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Thread: Meet Grace! - sweet little Grace has passed

  1. #21
    Join Date
    Apr 2010
    Posts
    7,965

    Default Re: Meet Grace!

    Koko had terrible kennel cough with green mucus stuck all over his face when we brought him home and that cough was just as Glynda described. Two rounds of antibiotics to clear it up. He goes for grooming at a small kennel near by, has never had another vaccine for it or redeveloped it. Zoe's groomer insisted she have the vaccine or she could not come. I would never go back there now and am grateful for the groomer we have.

    Leslie- I just looked at Gracie's photos and I am sitting her at work bawling my eyes out because I am so happy you took her.
    love,
    addy, zoe and koko


    My little dog - a heartbeat at my feet. ~Edith Wharton

    Memory is the power to gather roses in the winter

  2. #22
    Join Date
    Mar 2009
    Location
    rural central ARK
    Posts
    14,549

    Default Re: Meet Grace!

    Grace goes to see Doc B at 2:30 this afternoon for a GHS and Xrays. I hope the Xrays give us a better idea about the breathing/coughing issue. The Clavamox and Temeril P don't seem to have helped much but then I don't really know how bad she was in the shelter....I only know she hasn't improved in that area since being here. And I may well be spreading this if it is KC by letting her out in the yard even tho she's out there without the rest of the gang - just me and her. The field out back is belly deep to her in leaves with grass taller than she is along with millions of gum balls, and my front yard has rose bushes and other "sticks" planted that could injure her eyes so the back yard it is. I want her to have fresh air and sunshine and want her to start acclimating to her space, learning that she is safe there. I clean her poop as soon as she's through.

    But in other areas, she is coming along nicely! She still sleeps quite a bit but is up and roaming the bathroom some every day. She seems to recognize my voice now but can't tell where it's coming from. Her hearing is no where near as good as Brick's or Trink's. Neither is her sense of smell...and I'm still trying to determine her tactile functioning for finding her way around. She is trying to enjoy herself a little more and sat in the sun just a bit ago with her head raised, soaking up the rays. She looked so content and sweet!

    She can't handle hard treats or kibble - I'm not sure she has any back teeth at all - none I have been able to feel or see. But she is really enjoying the food she gets and it makes me feel so good to see her excited to eat. She still won't drink on her on, tho. I haven't seen her take a drink from the bowl once and the level doesn't change. I continue to syringe water and include quite a bit in her meals. By the tent test, she isn't dehydrated.

    This morning I got her a baby brush, soft, to brush her with and she LOVED it. Her skin is so thin and dry, flaking all over. I started her on salmon oil yesterday and may rub some coconut oil on her back, which is the worst area. And I got some FreshPet feed that is salmon and whitefish hoping that will help as well.

    Grace has the weirdest rectum I've ever seen! When she first came home and tried to poop, she couldn't seem to do so without me massaging her rectum. AND that area became VERY large with round balls protruding from each side where the anal glands are as she strained. It looked as if her insides were trying to come out it would stick out so far and get so big! The round areas are smaller and the rectum, if that is what I'm seeing, doesn't protrude quite as far now and she doesn't always need help anymore. I am wondering if her anal glands are impacted or if she has tumors in the rectum/intestines too. So Doc will check that out as well.

    I'll let ya'll know what we learn when we get back.

    OH! There has been NO CALL so far and as far as anyone at the shelter knows, no one claimed her so she is HERE TO STAY!!
    "May you know that absence is full of tender presence and that nothing is ever lost or forgotten." John O'Donahue, "Eternal Echoes"

    Death is not a changing of worlds as most imagine, as much as the walls of this world infinitely expanding.

  3. #23
    Join Date
    Jun 2012
    Location
    Canada
    Posts
    16,150

    Default Re: Meet Grace!

    I am waiting on pins and needles for the report from Doc on Grace. I wonder if her ears need to be cleaned out too? Ear was can gum up and block the ears, so sound doesn't get through. I'm sure the doc would take a look at that though.

    She is such a little trooper.
    hugs,
    Sharlene and Molly Muffin
    Sharlene and the late great diva - Molly muffin (always missed and never forgotten)

  4. #24

    Default Re: Meet Grace!

    what a lucky little pipsqueak of a dog! I hope you can get the breathing figured out. Jenny got kennel cough when she was newly diabetic and cushings and it took about 6 weeks for her to get over it.
    Jenny: poodle: Diabetic & Cushings since 2011. RIP 11/10/2014 We love you & miss you

  5. #25
    Join Date
    Mar 2009
    Location
    rural central ARK
    Posts
    14,549

    Default Re: Meet Grace!

