Bill Arnold's Daily Straydog Log

WEDNESDAY MAY 19 2004

NOON UPDATE

Rocky's home and doing fine after waiting at Dr. Reeves' clinic for four of our other dogs to see the doctor before we could all drive back home together yesterday evening

      When we arrived at Dr. Reeves' clinic at about 2:30 p.m. yesterday, Mrs. Reeves told us that Dr. Reeves had had to leave unexpectedly due to the sudden death of a dear friend (and client) of his. The doctor arrived back at the clinic a few minutes after we got there, looking very sad. He told us he had received a call from one of his friend's family members. The friend had just finished preparing breakfast for himself and his wife (who's suffering from brain cancer), had just sat down next to his wife to have breakfast, bowed his head as if in prayer, and he was gone.

      Dr. Reeves said his friend had loved animals very much, and the doctor asked me to put a little memorial note on his friend in today's update, which Dr. Reeves wrote out and handed to me:

Erin's report on our vet visit to Dr. Reeves' clinic (with lots of photos to come)

    Rocky

      Rocky is doing really well! He's had the run of Dr. Reeves' vet clinic building for the past few days, and the doctor laid a beautiful quilt on the floor of the kennel room (outside of the kennel cages) for Rocky's bed. We learned that Rocky had gobbled up some Flint River cat food today that the doctor had spilled while feeding a cat also being boarded there, and Dr. Reeves was surprised to see Rocky crunching on this cat food, but when he saw that Rocky liked it, the doctor gave him a couple of cups as a meal. Also today Rocky had biscuits from Kentucky Fried Chicken and some dog food too.

      Dr. Reeves was very generous when it came time for us to take care of Rocky's account: Our bill for Rocky's hospital stay for two weeks and the surgery really wasn't that much considering all we had done and that Rocky's life was saved, and my brother, Joey, who originally rescued Rocky over 12 years ago has paid the entire bill (a little over $1,800). The doctor donated the last four days of boarding for free, and he didn't charge us for the meds we took home for Rocky, which will last us the next two weeks. Thank you so much, Dr. and Mrs. Reeves. It is amazing that Rocky is alive. I hope we have at least a few weeks with Rocky, and wouldn't it be great if Rocky had a few more months or even years of good life to live?

      The latest news is that the doctor is now pretty certain that Rocky's illness is one of the three tick diseases. For two weeks now Rocky has been on the tick disease medicine, and just recently when the doctor stopped the meds for four days, the slightly darkish stools came back, Dr. Reeves said, so we'll continue the tick medicine. The doctor now believes this therapy will completely solve the problem.

      I think Dr. Brian Reeves and his wife have really taken to Rocky. "He's a very sensitive dog, emotionally," the doctor said. "I was waiting till you got here to take out his stitches and draw the last blood. I don't want to upset Rocky any more than we have to."

      All went fine during the removal of Rocky's stitches from the incision from his spleenectomy and exploratory surgery. We put a muzzle on the fella, of course, and with three of us holding and petting Rocky and talking to him softly, the doctor snipped the staples, and everything went just fine. Maybe the 'Rescue Remedy' (flower essence for stress and trauma) helped too.

      Rocky seemed really happy to be home. He was lounging on the sofa in my brother's RV when I left this evening. Rocky was alert and looking very happy!

    Angel and Toby

      Angel and Toby had acupuncture treatments to help the stiffness problems they're having with their spines, hips, hind legs. We need to pray for these older dogs. I hope we can help them in major ways as they get older!

    Lucy

      Lucy, the recently rescued white Pit Bull is about two years old, Dr. Reeves said. She had her Rabies vaccination today. She doesn't have heartworms but is "full of hooks and whips." Dad and I got to see these parasites under the microscope. Ivermectin will begin to kill the worms and Lucy will receive second and third doses in two weeks, and then again in two months we will administer three days of Panacur.

      Jason, our responsible night shift man who rescued Lucy, will be making the home visit to Bobby's place to help Bobby fortify his fence and figure out whatever may be needed to keep the dog safe. We'll have a little time to do this, as we will keep the dog in quarantine at Straydog till the intestinal parasite worms are gone.

      Lucy also hadn't been spayed, and may have just been in heat, the doctor said. This is not good news.

    Gretchen

      Gretchen doesn't have intestinal worms or heartworms, but she does have tumors in her mammary glands that are probably malignant. These tumors have been there a long time, her previous owner had already told Dr. Reeves. The doctor said that he would do the surgery for free if we wanted it, but he didn't know if it would be a good thing for Gretchen at her age. It would probably be better to let Gretchen live out her life without the debilitating surgery, especially since these tumors have been growing so slowly.

Update on Blackie and Skipper, who went to see Dr. Morton Monday evening

    Blackie

      Blackie seems to be better, licking us in the face, eating his blended meals just fine and no vomiting. We are on the herbal supplements Slippery Elm, Vitamin E, Vitamin B complex, acidophilus and L-Glutamine (also good for the intestinal track). When I left Straydog tonight, Jason was cutting up and blanching the vegetables for the dogs and Blackie was right under his feet, as he always is when he's feeling well! Way to go Blackie!

    Skipper

      Skipper is so sweet. He will make a wonderful pet for someone. (I, Erin, am really falling for him and wish I didn't already have four dogs.) Skipper loves to wag his tail at you, and wants to get in your lap (E-collar and all) and wants his neck scratched and tummy rubbed. Hopefully the infection from Skipper's neuter surgery is subsiding. It still seems to me like he is uncomfortable, the way he holds himself during walks or while sitting, so we are still using the homeopathic medicines for 'bruising' and 'trauma' and the antibiotic for the infection, at least for another day or so! Heal up, Skipper-Boy!

 Angie, the 63-year-old rescuer of dogfight losers and other dogs, will make the appointment for the surgery for Patch

      Angie found a vet who will do the surgery for $650, and she just called me this morning to see if we had received any contributions toward this operation. I told her we'd heard from a couple of people interested in helping Patch and to go ahead and schedule the surgery. She said it just hurts her to see the poor young doggie try as hard as he can to stand up straight and walk, but he just can't. The name of the vet is Gregory Arnold, DVM (no relation to us Arnolds), and he's at the following clinic:

      Angie would appreciate any help any of our Straydog supporters might be able to contribute.