{03feb2011: back in action}

After Boo's tennis balls incident he had his surgery, healed up, and is back in action!  Darwin spent the day at his house for a play date today.  Lots of tug and lots of chase!

Boo and Seamus make off with the toys while Darwin and Gino are left behind.  (It's sibling play dates... Boo and Darwin and Gino and Seamus)

Nothing like a good day of sibling rivalry!

An update and an answer to questions we've gotten... 

Many about Darwin's ear which was bandaged in the last Wordless Wednesday post.  Darwin had an ear infection and a little cut on the tip of her ear, we've managed to clear up the infection (we go back in to check it out at the vet tomorrow morning) and the cut has mostly healed up but every so often pops back open so we've been back and forth between unbandaged and bandaged.

Darwin at daycare... We had a pretty good week!   I was watching their webcam and got a little nervous when I didn't see Darwin on camera for a while and called them up to make sure she was okay (yes I'm THAT mom).  It turned out one of the workers at the day care brought her Great Dane in and they took him and Darwin and a few other dogs (around 10-12 of them) into another area for play time.  We all agreed we think Darwin liked that set up better being in a smaller group.  When we went to pick her up though she was in a back kennel for a break because she still gets a little worked up at going home time and starts barking which riles up the other dogs.  After she dragged the worker out front with her I made her relax and calm down before letting her outside to the car.  The worker said she's very vocal but not aggressive at the gate like some other dogs are, but she does get very loud.

Darwin turns 2 on Monday and I can't believe it!!!  Trying to think of what her special birthday meal should be!  Any suggestions?

{20dec2010: update}

We woke up Saturday to no power and pouring down rain.  Since I needed a clean pee sample for Darwin we thought we'd take her down to the garage to find a covered spot to do our collecting.  Darwin was so confused as to why we would take her to the garage to use the bathroom.  Even though she hates the rain she found the one uncovered area to walk out to do her business. I quickly slid a tupperware container under her to get our sample.  Of course I read online not to get the first drops, so I waited til she went a little then slid the container under using a rubber glove covered hand, but since she had already gone a little the container slid in pee and I didn't think about it til I touched the bottom of the container with the non gloved hand and got pee on me anyway.  hahaha.  
It took a while to figure out how to get the garage door open since the power was out (thank goodness for Facebook friends who are smarter than we are) but once we did we dropped off her sample for testing.  We had a bunch of errands to run and so Darwin came with us and we walked around the neighborhood by the vet and ran into this cute little Golden puppy tied outside one of the stores.  She REALLY wanted to play with Dar.




I don't think Darwin was quite sure what to make of this hyper leash biting puppy and though they had a small round of bitey face, she was quickly over it and we moved on. We did see another dog tied up outside another store and he was not as friendly.  As we approached him he quickly jumped up and arched his back and showed teeth. Not a friendly puppy.  We crossed the street and avoided him (I was kind of annoyed because I did want to look at the store he was in front of but was unsure of him after that).  I don't understand how people can tie their dogs up outside a public area if their dog is that angry.  It's happened before in our neighborhood when we tried to walk to the store a dog went crazy barking and snarling at Darwin as we tried to walk by.  If your dog is slightly aggressive or scared of other dogs don't leave him where he could cause harm to someone else. 
Anyway it was a good weekend and Darwin had a blast at the park yesterday, then last night she started whining/yelping again.  We were worried about it because she was more vocal than last time so I called the vet first thing in the morning and the vet tech said it could be bladder stones, but no crystals were found in her sample but it could be that they had just turned to stones already, so we made an appointment and I took her in.  The vet said her urine test from Saturday came back totally clean and with normal gravity levels and no crystals or blood so while it was possible stones could have formed it seemed unlikely.  She stretched out Darwin's back legs and checked her spine and Darwin showed signs of pain when she did that.  The vet thinks Dar just strained some muscles from running hard at the park yesterday and said to restrict her off leash play and do hot and cold compresses and massages and gave us some Tramadol to ease the pain.  It has been a few weeks since our last acupuncture appointment so we may need to book another one soon.  Let's hope this resolves the random whining and we can stop worrying about it!

