Dog's Rule

**JustHormonious** · 12-03-2010 04:06 PM

What can I say my husband and I are dog lovers. We had 4 but unfortunately had to put our two oldest girls down, at the beginning of 2010. The first one in February, she was a Shepard/Boxer mix and had her 4th stroke at the age of 14 and was paralyzed. The second one in March, she was a Rottweiler, also age 14 and was diagnosed with stomach cancer. The love and devotion from these two girls was incredible, all 14 years.

We still have our 9 year old miniature Schnauzer, she has the attitude of a sixteen year old girl. I don't know where we went wrong with this one. We take great pride in training all of our dogs but this girl, has a mind of her own. She will stomp her feet and make a rooster sound anytime she doesn't get her way, it's hilarious.

We also have a 1 year old teacup Yorkie, light of my life. Her name is Bindii and she is 3 1/2 lbs of heaven. She came to us at 14 weeks old and very sick, most of her first month with us was spent in ICU at the animal hospital. No one thought she would survive, but she did.

I get so much joy out of training my dogs, they are such intelligent animals. They will do anything for a bite of banana...

**JustHormonious** · 12-03-2010 06:33 PM

So I posted this without asking my question. This is why I should not be logged on while working... My Yorkie has an appointment in two weeks to be checked for a liver shunt. I have done research and have some basic knowledge of this condition but would like to know if anyone on the forum has personal experience with this?

**ItsASecret** · 12-04-2010 09:32 PM

My Yorkie has an appointment in two weeks to be checked for a liver shunt. I have done research and have some basic knowledge of this condition but would like to know if anyone on the forum has personal experience with this?

Yes. My dog had one the size of a human thumb, the vet said they have never seen one so large. When we got him he was not the normal puppy. He was lethargic, did not want to eat, not excited about any of his toys, just wanted to sleep....we figured maybe it was his breed (Sharpei cross, and the Sharpei is known for being lazy). Did not improve and we thought it was weird because all puppies should play so we took him to the vet who did an ultrasound and found the massive liver shunt and said we had to immediately take him to a special vet hospital in Canada because no other place could do the surgery needed. So he was taken to the hospital 9 hours away for a 3 grand surgery they said they could not believe how he was still alive, they told us to not expect him to come out of the surgery. He is now 9 and a big flat flub of a dog lol.

But what to expect? Big money procedures if your pooch needs surgery. Some can live without the surgery and just need a special diet. My dog had the surgery and no further ones and is now on a very low protein diet to help minimize the risk of the liver problems. If you look around at dog food a low protein diet is extremely hard to find, most being 50,60, upwards of 80% protein and having that everyday could really mess his system up. Same applies to dog treats which are often at least 50%+, vet says he can have those as long as it is very very infrequent otherwise he will get super lethargic and just generally not well looking. We need to find specific rawhide treats for him at about 5-10% to make him happy. So you could expect that if your vet says no more high protein, they often have special brands of food and treats at the actual vet clinic but they are often very expensive. My dog is about 75lbs now and his food for the biggest bag is about $120. It sucks to pay for that but its that or he dies and we don't want that.

**Colorado** · 12-05-2010 12:53 AM

We went through something similar with our dog.
Came back home one day to find that she couldn't move, immediately took her to the vet who informed us that she has blown some disks in her back and if surgery is not performed within 12 hours she would be paralyzed for life.
We traveled across the state to get her to one of the best qualified vet/neurosurgeon that day. She had a vet, a top notch neurosurgeon, and a fully qualified anesthesiologist during the entire procedure, and they worked on her from 6pm Friday night, until about 1 am the next morning. 3 disks removed, with no guarantee that should ever walk again. About 4 months of carrying her outside to do her stuff, and leg/back massages 4 times a day for 15 minutes minimum to keep her from atrophying, and lots of $$.
About 6 months later, she was up and about like nothing ever happened. Had several folks say "just put her down", because of the cost. But as I have mentioned here before, we don't have any kids and our dogs are our kids, and very much treated like kids. Yes, we get somewhat crazy with it - they have birthdays with cake (ice-cream cake), presents at Christmas, sit with us during the family meals for Thanksgiving and Christmas, etc., with their own plates of the holiday dinner - same as we have , as long as it's healthy for them.
Was it worth the many thousands of $$? ABSOLUTELY! and we'd do it a hundred times over again.

Folks who don't understand how someone could treat a dog like this, saying "It's JUST a dog" will never really know what unconditional love really is, and I feel sad for them and what they are missing.

I hope all works out well for you, and I certainly know how you feel.
Our Prayers are with you and your dog.

**JustHormonious** · 12-05-2010 06:07 PM

Thank you both...

It'sASecret - We had an ultrasound done several months ago that was inconclusive due to the size of her organs. We were told at that time the only way to confirm would be surgery and the Vet was not willing to do it. This time they will be doing timed blood test to check her bile acid levels.

I feed her 5 times a day because she can only handle 1 spoonful at a time without getting sick. The only dog food she eats w/o having problems is blue buffalo, canned lamb and the dry chicken and oatmeal, or chicken and brown rice. I rotate the canned and dry throughout the day. The only snack I give her is a small piece of banana.

