Lucky Dog Rescue Blog: Humane Society???

Lucky Dog Rescue Blog: Humane Society???: "What does the term “humane” really mean? Does it mean kindness, mercy, and compassion? Does it involve a concerted effort to inflict the min..."

This is a great post on Humane Societies. I've come to this realization over the last few years and have been supporting local small scale rescues vs. our big humane societies in the GTA especially since there was such an upheaval a few years ago. In support of local rescues there is a walk-a-thon this weekend that myself and my fiance are walking in to raise money. Quinn and I are walking to raise money for Big On Beagles Rescue while Lexi and my fiance are walking for Westies In Need.

It should be a great event and it's happening in conjunction with Woofstock, which is the largest outdoor festival for dogs in North America. We can't wait!!

Lets go, lets go!!!

Wordless Wednesday

The view looking down from my chair.

Oh dear ... the "cone of shame"

Well, Quinn has been saddled with the "cone of shame" and let me tell you she is NOT impressed.

Quinn is dramatic on a good day ... with the cone on she is Drama Queen Extraordinaire! She just sits moping, staring off into space with a little whimper now and then. She can't be her regular mischievous self with it on (licking dishes in the dishwasher, jumping up on beds to steal things, etc.).

The reason Quinn is wearing a cone is that on Saturday morning we were cuddling before I left for work and I found a little scratch/nic/bug bite? under her chin, cleaned it up and didn't think much of it. On Sunday we were gardening so all the girls were moseying around the backyard doing their own thing. When I went to have a look at the scratch to see if it needed to be cleaned after a day in the backyard, I was surprised to see a very large pink bald patch where Quinn had been scratching all day!!!

So, I cleaned it off with some antiseptic wash and tried to clip the hair around it but Quinn would not let me near the "hot spot" with the clippers. I can touch her anywhere else with them and she could care less, but it must be very sensitive. Around 11 last night I cleaned it again and it was starting to get pussy so we are off the the vet today for some antibiotics ... and Quinn is stuck in the e-collar!

Play Time!

So the girls had a puppy play date today with one of my friends dogs.

 

She's a little white fireball of American Eskimo X named Maddy.

She is super cute and FULL of energy. She went non-stop all afternoon and even tired out Quinn.

All the white dogs were ganging up on Quinn ;)

Maddy was the only puppy brave enough to test out the pool.

The girls had great time romping around the backyard and then we all went for a walk in the forest. We had such a wonderful afternoon and all the girls got along so well we will be planning another play date in the near future.

Quinn tells Maddy what she thinks of being barked at!

officially pooped

My little hodge-podge!

The hodge-podge crew (Lexi, Quinn & Snickers)

Wow...well I finished up my Vet Tech program (with three more animals than I started with - and I couldn't be happier)! I have an amazing little furry family from the biggest to the smallest. 

Snickers was my first dog and has been a great companion. She will be 15 this July and unfortunately, her body is starting to slow her down. She is slowly loosing her hearing and eye sight and her kidneys are failing, she also has arthritis and spondylosis. She is on daily pain relievers for her arthritis, as well as medications and supplements to subside the symptoms of her kidney failure. We went through a couple of very rough months last summer/fall and I was worried that she might not make it. Snickers is a strong girl though and she has been doing well ever since. She sleeps a lot but she seems happy comfortable other than being stiff when she wakes up. Snickers has always been an independent girl but still enjoys a good cuddle. She has really mellowed in her old age and has even become less finicky when it comes to nail trims and baths (her two most hated things)!

Quinn came into my life in November 2010 during the first semester of my Vet Tech program and if you've read the blog before you may have read her story. She is our youngest munchkin and a whirl wind of happy crazy fun loving beagle. She loves everyone and everything. Quinn is always on move and always looking to get into trouble. She constantly makes me laugh and I love all her silly happy moments! I love all my girls but Quinn is my heart dog. There is just something about her. Somehow everyone she meets falls in love with her even if they are not dog people.

Enter ... The Captain. Captain Colbert is our furry little hamster who came to live with us this past December. He was one of 12 hamsters at my school for us to learn rodent handling, husbandry, anesthesia and health care. We came in one morning and one of his eyes was enucleated most likely from an accident with his wire wheel (he now has a wheel where eye balls cannot get stuck)! It's more common than you may think for rodents eyes to pop out as they protrude quite far out of their skulls to begin with. Anyways, we put Colbert under general anesthetic and our vet surgically removed his left eye. He was a very good patient and didn't even need a mini e-collar ;) . After his surgery he became known around school as The Captain! It took him a few days to adjust to the lack of an eye but he healed well and has been a happy little hammy ever since. He spends his days sleeping and his nights making his comfy cozy nest. Luckily, none of my girls really bother with him. His cage is up on a high dresser so occasionally they look up at the noise as he runs in his wheel. I usually only bring him out when the girls are sleeping soundly so we don't run into any problems. Snickers probably wouldn't notice him with her eye sight but Quinn would love to howl and him and play with him. Lexi is quite feisty and would probably chase him down and take him out in one chomp.


