The Pet Thread

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Rough "vacation" week. Ended up with Ursala at both the regular vet and the ER vet. After going out to do her morning business, she came in panting heavily and pacing. All around the downstairs, then upstairs, then all the bathrooms, etc., - even the rooms where she normally never goes. She did this for hours, never laying down or resting. Took her to the vet, they examined/sedated her, found nothing obvious, and gave her a valium/opioid injection after making best guess that she was in pain from SOMETHING, we just didn't know what. She squatted a bit when pressing near her spine, so back pain was best we could figure.

Got her home, and she began pacing/panting despite the injection that should have had her out cold. Emergency vets had a 6 hour wait time, so I was going to try and watch her through the night. Around 10PM or so, she was worse than ever, and was acting non-responsive to calling her name and her legs were shaking. Her tail was tucked, and she was acting scared of me when I approached, even though she's at my side 24/7. I called e-vet thinking she was having a stroke, they said they'll get her right in. She passed all the neurological/cognitive tests, and actually laid down there once her adrenaline started wearing off. They also couldn't find anything other than noticing the same reaction to pressing on her back.

All we can figure is that some combination of arthritis and movement was pinching a nerve in her back, causing a lot of pain. The shaking was mostly from fatigue at that point (14 hours on her feet), so they gave a stronger dose of gabapentin for nerve pain and trazodone for anxiety to be taken in combination with her anti-inflammatory. Other than a little bit of anxiety yesterday morning, she seems to be doing better despite starting to wean her off the anxiety meds. The night we brought her home, she slept through the night, ate her breakfast, and then slept again from 8AM straight through until nearly 7PM. She does seem hesitant to go outside, which leads me to believe that she's associating something out there with pain and it has her a bit spooked.

I think she took about another 10 years off my life, because I was scared to death that we were going to lose her, and that she didn't remember who I was.
 
^Geez @Supe, that sucks. Do you have any outdoor cameras to see if something happened?
Unfortunately not. There were no signs of bites, stings, etc. anywhere else. She is older and has some arthritis, and she did have a soft tissue injury near her spine last fall (collided with one of the boys and went backwards into a tree trunk, hitting where a branch was cut, which poked a hole into the skin/muscle). No limp, so I don't think she tripped or stepped in a hole or anything. Really sucks when you can't get a diagnosis or figure out what went on! If it happens again, she will probably have to have a CT or MRI to see if there's something internal going on.
 
Piper is a bit too smart for her own good. She's decided she does not like taking her medicine and refuses to eat even the tastiest of treats/food (chicken, cheese, beef, pill pouches... ) if I even touch her pill bottle. I have to wash my hands at least twice to get the smell off before I try to give it to her. Even then it's a toss up. She smells whatever treat I'm trying to fool her with, even a hint of smell of the pill and she won't touch it.... worse when she does, finds the pill and spits it out... 2 more days of meds...

side note. we bought some boots for them. yesterday was the first day trying them on. it went better than I expected.
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OMFG their little feetsies!! I could die.

Gosh, your doggos look so small! How much do Timber and Piper weigh?
Timber is about 42 lbs and Piper is just under 30 lbs now. She was almost 35lb, but lost a few pounds being sick. I have no doubt she will gain them back though~ :)
 
Piper is a bit too smart for her own good. She's decided she does not like taking her medicine and refuses to eat even the tastiest of treats/food (chicken, cheese, beef, pill pouches... ) if I even touch her pill bottle. I have to wash my hands at least twice to get the smell off before I try to give it to her. Even then it's a toss up. She smells whatever treat I'm trying to fool her with, even a hint of smell of the pill and she won't touch it.... worse when she does, finds the pill and spits it out... 2 more days of meds...

side note. we bought some boots for them. yesterday was the first day trying them on. it went better than I expected.
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Not sure if it will work for Piper, but when my cat (not a dog, ha) got too smart to eat full pills (even really small ones) when he had dental surgery last year, we ground up the pills (or opened the capsules of the powder pills) and mixed them into either wet food or water and his dry food. It worked pretty well. Might be something to consider if you think it would at all make sense for little Piper!
 
