Posted on 08/07/2007 7:33:14 AM PDT by HairOfTheDog
Wow, he’s going to Oregon. Do you have someone haul for you?
I’ve been hearing about a lot of people who are getting into the horse hauling business. The girl I feed for who has the boarding stable does that, and had done it for years, but lately I’ve run into others that do it, and have been told there is a big market for it and it pays pretty well.
Becky
I agree Waylon seems young to have COPD. There’s lots of reasons for a hacking cough, from dusty hay to an upper resp. infection. I sure hope you find out.
Duchess congrats on the sale, I hope she likes it up here :~)
Becky, glad Nikki has taken yet another upturn... She sounds a lot like my old Zulu from your description of what she’s been like, and it’s very hard.
Good morning everyone!
Did Zulu get to where she did not want you to pat her? That part really bothers me, and I don’t know why. She’s never been mistreated, as I hope you would know:), but for a while now she just won’t come within patting distance, but at times seems to want too, like this morning. Trying to frontline her has been a real challenge. I’ve even skipped her a few times, hoping keeping the others done will be enough to keep her from getting ticks and fleas. I think it’s working.
Anyway, who knows. As long as she doesn’t seem to be in pain, which she doesn’t, maybe a bit stiff, but not hurting, I’m OK with the way she is, and I think I’ve gotten the other two broke from jumping on her. That hasn’t happened in a while. Came close but they stopped when I hollered, and picked up a ball bat:)
Becky
That was the hardest part about Zulu... she seemed lost, and she no longer wanted any attention from me, she’d pace like that, around in circles, and nothing I could do could comfort her. She kept her bond with Logan, but lost it with me. And she had itchy skin issues but became really combative to bathe. It was tough, because she had been my soulmate dog... the one who seemed really keyed in to me. I think it was something like Alzheimers... senility... she lost her mind long before her body gave out.
Oh, OK. Well that does sound just the same.
Sorry to ask questions, but I’d kind of like to maybe know when it will be time:(
Did you have her put down because of that, or did something else happen? How bad did the wondering around get? Did she have good days like Nikki seems to be having today? Do you have an opinion about if Nikki is still OK enough to continue on as she is, or is it time?
Becky
I decided to put her down for a lot of reasons... her mind was just part of it. She had a tumor on her belly that was the size of a baseball, and it should have been taken off but I was worried about her with anesthesia and a big surgery bill for a dog who was falling apart. And her skin was getting bad... I think it was just coming apart. She was miserable itching and the baths were a battle that didn’t seem to be doing any good any more.
When I lost Logan, she got even more lost, she was still really only attached to him, so it was about a month later I decided. I still hate and second guess myself for how it went, but she was really falling apart.
HMMMMMMMMM...I just typed in senility in dogs at google....seems this is all pretty common in aged dogs.
No recommendations tho about how to deal with it other then a medication you can give to relieve some of the symptoms, which is something I just don’t want to get started that has to be done everyday...at this point I don’t even think I could. She won’t come close.
I believe this is one of the draw backs of science learning how to keep animals alive longer then they normally would, and I’m not sure if it is good or bad thing.
Becky
Well, I think with all that you made the right decision.
It appears to me that Nikki started going down hill when we lost Josey about 5 years ago. She just lost a large part of her the joyful part of her personality, and just kind of became a dog that sat and watched rather then join in:(.
Becky
I think the decision was OK... she wasn’t happy. But it was still not right the way it went. I don’t know if you remember that story, but I made the appt to do it at home with Dr. Mike, my old horse vet. He said he’d do it and I thought that would be easier at home than taking her in to the vet.
She just really was fighting it and he couldn’t seem to find a vein. At the time I thought it was because he’d been doing horses so long he wasn’t skilled at such a small animal. I let it go on too long before we stopped. That’s the part I regret. But we did finally stop. She ran around all happy then, it was really something, like a victory lap. We smiled and laughed at her running around. All that adrenaline from the fight was making her feel full of energy, I guess, I don’t know.
I made a promise to her then that we’d take her in and do the works. Fix her tumor, fix her skin, everything. The vet left.
Then she started falling over. Some of the drug had indeed gotten in and she started getting very drunk after he was gone. It was such an emotional roller coaster. I got on the phone with my regular dog vet and was rather hysterical. I just didn’t know what to do. I wanted to know if she’d recover from this or if it would leave her compromised. They wouldn’t say, they wanted to see her.
I was embarrassed and hysterical and on a terrible roller coaster. Finally, she went to sleep, and I took her in for them to finish it at my dog vet. She was unconscious the whole time. The vet said that all her veins kept collapsing as soon as she could get a needle in, she had to give it in the jugular. That she was just falling apart, it wasn’t really the horse vet’s fault. But letting him try too long was my fault, I still feel guilty for that.
But it’s good practice for these things, sometimes it’s really clear what you should do, and sometimes it’s not. But I learned from it to never let it become a big fight like that again. He he’d been successful and she’d died right then, I’d have been a wreck. It was a Godsend that I did get to make up with her, and for a time she was happy again, even if it was only for a little while.
Gosh darn, I checked the radar, looked like we were in the clear, so I got dressed to go out and ride Rocky a bit, walked out and it started raining, came back in and looked at the radar and now it’s showing rain over us...go figure:)
Becky
Heh... weird summer. But it’ll keep everything green, right? :~)
Oh, my, no, I’d never heard that story. It’s so hard to know the right thing with an animal. You just really never know how bad they are feeling, mentally and physically. I think that’s nice that she was so happy and energetic before she went to sleep, and altho it may have seemed a bad deal to you, it revived her enough that she went out feeling good, can’t ask for more then that.
Becky
Oh yeah, I’m not sorry about the rain. And I’m crossing my fingers that we are getting the fall rains out of the way early and it will be nice in Oct:)
Speaking of dogs:)
So weird, Grizzly is standing at the garden gate crying and whining....who knows what that is about. Never done it before, has never been afraid of rain, it’s not thundering, I went out and checked, he appears fine, Nikki is fine...Maybe he’s just tired of all the rain we’ve had this summer:)...Or maybe he noticed me walking out with my boots on and realized he’s being cheated out of a ride.
Becky
Well, I only really talked about it that day, while it was all going on in the HH, and haven’t really talked about it in detail since. It’s something that still haunts me sometimes.
I think what I would recommend with Nikki, if you think she’ll fight you, is when you think it’s time, get some Ace from the vet, and give her a few of them at home, enough to really knock her out. You can give her a treat with the pills in it, and let her slowly go to sleep. Then take her in. That would avoid the fight to hold her down, that’s the part that haunts me. Even if Nikki’s veins might not be in as bad a shape as Zulu, her mind might be.
Thanks, that’s a very good idea.
Becky
In hindsight, that’s what I think I should have done.
Good luck... may she have a few more good days between now and then. :~)
Good morning,
Is walking gal also known as Epona?
Here is a link. Jake actually has SPAOD. I am not sure how to link this so just copy/paste to your browser line. Calf Manna is a pellet supplement you can get an just about any feed store. Tractor Supply stores carry it also.
http://www.ivis.org/special_books/Lekeux/robinson/IVIS.pdf
Jake did not have it the first year we got him but has had it pretty bad the last couple of years. You can see him struggling to breath, I feel so sorry for him. COPD is Chronic Obstructive Pulminary Disease. Kinda of a catch all name for Bronchitis, asthma, etc. It is caused by dusty hay, dry dusty pastures, allergen spores, mold spores, lots of things. Just like in people.
How old is Waylon? Jake is 9 years old.
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