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Thread: Sophie, the Chinese Pug has crossed The Bridge

  1. #21
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    Default Re: Sophie, the Chinese Pug

    yeah...that and liver enzymes are why Doc said to stop them if she stopped eating. I am giving the pill to her with food so hopefully that will help.
    "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.

  2. #22
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    Default Re: Sophie, the Chinese Pug

    Pray sweet Sophie will heal soon.
    Sonja and Apollo

  3. #23
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    Default Re: Sophie, the Chinese Pug

    I'm glad to say Soph slept better last nite and is better this morning. I gave her 1/4 of her pain med and I know that helped but she has been licking her feet even on the nites she's had to take a full dose plus her muscle relaxer. This morning she is more energetic, following me everywhere instead of laying around licking her feet, and her toes don't look quite as swollen, tho I admit that part may be wishful seeing on my part.

    After her morning soak yesterday there were quite a few bloody paw prints on the white towel I put her on coming out of the bleach water and there were several clots on the towel I used to dry her feet. After the evening soak there was still blood and still clots but not as many as in the morning. This morning there were no bloody prints and only one clot. So I hope this means we are on the right track and this approach is working.

    I did so much reading about canine nail disorders yesterday I almost made myself sick. It was shocking to learn how many things can go wrong, terribly terribly wrong when the nails start to change! Learn from me - if your baby starts licking their feet take them in immediately! Don't assume it's allergies and try to treat at home like I did. Feet licking can mean so many things....all the way to some pretty nasty cancers. So don't take chances and go as soon as you see any changes in the nails, the beds, pads, or how your baby is treating their feet.

    So far I have learned a couple of things. Did you know that the new splash-less bleaches are not the same as regular bleach? It is concentrated pretty heavily. That was all they had in the store last time I needed bleach so that is what I had to use. But I noticed the water was VERY slimy at a 1:20 mix so I called the Clorox company. The gal I spoke to said the splash-less is much more concentrated plus contains soaps and other chemicals to make it thick. It is best used for laundry only and only as directed. For cleaning and other purposes she recommended sticking with regular bleach. So the first soak Soph had yesterday was a highly concentrated soak. Maybe that really grabbed hold of the fungus?

    In case you didn't already know, dogs and bleach water do not mix well. Sophie is very good at standing in the water once she's in but getting in she does the air paddling thing which splashes the water in the sink as she goes in. Then coming out she flings her legs to the four winds sending water flying. So by the time we are done everything around the sink is at least splashed and anything I am wearing is quite wet. So if you ever have to do this make sure to wear something you do not care for at all and remove anything around the soak area you don't want decorated with bleach spots.
    "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.

  4. #24
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    Default Re: Sophie, the Chinese Pug

    Life is never dull at your house Leslie. Thats a definite. It might not be the kind of excitement that you'd prefer, but at least you aren't bored! hahahaha

    I think it sounds like good news on the Sophie front and hopefully this bleach soak will help along with the meds. Gads I can just see bleach flying everywhere and everything in range becoming polka dotted.
    Sharlene and the late great diva - Molly muffin (always missed and never forgotten)

  5. #25
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    Default Re: Sophie, the Chinese Pug

    Sophie isn't licking near as much but she does still lick her feet. They are looking a bit better in some ways as in less swollen, but worse in others such as new raw skin showing up above the large pads on her back feet. At times she is walking rather gingerly but not actually limping. It is more evident as she comes up the ramp with those poor toes having to bend so deeply. She is once again sleeping more when she isn't clinging to me.....a sign that worries me no end but I am hoping it is the build up of this fungicide she is on as I know they make you feel just terrible. BUT she has not lost her appetite; she eats well, begs for bites when I eat, anticipates her treats eagerly, plays with Bud and me almost anytime we ask her to, and wants to go outside with me as usual (but I don't allow her out much right now because I worry what may be in the dirt that may be making this worse plus I want to keep the open sores as free of dust and dirt as possible.). Other than becoming rather clingy her demeanor and behavior is about the same so I take that as a good sign. We see Doc again Monday morning and I will let you know what he thinks.
    "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
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    Default Re: Sophie, the Chinese Pug

    Hoping Doc gives her a good report that she is healing and coming along fine on Monday.

    I'd think feet would be one of the hardest areas to treat and try to keep clean.
    I don't envy you that job!
    Sharlene and the late great diva - Molly muffin (always missed and never forgotten)

  7. #27
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    Default Re: Sophie, the Chinese Pug

    We are back from the vet. Doc agreed that in some ways her feet were better but in others not at all. Several of the nails where they meet the flesh of the toe have growths coming out. I thought tumors (of course ) but Doc was able to get most of them out this morning. He thinks that when she was quicked in Aug it triggered an over-growth of the nail-bed and her licking has caused the fungus. There IS a fungus in the nail/nail-bed. Doc put some of the things he got off her nails and beds under a microscope and you can see the fungus growing at the root and base of a hair follicle. He got several pieces of stuff and is gonna look more in depth or send off I guess....I didn't ask what he was collecting for. But we see him again next week to see how she is doing AND to trim her nails again.