{18dec2010: not a UTI}

We got a call from the vet last night with the results of Darwin's urine sample.  It turns out that there doesn't seem to be a UTI, but they watch the culture for a few days in case something changes, but for now things seem normal.  The not so good news is her "specific gravity" was low.  They aren't sure if it's low because she's drinking a lot of water or if it's something more serious such as renal failure.  Our vet tech Ashley said she highly doubt it's renal failure as it's very rare in a dog so young so we shouldn't start getting too worried about it.  They want us to do a first morning catch of urine from Dar and bring it in for testing.  The first morning sample would be a more accurate reading as it should be more concentrated after a night of letting her kidneys do their thing.  Any advice from anyone on how to catch her pee?
I asked about what happens next if this next round of tests show a low gravity and she said it's unlikely, but if it happens we would do blood work on Darwin and go from there.
All this talk about kidney problems makes me wonder if Darwin's three month stint on Prednisone could have affected her.  Seems unrealistic as she was only on it for such a short time, but I guess you never know.... let's just hope her first test was a fluke and this next test comes back clean and normal.  


Onto more entertaining news... After watching Kasha's video of her new trick, I was motivated to try it with Darwin.  I've tried before to balance treats on her head and she never lets me.  Last night was no different.  But last night as she was avoiding me she was very pawy, and jabbed me in the face.  Here's a quick video of our attempt.  You can see in the beginning her paw jab.

I gave up after that.  Later in the night we were playing and she head butted me and gave me a cut above my lip.  hahahaha.  I look like I was in a fight (sorry no pictures of the battle wounds).  As much as it hurt it was pretty entertaining.  Jason said I need to work on my reflexes so I'm more cat like and can avoid getting beat up.  This coming from the guy who got a black eye from Dar.  Hahaha.  
Have a good weekend everyone!

{17aug2010: cough cough}

Thanks for all your concerns regarding Darwin's latest ailment!  All her issues made me think of a research speech/paper I had to do in college about Munchausen Syndrome by Proxy a condition where a parent (usually a mom) makes their child ill or injured to get attention from others.  The movie The Sixth Sense showed a case of that.
Anyway, we had a little getaway this weekend (more on that in another post) and her cough/hacking was a little better, but still there and her appetite still wasn't what it usually is.  By Sunday night she was still hacking so I called our vet yesterday to get her in to get checked out.  Her appointment was scheduled for 930 this morning.  Before her regular vet appointment she had a 730 (omg so early!) appointment at her holistic vet for her accupunture treatment.  While we were there we were talking about Darwin's hacking and she immediately said it's kennel cough.  I told her how we went to the emergency vet last week (she doesn't think the one we went to is very good and recommended others) and told them I thought it could be kennel cough but the on-call vet was quick to say it was not kennel cough but an irritation in her throat.  She said the Prednisone Darwin was on for her back problems left her with a weaker immune system than normal so she had a higher chance of getting any kind of cold or infection.  She even laughed at the Bordetella vaccine saying that she thought it was a waste as Bordetella is only one type of kennel cough and the vaccine only lasts for a couple months.  We got sent home with some Chinese herbs and Astralagus root to boost her immune system.  I canceled our regular vet appointment and we'll see how Darwin does on just these Chinese herbs.
As I've said before, thank goodness for pet insurance.  After last weeks emergency visit we racked up a thousand dollar plus bill and when we picked up Dar, we left them with a claim form to fill out and fax in.  By Sunday we got an email from Trupanion saying they received our claim and last night got a follow up email notifying us that our claim was processed and we'll be getting back our 90% (minus exam fees).  Woo hoo!  Even though Trupanion doesn't cover holistic treatments I'm still very happy with them and it's even better now that they've done away with their cap/limit on payouts.  It used to be about $20,000 cap, and at the rate we've been going with Darwin we would've reached that in couple years.  Now with no cap we can breathe easy!  
And because I don't like pictureless posts, here's a peek for an upcoming post!

{26may2010: slacker}

Man. I've been slacking on the blog.  I was hoping to blog once we got the consultation report from the neurologist (he was going to do more research and email me), but it still hasn't come so for now I'll just say this, GRRR.
We had our appointment on Monday and on the drive there it hit me.  I FORGOT TO PICK UP HER XRAYS.  OI.  Instead of having the vet courier it to the neurologist I thought, I can pick it up no problem.  No problem if I remembered.   Problem when I totally blank on doing it.  We called to see if we should postpone our appointment since I didn't have the xrays, and they said they can exam her without the xrays.  
We get there and take a seat on a couch while we wait in the lobby and Darwin decides to make herself comfy too.

