her head wildly after I squirt it into her cheek flap, so have to give it to her outside to avoid having a house decorated with cherry-red spatter, and (b) not sure it was helping anyway. So will be adding yet another pill to her regimen to try to alleviate some of her coughing.

A little concerned about how little interested she's been showing in her regular food. Hand feeding the uneaten parts sometimes works, waiting 30 or 90 minutes and trying again sometimes works, but not always. She's not missed that much food, probably less than a cup total over the last couple of weeks, but her weight is down a couple of pounds. (Vet says that this is typical for many kinds of chronic illness, and also that the digoxin, started 3 weeks ago, is notorious for making dogs into picky eaters.)

She still takes treats, canned dogfood, and other snacks with the old gusto. I've ordered a bag of the food that she got at the housesitter's house (Taste of the Wild Pacific Stream Canine Formula with Smoked Salmon), which she apparently was willing to eat when she wouldn't eat her regular food over there. We'll see whether that helps--would have to really start monitoring her weight to see how much of that she needs daily.

So, as much as she hates going to the vet, her Human Mom is happy to have more information and reassurances and possible treatments and all.

Tika's Good Old Bad Old Heart

SUMMARY: Not the best news.

Tika had been coughing a bit more this last week. And then Friday night she coughed off and on all night. Seemed like an exact repeat of what happened before she had her near collapse back in November, but at least this time I was at home rather than at an agility trial, so I canceled my movie plans for the morning and called the vet's office (luckily my regular vet usually works saturday mornings).

Got a late-morning appointment. Gave Tika her usual sedative an hour before (because she stresses out SO much about being at the vet's office).

Tossed both dogs into MUTT MVR and drove the 20-30 minutes over there. I keep thinking that I should just find another vet who's closer--there are a ton of them w/in 5 minutes--but I've been going there since 1979 and they know my dogs' history and all. Anyway.

Took Tika into the lobby. Was told we'd have to wait because the doctor was dealing with an emergency. They have fairly comfortable vinyl-covered seats, perfect for pets whom you want to have on the seat with you. Tika, even with the sedative, wasn't wanting to hold still. Popped up on her hind legs to look over the counter to see what the receptionist was doing. Hopped onto and off of the bench a couple of times to look out the window. Hopped up again, gave me an odd blank look, and collapsed in my arms.

I yelled, "there's something wrong with my dog!" as she started to twitch and arch her neck, and then she went limp as the receptionist dashed into the back calling for assistance. I thought she was gone for a moment, but no, she was breathing fine, evenly and calmly, and her eyes were open.

Way too calmly. Even on sedatives, she's wired. But she just lay there and I held her. A vet tech came out and said that he could carry her into the examination room, and she just let him, so very much NOT like Tika. That's when I noticed that the seat and my jeans were completely soaked, and that's the moment when it sank in that she'd just had a seizure.

In the exam room, the vet rushed in while she lay quietly on the table, but upright now rather than on her side, as I held her and stroked her. He checked her eyes and her gums--a little pale, just like back in November, then checked her pulse and her heart rate. While I tried not to sob out loud.

At that point, Tika started panting more like Tika does most of her life, and wanted to stand up, which she did shakily while I held her up.

Another minute or two and she said she was fine, although now on the floor, she tried to shake herself off and just fell right over (because I let go of her when she shook, doh).

I mentioned to the vet that I'd heard that he was dealing with another emergency. Yes, he said, a dog had been having seizures. (Guess it was that kind of day.) Dog had been stabilized and he had just been giving instructions and info to the owner when they called him to check Tika. Anyway.

So, here's the deal.

Her heartrate is now about 220-240 a minute! But pulse 80-90ish. She has always had an athlete's slow heartbeat, and even back less than a month ago at our previous visit, it still sounded good except for the murmer that indicates ongoing degenerative heart disease.

The discrepancy meant that her heart had started fibrillation--rapid beating without having a chance for the blood to fill back in between beats, so blood was actually pumping (pulse) only once about every 2 or 3 beats.

This is SO no good. Means that her chances for a sudden fatal heart attack or stroke have skyrocketed.

They kept her for a couple of hours to do an EKG and a current x-ray to check for fluid in the lungs or the chest cavity (the question about the coughing). Also a blood test again to check for kidney function, etc. I took Boost over to the nearby part and actually into the dog park there while we waited. (Maybe a quick post about that later.)

EKG shows that only the upper half of her heart is actually working, lower half is struggling. That's bad.

X-ray showed no signs of fluid. That's good. Means her cough was probably just the bronchitis that she also suffers from. But x-ray did show narrowing of trachea in throat and near the heart, so it could just be harder for her to get enough air all the time. Interestingly, he suggested 1/2 tsp of Robitussin DM as needed for the cough. That seems to help, although she REALLY doesn't like the taste of it, so I have to be creative in getting it into her.

Added one more med to her regimen--digoxin. Vet tried to get in touch with the doggie cardiologist while I was there, but wasn't in on the weekend. He's going to call them on Monday to try to get a phone consult about medication and actions to take, and possibly I'll take her in there if it seems necessary to do so.

