Hi jetred,
From your post a year ago… this is exactly the type of information I'm searching for, "I know this might not be survivable for her but I can't find any advice on how to get a dog through cancer, what to look out for, when is she truly in pain, what spindle cell does over time and when is enough for her and time to set her free."
So I am wondering, what was your plan with Luna? How did you make decisions? What information did you learn that you think is important to know about the spindle cell cancer disease process?
I have a 15 yr old girl (aussie shepard mix) who is in good spirits, enjoys slow short walks, putting her nose in the wind, eating, etc all normally. We've had two surgeries already to debulk the tumor on her rear leg. One in 2013, and the second recently in June from which she recovered well for her age. Though it returned quickly (3 mos) and larger this time. It's now an open lesion. I am both astounded and perplexed at how she acts pretty normal given this! My vet (who is a new vet to us as I just moved) initially discussed end of life decisions and then also offered amputation as an option to consider. I would so appreciate any thoughts you have and/or hear more about your story.
Thank you.
Can't hold it anymore - new fancy crate - will Lenny pee in it too?
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Ain't that the truth…mine know that if they open an eye, I'll take them out, so they sleep and hold it.
I used to have a pet sitting/house sitting business and one of the chocolate labs I took care of absolutely hated the rain. Even when I would make her go out, she wouldn't go to the bathroom...she went 2 full days without peeing or pooping one weekend (and never ever had accidents in the house). Crazy.
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I had reservations about keeping them in the crate that long at first also, when I only had Tayda. When she proved herself to be trustworthy I put a camera on her while I went out and left her out of the crate, w/ the door open. I came back, watched the tape and found that she spent most of the time in the crate anyway. literally. So when i got Lenny, I crated them together and they are just fine. Lenny would definitely get into things when I'm away… I'd rather have a crated B then come back to an electrocuted B who decided to chew on some cords or something. Anyway, this is another topic. I do wish I could trust them both loose in the house though.
I had a mental/emotional breakdown this morning. Tayda runs away from me now because she knows she is going to get the pills. She ran away this morning and when I went to get her she had peed a little. Is it still a UTI or did she pee out of anxiety? She won't eat anything that I feed her - although she will eat what my boyfriend puts down (even though its the same food). She also keeps spitting out the pills when I give them to her. It's heartbreaking. I need to find a new way. I might just get a pill popper and see if that works. I'd be afraid it would be too tramautic for her, but if I can use it once or twice and have the pills be down, rather than fight with her for 20 minutes - I guess that is better. She's only 6 years old. This totally sucks.
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Michelle…. so sorry that you are having problems with Tayda... I would guess that the "little" pee was/is stress related... and I know how hard it is when they run from you when it is time for pills... My Maggii did that with her pills (not for Fanconi, but other old age problems).
My good friend Parry has the same problem with his Jaadii when he starting spilling. First he hid the pills in food, but Jaadii quickly figured out that and refused to eat or totally picked through searching for pills. They (Parry and Jaadii) came to an understanding... Parry would shove the pills down him and not hide them in food... Jaadii resigned to that, but went back to eating.....
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Thanks Pat,… I decided a few weeks ago that I would not call her name and have her come to me and have her "reward" be having pills shoved down her throat. I could tell she was starting to hesitate when I called her name. So I now just get the pills ready and go find her and pill her where ever she is. The pilling method i was using has worked for about a month but I guess I need to figure something else out.
As Andrea said (in a different thread), it would also probably help to separate pilling and feeding times... I will try that. She seems to be more interested in food in the afternoon evenings so maybe I can feed her at 4:30 when I get home from work and again at 11pm before I go to sleep. And pilling times can be 7am and 7pm. I'll see how that works. Sigh....
