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

hahahahaha, oh gawd, I got a belly laugh out of that exchange. Wow, I turned my head for a moment and molly is asleep and hubs is asleep and I'm thinking..hmmm..maybe I need just a tiny little nap, before I go tackle laundry folding. :)

Sharlene and molly muffin

Yep, if you can't beat em, join em!! Have a nice nap Sharlene, I have to get myself organised too now..... great to have a laugh with you guys :D:D

Sharlene:
Grab all those sleep moments you can get. That was so funny what you wrote about the costumes on the poop Gods!. I saw where Quebec had a bad fire in a nursing home and many are missing. That is awful for the elderly not being mobile and can't get out in time. Blessings
Patti

yes Patti, it is absolutely horrible about the fire at the nursing home. They think it started in one of the residents rooms. Most in that home were immobile without assistance like walker, wheel chairs. It's a small town so many are elderly relatives. Just very heart breaking. :(

Looks like more snow today but I have to get out in it and do some shopping with family coming in this week. I imagine I'll be out shoveling later. Molly sure wasn't interested in being out long this morning.

Oh believe me, I am a nap person. Even 15 or 30 minutes and then I'm good to go again. :) I learned it from Molly. hahahahaha

hugs,
Sharlene and Molly Muffin

Sharlene:
We are buried with snow and we are to get another clipper system Monday and then really going down below 0 after that. Tipper is fed up with this weather, but I am already worrying about spring and the thunderstorms. I have all the stuff but nothing really seems to have an affect on her. I would sure hate to give her valium, but this spring it may come to that. I can't let this ruin her eyesight, and make her heart race so I have to be prepared and talk to the vet and have something ready. She has such an allergic history I am afraid to give her valium. I got a place shoveled where the dogs can go potty now, so they aren't up to their waists in snow. Blessings
Patti

Not sure what is up with Molly tonight, but she is definitely not feeling good. Normally even in the snow, she will run for the front door, jump the step and hop inside the house. Then get her feet wiped and toweled off, and jump for a glucosimine treat, and when she gets it take off running to her spot in the living room.

Tonight, she walked outside, did 2 potties, walked to the front door, didn't get excited about going inside and wouldn't stand to get her feet cleaned, (sat down when I did her front feet instead of holding them out while standing), barely took her treat, then walked to the closet spot and slowly ate it. I just picked her up and put her on the couch with her daddy, where she isn't even interested in his snack. So definitely Not feeling good at all. I'll keep an eye on her tonight. She's had some runny poops earlier today too, so will have to keep an eye on that, which isn't easy in this cold and snow.

When she doesn't act right, I worry.
hugs,
Sharlene and Molly Muffin

Of course you worry. That's what we all do when our pups aren't themselves. Hopefully, Molly will be right as rain tomorrow and you'll be left wondering why you were so worried. Do you have any slippery elm bark? If she's got diarrhea or just loose stool, she may have something brewing in her gut and SEB will help. I make the gruel and use a syringe. We'll be keeping fingers and paws crossed that precious Molly feels like her old chipper self real soon.

Hoping Molly is feeling more like herself tomorrow. Will be saying some special prayers for our sweet Molly.

Hugs, Lori

Awww, poor Molly.
Runny poos an little appetite. Hope it's just a bug.

Sharlene:
Hoping that Molly was just having an off day, but we all know these dogs so well that we know when something is not right. I hope today she is better and no runny poohs. Blessings
Patti

Not an off day, whatever is brewing in her seems to still be brewing. I have an appointment at 10am this morning at vet. She shakes when I pick her up, so that points to pain, she won't walk or move more than she has to. Wonder if there is a UTI going on. I carried her to the sidewalk and she did two pees this morning, but...well..she isn't acting herself.
I do have some SEB. Her poops weren't running at the start, they were solid, but then she would act like she had to go again and again and those would be runny. So...not typical diarrhea.
Will let you know what the vet says.
thanks all,
Sharlene and molly muffin

A very quick update. I'm back home, molly is at the vets, getting xrays and having a laster treatment, also a urinalysis culture because I want to verify there isn't any issues there too.

Basically she has hurt her back, cannot put any weight (because it hurts her) on her rear legs and is using her front legs to support her. We are thinking some disc inflammation from a possible wipe out while running in the house.

