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Quorra

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  • 1 month later...

Just got my baby girl Dulcinea spayed today. She's six months old today too.

Vet called said she went though surgery with no complications and she's doing fine in recovery. Going to pick her up in a few hours.

She hates the car so much, she doesn't want to go in and she shivers and shakes, and I know I'm taking her to get an operation and I just feel guilty.

She's such a healthy and active girl making her have surgery seems so wrong right now. But the vet assures me that getting it done now before her first heat significantly decreases her risk of getting breast cancer. And the sooner they do it the easier it is for the dog.

My dog I had as a kid, we never got spayed and when she was around 7 or 8 she started oozing blood and pus from her area. She had to have emergency hysterectomy and she almost died. I was told this was not an uncommon thing for dogs that age that haven't gotten spayed.

So my brain knows I did the right thing but my heart hurts.

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3 minutes ago, drawkcabi said:

Just got my baby girl Dulcinea spayed today. She's six months old today too.

Vet called said she went though surgery with no complications and she's doing fine in recovery. Going to pick her up in a few hours.

She hates the car so much, she doesn't want to go in and she shivers and shakes, and I know I'm taking her to get an operation and I just feel guilty.

She's such a healthy and active girl making her have surgery seems so wrong right now. But the vet assures me that getting it done now before her first heat significantly decreases her risk of getting breast cancer. And the sooner they do it the easier it is for the dog.

My dog I had as a kid, we never got spayed and when she was around 7 or 8 she started oozing blood and pus from her area. She had to have emergency hysterectomy and she almost died. I was told this was not an uncommon thing for dogs that age that haven't gotten spayed.

So my brain knows I did the right thing but my heart hurts.

Yeah, you did the right thing.  This will drastically reduce the chance of health issues down the road, and unless you're planning on breeding her it's the best move for her and everyone else.  

My dog was spayed around the same age a yours, she's now 13 and in great shape.  She can hang with me on 10+ mile hikes.  

On the vehicle anxiety thing, have you tried getting her in the car, a treat, and then just letting her get out?  My dad's dog was terrified of riding in the car because they only ever took him to the vet or groomers.  I tried to take him for a hike and he was panicking and puking on the car.  

Then I spent one Saturday morning just getting him used to it (not even going anywhere at first), giving him treats.  Worked up to rides around the block and straight home.  By the end of the day he wasn't t freaking out in the car. 

Good job being a responsible and caring dog owner and getting her spayed!  Sounds like she got a great home, glad to hear she's doing well!

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So -- mainly venting or whatever ...

Our (1 month from --) 11 year old boxer seems likely to have a brain tumor. He's had arthritis that he's dealt with -- he was barely able to walk the block about a year ago, but daily caprofen/rimadyl completely changed him. This is different and really sucks. We noticed his head seemed to be someone cocked to the right and then since he has really struggled with his right side -- he moves around like a drunk foal. It would be funny if it wasn't so heart-breaking.

He's still a pretty happy boy -- mostly himself on walks -- but we have a consult with a neurology department on Monday and don't expect good news. The question will be what treatment is available (and at what cost) and what quality of life that will offer him. I don't know. Mostly venting here, so that I can better support my partner. She's had him since he was a pound puppy before we met. :(

:crying:

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12 minutes ago, drawkcabi said:

hates the car so much, she doesn't want to go in and she shivers and shakes, and I know I'm taking her to get an operation and I just feel guilty.

I know exactly how you feel.  We are doing some long-term dog-sitting and when I took him to the groomer a few weeks ago I got him all strapped in with his car harness in the passenger seat of my truck, went around to the drivers side and looked over to see him shivering and cowering over there.  He didn't make a fuss but he was so obviously terrified that I couldn't help but feel really bad for him.  