Please don't yell at me - she is my dog and I love her and I'm committed to keeping her healthy for as long as she lives... but from a selfish standpoint - - I'm SOO frustrated that my quality of life (outside of the dogs) has to suffer also. It was really hard before when they were both healthy to find someone I trusted to watch them. Now I just feel so tethered to her because of all of this that I can't see any way that we could ever go on vacation. Traveling used to be a HUGE hobby of mine. But now I just can not bear the thought of leaving her. I'd be out of my mind with worry. I have to go to Wisconsin for work in July for 2 weeks and BF is going to come for a weekend so I can meet his host family (he was an exchange student long ago)... so I'm going to DRIVE 1000 miles from Connecticut to Wisconsin and bring the dogs with me. I mean, this is just ridiculous. Sigh....:(
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Thanks Pat,… I decided a few weeks ago that I would not call her name and have her come to me and have her "reward" be having pills shoved down her throat. I could tell she was starting to hesitate when I called her name. So I now just get the pills ready and go find her and pill her where ever she is. The pilling method i was using has worked for about a month but I guess I need to figure something else out.
As Andrea said (in a different thread), it would also probably help to separate pilling and feeding times... I will try that. She seems to be more interested in food in the afternoon evenings so maybe I can feed her at 4:30 when I get home from work and again at 11pm before I go to sleep. And pilling times can be 7am and 7pm. I'll see how that works. Sigh....
Please don't yell at me - she is my dog and I love her and I'm committed to keeping her healthy for as long as she lives... but from a selfish standpoint - - I'm SOO frustrated that my quality of life (outside of the dogs) has to suffer also. It was really hard before when they were both healthy to find someone I trusted to watch them. Now I just feel so tethered to her because of all of this that I can't see any way that we could ever go on vacation. Traveling used to be a HUGE hobby of mine. But now I just can not bear the thought of leaving her. I'd be out of my mind with worry. I have to go to Wisconsin for work in July for 2 weeks and BF is going to come for a weekend so I can meet his host family (he was an exchange student long ago)... so I'm going to DRIVE 1000 miles from Connecticut to Wisconsin and bring the dogs with me. I mean, this is just ridiculous. Sigh....:(
No yelling from me
I can totally understand how frustrating it would be. Could you possibly find a vet hospital that does boarding, and they could medicate her too? Also keep an eye on her for a UTI? -
No yelling here. Have you looked into petsitters? My aunt had a dog and a cat with medical issues that required daily pills and care and found a petsitter that was wonderful about doing it when she needed to be out of town.
I use a petsitter for my animals. She stays overnight with them and they get two walks a day. She came over to the house before her first stay to meet all of them and do an interview about each one and their quirks and needs.
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If you do consider a pet sitter, here is a link to some questions to ask in the interview.
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I have looked into petsitters - I need to keep looking. My vet doesn't do boarding, but I know there are some that do. For the cost of boarding two dogs, it is probably more affordable to have someone come to the house… and the dogs would definitely be more comfortable in their own home anyway. I need to keep trying - I'm just afraid i guess.
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I totally understand. I have a hard time being gone for more than a weekend. We will be going out of town next weekend and though I am looking forward to the vacation, I always hate leaving the dogs.
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I had reservations about keeping them in the crate that long at first also, when I only had Tayda. When she proved herself to be trustworthy I put a camera on her while I went out and left her out of the crate, w/ the door open. I came back, watched the tape and found that she spent most of the time in the crate anyway. literally. So when i got Lenny, I crated them together and they are just fine. Lenny would definitely get into things when I'm away… I'd rather have a crated B then come back to an electrocuted B who decided to chew on some cords or something. Anyway, this is another topic. I do wish I could trust them both loose in the house though.
I agree Tayda_Lenny, its another topic and its not fair on you hi-jacking your topic - I hope your poor wee girl gets on ok.
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I have looked into petsitters - I need to keep looking. My vet doesn't do boarding, but I know there are some that do. For the cost of boarding two dogs, it is probably more affordable to have someone come to the house… and the dogs would definitely be more comfortable in their own home anyway. I need to keep trying - I'm just afraid i guess.
Another idea would be someone from your (or another vet practice) that does housesitting…so you would be comfortable that they know how to quickly give pills, etc.
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I totally understand too… No yelling here either... it is totally understandable that you will get fustrated and feel tied down... I know that I did when Maggii, OJ and Mickii were still with us... caring for old or ill animals is difficult at best.. as they can't talk to us... and try as we might, pretty difficult to make them understand that the Meds we are shoving down them is really for their own good....