Then I practically had a heart attack when the receptionist told me, "That comes to $750." At least I didn't start having a seizure on the spot, but my brain wanted to.

I don't really want to get into heroic measures and extreme medical options. She's 12 and a half, which still doesn't feel that old to me at times, because she's still so fast and perky most of the time. But really that is an old dog, and I've been so lucky so far with her.

We'll see how things go and when and where. I'm back to playing a waiting game--is she going to go today? Tomorrow? Not for months? When she doesn't move when I come into the room, is she gone? Dang old dogs.

Dang, good old Tika. Didn't eat enthusistically this morning, which is unlike Tika historically. Spent a lot of the day up in the bedroom, which is her go-to place when she's not feeling well...or when she's feeling neglected.

My girl. My Merle Girl. So hard to think about not having her. Trying to think about *having* her and enjoying her. But she's definitely never going to do agility again. If she wants to do frisbee, fine. If htat's how she goes, that's fine. But I don't want it to be while doing that dog sport that she has done so very well in for so many years. It was a gift.

Vet Visit Eye Say

SUMMARY: Both dogs get a checkup and Tika's eye is red.

I took no photos at the vet's office at all. What was I thinking?

Both dogs' schedules have synched up for shots and annual checkups, so we all went in yesterday morning. Best part, both MUTT MVR and the vet's office are air conditioned, and with temps in my yard exceeding 100 F (37.8C) and in the house over 85 F (29.4C) for the last 4 days, the a/c made a welcome respite.

Gave Tika half a sedative tablet an hour before going in. She was still wired when we got there and while we waited a bit, and while the vet did Boost's entire checkup--pacing pacing pacing and rearing up against the door to get out-- and then--boom, just as we finished with Boost, she sank to the floor just lay there panting. Guess the sedative finally won out over 20 minutes of adrenaline. She was fine through the rest of the visit and not too dopey the rest of the day. Hard to figure out what dose exactly to give her. One pill makes her zombie-like for hours, which I don't like. Half a pill might not be enough if we don't have a whole Boost checkup beforehand during which Tika can expend all her angst.

Tika just lives life at a whole different speed. Here's an example: Peanut butter on the tips of my fingers. Tika gets in two licks for every one of Boost's, she's just that much more intense.

But, back to the vet visit.

Boost's heart is like a racehorse at a calm standstill, vet says, nice low even beat.

Tika's heart murmur still sounds minor and otherwise she looks and sounds good, except let's get to the eyes:

• There's that lump in the inner corner of her right eye. Its appearance changed after it seemed to bleed for those couple of days last week, not quite so bloody looking, but still about the same size.
• That same eye now has a red inner eyelid-- "red-eye" or "cherry eye" in color--possibly related to some irritation from the lump or who knows. Now starting an ointment 3x/day.
•  Tika's *left* eye has a dark area on her iris. Something to watch, the vet said, in case it gets larger or looks like it's protruding into the pupil or anything else about it. Great.
• Tika has cataracts in both eyes--I knew that--but vet says that at this stage they should hardly be affecting her vision at all. I still think that might be one of the reasons that we have some issues with tunnels nowadays.

Getting older sucks, eh, Teek?

Over all, dogs seem healthy and things seem to be going swimmingly with Tika. And ka-ching!, another vet bill on the books. Guess I'm grateful that good vet services are available!

See you all later.

Checking In On Tika

SUMMARY: She's doing fine, but what about that eye?

Can you believe that it has already been just about six months since Tika's heart problem surfaced?

We visited our vet today for these reasons:

• Time for a check-up on how she's doing from the vet's perspective.
• Why is she now eating her meals very slowly?--used to finish in half the time that Boost did, now takes twice as long.
• What's the deal with the red lump on her 3rd eyelid?

You can hardly notice the lump at a quick glance, but up close it looks yucky.

I first noticed it sometime the week before the Haute Dawgs trial--so about 3 weeks ago. I don't think it has changed any since then. First question every vet tech asked was, has she had any trauma to the eye? Same from the vet. None that I know of. So, we're going to watch again for a few weeks. Doc says looks like a benign hemangioma (means it's a bloody lump, basically).

Eating--her teeth look great, no sign of pain in her gums. No loss of appetite--still eats everything and is interested in food. Could be any number of things, but without other signs or portents, yet another thing to keep an eye on. Could be her meds, but vet doesn't think that any one of them is more likely than the others.

How's she doing over all? Vet says GREAT! Heart doesn't sound any worse, heartbeat is still strong and slow (despite her frantic terror of being at the vet's) like an athlete's. He said, considering her diagnosis, she's doing very well indeed 6 months later. We'll do a follow-up blood test on general principles in a couple of months.

After that, we bipped across the freeway to Los Gatos Creek Park for a tiny stroll in the sunlight among the Canada Geese and their omnipresent poop. Not too long a walk because Tika was on a sedative, although I gave her only half a tablet this time 90 minutes before the vet.

What a lovely day and what a lucky Human Mom I am.

So many good smells before we even get around the fence to the percolation ponds.

