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!
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?
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!