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Another idea would be someone from your (or another vet practice) that does housesitting…so you would be comfortable that they know how to quickly give pills, etc.
That is a good thought, maybe one of the Vet Techs is willing to do some pet sitting even if it was not something they usually did…
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I did post a message on the message board at my vet for any techs that might be interested in pet sitting - there was one guy that said he did pet sit on the side - No one has responded to my message, I need to follow up with them.
I bought a pill popper at lunch. Never used one before - I'll try it tonight!
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Michelle, I'm sorry to hear that you're having a tough time with Tayda.
I hope the new idea will make things quicker so she can get back to eating with you. And if not, keep up the good cop/bad cop routine between you and Ondrej as long as you can, it just might last for a bit.It is too bad you don't live here anymore. But if you want to you're more than welcome to swing by and leave them here so you can get a break during your trip. Are you cutting through Canada? Is there somewhere we can meet? When will you be leaving? I think Jazz will be here until July 10th, while his family is in Italy.
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I did post a message on the message board at my vet for any techs that might be interested in pet sitting - there was one guy that said he did pet sit on the side - No one has responded to my message, I need to follow up with them.
I bought a pill popper at lunch. Never used one before - I'll try it tonight!
Have you tried putting the pills in peanut butter and sticking the peanut butter to the roof of her mouth? It works beautifully with Jazz - she likes peanut butter, and as she works to lick it from the roof of her mouth, the pill just slides down {I do the bicarb whole this way; the others I break into tiny pieces or crush.}
She's at the point now where when I try to crush them into canned dog food, she won't eat it. Well, in the evenings she still does okay, but in the morning she is much fussier and more inclined to skip the meal.
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Where in WI are you going to be visiting? What are the dates? I have some busy weekends coming up, but would be willing to help if possible…and I'd love to meet some other basenji's, I've only seen another one time before
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Michelle, I'm sorry to hear that you're having a tough time with Tayda.
I hope the new idea will make things quicker so she can get back to eating with you. And if not, keep up the good cop/bad cop routine between you and Ondrej as long as you can, it just might last for a bit.It is too bad you don't live here anymore. But if you want to you're more than welcome to swing by and leave them here so you can get a break during your trip. Are you cutting through Canada? Is there somewhere we can meet? When will you be leaving? I think Jazz will be here until July 10th, while his family is in Italy.
Kelly! You're the best! I'll be probably driving through Pennsylvania… it's fine... the hotel allows dogs and I will be taking a work car and driving during work hours so it's fine... but I might keep you in mind for if we ever go on vacation again! I'm going to start interviewing pet sitters more seriously around here too - so hopefully I can find someone I am comfortable with!
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Have you tried putting the pills in peanut butter and sticking the peanut butter to the roof of her mouth? It works beautifully with Jazz - she likes peanut butter, and as she works to lick it from the roof of her mouth, the pill just slides down {I do the bicarb whole this way; the others I break into tiny pieces or crush.}
She's at the point now where when I try to crush them into canned dog food, she won't eat it. Well, in the evenings she still does okay, but in the morning she is much fussier and more inclined to skip the meal.
Oh yeah, Tayda actually doesn't like peanut butter… never has. I have tried it though - along with cream cheese, american cheese slices, EZ, cheese, nacho cheese, velveeta, liverwurst, mashed potatoes, bar cheese, cat food, yogurt, brie (yes, brie), bread dipped in gravy, etc etc. the list goes on and on.
For now, she seems to have surrendered to whipped cream cheese. Hopefully it lasts....
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Where in WI are you going to be visiting? What are the dates? I have some busy weekends coming up, but would be willing to help if possible…and I'd love to meet some other basenji's, I've only seen another one time before
I'll be staying in Lake Geneva - the last 2 weeks of July - we should meet up if you're near there. My boyfriend will be coming out during the second week through the weekend but after work I'll just be hangin' w/ the dogs… Its supposed to be a nice place, so I'm looking forward to going on some nice long walks with them.