The water fountain has a height just for dogs. Although both Merle Girls thought it was fascinating that water ran into it while they watched, they didn't drink from it.

The gorgeous day called many other people out with their dogs. The one nice thing about a little sedative on the Craussie is no on-leash frenzy about other dogs.

Plus--we have THE best poop bags in the universe. How could the day be any better?

All About the Heart

SUMMARY: Well--not all about--just some useful stuff in general and Tika's in particular.

Tika has congestive heart disease. Depending on which veterinary web site you visit, either cancer or congestive heart disease is the leading cause of death in dogs.

So, what's going on in her heart?

Here are the parts of the heart. A dog's heart is essentially the same.

(image from this site.)

Found this video that shows how the heart works, and a dog's works the same way.


The vet kindly drew a sketch on a paper towel of what's going on with Tika's heart. High-tech! This drawing is reversed from above--Left Atrium (LA) and Ventricle (LV) are on the left here.

Tika's mitral valve--between LA and LV--has become enlarged and hardened. So (a) it doesn't close all the way and (b) it's prolapsed--it opens in the wrong direction as well (picture a door that should open inward now opening outward). So, when the heart pumps, instead of the proper fluid staying in the proper direction as shown in the video, some of the fluid squishes backwards, increasing the pressure in the Left Atrium. (That's about as technical as I can get.)

The additional pressure has caused her Left Atrium to become greatly enlarged--the dotted line--which means that the muscle wall is stretched badly and no longer pumps as well; also, it's encroaching on the Right Atrium, making that part work harder to do its job and to get enough blood flowing.

What happens eventually is that the valve or the left atrium stop working entirely, for various reasons. In that case, it's all over, and it could be very sudden.

Some places have done valve-replacement surgery on dogs, but not that many and (a) it's really, really expensive, (b) very involved surgery with lots of risks, which I don't really want to put Tika through, (c) Tika's left aorta is in bad enough condition that it's not really worth it to try fixing just the valve, and (c) she's nearly 12, so even if everything else were to go right, I don't know that I'd get more than a year or 2 anyway.

Example discussion: http://www.vetinfo.com/vets/answers/can-dogs-get-heart-valve-replacement

And now you know.

There Is No Joy in Mudville Except for Tika

SUMMARY: Bad heart, bad anal gland.

As I reported here, I've been waiting for this morning when we had an ultrasound and follow-up x-ray scheduled for Tika's heart and lungs.

Meanwhile, she' been licking at her anal area. Since she has a history of anal gland abscesses, I checked when she started licking maybe 3 or 4 weeks ago, saw and felt nothing. Checked again a couple of weeks ago, maybe just before the last agility weekend, I'm pretty sure. Nothing.

Set my alarm for 7 this morning so that I could drop her off at the vet's at 8:00 for the various tests. 5 a.m., bam!, she hits the floor with all four feet and assumes the, you know, "about to poop" position. I rush her out to the yard, where she does that for about half an hour, in between stopping and licking.

I took a look--bright purplish red under there. That can't be good.

In short, we never could get back to sleep, as it was bothering her too much and she kept returning to that position. Clearly in a lot of discomfort.

By the time we got to the vet, lots of bleeding, too. Gads. When it rains...

Anyway, vet *thinks* it's just an abscessed anal gland again. Reason I didn't see anything is because the swelling was all inside this time--possibly all the scar tissue from previous infections was keeping it from showing outwardly. We're *hoping* it's just swelling from the infection and not something worse. Vet had to give her local anesthesia to clean it out, then they kept her longer so that he could do it again a couple of hours later.

But on to primary news: Tika's heart is in very bad shape. If she were a human, she'd at least be looking at valve surgery and isn't far from what would require a heart transplant. How she kept going at all is beyond me. So the other heart medications that we thought maybe we'd add gradually as the need arose--? She's now on them.

They didn't bother with the x-ray to check fluid in the lungs--they sound very clear and the heart is the bigger challenge.

There is no way she's going to be doing any more agility. But, because she's an active and eager dog, I'm not going to keep her from running or chasing a ball or playing tug--but we might try to keep it to a minimum. No more long hikes in the mountains, I'm thinkin'. Although she does like those interesting off-leash explorations.

She's now taking antibiotics for the anal gland and diuretic and 2 other meds for her heart. And my checkbook is down another $1200. Gads.

The vet thinks that the heart could give out at any moment, or she could last a year, or maybe longer. But probably not a lot longer.

She's not even 12 yet! I really had hoped for a longer old age for her, as she's been so active and (generally) healthy. Well, it ain't over till the fat lady sings.

Goal is that she's happy, comfortable, not in pain.

And, right at the moment, she is VERY happy to be home and to be having dinner.

Tika Update

SUMMARY: Consulted with the vet.

Tika was just about jumping out of her skin with enthusiasm this morning to go play ball in the yard. I explained that the emergency vet had said no running, be sedate, for a week. Then I gave her the usual sedative and headed off to see our regular vet. Poor Tika, shaking in her crate when I pulled into the parking lot.