    Well, more good news than bad so far. Doc used his last test for the GHS on Grace and didn't have enough sample - she is very hard to draw from. So we go back tomorrow afternoon for the GHS. Xrays did NOT find any other tumors than those on her belly and chest. YAY!!! I was scared we would find another mass like Josie had based on Grace's breathing sounds or that it had metastasized like with Tash.

    Everything but the the heart looked good on the Xray. Doc said the heart should be 3 1/2 rib spaces in size and hers is around 4 but the bad thing is the shape of the heart - it should be oblong and hers is almost round. Doc said the right side of the heart is failing.

    She coughed during the Xray and that showed a collapsing trachea - hence those sounds like Josie's. So Doc does not think she has KC but it is the heart and trachea causing her breathing issues. I did notice today that activity doesn't seem to stimulate the coughing but stress/nervousness does. She has a harder time breathing when I'm syringing water and she had a hard time when she was stretched out for the Xrays - Doc thinks that is probably due to the heart.

    Grace walks with a hunch in her back and we both expected to see some problems there but the spine looks good.

    Now for the anal glands - I have noticed dark curls on her otherwise brown turds and feared bleeding somewhere along the line BUT it was her anal glands making deposits as I massaged! That's why those knobs were getting smaller the more she pooped - they were finally emptying. That baby had so much stuff in those pockets it was UNREAL! Extremely thick and almost black in color...and LOTS of it! Doc commented it looked like she was pooping but it was all from the glands! Trink has never had anything like that come out of her yet she's ruptured twice while Grace didn't. Amazing. Bless her heart - she may lose some of that back hunch now!

    Doc expects the GHS to be pretty good, no real surprises expected but since the rescue agreed to pay for one I wanted to go ahead and have it done so we have a baseline to work from and to try to make sure things are as they should be.

    So, all in all, not bad! She may be around much longer than the shelter and rescue first believed.
    "May you know that absence is full of tender presence and that nothing is ever lost or forgotten." John O'Donahue, "Eternal Echoes"

    Death is not a changing of worlds as most imagine, as much as the walls of this world infinitely expanding.

  6. #26
    Join Date
    Sep 2012
    Posts
    6,400

    Default Re: Meet Grace!

    Leslie:
    You are an angel. Grace is so sweet I am so glad you got her. She will know what real love is now, and have the good life that she should have had all along. You inspire me in so many ways. You give these poor, sick, unwanted babies hope, and that is all they need. Blessings
    Patti
    Tipper and Tipper's Mom


    "The greatness of a nation can be judged by the way its animals are treated."
    Mahatma Ghandi

  7. #27
    Join Date
    Jun 2012
    Location
    Canada
    Posts
    16,150

    Default Re: Meet Grace!

    Can they give Grace the shots to help with the trachea? to strengthen it? What about Hawthorne for her heart, anyway to try and strengthen that and get rid of the fluid build up?

    She will feel so much better with those anal glands getting back to normal. I'm sure that because no one was taking care of her, things that should have, could have been done weren't. Now she has you. He didn't think it was kennel cough either right? so that it is the heart causing her coughing? Does that mean she can meet the rest of the gang now? Hope that doesn't stress her too much.

    hugs Leslie, you're doing such an awesome job
    Sharlene and Molly Muffin
    Sharlene and the late great diva - Molly muffin (always missed and never forgotten)

  8. #28
    Join Date
    Aug 2013
    Location
    Scotland UK
    Posts
    1,179

    Default Re: Meet Grace!

    Some real good news there Leslie. I am so glad the little mite found her way to you where she can live her life in the lap of luxury as she should have been doing

  9. #29
    Join Date
    Mar 2013
    Location
    California
    Posts
    4,435

    Default Re: Meet Grace!

    Great news for Miss Grace. xxxxx
    Kathy and Angel Buddy. The mightiest of all lizard hunters!

  10. #30
    Join Date
    Apr 2008
    Location
    Tennessee
    Posts
    6,593

    Default Re: Meet Grace!

    Les, is Grace on heart meds? As you know, my Jasper has a bad heart and collapsing trachea. I really thought I was going to lose him at one point. He would cough with the least bit of excitement and appeared not able to catch his breath. When he was first diagnosed with heart problems, he was prescribed Enalapril and Lasix. We subsequently added Vetmedin, which made a big difference but within a year he started to cough a lot so the vet added Theophylline, which is a bronchodilator. That worked really well. You may want to Dr. B about prescribing it for Grace. Torbutrol syrup will help with the cough too. I always had that on hand in case Jasper needed it but the Theophylline seemed to be the only thing he needed for his cough.

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