Juana reports ...      Edited and posted by Bill

Another rescue is coming to Straydog

      A desperate woman sent us several emails asking if we could take a poor Blue Heeler mix she had rescued recently. Unfortunately the new dog wouldn't get along with the four dogs she already had at home. She's been having to keep him in the garage away from the others, and there's been no response to ads she's put in local newspapers. No owner has been found, and she is working full time, plus she is taking care of her father who is very ill. The woman can't keep this dog, and she was just so desperate. She offered us a big donation, but money, though we need it very badly, is not the issue. It's a matter of "What are we going to do right now? Where will we put the dog? We don't have room to squeeze in another one." The woman was so desperate and the story was very sad that we just couldn't say no. We agreed to accept the dog. A friend of this lady's took the new fella to Morton Clinic and dropped him off, where he'll be boarded till I can go and pick him up. We had set up several vet appointments for later on today, so I was planning to bring the new dog back with us this afternoon.
 

We continue to try mixing and matching

      The main reason I was trying some mixing and matching was to make room for the new fella before we brought him home. We are totally out of places. Our next step was trying Terry, who's been living alone, with another dog. But who? What about Chubs? Maybe Thunder and Storm would accept a new dog in place of Chubs, or maybe Terry-dog would. Since we don't really know what this new dog is like, I just wanted to try some mixing and matching here to see if we could move some doggies around to free-up a kennel.
 

We introduce Terry and Chubs in the park

      We brought Terry to the park along with Chubs, his hair standing up. Terry behaved well. She wanted to play, but Chubs didn't like her right away, and he said nope. So that was the end of this try. Depending how the new dog behaves, maybe we could give him a try with Terry, who is eager to have a kennel mate friend to play with. She's had kennel mates before, but sometimes she does get too rough. Chubs probably sensed this causing him not to like Terry-dog right from the start.

Four dogs go to the clinic, and I visit Brody while there

      Mid-afternoon came, and I had to go to Morton Clinic, taking with me, Lisa-Lisa, Becky, Reggie and Wolfie, planning to bringing back our new rescued dog, whom later on I found out somebody had already named Brody, which was fine with me--I'm running out of names!
 
    Wolfie has something bad wrong with his ankles

      When we arrived at the clinic, I took Wolfie in first. He is due to get a thyroid test, and Dr. Terry said that his x-ray results were back from the specialist place. First we talked about his x-rays. As you may remember, Wolfie is limping badly due to his very sore ankles. Dr. James Morton said that he has severe arthritis build up in both his ankles. Then Dr. Terry checked Wolfie last week, as it seemed like he was getting worse. He is just lying around most of the time and seems in more pain, and he is walking funny, just like Champ and Tallie walk. His hocks (ankles) are swollen, and he just doesn't look right. His x-rays show his knees are okay, his hips are good. But something bad is going on in his ankles. Dr. Terry said that he needs a sonogram or C-scan to see into his bones. His hocks are badly swollen, and there is nothing else that Dr. Terry could to to help him but increase his pain meds to ease his pain till we could take him to Dallas Veterinary Surgical Center. I said that the doctors there hadn't recommended any surgery on Champ or Tallie, and I asked if she thought they would on Wolfie? Dr. Terry said, maybe, but what else are we going to do? Wolfie is in tremendous pain and he has this problem on both ankles, and he is so young. Wow, she is right, what are we going to do? Dr. Terry can do a referral as soon as we want her to, which I'm hoping could be next week sometime as soon as these holidays are over. I'm sure we will have better luck getting an appointment with DVSC then.
 
      On this thyroid test, Wolfie was a little elevated, so Dr. Terry reduce his dose for him to take one pill once per day, instead of twice. Wolfie went back to the van crate and waited.

    Reggie does not behave for the doctor today

      Next I brought in Reggie boy. And my goodness, he was a bad, bad boy today! He usually doesn't try to bite me when I'm holding him but today, he didn't want any part of an exam. He was trying to bite Dr. Terry, and he was even trying to jump up and get us. You should have seen his angry little face. He's so small that he couldn't do much damage do it was kind of funny. Dr. Terry and I were both laughing a little at how Reggie was just not happy today. Finally we just couldn't hold him still, and Vet Tech Sabra had to be called in to help us. Dr. Terry was trying to muzzle him, but she couldn't, he was so wiggly and ornery. So a towel was our last resort. Sabra held him tight while Dr. Terry checked his ears and body. His skin was a lot better, doctor said. His ears aren't looking the best, but really not even at home could we treat his ears. We do run into this kind of trouble with him at home, so Dr. Terry said she would apply some BNT to his ears so we wouldn't have to mess with his ears at home. We are to bring him back in a week to redo his ears again. Reggie's hair is growing longer, so I asked if the doctor wanted for us to groom him again. It seems like if we keep him trimmed short enough, his skin doesn't get infected as much. Dr. Terry agreed with the grooming, and she said to continue bathing him once or twice per week with medicated shampoo. While Sabra was holding Reggie, Dr. Terry was able to trim his toenails all at once, poor fella, but Reggie is looking so much better now, thank goodness and thanks to Dr. Terry too!