We went over the results from the emergency clinic and talked about possible progressions of the disease, possible treatments, and next steps, which are:

• Keep her sedate, no intense things (running, tug) for TWO weeks!! Ack!
• Next week, repeat the chest x-ray to see how much the diuretic has helped.
• Get an ultrasound for detailed info about the strength of her heart.
• Keep her on the diuretic for the rest of her life. Later, add more heart meds as needed.

Ka-ching! Ka-ching!  Was I complaining not long ago about how much I've spent in vet bills the last 2 or 3 months? Well, dang, that number is rising quickly.  We'll survive, I suppose. Good thing I wasn't planning on any agility entry fees for the next 3 months.

Tika helping at the score table Sunday.

Agility in the Autumn Recap

SUMMARY: Sometimes nothing goes the way you expect it to.

Picking up from where I left off--Tika again coughed most of the night Friday night, so even though I had no trouble drifting off because I was so tired from lack of sleep Thursday night, when 4 a.m. rolled around, I was then operating on two nights of sleep deprivation. Still, when I headed out on the road, I felt pretty good and even looking forward to the weekend.

The trip to Turlock was uneventful and I arrived half an hour earlier than I had anticipated, so turned on my alarm and napped in MUTT MVR for half an hour. First time I think I've ever done *that* (although I have often stopped & napped on my way home from trials).

The weather cooperated nicely. Cold and crisp on Saturday, with no rain at all. Tika in particular likes the cooler weather, so I figured that we might get some good fast runs. (Sunday was a bit warmer but still nicely cool for the dogs.)

We started the morning with Pairs Relay. Boost and her partner did great--her partner (a half sister) knocked a bar, but Boost was spot on perfect and I felt great running, knee again not bothering me, felt faster than I've felt in a long time. We had THE fastest running time of all 16 teams, wooohooo! but the 5-second penalty for the bar knocked us into 2nd place. That's very cool; Boost very seldom finishes with a placement ribbon even when we Q.

Tika and her partner did good, although once again Tika stunned me by popping out of the middle of the poles. I always made a high-pitched "brrrrrrrrr!" noise as she did the poles, and so now I'm wondering whether she's not hearing it so is thinking she's in the wrong place. But we still Qed and placed 2nd of 6 teams! A great way to start the morning, and Tika looked quite happy to be out there.

Next up, Standard, and OMG OMG OMG Boost and I had *another* spot-on perfect run! I felt fleet and fit; she did everything right, and placed 4th of 26 dog with a Q! Like, truly, WOW! On only 4 other weekends, ever, has she placed in the ribbons in 2 runs the same weekend! Happy happy happy, we both looked pretty pleased coming off the course. I also decided this weekend to do quick releases off all the contacts rather than stopped and telling her she's good. I liked that.

I'm thinkin'--oooh, this COULD be our day for a Super-Q in Snooker! Everything is clicking!

In Standard, Tika took the first jump and started coughing. I kept going, because on the few times she's coughed while running, it's gone within 3 or 4 coughs. She kept going, doing everything perfectly, but still coughing coughing. By the 10th obstacle--a chute (collapsed tunnel), she was obviously slowing. Next up, the dogwalk, and I decided that if she was still coughing on the dogwalk, I was stopping. But, you know, Tika doesn't stop on the dogwalk.

She didn't this time, either, but she was very slow, took a couple steps off the end, stopped completely, and stood there silently with her head down as I moved quickly in.

She took a step and staggered. I grabbed her. Head still down. I gently tried to turn her around to leave the course, and she stumbled against me. I held her still for a moment, scared down to the pit of my soul. She took another step, stumbled, then another step, and another, and her head came up, and her ears came up, and she trotted off the field like nothing had happened.

I checked her gums, and they were white.

White gums was how I always knew that Remington's tumor was bleeding internally, so I know about white gums. And, because of Remington, I have checked Tika's gums occasionally since she started the coughing, and they've never been white.

Much quick consulting with the many season vet techs who are also agility addicts around here. Tika still acting like a completely normal Tika, ready to go, eager to eat, bright-eyed. Got info about the 24/7 emergency clinic and headed off with both dogs.

So.

By the time we got there, Tika's gums had a little pink to them. They did a triage check and said, nope, her gums are fine, and so we went on the end of the queue of not-in-immediate-danger pets spending their Saturday at the emergency clinic.

Eventually, we met with the vet. By that time, Tika's gums were the usual bright pink. And aside from occasional coughing, looked and acted completely normal, including being quite stressed about being at the vet's.

They did a blood test at my request, and her blood cells were normal, no sign of anemia. The vet also kept listening to her chest over and over, and we finally decided to do chest x-rays (w/out sedation--Tika was very good!). Now, I've known for a couple of years that Tika had a heart murmur, and that it had gotten slightly worse by this summer;  at our most recent visit, our vet discussed a little bit about how Tika was likely headed down the road sometime to congestive heart failure. He said to let him know if she started coughing. She had been for several months at that point, but he seemed to think that what I was reporting wasn't significant. But it did prepare me for this diagnosis confirmed by Saturday's x-rays: Congestive heart failure.