Having just her butt on the couch wasn't comfy enough, so she hopped right up and found a good position.

See that lady in the backround?  She couldn't help but laugh at Darwin making herself at home on the couch.

So we go in the exam room and Dr. Sanders checks Darwin out.   We told him about her gimpy butt and her incontinence and what the new xrays showed.  From what he could tell from his exam and the MRI's they did in March he still doesn't think it's a neurological issue, but it could be an orthopedic issue due to excessive bone growth in her lower back.  He was going to send for her new xrays and look them over with the ortho guy and do some research.  We also got sent home with Gabapentin which Darwin has to take for two weeks.

So she started the Gabapentin Monday night, two pills every 12 hours.  She got two more Tuesday with her breakfast before we went to work.  We come home from work and that familiar unwelcoming smell was floating in the lobby area.  UGH. 
The hallway was covered in poop.  COVERED.  Jason took her out for a walk while I cleaned.  There was even diarrhea on her bed.... poor girl.  I Googled Gabapentin to see its side effects and I couldn't find diarrhea as one, so I called SVS to see if we should stop giving her the drugs.  They said the diarrhea is probably unrelated to the Gapapentin and to keep giving it to her, but to give her a bland diet for a few days (rice and chicken).  So while I felt bad for her stomach issues (and me having to clean it again) she was quite the happy camper having rice and chicken for dinner.
Darwin LOVES rice. If she hears one of us in the kitchen making rice she is right there. If she hears the rice cooker button pop up when done she is right there. I think she is faking the stomach ache just so she can get rice more often. 

If you look carefully you can see rice on her nose and stuck on her lip.

So our adventures with Darwin's ailment continues.  I did ask Dr. Sanders about accupuncture and chiropractic care, and he said he wouldn't recommend chiropractic treatment for her as it may stress her out, but accupuncture may be a way to go.  He said there is a vet, Dr. Donna Kelleher , who is a nutritionist and holistic vet that he may recommend us to, but she has a long wait list and there are other vets.  He said if Darwin were his dog though he'd wait to see her.  
It's funny because shortly after we started Darwin's blog I had won a book from Stella for her third birthday called The Last Chance Dog and it's written by Dr. Kelleher.

I've put off reading it in favor of other books, but now I feel motivated to read it and see if a more holistic approach would be beneficial to Darwin. 

{18may2010: thank you!}

We got an award from our fun lab friends Mack and Mia!

Here are the rules:
Rule 1. Thank the person who gave it to you.
BIG thank you to Mack and Mia, the some of our funniest friends, and home of the infamous MACK ATTACK!

Rule 2. Share 7 things about yourself.
1.  Darwin has the same toys from when she was a tiny puppy... those stuffies she doesn't try to destuff, but anything new doesn't stand a chance, especially if it has plastic eyeballs.
2.  Darwin doesn't like her tail or butt being touched
3.  Darwin still has a gimpy butt*
4.  Darwin will not sit on the ground if we're out at a public place (bar, restaurant, etc)... she'll stand the whole time
5.  Darwin gets scared of anything she's not familiar with, even a plastic bag on the ground
6.  Darwin is a pro at walking up her ramp to get into the car
7.  Darwin has "gorgeous hips" (this according to her vet who reviewed her xrays)
 
Rule 3. Pass the award along to 7 bloggers who you think are fantastic.
1.  Ollie the tiny Yorkie puppy
2.  Ammy and the rest of the Army of Four (Ammy tells the best jokes)
3.  Miss M and Mr B the two pitties in the city
4.  Remi whom we'll hopefully see again soon
5.  Nala, Remi's sister whom we'll hopefully see again soon too!
6.  Murphy and his kitty sister Fergie
7.  Remington and his kitty brother Oz
 
Rule 4. Contact Blog award winners.


Thank you again to Mack and Mia!