    Becky is no longer limping as much, and we redo x-rays

      Next was Becky-girl, who had gone to see Dr. Terry about four or five weeks ago, at which time Becky was limping pretty badly and holding up her right foreleg. She even would cry due to the pain, and she was very reluctant to put any pressure on her right front paw. After several x-rays at that time, which Dr. Terry sent off to a radiologist specialist who said that the x-rays were inconclusive, but there could be a tumor (an osteosarcoma), Dr. Terry suggested we bring Becky in for more x-rays today to see how her foreleg looks now. Dr. Terry was pretty positive we weren't going to have any good news, but today after four or five weeks, the bone of Becky's foreleg looked the same as it did then. Not any better but not any worse. And Becky is not limping as much. Dr. Terry was happy with today's x-ray results, because an osteosarcoma would have grown in four or five weeks, and the pain would have worsened, not diminished. The doctor suggested we bring Becky back in in three months to redo x-rays again to see how the situation progresses.

    I asked about Brody, the new rescue who had just arrived

      Before I took Becky back out to the van, I asked if they had had time to examine our new boy, rescue dog, Brody. The clinic has been so busy, they said, that no, Brody hadn't been examined. Dr. Terry asked me if they could examine him tomorrow. I wanted to bring Champ tomorrow for her to check him as well as the cyst on his penis to me looks worse, and he has a blister or cyst on his lip that doesn't look good either. Dr. Terry said to bring Champ and we would do Brody's new arrival checkup tomorrow too, and we would be able to take Brody home then. I also asked if we could bring Mackey along? Mackey has been concerning me so much because his cough is getting worse and he just sleeps and sleeps and seems so tired and not feeling very good. Dr. Terry said to go ahead and bring him too.

    I visit new rescue, Brody

      I asked if I could go and visit Brody, whom I hadn't met yet. One of the vet techs took me to the back kennels. There he was, scared and didn't know who I was. I took several photos of him (but they didn't turn out very good). He is handsome and seems to be a good boy. I told him, I would be back tomorrow to take him home.

    Lisa-Lisa is doing better, but she's still not doing well

      Our Lisa-girl was next and last to be examined today, and what a day! Poor old Lisa-Lisa hasn't been doing so good. A week or so ago we brought Lisa in to see the doctor. Dr. James Morton is the one who took Lisa's case. Dr. James came to see our Lisa today. Last time he'd found that Lisa had a very bad intestinal infection and pancreatitis as well. He had put Lisa on antibiotics, and at first she seemed to respond to them and improve, but for several days now Lisa will hardly eat anything. We had gotten down to feed her only wieners and turkey lunch meat. Sometimes she wouldn't even eat those foods, so we've have to force down something. Chicken soup, rice, chicken livers won't work for her anymore. We've tried several different canned foods, and Lisa would only eat the IAMS chunks food, but she would try only a few bites. Lisa is sure loosing weight, at least that's what it seems to me. She looks so bad. I just wanted to hear the magical words, Lisa is all better now, but I know this won't happen.

      Lisa is now 15 years old--at least this is what our records show. She has gone thru a lot, I mean a lot, and she still is trying to hang in there. I just want to cry seeing her like this, but she doesn't give up, and I will do anything and everything I can to help her not give up. She still sometimes has those big sparkling eyes that just tell me, "No, it's not time." I can tell Dr. James is trying to do his best to keep me thinking positive, not giving up on Lisa and not telling me the worst, bless his heart. He did blood work, and it looks normal. He did x-rays, and they were okay too. The pancreas is doing its function a lot better too, but what is wrong with our girl?  He found that Lisa has an old ulcer on her eye. He stained her eye, but it didn't show up anything new or bad, so he said just to keep an eye on it.

      Then we thought about offering Lisa the special canned A/D veterinary food, and the doctor went to get us a can. Lisa ate that can! So I asked if I could get a case and try it at home. He said, of course, Juana. I asked about helping Lisa with sub-q fluids. Dr. James thought that was good idea as well. He said for us to keep on trying to feed her whatever she wants and to continue her on her meds. He already has her on Baytril, and she still has several days to go to finish up her prescription of that medicine. Dr. James is hoping that as soon as the Baytril treatment is over, our little Lisa will be better. I hope so too. I'm praying that she will get better, but I know in the bottom of my heart that our girl can't take a whole lot more of this world. She will let us know when it's time. Keep Lisa on your prayers!