Her heart is enlarged, and her chest had accrued extra fluid, all putting pressure on her blood vessels and bronchial tubes, which is what causes the coughing (same in people as in dogs). Most likely what happened on the field was that she simply was not getting enough oxygen to her brain.

Why she was fine during frisbee that morning and during her pairs relay run, but then started coughing during Standard, dunno.

But obviously in those preceding 48 hours, her body had crossed some kind of threshold that had made everything suddenly quite worse.

Do you know how strange it is to think, "Oh, thank Dog, she only has congestive heart failure!" ??!

Got some diuretics for her to reduce the fluid in her chest (standard treatment for humans, too). And returned to the trial, 4 hours after we'd left.

Anyway.

Scratched Tika from the rest of the weekend.

When we got back, Steeplechase Round 1 was in progress, so we had completely missed Gamblers and Snooker, dagnabbit. Everyone was very nice and let me get a quick walk-through at a jump-height change so that I could still run Boost in the Steeplechase.

I still felt fast and fit, but Boost ran past two jumps, wasting too much time when I had to take her back to fix them, so no Q. But parts of the run felt brilliant.

We also were able to run Jumpers. It was a gnarly course (in the negative sense) and the Q rate was low: Only 6 of the 28 dogs in Boost's height Qualified... including Boost! That's Jumpers Qs two trials in a row! Holy mackerel! AND a fourth-place ribbon! (It wasn't a pretty run, way too many turns in the wrong direction, but she kept all her bars up and didn't run past anything.)

So three Qs and three placement ribbons out of four runs! That has never happened before!

Took Tika out of her crate about every half hour and she peed a lot each time, so the diuretic was doing its job, I hoped. Dreaded the night, though--

I was in bed and asleep by 8:30, SO tired from 2 nights of interrupted sleep and the stress of the day. Had to set the alarm for 10:30 p.m. to give Tika her next pill, took her out then for one last pee--

--and then we all slept straight through until the alarm went off at 7. Blissful sleep! And no coughing from Tika! Yay!

On Sunday, Tika and I: 

• Spent time together with her just out of the crate, visiting people, getting treats and affection.
• Wandered around the grounds looking for molecules of goodies in the grass.
• Worked at the score table together--well, I worked the score sheets and she worked the food.
• Played tug-of-war. Vet said no running for a week, keep her fairly quiet. Tug probably isn't quiet, but she was SO happy to get some playing in! And I stopped at the first sign of a cough each time.

Everyone at agility is SO nice; I can't tell you how many people helped me after Tika's meltdown in the ring, even offering to go with me to the emergency room (I declined), or came by later that day or today to ask how she was, share their knowledge or their lessons from their own similar experiences, and to wish us well. I hope I said thank you often enough--you all out there were wonderful, and I'm grateful beyond words.

On Sunday, Boost and I:

• Had a not-quite perfect jumpers run--she knocked the 2nd bar, I got in a late front cross for an off course after #4, and then--were brilliant! Oh, what a fun dog to run when everything is clicking!
• Had a PERFECT PERFECT PERFECT Standard run with the 2nd fastest time of all 30 dogs in her class--oh, except for that one little bit where she ran past the first jump instead of taking it. I didn't go back and fix it, no point to that. So we E'ed but I was SO happy with that run!
• Had a SUPER Grand Prix run; 7th fastest out of 29 dogs but 4 of the others had faults and we didn't, so she Qed AND placed 3rd!  In Grand Prix! OMG all over again! The highest she had ever placed before was 5th, and that only twice ever!
• Had...well...a not-so perfect Snooker run. OK, she kept all her bars up! But we had to have discussions about 2 different jumps that she didn't go over, so we ran out of time partway through the #7 in the closing, but the bits between that were SO much fun! Turns out that even if we'd made it, we'd have been 1 point shy of a Super-Q, but still, at least it was a regular Q.

And my knee continued to feel great... oh, except now it's popping every time I take a step. Doesn't hurt (much), though, and it hasn't felt this good in a very long time as it has these last couple of months.  And I've felt like I've really been hauling my own butt around the course, which maybe is why she's doing better. It's inexplicable.

So, for Boost's weekend: Qed 5 out of 8--62%! She has NEVER Qed more than 35% in a USDAA weekend, EVER! *AND* four of them placing in the top 4 out of a large class, when she'd only ever had 2 placements in a weekend before.

Don't tell me that Boost and I are figuring out how to do agility as she's approaching her 8th birthday and Tika is unexpectedly retiring?! That's just ridiculous!

So, is Tika retired from agility? Most likely, yes. Did I really believe that this weekend would be her last weekend of agility, ever? Not really. I expected to have some time to think about it, for her to gradually still get older and slower and more frail, and that I would then make a decision and have a nice retirement agility trial with her, but hopefully not until we'd gotten those last 20 Qs for her Platinum Lifetime.

But today she felt fine all day; annoyed that i wouldn't let her play frisbee; almost no coughing. Tomorrow, we'll meet with our regular vet and talk about the future.