*More news on Darwin's gimpy butt (it's technically not her butt, but I like calling her that).
We have an appointment with the neurologist next week Monday and I've been doing a lot of google researching on what it could possibly be.  I've found this page with information about Intervertebral Disc Disease in Dogs, and a few other pages on Cauda Equina Syndrome and Thoracolumbar Intervertebral Disc Disease but the last two seem to be problems of the Lumbar spine and Darwin's xrays showed compression in her Thorasic spine. 
She had an accident on the couch (again) this weekend, and I'm wondering if it is related to this back issue where she's becoming incontinent due to the compression in her spine.  She's still taking 1 Prednisone pill every day, and tomorrow goes down to 1 pill every other day.  I don't think her peeing incident has to do with the Prednisone (though her roid rage and dandruff may) as she doesn't even seem to know she had an accident til she stands up.
Ugh.  I just wish she was healthy or even that we knew what was wrong specifically and how to fix it.  

{14may2010: xray results & flashback Friday}

After a game of voicemail tag I was finally able to talk to the vet about Darwin's xrays on Tuesday.  They noticed when she was there that she was shifting her weight on her back legs and palpated her spine before doing the radiographs and she yelped at the same spot as before(T10-T12 area of her lower spine).  So beside the hips she was initially going in for, they reshot her lower back and also covered her knees and ankles to make sure they have current radiographs of practically her whole body.  
Her hips look "gorgeous" according to the vet and her knees and ankles look totally fine too.  They did notice "MILD" (emphasis on mild) narrowing of her spine at the T11-T12 area of her thorasic spine. 
They asked how she's been doing and if she seems to be in pain.  So I told her about how Darwin's back legs seem to slide out when she's standing and how her rear seemed to get weak after running and playing.  She said that it is concerning that she's having rear end weakness and thinks we should go back for a consultation with the neurologist to check her reflexes and to asses her now versus a month and a half ago.   
She said it seems to be an invertebral disk disease and she doesn't think it was caused by trauma (i.e. her doggy daddy crashing into her) or it would've shown on the initial MRI as a disk out of line, compressing her spine.  
So... we still don't have a straight answer as to what's wrong with Dar, and I'm waiting to hear back from the neurologist's office on Monday (they only work Monday to Thursday) to set up another consultation appointment.  (sigh)

And since we need some pictures to liven things up, here's a flashback to some pictures of Darwin and her brother Boo from one year ago today when Boo came to visit us at work.

It's a beautiful Friday and should hold out for a beautiful weekend in Seattle!  Hope you all have a great weekend too!

{05apr2010: weekend review}

Before we get to the weekend review, I have a confession to make.  I think I have a crush on Ammy.  I love her smiling face!  I can't get enough of it!


Ok, now that I've got that off my chest we can move onto our weekend.  
Saturday we took Darwin to the vet for her annual check up.  She weighed in at 113lbs... she's lost 2 lbs in the last few weeks even though she's less active.  Strange.  
She was really well behaved while we were there and got all her vaccinations!  The vet noticed that the teeth on the left side of Darwin's mouth had considerably less plaque than the right side... she must be a left sided chewer.... which means I'll be brushing her right side more often!  We also discussed Darwin's walking and some hopping action she's been doing and now the vet is concerned about Darwin's hips and is going to check the x-rays we took to see if she can see her hips and if there is anything to be concerned about.  OI.  Let's hope not.

It's been cold and rainy, more like winter than spring, here in Seattle but on Saturday we had a break in the cold and the sun came out.  I set up Darwin's bed outside on the deck and she got to enjoy a raw bone while getting some vitamin D.
{mmm.  i'm a left sided chewer}

{don't mind my funny lip i've spotted a fly!}

She didn't catch the fly... too slow!


For Easter we didn't do much.  It was a beautiful morning so we all hung out on the deck for a bit, and then it turned grey and rainy.  We ran some errands and got Darwin an Easter treat!

A perfect find at the thrift store!  

After a little cuddling... off came his eye!

Then his other eye.... then his nose... and then some face stuffing.

He's still got a lot of de-stuffing to go!  It was a $1.99 well spent!


Hope you all had a great weekend!


OH. And the neurologists office finally called, apologizing profusely for not calling earlier.  The results of her spinal fluid tests showed a "high normal" and slightly inflamed.   The neurologists thinks it's best to treat it as meningitis so they'll be sending over 3 prescriptions, 2 antibiotics, Doxycycline and Clindamycin, to be taken for 3 weeks, and a steroid, Prednisone, to be taken for 9 weeks.  Let's hope these drugs help and Darwin can get back to normal soon!

