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

I'm glad you found a modicum of the seasonal spirit, Sharlene. It's been hiding from many of us this year it seems. Changing those traditions we have held so close and cherished for so long is both healing and devastating. Being able to see and feel those old traditions still breathing and living strong in a simple box can open the doors of our Souls just a crack...and a crack is all that Light needs in order to enter.

My thoughts and prayers remain with your BIL and sister. I hope some measure is found to bring him relief and allow him to take steps forward toward recovery.

Molly is of course so lucky to have you as her mom. You are the best and she knows she hit the jackpot that day you first took her in your arms and said, "this one is mine."

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO YOU AND ALL YOURS!

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays~~!!!

From Sharlene and the molly muffin 2014

http://www.k9cushings.com/forum/albu...pictureid=7303

So CUTEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!! Aww you just wanna squeeze that Muffin and give her kisses.... she does have a bit of a grumpy cat frown on hahaha, but I know that is just her way of convincing you she is starving and needs TREATS..... NOW!!!

MERRY CHRISTMAS SHARLENE AND MOLLY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

hi sharlene, merry christmas from us too!

Merry Christmas everyone!

MERRY CHRISTMAS to you and Miss Molly from Henry and I. Lovely picture :D

I'm so pleased to hear hubby is on the mend, but so sorry to hear about BIL. I hope they are able to find some treatment that will help.

Merry Christmas to you, Miss Molly, and to your family...Luv ya bunches ;)

MERRY CHRISTMAS
Sharlene, Daniel and Molly Muffin!

Merry Christmas Sharlene, Molly, and all of your family. Hugs, Song.:)

You are a sweetheart. I now know that all the decent people on this earth have found themselves on this forum. Never, ever met a kinder more considerate bunch then here, and I'm old:eek::o
Thanks for writing on my thread.Wishing you nothing but joy, happiness and all great things in 2015. As for our little diva Molly... Keesh's mommy gives you big hug and kisses.

I hope you and Daniel and Molly have had a wonderful and relaxing holiday! Hope you are resting your fingers ... you are so sweet to wish everyone individual holiday greetings!

Had to stop by to wish you a Merry Christmas, wouldn't be the same if I did not.

Hoping the New Year brings better days and less stress.

Hugs to Molly, Koko says woof and Angel Zoe wants dinner or a snack!

Love ya

Hi! Thanks for the message. I was coming to your page next (after Trish) but got sidetracked as we were heading out to look at Christmas light displays. Anyway, I hope you had a great Christmas. Kaibo is doing well (mostly) and I'll try to update today or tomorrow. It's been way too long. I still can't post pictures on here so you still need to find us on Instagram. Lol. I'll try to put new videos on you tube as well. So much to do! How's molly? I've read a bit on and off over the months since I've been active. Anyway better go downstairs and be part of the family for now. Catch up to you soon.

Nikki and Kaibo.

Molly is a lot less grumpy looking in this photo:

http://www.k9cushings.com/forum/albu...pictureid=7312

more how you usually see her when she is in major relax mode. :) :)

That is one precious baby girl right there!

I love it when they are so relaxed and happy. Molly looks good and she has a new haircut I think??

Gives new meaning to underneath the tree:)

Wishing you and Molly a blessed,health New Year.
I looks like you had a beautiful Christmas.
Thank you for all your kind words and support.
Sonja and Angel Apollo

you got a nice gift from santa, a cute molly present! a doggie from santa, you must have been a good girl last year......

Hope hubby and BIL, not to mention YOU, were able to enjoy the holiday half as much as Molly looked to be!

Sharlene! Thanks so much for the Christmas wishes on our thread. I didn't get much posted this year, have been having some internet connection problems, and also just exhausted. So sweet of you to post individual greetings to so many of us. We had a nice quiet Christmas here. Sounds like your holiday was good. I love the new pics of Molly, especially the last one. Her little pink tummy is the best, I just want to give her some belly rubs! :) xo

Dropped off urine for another UPC follow up test this morning. Ordered a small bag of low protein dog food for her. Had a BP check this evening. I think still high, although they were happy with the bottom number and the "mean" number saying they are better.
The top number was different each time, 155, 175, 195 I think was the top but the bottom was like 67. So we're waiting to see what the IMS has to say. I suspect we'll be increasing the amoldopine, again. We are now at 1 1/2 pills per day, so just a teeny bit under 1mg.

Will update when we have results back on UPC. Last two were at 1.7 we want it lower.

Next up in January will be an ACTH retest and an ionized calcium test.

Hey Sharlene - I'm too behind on your thread! OOPS!

What is the inonized calcium test for?

Ionized calcium if high means a possibility of two things either cancer or parathyroid tumor. Ionized is not like the total that you will have on your regular blood test it is more of a singled out portion of calcium. So because we had checked pricing and there was a test at a better price that have us what we want on bun and creatinine we did that test. It turns out that ionized calcium was included in that test. Which is how we found Molly's was high. So recheck and it was high normal next test. We will be rechecking. The cut off is 1.40. Molly was 1.46 first time we checked and 1 40 second check. Unfortunately there is nothing good to be said about a high result on this test from what I can find out. Tell a vet you have high ionized calcium and their face literally falls to their feet. Found that out with two vets now.
To test for parathyroid you have to get the blood when the ionized calcium is spiking upwards and it has to be sent to michigan.
New vet had asked me what Molly's thyroid results where like and I had a thyroid panel done before all of this which was normal.
Anyway. One day at a time grasshopper is what I tell myself. :).