The future-- yes, sometimes, nothing goes the way you expect it to.

Thank Goodness For Medicine

SUMMARY: Boost: Bladder infection.

Yes, Boost has a bladder infection, and a pretty good one, too. I feel better about the accidents that she had--it wasn't me or her screwing up, it was her infection.

SOOOOO my fourth 30-minute-one-way drive to the vet and back in 6 days, this time to pick up the antibiotics. And say goodbye to another $59.

Now I'm wondering...Tika's been doing a lot of licking lately in that same, er, area, and sometimes a little difficulty peeing. Could *she* have an infection, too? Do I want to spend another $200 to find out? Ack.

I may moan about the costs, but in truth I thank goodness that we have tests to figure out what's wrong and the means to treat it.

The Scary Vet Adventure

SUMMARY: In which we are all traumatized.

September was a rough vet month for all of us here at Taj MuttHall.

On Sept 16 and 17, Tika was suddenly in so much pain that she could barely stand up (as described here). We ended up at the vet for problem analysis.

Tika abhors going to the vet. So much so that, normally, I give her a tranquilizer an hour before we leave the house. Even so, she completely over-dramatizes the vet experience. For example, I pull into their parking lot, I pop out quickly, open the tailgate--and Tika is lying in her crate (instead of the usual "Let's go!" pushing to open the door), shaking. Quivering. How does she even know? Are the noises in that area so unique? I can't imagine that she smells much there--the windows aren't open. But who knows how--she knows.

I coax her out, and as we approach the door, she pulls on the leash away from there. In the waiting room, she paces and whines and will not settle, occasionally throwing herself at the door to get out. In the examination room, waiting for the vet to come in, she paces frantically in a clockwise circle around my chair, occasionally throwing herself at the door to get out. You know, those vets stick things where things should never be stuck.  She survives; she's actually very good through the exam, just panting heavily and tense and I have to hold her front end firmly.

I like my vet, but my wallet hates going to the vet, too. I can feel it quivering as we approach the front door.

Tika, as previously reported, decided just before we left for the vet that there was absolutely nothing wrong with her (which the vet confirmed), but I didn't give her a tranq this time because I wanted a better evaluation of her state. So, even for an evaluation that everything is OK, my wallet had things stuck where they should never be stuck--the credit card into the card reader.  $57 for the office visit. $55 for a refill on her Rimadyl for future painful episodes. And the standard $5 for "medical / toxic waste environmental fee". It's printed permanently on their invoices.

Meanwhile, Boost has had some potty issues. A week after and again two weeks after her prednisone stopped, but after she started hydroxyzine (all for her over-the-top scratching), she peed on my bed while lying there. The first time it was right after we went up to bed and she didn't want to go outside before that, while I brushed my teeth. Behavior? Illness? Medication?

So *she* went to the vet last Friday for an exam, and returned again this morning to give a urine sample. We arrived and I opened the tailgate--poor Tika is lying hunched in the back of her crate, quivering. Boost is not fond of the vet, either, but what a difference. The office door was ajar this morning, and she pushed it open to go inside. Her tail starts wagging--maybe it's an "I'm unhappy or worried" type of wagging, and she does tend to snuggle up to me a bit, but SO different from Tika! After the vet examines her, Boost gets off the table and lies down, completely relaxed. SOOOOOO different!

But my wallet still quivers: $57 for the office visit. $40 for "cystocentesis" ("a veterinary procedure where a needle is placed into the urinary bladder through the abdomen of an animal and a sample of urine is removed"), $54 for general urinalysis, $136 (!!) to culture the urine to check for a bladder infection.  And, of course, $5 for  "medical / toxic waste environmental fee".  Holy smackeroons.

Well, we will all soon recover from the trauma, I'm sure. Whoever thinks that owning a dog is cheap entertainment is in for a shock.

Old Dog, Sore Dog--Or Not

SUMMARY: Tika -- physical and mental challenges.

To make a short story long--

I'm a long way from catching up on writing down what I did during my two weeks of vacation, but one thing I did the last week was a lot of walking and hiking with the Merle Girls.

Sept 11 (Tuesday) we hiked up Coyote Peak at Santa Teresa Park--not from the base (1000 feet up) but starting about 1/3 of the way up--on leash. Tika did OK but seemed at times to be lagging, both uphill and downhill. Of course, so was I. The peak was wreathed in clouds when we started, but by the time we reached the peak, it was sufficiently warm to make us want to rouse up some shade somewhere. We did under 5 miles that day.

Wednesday the 12th and Thursday we just walked to the usual park for some frisbee (about 2 miles round trip on the level). Tika doesn't much play frisbee any more--she always liked sniffing and exploring, but now she really doesn't seem to want to run for the frisbee more than half a dozen times.  Boost is OK with that, but it makes me a little sad to see the dog of boundless energy now have bounds.

Friday afternoon the 14th I planned a nice long walk on the level along the Coyote Creek Trail, which is actually paved most of its length. We started in the very late afternoon; still warm, but the sun was sinking fast. I figured that we could get in 3 miles one way before the sun hit the horizon and then walk back the same route at dusk, but by 1.5 miles, Tika was dragging so much that we turned back and got in barely 3 miles.

