THURSDAY OCTOBER 4 2001 Beauty's operation is successful, but now something's wrong with Julie's eyes. She suddenly can't see.
Our plan for the day was to go pick up Little Beauty this afternoon from the Animal Eye Clinic (in Arlington, Texas) where Dr. Paulsen performed the surgery to remove Beauty's right eye early this morning. (I found out by phone that Beauty was doing fine.)
Suddenly our plans changed!
When Randy paged me over the walkie-talkie to come to Julie's kennel right away, I could tell by the urgent sound of his voice that something was wrong. Julie can't see!
I called the Animal Eye Clinic and told them about Julie's apparently sudden blindness, and they said to bring Julie when we came to pick up Beauty and they'd squeeze Julie in.
Dr. Paulsen diagnosed Julie as being diabetic. He said that her blindness had most probably come about very gradually and that that's why we hadn't noticed it. He said we needed to take Julie to our regular vet to get the diabetes under control and in three weeks we could bring Julie to see him again to see what he might be able do about her eye sight.
Who would ever believe this? Shannon and I wondered as we talked about the events of the day while on our way home from the Animal Eye Clinic in Arlington. Shannon was driving, and I was sitting in the back seat with Blind Doggie Julie. Beauty, with a clear plastic E-Collar around her head to protect her face after the eye surgery, was stretched out in the second back seat, sound asleep on a soft, fluffy blue blanket.
FRIDAY OCTOBER 5 2001 Beauty's post surgical eye very swollen this morning. We're going to our local vet along with now-blind, diabetic Julie plus Trixie, whose paw pads have some unexplained cuts in them.
At 4:30 this morning I went out to Beauty's kennel, which is right beside our house (trailer) to see how the incision looked. The eye specialist told us when we picked Beauty up yesterday to watch for sudden swelling. Last night when we brought her home from the "hospital" there was no swelling at all, and she was still so groggy from the surgery that I had to carry her from the car to her kennel and lay her in her big, soft hay bed we had placed in her shelter.
Beauty's incision is very swollen, so I rush her to our local vet
First Thing This morning when Beauty heard me open her kennel gate, she came out of her shelter and walked over to greet me, her big E-Collar bobbing up and down as she walked. I was glad to see her up and about, but her incision looked horrible! It was so swollen! I called our vets emergency number (to me this was a huge emergency), and the vet on call said it was probably okay, and to have Beauty at their clinic when they opened at 8:00 a.m. and they would take a look at her.
Julie dog goes too
The devastating news we heard yesterday from Beauty's eye specialist that Julie is blind and diabetic was heartbreaking.
Julie's appointment was to be at 10:00 this morning to see our local vet, but since I was rushing Beauty to the doctor by 8:00 a.m., Julie could go with us then, and also pretty Rottweiler, Trixie, had small cuts on the pads of her left rear paw, so she would go too.
Randy got all three fellas in their traveling crates in the dog van, and off I went headed for the clinic. It was cool this morning, so once we arrived at the vet office, there would not be any problem with leaving the dogs in the van (with the windows open), while one at a time I took the dogs in to see the doctor.
Beauty's eye is okay, said the doctor. We just need to keep a close watch on it.
Julie is put on a special diet, I am given "Lesson 101" on how to give an injection!
After the doctor examined Beauty, I took her back to the van and put her into her traveling crate and then brought Julie in to the examining room.
Julie needs special food now, and insulin injections every day. Our doctor agreed totally with Dr. Paulsen: Julie has lost her sight, and she is diabetic and will probably need to be on insulin for life. This means giving injections every day.
Julie is the first diabetic dog we have had.I've never given an injection, I told our vet, and he said he'd send in the vet tech to give me "Lesson 101" in injection giving. Renee came in and showed me the simple procedure, had me give Julie a "practice" injection (with sterile water or something other than insulin) and Julie didn't feel a thing. (The needles are super thin [sharp]!)
In a few weeks the diabetes should be under control, and then we can have her eyes examined again by the specialist in Arlington, and hopefully we can have the cataracts removed, to bring back her sight again. I guided Julie back to the van and put her in her traveling crate and then took Trixie in to see the doctor.
Trixie sees the doctor about her foot
Trixie has no infection in her foot, the vet said, and not to worry. She was given her yearly vaccinations, and out to the car she went.
Maggie Comes Home Too!
Maggie, our pretty Black Lab mix, who has just undergone the beginning treatment for her heartworm problem, was ready now to come home too. The technician brought Maggie out to the van for me and Maggie jumped up and into the extra traveling crate.