    From last Mon. to today her nails had grown to the point of being too long. This is what started this whole mess - her nails grow at an unbelievable rate and the quicks grow right along with the hard part of the nail....ie the quick is just as long as the nail so you can't trim without bleeding. She had started to walk too far back on her hocks even tho she had her nails trimmed every 3-4 weeks so I had her quicked hoping to regain control. Now we have a real mess.

    Sophie doesn't act as if she feels bad and I'm very glad for that. Now that the fungicide she was taking is over she is perking back up so it looks like it was that med making her feel bad. She doesn't have to take any more of that right now but is on an antibiotic and we continue the soaks and anti-fungal spray for the next week. The spray in particular seems to have helped with the spots above the large pads that had started looking so bad. They mixed it up in a regular bottle for me this time so I can use cotton if I want since the spray and I don't always mesh.

    Her feet must stink to her. I wash no less than 6 blankets every day for her. Once she has walked on the clean blanket then left it, she won't lay down on it again until it's washed. She will walk up, sniff at the blanket, then turn away and lay on the floor until I get a clean one down. Last nite I replaced the blankets in her crate in the bedroom 3 times - that's 6 blankets just last nite to wash today plus the ones that will be snubbed thru the day. I don't smell a thing on her feet or legs and neither did Doc so who knows? LOL
    Last edited by Squirt's Mom; 10-23-2017 at 02:33 PM.
    "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.

  8. #28
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    Default Re: Sophie, the Chinese Pug

    Dogs do have a better sense of smell than us humans, so Sophie knows whats what I guess. Nope, not that one, been there done that, wait for the clean one. Can just imagine what goes through her mind. Or maybe it's a simple "ewwwww"

    Dang, fungus can be hard to get rid of, even in people. I hope next week there is some better progress. At least the antibiotics should prevent infection from setting in.

    Hopefully your vet can speak to a doggie dermatalogist to get some ideas on what might help to get rid of it faster and to deal with that quick issues on her nails.
    Sharlene and the late great diva - Molly muffin (always missed and never forgotten)

  9. #29
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    Default Re: Sophie, the Chinese Pug

    Though I'm sorry you and Sophie are having to deal with the feet issues on top of the rest, thank you for the warning. Another thing to keep in mind for our babies... will be checking feet and watching their activities/responses for changes. Just in case.
    Mama to Jackson and Kira, and my darling Cushing's angel, Visuddha

  10. #30
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    Default Re: Sophie, the Chinese Pug

    WOW it has been a WHILE since I updated about Soapy Soap! Goodness!

    Well, she is still with me and still the clown of the house in spite of her issues. Soph now has cancer and is covered in growths...some tumors some lipomas. One tumor was on a toe of her front right foot. It grew so large it ruptured the toe so we had no choice but to try to remove the tumor. After some back and forth with labs to make sure she could handle it, they took the tumor off and saved the toe. She was put under very light sedation to do this because of an undetermined respiratory condition she has developed (all her testing just says she congested without any real indication of why.) She wouldn't survive the traditional anesthesia. The surgery was successful and she flew right thru it with no problems at all. Until she got home. That was on a Friday and by Friday night I knew something was very wrong. She acted like some elderly folk do after a surgery...they just never come back and she was not coming back. She was lethargic, very nauseated, no appetite, weak...and I kept telling myself at first she was having a harder time than thought getting over the sedation even tho it was light. But by Sat morning I knew it was more. I called her vet and told him how she was acting. She was not in distress oddly enough...just basically not here. He and I both felt that loading her up to go to an ER would be more stressful than needed at that point so we agreed to let her be and see if she could recoup. By Monday she wasn't any better so we went back to the vet, me thinking she would not be coming home.

    Doc gave her a steroid injection, B12 injection, subQ fluids, Cerenia injection, and told me to call him in the morning to let him know how she was. By morning she was a teeny bit better but still would not eat and was still nauseous and vomiting often. Tuesday evening she threw up 8 oz of mucous in one go!! So Wed. we went back, me knowing she wouldn't come home this time. Doc said before we took that irreversible step he wanted to check her surgery report and he found that her pre-labs were something like 2 points from diagnostic for Addison's so he suggested trying Fludrocortisone to see if it would help. He repeated all the shots she had had Mon with the exception of the fluids which I can do at home and sent us home with Fludrocortisone and Lonox (to dry up the mucous) for 5 days. It worked!! In 24 hours she was much more like her old self. Still a bit off but much, much better. She was eating a bit and not throwing up constantly. So Sophie has been diagnosed with Addison's on top of everything else. Her labs are not really indicative of this disease but the treatment is helping her a great deal so we are going to keep on with it. The goal is her comfort at this point.

    So that is what's up with my Soapy Soap. She may not be here much longer but she is here today and oh so loved.
    "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.

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