And, of course, every morning and afternoon we play in the yard--tossing the toy, playing tug of war, maybe doing some weaves and jumps.  Which I did Sunday morning the 16th, then went off to see a movie and get some groceries.

When I came home, Tika didn't want to stand up.  When I tried to encourage her with a treat, she cried in pain every time she tried.  I gave her a Rimadyl  and left her alone for about 3 hours. She did, finally, stand up, but walked painfully and hunched and slowly down the stairs for dinner, which she ate enthusiastically.

But she wouldn't do a nose touch to my hand or anything else, not even sit, and then she went back upstairs to bed. (Funny that whenever she's not feeling well or in pain, she always goes upstairs to lie on my bed--which she has to jump up onto.)

Anyway, after another hour of her again being in crying pain whenever she tried to stand, I decided to take her to the Emergency Clinic. Because what dog worth their salt ever goes over the deep end during regular business hours when the regular vet is in the office? I *carried* her downstairs and set her down in the car, and she immediately lay down and looked miserable. (Usually seh loves looking to see what's going on.)

When we got to the Clinic and I opened the car door, she immediately stood up and wanted to get out and didn't want me lifting her. She pulled intensely on the leash, wanting to go explore (although still obviously hunched over). I walked her and Boost around outside, and since she could do that OK, so I decided NOT to go in to the Emergency Clinic and save myself a bundle.

Instead, I stopped at the local park and walked both dogs around on leash. Tika had a lovely poop and then her head and tail came up and she looked quite happy and normal. But, after we'd been home for a little while and she'd been lying down, it started all over again.

In the morning, same thing. I gave her another Rimadyl, but she didn't want to go outside or do anything. So I called the regular vet and made an appointment for 4:30 that afternoon. All day Tika looked miserable and yelped and cried whenever she tried to stand up--which she would do, but oh the poor suffering thing looked so miserable when she tried to walk!

It's about a half hour drive to the vet (there are closer ones, but I like this one), so I was keeping an eye on the clock about 3:45 while Boost and I were out in the yard playing, when suddenly WHO should come LEAPING through the doggie door, JUMPING down the steps, and BOUNDING across the yard, all bright-eyed and bushy-tailed ME WANT TUG! ME RUN RUN RUN!

Jeez, smack me with a spoon! Five minutes before, and for the previous 26 hours or so, she'd been in agony.

Anyhoo, we DID go to the vet and he couldn't find ANYTHING sore about her. He thinks it's probably the arthritis in her neck--he'd warned me before (and this has actually happened before) that if she tweaks her neck just the wrong way, it'll pinch a nerve and could be extremely painful.  So apparently she somehow UNtweaked her neck and everything was fine.

We decided on three days of rest and rimadyl to make sure that any inflammation had a chance to ease up.

On Friday (4 days after that), I decided to try another hikey walk. It was dinnertime, but I figured that it was better to hike first, maybe about 4-5 miles of nice brisk walking, and eat afterwards. I picked  a nice, easy, on-the-level hike along the Los Alamitos Creek Trail, also paved, winding among the trees, a nice pleasant walk not far from home. We got there and started walking, and Tika started out sniffing and brisk, but within the first half mile got slower. And slower. And slower. Not showing interest in things. Not pulling on the leash at all. Even lagging behind me by the 3/4-mile marker. I was determined to do at least one mile before turning back.

I was pretty bummed that she was still (or again) in such sorry shape after all that rest, and still on rimadyl, and feeling sorry for myself that my hiking and agility companion was getting old. Poor me. Poor dog.

At the 1-mile marker I sat on a bench to give her a break and do a little massage, then rest. She seemed happy for the attention and not actually in pain.

(Oh, and as I sat there, another agility person jogged by with her dogs and we were both surprised to see each other there.)

Finally stood up and asked Tika what she wanted to do. She immediately leaned into the leash in the direction of back-to-the car. She *pulled* me almost the whole mile back to the car, walking briskly and determinedly and I had to keep reminding her to ease up. As we raced back towards the car, I pondered Tika's sudden recovery and energy, and it dawned on me:

It was #$@%* DINNERTIME and Tika wanted ME GO EAT, not stupid walk, not stupid get further away from food. She wasn't slow because she was in pain or getting old, but because she was getting farther away from dinner!

So.

Sunday, I mapped out a nice aggressive 6-mile hike at Sunol Regional Park with plenty of uphill and downhill. We got a later start than I'd have liked--hit the trail about 9:30--and the day warmed rapidly. The first .6 miles were all uphill, and it just about wiped me out. We stopped twice for drinks and, among the three of us, polished off the two one-liter bottles of water I'd packed. I still had a very large bottle of water left, but I couldn't face another mile of uphill trail and wimped out onto an easier trail that headed gradually back down.  So, again, we got in just about 3 miles.

But it was off-leash, which was very nice for all of us. And Tika looked like she was doing better than me, although neither of us as perky as Boost--but even Boost wasn't racing back and forth with energy that day.