We are long term dog-sitting because a good friend of my SO moved to Australia and the import process is pretty serious for Australia so until it plays out and we can send him back to her, he is living with us.  This will take at least 6 months, and we're about halfway through right now.  He's a King Charles Cavalier, so maybe 25 lbs or so and extremely cute.  I think it's gonna be hard to say goodbye to him.  Despite my best efforts to not get attached we both love the little guy.  Nothing better than how excited he gets when we come home from work and he's pretty low maintenance.  SO reports that he knows the sound of my truck pulling up and starts running around the house when I get home.  We take him on 3 walks a day and that's probably more activity than actually needs.  He'll play in the house for about 20 minutes a day and after that he just wants to get up on the couch and get snugged in between the humans.  He's basically 85% snuggly and 15% active which is the perfect ratio for me. 

It's funny how the rules have changed over time too.  When we first took him on, the rule was that he had to sleep in his crate.  Absolutely no dogs on the bed.  He wasn't allowed to get up there at all.  He'd cry for a while in his crate at night and we would stoically ignore him and then he would calm down and go to sleep.  Then one Friday night we both got a little smashed and forgot to put him in the crate and he was on the bed when we woke up.  Not too bad.  So then it became, well... on the weekends its OK if he sleeps at the foot of the bed.  Or when I'm out of town, he can be in there to keep the SO warm.  Then we realized that the dog has no idea if its Friday or Saturday so to him he's just randomly forced to sleep in the crate sometimes.  So now.. yea he sleeps on the bed every night.  He's still supposed to be at the FOOT of the bed, but he's sneaky and as I'm generally the warmest object in there it's not been uncommon to wake up and find that he's moved in between us or is otherwise way farther up than he's supposed to be, trying to steal my warmth.

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2 hours ago, larrytheimp said:

On the vehicle anxiety thing, have you tried getting her in the car, a treat, and then just letting her get out?  My dad's dog was terrified of riding in the car because they only ever took him to the vet or groomers.  I tried to take him for a hike and he was panicking and puking on the car.  

 

Problem is, I don't drive and neither do my parents anymore. I get rides to take her places. We had a puppy some years ago that didn't like the car and we got her to like them by taking her to on short rides to the Wendy's about a mile away and we'd order a $1 chicken nuggets and give her one or two in the car.

So it got to whenever we'd say "Wanna go to Wendy's" she'd get all happy and excited and hop right into the car.

 

1 hour ago, S John said:

snip

Yeah, right now there's not way of keeping her off the bed at night. She feels entitled to be there. It wouldn't be so bad except she likes to get up, then jump down, then get up, then jump down. Then nose through the night stand, if I have my blindfold there or ear plugs, they're gone, if there's any kleenex or hand cream, it's gone. She'll even steal the remotes and phone. Then she wants to chew on hands, and if I put them undercover she scratchscratchscratchscratches at the blankets to get at me.

She just loves playtime and play time can be any time for her, even if I spend time letting her run up and down our back deck ramp, playing ball with her, or walking her out front.

So at night when I really need to sleep it's time for her to go beddy bye in her crate. She fusses a bit but then she calms down and goes to sleep. When she gets older and more behaved she'll probably be allowed to sleep in the bed though.

 

1 hour ago, Week said:

So -- mainly venting or whatever ...

Our (1 month from --) 11 year old boxer seems likely to have a brain tumor. He's had arthritis that he's dealt with -- he was barely able to walk the block about a year ago, but daily caprofen/rimadyl completely changed him. This is different and really sucks. We noticed his head seemed to be someone cocked to the right and then since he has really struggled with his right side -- he moves around like a drunk foal. It would be funny if it wasn't so heart-breaking.