{30mar2010: It's...}

NOT WOBBLER'S!!!

Whew. What a relief!  Thank you to everyone for all the well wishes and crossed paws for good results!
We dropped Darwin off in the morning, and by 3:45 we got a call from the neurologist with the results.  He said her spine looked totally fine and there was no evidence of compression, but the radiologist picked up on some abnormal tissue growth between her T10-T11 vertebrae... sometimes it's called a "kissing lesion" in horses.  
So while it's NOT WOBBLER'S(!!!) it could be meningitis and he's running some tests on her spinal fluid to see if that's what's causing her pain.  He'll be calling tomorrow with those results. 
If it is meningitis (Wobbler's research stops here... meningitis research picks up) she'll be treated with 9 weeks of antibiotics and Prednisone.  The vet tech also told us if the tests don't show meningitis, they may still treat her for it, because they weren't able to get a spinal tap on her lower back where the problem seems to be and they had to take it higher in her spine.  
They she also may need physical therapy or water therapy.


When we went to pick her up, they took us to an exam room to go over the results of the MRI, then left to go get her.  Once they got her out of the back, she bolted straight for the front door.  The vet tech thought she was just skittish and "drunk" from the anesthesia and tried to carry Darwin's rear (she hates that) and eventually Darwin just  squatted and peed in the lobby.  Poor girl.  She was whining and pulling to get outside, and all she wanted to do was use the bathroom!
Now that we're home she seems to be doing better.  She ate dinner as soon as we came in (she couldn't eat anything after 10pm last night) and is now chewing away at a raw bone.  She has waves of drunkenness and neediness from the drugs, but other than that she seems to be fine. 
I'll post pictures tomorrow of all her new shaved spots... I may start calling her Patch... I just wanted to let you all know the results and say a big thank you for keeping her in your thoughts!


It's not wobblers!!!

{23mar2010: update}

So today was Darwin's appointment with the neurologist and I was kind of nervous as to what he'd have to say.  I was hoping I'd be able to do a "not Wobbler's" post today, but he wasn't able to totally rule it out based on his exam and her xrays.  
Darwin has been hesitant to get in the car the last few times I've taken her places... Sunday, I went in to work and she seemed to be eager to go with me, but when we got to the car she didn't want to get in... she's usually quick to jump right in.  I wasn't going to force her to go to work with me since I barely wanted to go myself so I took her back in and left her (where she whined at the door for me according to Jason).  Last night we were going to meet Robin, BB and Friday at Norm's (a dog-friendly bar/pub in Fremont) and it took a good 5-10 minutes to get her to jump in, and even then I had to force her in the car.  Then today to get to the neurologist, loading her into the car took at least 5 minutes, and I basically had to (try) and lift her in.  I've been chocking it up to nerves... maybe she's worried we'll be leaving her again, maybe her last vet visit with the sedation and xrays made her nervous about going back, maybe she's just being difficult. 
So we get to the neurologist's office and meet Dr. Sanders.  He checks Darwin out, makes her walk down the hall, flexes her legs, tests her reflexes, and palpates her spine.  At certain parts along her spine she would react with a jerk and a low growl.  He then checked out her xrays, but said he didn't see anything that stood out to him as being anything to be too worried about.
He said based on her reaction to him pushing on her spine, he said it could be meningitis or polyarthritis, though he's pretty confident it's not meningitis as she doesn't present the typical symptoms of it.  He also hasn't ruled out Wobbler's as the xrays that were taken were of her lower back and none show her neck which is where Wobbler's affects.  But he also said that based on the exam today she's not showing any symptoms that stand out to him, her gait and posture are normal, that make him feel like we need to rush her to get an MRI and that it could just be something that could heal on its own.  Our two options are to continue to limit her activity and slowly reintroduce her back to her normal activities and see if she reacts like she did on our walk on Saturday.  Or we can do an MRI to see if there is (or isn't) something bigger (like Wobbler's).  If it isn't Wobbler's we can have that peace of mind, and if it is  we can treat it before it get's worse.  
After I thought about it after our appointment and thinking back to Darwin and her not wanting to jump into the car, I am thinking now, maybe it hurts her back to jump up in the car and that's why she's so reluctant to get in  and not that she's traumatized.
Jason and I currently are debating if we should do the MRI (we're leaning to yes at the moment), but we are also thinking about taking her to our chiropractor who does adjust dogs (including his own) to see if that would help her.  
So while we have no definitive answers like I was hoping we'd get today, it was positive that her gait is back to normal and there wasn't anything that seriously alarmed the doctor. 
Once we got home Darwin was quick to get out on the balcony and get some vitamin d.

