Molly, 13 yr, shih tzu - lhasa aspo - Molly has passed

Sharlene:
I think Tipper has problems too where her back has a dip in it form the cushings. It must affect her disc also as she last year she started being reluctant to go up steps too and the laser therapist said it must be her back. She works Tipper's back real good too, and it does help her. I carry Tipper and do not let her on any steps ever now. Hopefully the new crate will allow Molly to heal so this does not get worse. I take Tipper once every 3 weeks to keep up with her laser therapy. That keeps everything working good according to the therapist. You know her so well that I knew something has to be wrong. It seems this is the week for everyones babies to have problems. Blessings
Patti

Aw Sharlene you really are having a time of it lately. First hubs not well and still not well and now poor Molly. Not good that she is in pain today and not wanting to stand, its a shame when you see them like that. I,m sure your family will understand and all muck in this weekend when they are home, and no doubt will spoil Molly rotten.

Your right with what you say about the Pred, it could cause cushings symptoms especially with her being borderline. Have you heard from the IMS yet.?

Hugs being sent to you and a gentle pat on the head for Molly xx

Nope, haven't heard anything. I wouldn't hear, my vet would, and I think we are waiting to see how this medication she is on is working over the coming week.

She can walk when she feels okay but if it starts to hurt her then she'll stop and sit down. She's not particularly happy with the situation and has been giving grumble barks at me and hubs all day. If you look at her when she is grumbling she wags her tail. So when I can, if not involved in a work thing, I'll go give her some pets. I know she misses being in the window seat looking out at the world go by.

I'm going to see if she will go potty in the snow on the deck. That way I won't need to pick her up and carry her anywhere. Which hurt this morning even though I was supporting her under the belly to give the back support.
Waiting on the dog pen to arrive, sometime before 8pm today they said, although I have to say she has been really good about not trying to jump or run around.

Blew my mind when a work colleague asked how long do we give it for her to get better. I was kind of like, "huh!" " Say what!" So I said, "well a lot longer than a day". sheezzz

I guess most people don't normally take off work for their dogs? Beats me, I had mentioned that I'd be taking some time to take molly to laser therapy, so maybe she doesn't get that part or something.

On the hand, another colleague sent a funny cheer us up email to hubs and I with a funny shih tzu joke on it. So, some do understand.

hugs,
Sharlene and molly muffin

hugs,
Sharlene and molly muffin

oeps molly be an obedient dog and act like a senior doggie for the rest of your life. you are not a puppy anymore. you scared us all with your injurie. relax and maybe some yoga practice and you will be as good as new! i promise.
hope the painkillers will do their work. and some spring temperatures......

Well the deck was a dismal failure. She enjoyed going out, but knew this isn't a place she would normally do her business and was having none of it. So, downstairs and out to the backyard, where she did what she had to do, scared me by holding up her back leg because it got cold. (i thought she'd hurt it again). She might have when she tried to do the back kick. She didn't walk afterwards. Then inside where she had a snooze to recover.

I guess those inflammatory's kicked in because she has been an absolute terror to try and keep still this evening. We went out front to the sidewalk for her final outing today and she was convinced she needed to go down the walk for a Longer walk or across the street, anywhere except where she should be. She had her coat on, as the wind chill is in the -30's C right now.

My dog pen did not arrive today, so much for paying for one day shipping on it. I contacted Amazon and they are issuing a refund. I made it clear that I don't blame them but rather their carrier for the issue and hope they too would be compensated. The customer service was very good and prompt.

We are off to the vets for another laser treatment tomorrow. I hope molly responds as well tomorrow to it as she did on Monday. I bet she'll be a hand full to keep quiet though afterwards.

She is Not acting like an older, obedient dog at all! I read her what you wrote out loud and said, see, you better behave yourself young lady. Now if only we could get those spring temps, but it isn't looking good through mid February at least. :(

I think the pain comes and goes for her. A wrong turn or twist and she is down for the count and hurting, but give it a bit to seem to recover, about an hour or so, and she acts like she isn't in any pain at all. I saw the xray, so I know it must hurt when she has any pressure on it.

hugs all
Sharlene and Molly muffin

(((((gentle healing hugs)))))

Sharlene,

I'm glad that Molly is improving. I've been using Amazon for years and their customer service is great :)

Sharlene:
I am so hoping the therapy will work for Molly. It is good she does not appear to be in pain after the meds. I love Amazon and buy most of my stuff form them as they do have the most wonderful customer service and always take the customers side and help out. Hope the pen comes soon. Blessings
Patti

Sharlene-- I feel just terrible to read that Molly has an issue with her back and has been in pain!! Again, I've been a few days off the board and I always hold my breath when catching up on posts...always hoping there's no bad news. Awww..feel so badly about your little girl shaking in pain! That's terrible.
As of your last post it seems the anti-inflammatory is helping right now? Wow...your husband still has pneumonia and now Molly, you have got it coming from all sides.
It must be really tough keeping Molly confined but hopefully that new pen (when it gets to you) will help.
I hope this clears up asap so you don't have to deal with prednisone which may bring on a whole 'nother issue which you don't want!!! Crossing my fingers Molly will heal up soon...so sorry you guys have had a rough month, :( hoping the worst is over already!! :D
Barbara

So still no pen arrival, man canada post is sucking these days.

I think my vet came [] this close to calling the other specialist and vet tech (not mine (yet) ) an idiot today. LOL She said she had called and left a message for the other IMS because mine is away, and they came back with giving molly Tramadol and another pain med. She said, she asked the vet tech that called if they had listened to her detailed message and looked at the file. That pain meds if fine for pain but wouldn't treat the issue, just mask it. And so she is discounting their advice and we are sticking to the meds she is on which is for the inflammation. Get rid of the problem and you get rid of the pain. Also she mentioned that Tramadol is for chronic, not acute, that it takes 14 days to build up and isn't what she would recommend for an injury that needs to be addressed then and there. So, that was kind of interesting.
Molly does seem to be feeling better, and that creates it's own problem because she still needs to Not jump, run, walk excessively even, or the injury will just get worse and not better. The crate rest (or pen rest in our case) is to provide the maximum benefit to healing over all. Molly is Not happy with me, as it seems I am interrupting her play life. She'll get over it though. I'm in hopes that a week or so of this and she'll be better, but we'll see.

Also we have to redo the urinalysis to check protein once this is all over. She is very well concentrated but the protein is at .49 and .50 is into the bad range. We think that it is because she wasn't fully urinating due to her back hurting and there was build up in the bladder. The hope and my expectation is that once this is over, and she is able to walk and do her alpha 8 pees a walk, that this will be back to normal. Right now she goes maybe twice and i know she doesn't empty her bladder, which is not good either. Poops are good, so that is a plus. :)
Oh and as with anyone or thing with a back injury, once injured there is always a risk of occurrence. joy joy.

I'll be so glad when winter is over and hubs is better and molly is better. I'm tired.

hugs all
Sharlene and molly muffin (on the injured reserve list) :)