He's still a pretty happy boy -- mostly himself on walks -- but we have a consult with a neurology department on Monday and don't expect good news. The question will be what treatment is available (and at what cost) and what quality of life that will offer him. I don't know. Mostly venting here, so that I can better support my partner. She's had him since he was a pound puppy before we met. :(

:crying:

Been there, I know the pain. You have my heartfelt sympathy. :grouphug: 

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Rough night -- he really struggled with his balance to get up and move at all, so we made an ER appointment. This morning, he pops up and fairly happily (though stumbling some still) went on a walk. I guess we'll wait until Monday ... I never really expected to see him improve, so not sure if we're now doing the wrong thing by waiting. :worried:

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1 hour ago, Week said:

Rough night -- he really struggled with his balance to get up and move at all, so we made an ER appointment. This morning, he pops up and fairly happily (though stumbling some still) went on a walk. I guess we'll wait until Monday ... I never really expected to see him improve, so not sure if we're now doing the wrong thing by waiting. :worried:

Sorry to hear about your dog's problem, @Week.

You mention his right side -- is it both legs having coordination problems, or predominantly  the back or front leg? We had a boxer about a decade ago who ended up having a neurological problem which we were never able to really diagnose even after a lot of tests, consultations, etc. It got bad enough that we had to put him down because nothing we did or gave him was helping, and he was deteriorating. 

Hopefully the consult with the neurologist will give some concrete ideas of what's going on. If it is cancer, there's always the possibility of chemo (some dogs react quite well to it; Ringo, our previous boxer, received it for a leg tumor and it helped for awhile, and he was more bothered by the sedation than he was by the chemo) or radiation for palliative care.

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5 minutes ago, Ran said:

Sorry to hear about your dog's problem, @Week.

You mention his right side -- is it both legs having coordination problems, or predominantly  the back or front leg? We had a boxer about a decade ago who ended up having a neurological problem which we were never able to really diagnose even after a lot of tests, consultations, etc. It got bad enough that we had to put him down because nothing we did or gave him was helping, and he was deteriorating. 

Hopefully the consult with the neurologist will give some concrete ideas of what's going on. If it is cancer, there's always the possibility of chemo (some dogs react quite well to it; Ringo, our previous boxer, received it for a leg tumor and it helped for awhile, and he was more bothered by the sedation than he was by the chemo) or radiation for palliative care.

Thanks Ran. :) 

Sorry to hear about your boxer going through similar problems - it's rough. You just wish you could explain it to them in five words -- just something to put his fear at ease when it comes up. Anyways, Do you have a boxer or another pup now?

It has been both legs on the right side. It's reminiscent of Oliver Sacks' patients in that does not have a great sense of control or space with his right side. He waves/throws his front right leg forward when trying to hop up a curb or into his bed -- he has no real feel for it.

We'll see how today goes -- he's been eating and drinking and does seem a bit more alert than he has over the past couple of days.

 

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We currently share our home with two Puggles – Izzy and Ziggy.

Puggles are paternally Pugs and maternally Beagles. Izzy dipped more deeply into the Pug side of her gene pool, while Ziggy is howlingly Beagle.

Izzy is our senior companion, but Ziggy imagines himself the alpha of our two-pack and does his best to get the upper paw at every opportunity. Ziggy has the fawn coloring most common with Puggles, while Izzy looks like a German Shepherd might lurk somewhere in her ancestry.

Izzy’s most notable accomplishment came when she was two years old. She destroyed a love seat in the time it took us to dine in a local restaurant. Now 10, she has become a sweet old lady whose talents include snoring (and apparently sleeping) with her eyes wide open. It’s a little spooky.

Ziggy has thus far managed to thwart our best efforts to make him a fully domesticated household member. At four years old, he has yet to outgrow his chewing urges. He goes through a blanket or two weekly, which we find more economical than a hole in a couch cushion.

Ziggy takes his self-appointed watchdog duties very seriously. Each man, woman, child and bunny who moves within his field of vision is a threat which must be announced. He is convinced that anything that appears in the front of the house will reappear in the back, and vice-versa; and he races back and forth to check his conviction.

Ziggy's most unusual behavior is his recognition of television images. Whenever a dog (or dire wolf) is shown, he barks, growls and attempts to follow his enemies when they walk off the screen. This cracks us up every time.

Despite their rivalry, Izzy and Ziggy, we believe, take comfort from each other as dogs. We like to think of them as furry little humans, but they relate to each other on a level only they can understand.