In the end, we all seem to be fairly healthy, getting older, slowing down, but not in any great physical distress, thank goodness.

Itchy Itchy Itchy But Agility Progress

SUMMARY: Boost scratching and does well in class.

Last night was our weekly agility class. Boost did pretty good (except for bars bars bars). No refusals or runouts except for the usual, *normal* kinds of handling issues that one might have. We even got a compliment from the instructor on how much Boost seems to have improved.

Here's the thing: We didn't go to class last week. My agility practice for the last three weeks has added up to approximately the following:

• A few weave pole exercises.

So, go figure.

We (and others) got called out on how sloppy our contacts have become--a known issue with Boost, who has for some time been stopping on the dogwalk with her feet off the side where I am (if I'm behind her) rather than straight forward, and has sometimes progressed to just coming off the side entirely. Something else to work on, besides maybe going back to bar-knocking drills.

Neither of which, frankly, I still have any particular urge to do.

Meanwhile, Boost has been scratching like crazy. This happened last year briefly, but this year has made a ferocious return appearance. Tried benadryl for a couple of weeks, no luck. Like, as in, scratching for 10 minutes straight in the middle of the night.

Saw the vet Wednesday morning and talked about the different levels of treatment, and his preference is to try things with the least side effects first, which I agree with.  He said the doggy dermatologist reports that this hay fever season is extremely high, so dogs with any kind of sensitivity or slight irritant are more likely to dive right into the deep end of reaction.

So she got a shot of dexamethasone for short-term relief to try to break the cycle of scratching, a prescription for hydroxyzine, and a spray bottle of GentaSpray (gentamicin sulfate with betamethasone valerate).

Well, that worked great--for about a day and a half (probably the Dex), and then Boost scratched off and on, sometimes with insane intensity, most of the night last night. I'll give the treatments another day--erk, well, hmm, another day would put me on the weekend, wouldn't it. Hm.

Meanwhile, I have this to say: Zzzzz.

To Test Or Not To Test, That is The Question

SUMMARY: Paranoid about dog health. And I guess no course design clinic, either.

Agility is all about money. (When it's not all about the clothing or all about the Qs or all about the food or maybe even all about having fun.) We're FINALLY having a USDAA course-design clinic and judging test this month in our area; tried for it several years back and couldn't get enough people. I'd really like to go. At $295 for the clinic and $65 for the judging test afterwards? Yikes. That's nuts. But I'd still like to go.

Yet another friend's agility dog just died from hemangiosarcoma, which is what took Remington. Seems to appear in the 8-12 year range, and some friends are doing one-time midlife ultrasounds on their dogs to check for tumors. I've been thinking about Tika's on-again, off-again discomfort, and likening it to Remington's on-again, off-again discomfort and his sometimes-superdog and sometimes-not-interested approach to agility. In retrospect, determined that a lot of that, at least in his last year or two, was probably due to the tumor. Soooooooooocoooullld it be the same thing for Tika?

I ran out of Rimadyl, Tika's still not 100% today, so when I called the vet's office for a refill, I posed the question. Turned out that she's overdue for her bortadella shot and way overdue for a heartworm blood test, so I made an appointment for this afternoon and in we went.

Forgot to give Tika her sedative before going in--Human mom fail!--poor doggie shook like a leaf, and you should've heard her screech when the vet took her temp. But we got through it--I accidentally got her head inside my fleece while holding her for that torture and it seemed to calm her more than just holding onto her.

He also suggested that, since I'm using the rimadyl more, we should consider doing a full blood-work panel now and possibly more often in the future to check her liver and kidney function and other vital signs.

Turns out that ultrasound for the full torso cavity (spleen, heart, and lungs being the most crucial points for possible hemangiosarcoma) could run around $1000, and he says it's just like the full-body scanning for humans that some places (for-profit scanning centers) are pushing: Odds of them finding something real are extremely small, and more often than not they find something that they really then have to suggest that you get further testing done on, and the odds are extremely high that that ends up being nothing significant.

He said, if I had that kind of money to throw around regularly without noticing it in my budget, sure, I could do that every year or every 6 months or however often I wanted it, and it might catch something before it got serious. Or--not. When just randomly scanning for something, the beginnings of tumors are small enough that they're not likely to be identified. If I do just one scan, it could be, say, very different from what it would be 3 months down the road because the evidence isn't yet large enough to be detected. No way to know one way or the other.

And really, he says, there's no "epidemic" of hemangiosarcoma; of course like anything else by statistical laws it's never perfectly distributed among the entire dog population, so making assumptions based on a small group isn't really going to give useful data in most cases.

I know all that.

So I'm pretty much talked out of doing the ultrasounds of all her major organs.

The total bill--bloodwork, bortadella shot, rimadyl (double prescription this time because it's cheaper each in larger quantities), consultation and physical check-up--nearly $400. And i don't think my vet is particularly expensive.

But that bill has pretty much also talked me out of signing up for the course-building clinic. Ah, well, given a choice between that and my merle girl's health, guess you know which I'll pick.