Julie's special food had been loaded onto the front seat, so we were ready to roll, and home I drove with our doggie van full of all these special dogs.
SATURDAY OCTOBER 6 2001 Coco and Timmy were adopted during Saturday Adoption Day at Canine Commissary!
Beauty's incision looks better; Julie gets first injection of insulin
At 4:30 this morning I turned on the porch light and went to check on Beauty, whose kennel is right beside our house, to see if the swelling around her incision had gone down any. Beauty came to greet me, and I was happy to see that the swelling had gone down a tiny bit. She seems to be feeling a little better now too and seems to be in less pain from the surgery she had two days ago (Thursday morning). She is still on pain medication, which helps her a lot.
At 5:30 a.m. I went to give Julie her first injection of insulin. It was still pitch black outside so Tina met me at Julie's kennel to hold the flashlight so I could see what I was doing in the early morning darkness, and all went well. Julie didn't feel a thing (thanks to the needle being super thin), and she was very happy this morning. I must have mentioned that after our vet gets the diabetes under control (they say it will take from two to three weeks) we will take Julie back to the eye specialist for another examination to see if she will be a candidate for him to surgically remove the cataracts so she will regain her sight.
Julie is our first diabetic dog, If any of you have been caring for a diabetic dog I'd love to hear from you and have you share your knowledge and method of treatment with me.
Because Julie has lost her sight, we wanted to get the huge holes filled in in her kennel so she wouldn't fall into them. These holes are more like deep ditches that she and her former kennel mate, Dallas, have had fun digging and playing in, and there is no "extra" sand lying around for us to shovel in the holes, so I called a sand and gravel company, and they will be delivering a truckload of sand this Monday. Julie and Dallas used to run up and down these deep pits that they created. Even though Julie knows every inch of her kennel by heart, not being able to see now will make moving around for her more difficult until she gets used to being sightless, and we don't want her falling off these steep clifs into the deep holes.
Randy and Bo will try to smooth out the "trenches" as best they can until we can get the fill-sand here and make her entire kennel yard flat and smooth again.
Shannon and John (two wonderful volunteers) are handling the Adoption Day at Canine Commissary
Thanks to Shannon and John, who offered to handle today's Adoption Day today at Canine Commissary, I can stay here and keep a close watch over Beauty and Julie, who need lots of special attention right now. Quite a few new volunteers will be joining our group to help out with the dog sitting today, and I'm sorry I won't be there to meet them.
By 9:00 a.m. we had Coco, Timmy, Melissa, Hope and Baxter ready for the trip to Dallas, and off they went.
Beauty doesn't feel good again
I'm glad I was able to stay home today to keep a close watch over Beauty and Julie. I was very concerned that Beauty's incision would start swelling again. By mid morning Beauty didn't feel good at all, and I spent a lot of time with her. She must still have a horrible headache because of the eye surgery. She didn't want to eat or even go for her walks in the big play yard.It was a beautiful day and little Beauty just wanted to lie in the warm sun and sleep.
Bo was very concerned about Beauty too. A lot of tears have been shed by all of us here over Beauty's loss of her eye and now because of Julie's health problems.
Adoption Day success: Coco and Timmy are officially adopted, but are staying with us till next Saturday
Adoption day went very well, Shannon and John said when they returned this evening. One of our new volunteers, Cathy, fell in love with little Coco and Timmy and wanted to adopt them both! How wonderful for this little brother and sister to be adopted together. Cathy has officially adopted the pair and wants us to take care of them this coming week for her, and she will take them home next Saturday.
If you would like to adopt any of the wonderful dogs or puppies at our Happy Home for Strays, please look at our "Dogs for Adoption" page and call us for more information.
If you would like to give Foster Care to any of our new arrivals to free up kennel space here, please call.
ONCE AGAIN: THE ONLY SOLUTION TO THIS STRAY DOG AND STRAY CAT PROBLEM IS FOR EVERYONE TO SPAY AND NEUTER THEIR PETS!
Thank all of you who continue to give your moral and financial support to our Happy Home for Strays. Your contributions enable us to continue to care for many abandoned, homeless dogs and puppies. Without your help this just wouldn't be possible. The dogs and pups thank you too!
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*Photos from the week preceding 10/7/01
*Photos from the week preceding 9/30/01
*Next Adoption Day: Saturday, October 13, 2001
*Headlines Linking to the Last 109 Consecutive Weekly Updates of this Web site
*Dallas Morning News column by Jacquielynn Floyd published September 25, 2001.