Our canine companions can be a handful, but we love them dearly. They enrich our lives more than we know.

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Two dogs here.  Jeffrey, a Treeing Walker Coonhound, is 12 years old and I adopted him from a person who rescued him in Georgia (USA) about 6 years ago.  A local rescue group here in New Jersey arranged the transportation.   Jeffrey's favoring ASOIAF quote is:  

"A bear there was, a bear, a bear!  all black and brown, and covered with hair. The bear! The bear!"  There are black bears in my neighborhood and when Jeffrey scents one he desperately wants to hunt it.  Takes considerable effort to hold on to his leash.  Only happens a few times a year, fortunately. 

The other dog I adopted a few months ago, "Muffet" about 2 years old, American English Coonhound a/k/a Redtick Coonhound.  She has similar reactions to the scent of an animal, not sure what type, but I suspect that it is the fox that lives in the woods behind my house.    

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  • 11 months later...

I must not let the Dog thread meet the same, ignoble end as the Cat thread! (Archived :bawl:)

But I really have nothing new to post about my Laci Dog. 

I know, I'll use @drawkcabi 's post in the "Small Things" thread to save this one.

https://youtu.be/zKvqzPoCBek

 

Mission success.

She does look like a sweet dog. How exactly does that name translate?

Sweet Girl? Sweet One? 


 

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16 hours ago, A True Kaniggit said:

I must not let the Dog thread meet the same, ignoble end as the Cat thread! (Archived :bawl:)

But I really have nothing new to post about my Laci Dog. 

I know, I'll use @drawkcabi 's post in the "Small Things" thread to save this one.

https://youtu.be/zKvqzPoCBek

 

Mission success.

She does look like a sweet dog. How exactly does that name translate?

Sweet Girl? Sweet One? 


 

:thumbsup:

Pretty much like Sweetie or Sweetheart. We call her Dulci for short. My dad used to call her Dolce (Dole-Chay) witch is the Italian version.

 

She just had her one year veterinarian check up visit yesterday. Got her 3-year rabies vax, got looked out, everything checked out great.

Though she did not like going. She hates car rides in the first place, car ride to the vet compounds the problem. But she was amply rewarded when she got home.

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My dogs are so different at the vet.  The boxer, Zeda, I got last year shortly after my previous boxer died.  She loves the vet just like the old boxer did.  It means attention and treats.  She has a super high pain tolerance (always coming in from the dog park covered in scabs from roughhousing), so shots don't phase her.

The German Shepherd, Sandor, hates the vet.  To be honest, he really only likes being outside on walks or at home.  A lot of bars here are dog friendly and the boxers have both loved going to them and getting petted and playing with other dogs.  Sandor isn't a fan and usually just sits alone and whines every now and then.  He does the same at the vet.  He's a wuss when it comes to pain too.  The boxer jumped on him while he was lying on the couch once and he freaked out and squealed.  :lol:

Probably just gonna stick with boxers from here on out.  I like the Shepherd but the shedding is a goddamn nightmare.

 

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We're getting a boxer puppy in a couple of weeks, to join Breeze. Visited the breeder a few days ago and the whole litter (eight in total) were all over Linda and I, which was quite fun. Here's a link to a video featuring the puppies -- ours is the dark little boy with an arrowhead-shaped blaze on the back of his neck: https://photos.app.goo.gl/pXnZ1cRBkwEnaYiP8 


@briantw Our old boxer did not care for the vet at all, but Breeze just gets hyper. He's very social. And really does seem to not notice shots at all, which is great.

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5 minutes ago, briantw said:

So weird seeing boxers with tails.  Never see that around here.  I'm honestly not even sure I've seen one in person before.

Yeah, it's a big difference between the U.S. and most of Europe. Tail docking and ear cropping are banned here in Sweden. I think some Eastern European countries still allow them, in various combinations, but even then some of the boxer clubs don't allow cropped/docked dogs to be shown in competition.

5 minutes ago, briantw said:

Very cute!

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