We'll verify all of this, of course and then my vet is consulting with our IMS on best treatment. We have to consider the current state of her liver and what will work best and if we can do it.
I can tell you that we have discussed the use of prednisone. Double dose for 3 days, then taper down, 1 dose a day for 5 days. Complete limited mobility. She has to be crated basically or in a pen. The vet said, even just being around the house following me, wouldn't be good for her you want the limbs on complete rest. It's up to me how we do that but that is what has to be done. Outside to potty carry her and back into crate or pen.

I'll update as I know more. This brings to mind what several others are going through now on the forum. We'll all deal together!

hugs,
Sharlene and molly muffin

Oh Sharlene, I am so sorry!!!!!!!!!

I'll keep checking back for more updates. And yes, I totally get it that you may be considering short-term prednisone in this situation. Pred can truly be a miracle drug at times.

Huge hugs to you and very gentle hugs to Molly girl!

Aw poor Molly and poor you. Woody did the same thing a few years ago his was the L4,5,6 disk in his back. I used metacam and complete cage rest for 6 wks and he was fine.

Hope and praying Molly is fixed soon x

Sharlene:
I am so sorry to hear Molly is having problems. Do you think it could be her back. I know Tipper's bothers her sometimes. I think form all the muscle loss and the abdomen pulls down on it, and can cause disc problems. I sure hope gets to feeling herself again. I know how you worry about her and how you know when something is not right. Blessings
Patti

Dear Sharlene
I am giving you a link which I will also give Addy.
traumeel is a natural ant inflammatory used by humans and I also give Arial for his back issues. I use it myself. Ask your vet. NO one can tell you what to do. But it can not hurt Molly.
http://www.traumeel.us/about
Hugs Sonja and Angel Apollo

Poor Molly,
I hope that her back issue was caught early and that it resolves quickly.

I am so sorry Sharlene. I hope Molly feels better soon. ((((Hugs))))

Hey Sharlene.

Hoping Molly is feeling a bit better tonight. Sending lots of love and positive vibes.

Mel
Xxxxx

Hello again, notice you online. You doing ok? Any news?

Big hug

Mel
Xxxx

Ooooh, poor Muffin and poor Sharlene. I hope she is taking her confinement rather well as she is a free spirited independent girl.
I can see you glued to her crate trying to comfort her but don't try to get in there to be with her as it will be quite cramped for both of you.:o I hope your muffin will get better soon so we can enjoy hearing about all the cute things she does so naturally. I'm a big fan of her. Will you tell her that please? :) Love and hugs from Ginger and Song

Okay back. So, the vet showed me the xrays and there are two areas where it looks like their could be some inflammation and one area that seems to have some bone degeneration of the spine. At the moment she is confined to living room/dining room with no where to jump (big body pillows Do come in hand). Tomorrow the new dog pen that I ordered for overnight delivery will be here and she'll be confined to that for about a week. We'll see how she is doing then. This appears to be only, at this point, some slippage that can correct itself, if she doesn't rehurt it, continue to hurt it or do anything else to cause damage. We have to limit the areas that she could get into trouble in.

So, my IMS was out and the other IMS on duty hadn't gotten back to my vet, even though she called twice, so we talked about options. The fear with prednisone is that molly has been living on the edge of cushings since at least 2011 and she (my vet) is worried that even the amount of pred we talked about could throw her off. So, we have gone with Tolfedine. She had an injection today and then will have tablets for 4 days. We'll re-evaluate at that point. Either she'll be off for 3 days and then back on, or she'll be off.

She will also have laser therapy, since she responded very well to that today. For back, disc issues, it is 3-2-1. So 3 this week, 2 next week and then 1 the following week.

I am going to go with being hopeful that this will fix things. It does make me wonder about those steps that she wouldn't come up, remember? So, maybe it wasn't the wipe out yesterday morning, but the fall on the step, or a combination (most likely I suppose) of all them put together. Molly does tend to think she is indestructible.
Her leg joint is also not good, but we've known that since she was around 3 or 4 maybe. The vet said it is a wonder she can walk, but she does. I hope she never has any problems with that, as my husband said that would be such a painful surgery that he doesn't think he could put her through that kind of pain. :( I said we'll see. He feels the same way about back surgery, but I said, it's an option we'll have to talk about if something happens with her spine.