Not sure if it will work for Piper, but when my cat (not a dog, ha) got too smart to eat full pills (even really small ones) when he had dental surgery last year, we ground up the pills (or opened the capsules of the powder pills) and mixed them into either wet food or water and his dry food. It worked pretty well. Might be something to consider if you think it would at all make sense for little Piper!
Yes! I've definitely starting getting more creative! I have added it to her food. That's only a struggle when she's not wanting to eat all of her food, so I grind it up and put a little bit of food out with the meds in it. Once she finishes that, I give her the rest. :) Thankfully we only have one more dose this morning!
 
Ursala has been doing well since her "event". In fact, she's been happier and more playful than normal, which leads me to believe that being on the gabapentin day and night is also helping with some residual aches and pains from her arthritis, and seems to be helping her breathing as well. I'm going to talk to the vet about a possible ongoing regiment gabapentin for her.

Our giant boy Dert did NOT do well with fireworks. Poor guy was shaking like a leaf. Thankfully I still had some left over sedatives for him. Ursala was a bit anxious at first when the big ones started hitting, but snuggled up with Dert in the office and then slept through the rest of them. Deker didn't care at all and snoozed the night away.
 
Ursala has been doing well since her "event". In fact, she's been happier and more playful than normal, which leads me to believe that being on the gabapentin day and night is also helping with some residual aches and pains from her arthritis, and seems to be helping her breathing as well. I'm going to talk to the vet about a possible ongoing regiment gabapentin for her.

Our giant boy Dert did NOT do well with fireworks. Poor guy was shaking like a leaf. Thankfully I still had some left over sedatives for him. Ursala was a bit anxious at first when the big ones started hitting, but snuggled up with Dert in the office and then slept through the rest of them. Deker didn't care at all and snoozed the night away.
awe! poor pups!! Gabapentin helps for sure! My mom gives her dog that to help with his hips. Hope that her playfulness continues! :)

Thankfully none of my pups were phased by the fireworks. They were going off like crazy all over the neighborhood...all weekend long. They looked out the window a few times, but other than that, they pretty much slept. On the other hand, my Vitamix is apparently out to kill them, because every time I start making a smoothie, they hide upstairs in my bedroom. 🤷‍♀️
 
I guess I shouldn't have been surprised with Dert. I thought he'd be OK since we get intermittent fireworks going off at all times of the year due to asshole neighbors and they don't seem to phase him, but on the flip side, he's scared of his own farts.
 
Our giant boy Dert did NOT do well with fireworks. Poor guy was shaking like a leaf.
Same with the Sofie. She just shut down and shaking and panting. I gave her a Trazadone, put on her Thunder Shirt, and installed her into my side of the bed:

Cowering in the bathroom...
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Snorkel of despair.
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Sad lump.
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Auggie wasn't afraid, he likes to take any opportunity to snug with his big sister.
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Fortunately, our dogs do okay when they’re in the house. They were outside a couple nights later and someone started setting some fireworks off and they were both at the back door scratching to get in.

Wife and I were talking about how it’s just getting ridiculous now. When I was a kid, we were always “the house” on the 4th because we’d stock up in TN during trips to FL. Now, even though it’s still illegal to set them off, you can buy fireworks in OH. Seems like they start 2 or 3 nights before the 4th and go 2 or 3 nights after.
 
I live right on the SC line. They're legal in SC, illegal in NC. You can drive about 3 miles to the nearest store, or head over by the amusement park where there are about 4 places that sell them right off the highway.
 
It's become quite a joke in Ohio. You can run to a store down the street to buy them, but you have to sign a form saying you promise you won't set them off in the state.
 
minisnick REALLY wants one these. I think he would have skipped the rest of the tour if he could have stayed and play with Monty.
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