Since Darwin has been reluctant to jump into the car lately we decided to get her a ramp. I Googled ramps and read reviews and eventually we decided on this one. image from Amazon We liked that it was light and fairly compact. I was concerned about the width (16") but she seems to have no problem with it. It came on Monday and we introduced Darwin to it by having it open on the ground and putting treats on it. I put her leash on and in no time she was walking across it like a pro. Tuesday we took her for a walk and when we got back decided to give it another try, this time at an incline.
We did a few rounds going up and down the ramp at this lower incline, then moved into the garage to try her into Jason's car.
I was such the proud mom. Jason said our neighbors probably thought I was crazy the way I was carrying on about her.
We also got another package last night.
Darwin's drugs for treating her meningitis.
She was very interested in what was in the box.
Since she was so excited about it, and we need to give her these pills every 12 hours I started right then. Here's what she has to take twice a day for the next three weeks:
10 pills! Two times a day! For three weeks! Actually it'll only be 19 pills, the white Tramadol we only give once a day. We'll be going through a lot of peanut butter in the next few weeks. (Darwin used to get her pills stuffed in string cheese chunks, but she's learned to eat the cheese and spit out the pill. She loves peanut butter though and if we coat the pills in peanut butter she gobbles them down like candy! And she gets to lick my fingers and the spoon after.) What we have experienced so far with the Prednisone after one round of pills... excessive thirst and hunger... in the middle of the night. OI. Here's a website that lists some of the side effects of Prednisone. Starting at 1am she had to go out to use the bathroom, then was up guzzling down water like she was in a desert, then pacing and panting and gnawing on her raw bone. I was up til 3 watching her and making sure she was ok. What a night. She's also taking Doxycycline and Clindamycin and both those antibiotics have diarrhea listed as a side effect. Let's hope she doesn't have a reaction to those!
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!
April has started off with a BANG. We got home from work yesterday to a pile of diarrhea in the hallway (funny in a way cause Duchess just left a similar gift for her family) and dirt from my planter I'm trying to start seeds in in the living room. OI. While Jason took Darwin out for a walk I cleaned up her mess (again... how have I been designated the poop-in-house-cleaner?). I cook dinner and give Darwin a few pieces of raw chicken as a treat on her regular kibble (she's so spoiled even when she makes a mess in the house she still gets a treat... but when we eat meat she eats meat). We eat our dinner and are finishing up, when out comes Darwin and throws up all her food in the living room. She has a thing about not chewing her food and just swallowing. Is that all dogs? Or is that just her? So we go to get the cleaning supplies out (again) and she proceeds to "help" clean up her mess. Since she still wants to eat it, we put it in her bowl so Jason can clean the carpet. Just as he's finishing, she comes back out in the living room and I can tell what's about to happen. I run over, shove my cupped hands under face and she throws up again. This time it's nasty stuff deep from her stomach. UGH. Jason was not happy. We clean up again (as well as we could... this is going to require renting a steam cleaner this weekend) and throw out all her food and only give her water the rest of the night. Poor dog. We also still haven't heard from the neurologist about her spinal fluid test results! I am so annoyed with them right now. Tuesday they said it would take 24 hours for them to get the results back. Wednesday after work we hadn't heard from them so I called to see what was going on. They say there seems to be a backlog but they should get the results that night or the next day and they'll give us a call. Thursday came and went (with a bang) and still no call. Today I call them back and oh, "the neurology department isn't in on Friday's maybe they'll get back to you on Monday." OI. I paid you guys how much money to get tests done that you said we'd hear back on two days ago and yet you can't even call to say "hey, so I know we said 24 hours, then 36 hours, but we still haven't gotten those results back and we're not in tomorrow but we'll give you a call on Monday when we get in." Is that too much to ask?!
I'm not a fan of posts with no pictures so here are some pictures of Darwin from one year ago today:
That's doggy toothpaste (chicken flavor) on her nose. Thank goodness the weekend is almost here.
Remi claimed the patch on Darwin's lower back for his own tattoo. Darwin now has a tramp stamp.
Here's a close up:
After all of Darwin's tattooing yesterday, we took her for a walk on the trail. We're working on her commands when she's off leash, such as sitting and staying. {don't mind the goop in my eyes... I had just woken up from sleeping all day}
We stopped at the park on the way home for more pictures and some grass play time.
When Darwin was small she used to LOVE chewing sticks. It's been a while since she's chewed one up til yesterday.
As I was taking pictures of her chewing her stick I remembered I had taken a similar picture last year of her.
On another note, we're still waiting to hear back from the neurologist about the results from her spinal fluid tests. Reading up on meningitis, while it's "better" than Wobbler's it could be something that she'll need to take Prednisone for for maybe the rest of her life. We have Darwin's annual check up at her regular vet this weekend and I was going to talk to them about giving her glucosamine. Are any of you giving your dogs glucosamine?