Well that is it for now. I don't know why I was avoiding my own thread, I think I was having a weird moment. I am so use to sharing all the good things that happen with molly, this one scared me and still scares me. We were both so worried last night, that my husband and I both were up at various times during the night making sure she was okay.

hugs,
Sharlene and Molly Muffin

Oh I forgot to mention that on the xray, she took one that showed an angle of the liver (since that was a consideration with the treatment chosen) and it remains enlarged, but doesn't appear to be any more enlarged than it was on the last xray. Lucky the spleen can move and does when the liver pushes it, and depending on what position they are laying in, because it looked like mollys spleen was pushed off by about 2 1/2 inches. Still it's good that it hasn't enlarged any more.

hugs,
Sharlene and Molly Muffin

So sorry to hear about the leg injury! I haven't visited your thread in a while... it's easy to fall behind, lol.

I had success with laser therapy on one of my other pugs, so I really hope this does the trick for Molly. How does she take to crate rest?

Not well. She was only a crate dog at night in the bedroom, and that hasn't happened in many years, since she was a puppy. She sleeps on her bed though in our room all night so that is okay, she doesn't move much except if she goes to sleep in the bathroom. So we'll just keep our door closed or blocked off.
The day time is going to be the worse. And anything back worries me, so that is the main thing right now. Hence the dog pen, which is soft sided and I hope works for her. It will give her about 4 feet I think of movable space to be in. She'll hate it but not much else I can do for her. That and I'll work from home this week, and take her to her laser appointments.
Going to be so not fun with family arriving this week and a big dinner with everyone over on Saturday.
We'll just have to get through it and deal though, so choice.

Hugs,
Sharlene and Molly muffin

When my Ichiro hurt his back, and he still has a bad back, the combination of laser therapy and methacarbomol as a muscle relaxer really helped him. He was so very stiff from clenching his muscles, he could never settle down. The methacarbomol really helped him to be able to relax the muscles and sleep.

The pen might be much more manageable than a crate, so that is good to try.

Sorry to hear about Molly's woes. I don't understand about the prednisone and borderline Cushing's....you make it sound like taking the prednisone could push her into Cushings....or did I misread something?
Did hubby recover fully from pneumonia? You may have to get one of those red machines that doles out tickets so people can take a number!
Give Molly a hug from us!
Hugs,
Susan

Hopefully Molly's injury will heal itself quickly and that will be the end of it.

Bone degeneration is scary. What will they do for that?

Uh Oh dearie me, what you been up to Miss Molly! :eek: Poor wee pet, sore backs are not fun!! Flynny did his once when he was about six, xray sounds similar to yours. Also I think if you xrayed all our dogs we would find a fair bit of bone degeneration as they get older, the same if you xrayed all of us owners!! None of us are getting any younger and those changes are often be seen. Flynn's settled with rest and NSAIDS (this was before kidney, liver, IBD :eek: issues) so I am sure with the meds to settle down inflammation Molly is going to bounce back just fine after a bit of rest and pampering. Doesn't it just suck when we see them in pain. Hope she likes her playpen, I am sure if she has some nice treats and toys she will do just fine, well she has to listen to her Mama telling her to rest up and let that back settle down!! Hope her tummy is OK too :)

Sorry you have to deal with this Sharlene, But you will do just fine taking care of the little Miss who I am sure is going to be showing her displeasure at being penned in soon enough! Sounds like you have a nice safe environment for her to recover in. Big Hugs and a snuggly pat for Molly (and some snacks!) xxx

Molly appears to be in a lot of pain this morning. I think the injection has worn off and she doesn't get the tablet until this afternoon. She certainly isn't interested in trying to walk or jump anywhere. She can't stand even, starts quivering as soon as she does. So, in pain, not eating. I did get her to take her liver supplement with some can food wrapped around it. It is bloody cold here at -20C and a wind chill of -33C. brrrrr So, she did a couple pees and then I brought her back inside. I salted the driveway down to the sidewalk snow and that seems to be where she wants to go to.

I forgot in all the huha yesterday to say that molly for the first time in her life, threw a +2 protein in her urine, which she has never done. We don't know what is going on and some more tests are being run on that urine, but she'll probably need some follow up urinalysis.

Susan, yes, that is exactly what my vet said, push her over into cushings with the prednisone. Maybe she meant because you're adding steroid to already high cortisol, so symptoms will start to show up, or something. I don't even know if that Is possible or how risky it would be with her, and hope the IMS which my vet is still hoping to contact will have some input on this. If this Tolfedine doesn't work, then we'll be back to the prednisone option.

Well I have to get to work. Yes hubby still has pneaumonia according to xrays. So, here we are, they forgot to take numbers obviously.

Thanks for the support everyone.
hugs,
Sharlene and Molly Muffin

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) :)