Last but not least, the newest addition to our family ... Lexi. Her initial bio was the previous post on my blog ... and now for an update. Lexi has come a long way since we adopted her in January. She was and still is quite attached to me following me everywhere. She has gotten MUCH better with staying home. We used a crate and treats to work on behaviour modification and bring her through the anxiety. She is starting to wander around a bit more with Quinn and will even venture outside on her own occasionally.
One Sunday, about a month after we adopted her, she started walking funny and was extremely tense in her abdomen. The vet thought it might be attributed to her Addison's disease and by the next morning she was walking normally and her abdomen was normal again also. On Tuesday she went to daycare and they noticed she was walking funny. By the time I got home around 8pm she was dragging her back feet behind her unable to get them under her. I rushed her to the vet where we did blood work and x-rays. It was determined that she had a partially ruptured disk. The options presented to me were surgery (a couple thousand dollars) or we could try bed rest and medication for the pain until the vertebrae calcified. Needless to say, I had to go with the second option. It took a few weeks for Lexi to be able to walk only dragging her left leg a bit and she progressed slowly over the next 2 months. We are very lucky to have a great cage free day care in town that sectioned off a space for Lexi so she could rest but not have to be home alone as we worked through her separation anxiety. She is now happy and pain free and able to run around with Quinn and go for walks. The residual damage is that she sometimes drags her left toes very slightly and she occasionally urinates when in a deep sleep.


Lexi's personality has really come through. She is a feisty little terrier full of life. She loves to be groomed and will sit on a lap for hours cuddling. Quinn and Lexi play together all day long. Lexi loves to wait at the top of the stairs or around corners to pounce on Quinn. It's her one strategy against Quinn's agility, speed and long legs!

A Long Overdue Introduction: Lexi Loo!

This introduction is very over due - I kept sitting down to write it but then post-poned due to school stuff needing to be finished! So without further ado...please meet Lexi, a 4-5 year old Westie and the newest addition to my furry family.

Mop Dog!

I work at a vet clinic in the town where I live and Lexi has been a frequent flyer at our clinic over the past few months. She had on and off gastrointestinal problems as well as other issues that contributed to her frequent visits. Lexi had been in a few days before Christmas and was placed on IV fluids because she was not eating and was vomiting and had diarrhea. She was perking up and able to go home over Christmas but a few days later had completely crashed. She was extremely lethargic, dehydrated almost in mild shock despite her owners attempts to give her food and water. This was the worst she had been. At this point, the vet suspected that this might be cancer of some sort or possibly Addison's disease and started running yet another set of tests. Her owners were devastated at the thought she may have cancer and were really having a hard time caring for her already. They were an older couple who had rescued Lexi when she was brought over to Ontario from a puppy mill raid in Montreal just a year and a half earlier.

The tests finally gave us a conclusive diagnosis. Lexi had Addison's disease which explained the past few months of on and off symptoms which responded to symptomatic treatments. Addison's is a disease where the adrenal glands do not produce sufficient natural hormones (cortisol and aldosterone), which causes the body to be completely out of balance. Addison's can be hard to diagnose due to it's vague symptoms. Once past the Addisonian Crisis that Lexi was experiencing, treatment would include life long hormone supplements. Lexi's owners did not feel that they could care for her any longer in her condition and were considering euthanizing as they thought they had no other options. My co-worker and I both asked my boss (the Vet) to discuss surrendering Lexi to the clinic instead of euthanizing. We had all gotten to know her and she is a wonderful little girl that has been through a lot and deserved a chance! Lexi's owners were so happy that we would do that for them as they really felt as though they could no longer provide care for her.

Lexi came to stay at my house for overnight monitoring while on IV fluids for a night or two after her crisis. My girls had to investigate the new furry creature and were great with Lexi so I was pretty sure they would get along but my co-worker and I were both willing to take her. We decided to each have a trial run once Lexi was feeling better, unfortunately/fortunately my co-workers 9 month old German Shepard was just a bit too rambunctious for Lexi's low key nature so she came back to live with my furry family. Her gotcha day is officially December 31st, 2010!

All my little ladies!!

This photo was taken a few days after Lexi arrived. We had a big warm spell and our foot of snow completely melted away allowing for a good romp in the backyard. Lexi fit in so well with Snickers and Quinn, it was as if she had lived with us for years. Lexi is very respectful of Snickers and really does not bother her in the slightest, which Snickers LOVES! Quinn and Lexi get along really well also and play together all the time. They are like Tweedle-dee and Tweedle-dum, where one goes the other is not far behind.

Nom Nom!!

Lexi had missed quite a few grooms because she was so ill and by the time she came to live with me her hair doo was a matted mess! So, needless to say, once she completely recovered she was off to the groomers for a major overhaul. I didn't even recognize her when I picked her up but she looks much more streamlined now!

We started Lexi on a trial of steroid supplements and got her levels worked out and she has been doing very well with her Addison's over the past month and a half. She will require two doses of steroids everyday for the rest of her life to keep her hormones balanced and keep her healthy!

Lexi seems to be settling in quite well. She is quite attached to me (velcro puppy is an understatement) but she is slowly getting more independent. Unfortunately, this means that she has quite the case of separation anxiety when I leave - but we have been working on behaviour modification over the past few weeks - more to come on that soon.

Lastly, we had one more health complication two weeks ago - a protruding disc! More on that in another post also! Clearly, Lexi is always going to be a frequent flyer at the vets office ;)