Wow. I have never, ever heard of this!!

So, if the next result is in the normal range, you will continue to monitor?

Yes, one day at a time is a good motto with these babies. They live in the moment, and we should too!

Yea, I think I would probably retest it like every 3 or 6 months just to keep an eye on it.
Woody's ionized was high, went back down and he did have cancer, so we know it can move, so yea, keep monitoring.
Interesting that it can show up in dogs with Addisons too, but they don't list cushings as a probability.

This is Dr. Peterson's article: http://endocrinevet.blogspot.ca/2012...rcalcemia.html

Sharlene, I see that renal disease is also listed as a possible cause...

Molly is certainly a long ways away from renal failure (and we intend to keep it that way!). But is it possible that chronic renal issues might raise the calcium up into that borderline range?

Marianne

I wonder about that too Marianne and will definitely ask the IMS about it. Nope, she isn't in renal failure, but then so much has happened so quickly that I wonder what is causing what at this point. I mean, her blood pressure was perfect last April and eyesight excellent. It is definitely a good question to get clarification on.

They checked for an anal sac tumor already, ruled out vitamin D toxicity and lab error, based on repeat higher results and of course ruled out Addisons, as we know she has High cortisol not low.

stopping in before I leave for work to wish you:


HAPPY 2015

Just popping in to wish you, Molly and your family a Happy 2015 from Henry and me. We wish you health and happiness in 2015, and hope that they will be able to help your BIL.

The very best in the coming year to you and yours, Sharlene!

How are hubby and BIL doing?

Hello everyone and Happy 2015!

Hubby is doing great, if he'd just take it easy with the racquetball playing and ease into it. He's feeling the aches and pains of not playing for a few months.

BIL - he is being taken by ambulance up to Stanford today for a re-evaluation, to see how he has done in the last few weeks of bed rest. I don't know what they will decide but the place they had him at has said 6 January he has to leave there as the goals he came in with have been met. (putting on a t-shirt daily and doing leg/arm exercises) It doesn't seem like much does it with a broken back, and he still can't sit up, so no idea how this is going to play out. Plus he developed some congestive heart failure while there, which they think has cleared up, which I wasn't aware it could go away, so not sure about that at this point. It does make the idea of any surgery iffy I think though. We'll just wait and see.

I went and picked up more medication for Molly today (refills) and some Low Protein food, so that is it for me today. I'll be away this evening.

I hope you all have a safe New Years.

hugs

You too Sharlene!

Sharlene, my wish for you is you and your family to have a very happy new year and good health and luck be with you through out 2015 and Molly to be more forthcoming for her mama.
Thank you for your happy new year wish for us. :)
Hugs, Song.

Happy New Year Sharlene, Daniel and Molly Muffin! I hope you had a great nite out last nite and a restful day today.

The last months of 2014 was very stressful for you so I hope that trend is gone. I have high hopes or the New Year and hope we are all blessed with wisdom, clarity, peace and more joy than we can imagine! Hugs!

a healthy and happy new year from us too!

I'm so used to seeing your thread on page one I just had to bring it forward.

Keep warm and kisses to Molly.

Thanks Addy. Trying to stay warm. Might be tough to do this week though. Brrrrrr.

Still waiting on the UPC result. Trying to figure out when to make appt to get Molly in for her next ACTH test. Trying to gauge when weather will be best for making the drive to the specialist. I want to go through her for this next test for cortisol and calcium but after that I plan to use the vet near me which will be more convienent.

Just doing the best we can. The ice and snow is making it difficult for walking Molly with her luxating putella. It scares me to death when she slides. I also am very aware of the potential to go sliding if I try picking her up on that stuff. I just end up keeping the leash tighter on the harness and using that to lift her when I see she might lose traction.

I think tomorrow I will go see about booties with grips on them. Although she thinks she can't move when I put booties on her perhaps I can get her use to them slowly by putting them on in the house and leaving them on till she at least moves. Might take many hours. She is fairly stubborn.

I too am looking forward to longer daylight hours.

Hugs

Hi Sharlene,

It sounds like you're freezing your tushi off!:eek:

Buddy had a hard time walking on smooth surfaces due to his hind leg weakness. His legs would sadly slide under him, making it difficult for him to stand, more less walk, or run. Glynda sent me some Pawz in a couple of different sizes for Buddy to try. Although he didn't want to walk in them at first, they did help with his traction. She originally sent them to help with his grass allergy on walks, but I ended up using them more for traction. They feel like a thick balloon material.

http://pawzdogboots.com/prod_boots/

Quote:

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Originally Posted by molly muffin

I think tomorrow I will go see about booties with grips on them

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Another supporter of Paws bootees here. Hamish hated wearing the normal boots and did the whole refusing to move thing, but with the Paws he didn't seem to notice he was wearing them and just trotted out happily the first day. We had to walk quite a bit on ice and snow, quite often on slopes, and I never saw him slip - I think it was because they are made of some sort of rubber.
I'd also recommend these for you http://www.amazon.ca/Stabilicers-S-L...abilicers+lite

My pugs won't really wear booties either, until we get walking, then they focus on the walking part and forget the booties. I haven't tried paws yet, but they are on my list of products I've been wanting to try out.