She has a collapsed trachea and permanent lung damage/scarring from having a severe lung infection as a pup. I honestly don't know if the problems she is having is due to a liver shunt or side effects of all the medication she was given while in ICU. They never did confirm the type of infection she had due to her size and state of health, so they treated her for all possible culprits. We were told on many occasions that the medicine being administered could kill her or cause permanent damage.

A little bit about Bindii:

She was rescued from a puppy mill and was going to be destroyed. Our local animal shelter was overwhelmed with rescued puppies and was in desperate need of donations or foster families for these dogs. So we went to see how we could help... They needed money, volunteers to pick up the donated food and supplies from the local pet stores and volunteers to help out at the animal hospital. So we gave a donation and the went over to the hospital to help. I believe they had rescued 120+ dogs from one location so there were about 40 or 45 dogs at this hospital getting checked out.

I helped out with bathing these dogs and it was almost more than I could take. How anyone could treat an animal like this is beyond me. After all the animals were cleaned they received a secondary vet check to determine their health status. Our family vet was there helping out, so he let us sit in with him for awhile and pet the dogs to help keep them calm during their exam. We were then allowed to go into the ICU and that's when we met our little Bindii...

She was in an incubator and the bed was pumping up and down. I ask if I could put my hand in and pet her but they wouldn't let me. At that point I started to get just a little irritated, we had been there most of the day and I wanted to pet that dog. She needed some love, my goodness why would they not allow me to pet her. So I went and got our Vet and ask him to find out her condition... He came back and told me that she was going to be destroyed in the morning, if she lived through the night. He said she had too many health problems. Let's cut the BS she was being destroyed because of funding, point blank. She was estimated to be about 12 - 14 weeks old and weighed 15ozs.

I put my hand through the side of the incubator and started petting her, what were they going to do? Her paw moved out from underneath the blanket and I could tell she had had an IV but it had been removed, WHY? So I ask why they were not giving her fluids, DUH, sometimes I'm a little slow. This dog would have expired by morning. Someone explain to me why this was any different than the treatment she got at her original home?

So I ask our Vet to give me a complete run down and his honest opinion of her chances. He said he did not feel she would survive throughout the night. So I said give me a percentage please, I need numbers. He said less than 5% chance of survival. These were not bad odds in my book, they were better than "0". By this time my husband had his hand through the incubator petting her as well. He was looking at me like don't even think about it, I was saying an open eyed prayer that this pup would just lick my husbands finger. If she licks him, she's our new dog.

Well, she didn't lick him but she did open her eyes and look at him. Hook, line and sinker he was on board. Now the hard part, we were unable to adopt this dog because of her health status, she was not up for adoption. Luckily our Vet was there and was able to take possession of the dog after wasting two hours on the legalities. He was able to start her back on IV and found a teaching hospital about 25 miles away that was willing to take her. He and his wife transported her for us and we met them there.

Long story short: The next month of her life was a struggle, she was in ICU for about 20 days and we received many calls during this time, she was in trouble. I would go and sit with her and she would respond. On about 6 different occasions we were told to be logical about our decision and do what was best. I thought keeping her alive was, what was best, she needed someone on her side. She has repaid our kindness to her with lots of licks, cuddles and love. Very good return on this investment... She beat the odds and is now my little lucky charm...

Colorado - I'm with you on the $, it is only money and you can't take it with you. Dogs have a heart that beats the same as ours, and should not be treated any differently. As long as our dogs are not suffering my husband and I will keep them alive.

These puppy mills need to be shut down but as long as people keep buying from their local pet stores it will never happen...

**Agony_Aunt** · 12-05-2010 08:31 PM

It's really good to hear that you guys would go to such lenghts for your dogs. Luckily I've never had any of my dog's to have surgery.

But I hate when people are so cruel to their animals, and most people would rather have the dog put down than pay 3 grand for their surgery!
I got a new husky a few weeks ago. She's 15 weeks now, and she loves all the snow that we have at the moment, after all she is a husky. She's grey, black and white with bright blue eyes.

I love her!

**JustHormonious** · 12-05-2010 08:49 PM

I bet she is so beautiful... What's her name?

**Agony_Aunt** · 12-05-2010 08:56 PM

She is adorable

She was very expensive, but I just couldn't leave without her!

Her name is Lola.

**Colorado** · 12-05-2010 11:53 PM

Thats Fantastic AA,

I have a very good friend who years ago told me "It's only a Dog", how can you feel that way about a dog????
As bad luck would have it his wife ended up leaving him and took his little girl with her... she was a piece of work too.
Anyhow, for companionship he got a dog, and it didnt take long before he told me "I can see why you feel that way now, she is my baby girl and I'd do anything for her!"

It doesn't take long for someone with a good heart to take a living loving being into their heart, and when you do, it's difficult to think that you could have ever done without it.
Our first dog passed a few years ago at 17 years old - and that is very old for this breed (per the vet). I was destroyed for months on end when it happened., ...and I don't mind admitting it.