{16mar2010: oh crap}

Literally.  
(skip the next paragraph if you're not up for a poop story)
We came home from work today and as we approached the door Jason said, "why does it smell like poop?".  I told him to keep his voice down in case it's the neighbors cooking.  We walked in and what did we find?  Poop... 2 piles in the kitchen.  Seems like the Rimadyl was making her have diarrhea.  Gross.  At least she did it on the tile floor and not on the carpet in the living room.  I took her out again where more poop came out, this time with a little blood in it.  So we called the vet to tell them about the diarrhea and the blood, and they told us to stop the Rimadyl, bring in a stool sample and they'll switch her medication.  Hopefully her fecal float test comes back negative for any worms or any other problems, we'll hear from them in the morning.  Oi.  
So Dar is on Tramadol (still) and she now has to start taking Metronidazole.
We're still hoping her walk will stop looking so gimpy and the W word will be ruled out.


In less poopy news, I must say our blogging friends are the best!  Besides all the fingers and paws that are crossed for Dar and the well wishes coming our way, our blog friend Nala sent Darwin a get well gift!

Darwin was quite eager to get at what was inside.

A piggy bottle buddy, Zukes treats and a sweet card!  I was trying to take pictures, but Darwin really wanted to play with her new toy... 

 {ooooh, I love it, I love it}

Thank you Nala and Amber!  Hopefully Darwin will heal up soon and be able to have a play date the next time you guys are back in Seattle!!

{15mar2010: update2}

Call from the vet at lunch today... not great news.  Radiologist confirmed compressed disks on Darwin's spine (T-12 and T-13) and being that she's still walking funny (we're starting to call her gimpy butt) our vet recommends we go in for a consult with a neurologist to see if he thinks she needs an MRI and if it could be Wobblers (**shudder**).  I'm really hoping it's not Wobblers and just out of line disks that can be fixed by rest, acupuncture or a chiropractor.  Ugh.  I'm waiting for a call back from the neurologist's office to see when we can get in to see the doc.  We'll keep you posted.

To wrap things up on a more positive note here's a couple pictures from Jason and my vacation:
Bayon Temple - Siem Reap, Cambodia

Victory Gate - Siem Reap, Cambodia

{13mar2010: updates}

First off, thanks for everyone's comments and concern regarding Darwin's injuries!  We're on day 2 of trying to keep a 13month old puppy as nonactive as possible and so far so good.  I'm not sure if she's just plain pooped from 2.5 weeks of nonstop play time with her parents or if she just isn't that comfortable to be a bouncing nut, but she's been pretty good about just spending her time laying around and mouthing her toys.  She hasn't been as nutty (yet) as we were worried she'd be so let's hope she keeps calm herself and we won't need to get sedatives from the vet.  
We're waiting to hear back from the vet once they hear from the radiologist to get an official diagnosis... should be today or Monday.  I don't think her back/spine injury is too much to worry about.  It should heal on it's own as long as we keep her resting... the vet did say she if she did not recommend we restrict Darwin's activities the worse case would be her disks would get more out of line and could lead to surgery or paralysis.  Eek!  I ration her injury out to be similar to a case of whiplash I had a couple years ago, where a sudden crash just threw her back out of whack.  We'll keep you all updated on the vet's call and how things go with Trupanion.


Second update has to do with Darwin's brother Kona. 

In my last update of him, Kristie (mom of Darwin's other brother and playdate-mate, Boo Radley) was taking him in to foster.  Well after a month and a half of socializing, training, and getting him neutered, Kristie was able to find him his new forever home!!! And doubly good news is that his new family is a coworker of Kristie's husband, and we'll still have playdates with him and meet-ups at Marymoor!  Yea for happy endings!