Sunday afternoon, I happened to notice Foster suddenly lifting his right hind leg trying to lick his paw while he was walking around in the backyard. I started towards him to take a look, but then seeing me coming, he ran right up to me and gave ma a paw with a big smile on his face. So I concluded that he might have stepped on a rock or something and didn’t think much about it.
But by Monday evening, I decided something was definitely wrong with his rear right paw and possibly also the left paw because he kept lifting his paws off the ground, mostly the right one but sometimes the left one as well. I tried to take a look, but he almost ripped my face off when I touched his paw. So without a second set of hands to hold him, all I could see was a little bit of his paw getting a little raw from him licking. I decided to take him to the vet on Wednesday if he didn’t get better.
Yesterday I dropped Foster off at the vet in the morning, and let me not digress and talk about the receptionist again this time cause it will just frustrate the shit out of me even more. Foster’s paws had been getting worse, not being able to play with Georgia and having trouble pooping since he has a hard time getting into the position to push since he keeps trying to lift his rear right paw off the ground. But I wasn’t worried too much because I thought it was some superficial wound like a little cut on his paw pad made worse by him licking.
The vet found out not only his rear paws, but all four of his paws have skin legions or ulcers that look as if he scraped them on a rough concrete surface. The rear left paw was in the worst condition. The vet thinks Foster has Lupus because not only there was no such occasion for Foster to have hurt his paws like that but it’s very uncommon for a dog to hurt ALL of his paws like that. He’s pretty sure it is lupus since he has seen enough cases like this even though the only way to make sure is to do a biopsy.
I am angry. I am tired. I am frustrated. I am afraid I’m about to crack.
For now, I came home with antibiotics and anti-inflammatory for the wounds. If his paws don’t get better after this round of antibiotics and anti-inflammatory, then we’ll go from there and treat it with steroids. In the mean time, I’m looking into natural remedies that would help with canine lupus, but it looks even the most holistically minded people seem to say the steroid is the way to go (from what I’ve found out in a very short period of time). If you have dealt with canine lupus or know anybody who has, please let me know. I would like to hear about the experience.
Today concluded this spring’s round of heartworm tests and wellness checkups for my beasts at last with Brooklyn’s visit to the vet. Brooklyn being Brooklyn, I had to ask numerous times to contain the two resident Rotties and the resident cats, all of whom tried their very best to escape the back room every chance they got. I have to admit it must have been a sight to behold whenever I saw any of them approaching since I turned to face Brooklyn to block her, bending my knees and back in preparation to body block and bear hug her in time if and when she decides to lunge. Picturing myself in that posture would have been funny if I looked fit and slim active type, but it’s absolutely hysterical to picture me the way I am – fat and short couch potato type.
I asked Dr. L to check if Brooklyn broke her teeth, and my suspicion was confirmed. Both of her upper back premolars were broken, but fortunately not enough to expose the nerves. There is nothing we could do about it. I might actually have to start brushing her teeth! I also took home a bottle each of Rimadyl and Methocarbamol to give Brooklyn when her pinched nerve acts up. One good news. She weighed at 54.5lb, which is 1.5lb lighter than 3 months ago. Finally she’s on her way back to her lean and mean self at 47lb, as opposed to being just mean.
I have another appointment to bring Brandy in again in 2 weeks, this time to draw blood for some other tests, especially pancreatic deficiency, to determine why her poop continues to be soft after finishing 10 days of metronidazol. Adding rice and yogurt to her diet did help a tad, but nothing to write home about. I procured a bottle of apple cider vinegar as well some time ago, but yet to crack it open, the reason being that yogurt is supposed to replenish the good bacteria in her system. Adding to it apple cider vinegar, which is supposed to kill excess bacteria in her system, sounds illogical and doesn’t compute at all. So I will continue to give her yogurt for another week or so to use up the yogurt I already have in the fridge, then if her poop consistency is still not satisfactory, I’ll try the apple cider vinegar. I’m pulling my hair out to see if THAT might help to keep weight on her. She’s 15lb lighter than a year ago.
Grizzley will now be on prednisone once a day for a month or so, and we’ll see how he does. If he does well, we’ll try to reduce it to once every other day. He’s been doing great so far, back to his old self trying to steal my food right when I bring food to my mouth every single bite.
Georgia’s allergy checkup and blood panel a few weeks ago was great, and even the vet was surprised how well she’s doing on just the weekly allergy shots alone without any other medication. This was the first time she had not had any yeast infection flare up in between the checkups.
Foster, of course, is healthy… well, at least physically. If only he would stop giving himself puncture wounds that need stitching up, that would be awesome.
Serious Stuff. Seriously
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Yeah, I'm gonna try this time. I must be crazy... not surprisingly.
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