Really worried about my dog

hethmar

Glad to hear things werent as bad as you thought, what a relief for you.

And we all know she is not "just" a dog. Ive cried more over losing a dog than I have over losing humans - forgive me, but its true. Its because the dogs give you pure love, no nastiness, no hidden agendas, totally pure affection. They are god's gift to us and thank goodness we have them.

Dollardog

hethmar wrote: »

Glad to hear things werent as bad as you thought, what a relief for you.

And we all know she is not "just" a dog. Ive cried more over losing a dog than I have over losing humans - forgive me, but its true. Its because the dogs give you pure love, no nastiness, no hidden agendas, totally pure affection. They are god's gift to us and thank goodness we have them.

Same here Hethmar, I'm still crying buckets over losing mine on Jan 2nd. Have lost other previously, it still gets no easier and I still cry over ones that have long gone.
They love you unconditionally which is more than people do. Even ones that have been ill treated still forgive and have the capacity to still give love. How people can mistreat animals that are so loving I'll never know.

Stephb1986_2

It's beyond me how anyone can mistreat an animal, I feel really bad if I shout at her for being naughty, she can be a devil sticking her nose in the treat cupboard and helping herself lol

She was originally a rescue dog she came to us at 8 weeks old having being dumped in a box next to a motorway, she's been with us ever since. Today has been mainly her sitting on my knee even though she's a medium sized dog she still loves a cuddle on the sofa

I suppose I have to get use to the idea that she isn't going to be with us forever it's hard but true. I can honestly say she means more to me than a lot of people I know.

I will keep you updated on her progress Katiehound I would be most greatful if you could ask your neighbour about devils claw please

Steph xx

Mollymoonlight

Stephb1986 wrote: »

It's beyond me how anyone can mistreat an animal, I feel really bad if I shout at her for being naughty, she can be a devil sticking her nose in the treat cupboard and helping herself lol

She was originally a rescue dog she came to us at 8 weeks old having being dumped in a box next to a motorway, she's been with us ever since. Today has been mainly her sitting on my knee even though she's a medium sized dog she still loves a cuddle on the sofa

I suppose I have to get use to the idea that she isn't going to be with us forever it's hard but true. I can honestly say she means more to me than a lot of people I know.

I will keep you updated on her progress Katiehound I would be most greatful if you could ask your neighbour about devils claw please

Steph xx

I'm glad to hear she's doing better, I was in tears at work when I read your post the other day. My wee girl is 14 and her age is catching up with her. When I think about what it will be like when she's not here I get so upset. I know a broken heart is a big risk of having a pet, but the happiness they bring us is so worth it. My animals are my babies, and are treated as such (but not to the detriment of their health or happiness). Enjoy the time the two of you have together x

pawsies

Maybe look into doing some hydrotherapy, there are lots of benefits to it.

Also, although you've got good news just make sure you make the most of life now with her You never know how much time you have left...

Ellie0077

I don't even know if I am posting this in the correct place or even if this is allowed here but here goes.

For some time my dog had been having ear infections which resulted in a visit to the vets, being given antibiotics, infection being cleared up for a while then it would come back and you guessed it back to the vet again !!!! I then started to notice that my dog was dribbling a lot from the left side of her mouth and because of my concerns took her to the vets who thought it could be to do with her teeth. Booked her in to have her teeth looked at and cleaned and whilst under the general anaesthetic they would take an x-ray of her left side. Her teeth were fine but the x-ray showed up nerve damage on her left side which was caused by Otitas Media Middle Ear, meaning her ear canal was damaged but in both ears !!! . She was put on a course of strong antibiotics and I was advised by the vets that this strain of ear infection was very hard to treat and if they could not get rid of this infection then the only option was to have both her ear canals removed. The infection didn’t go so it was suggested that her only option now was to have a total ear canal removal in both ears which meant opening up the side of my dogs face and removing her ear canal, sewing her face back up and then sewing her ear hole up ( she would loose 60% of her hearing at least ) they would not do both ears at the same time as it is very painful for the dog. It is not without risks either as it can result in the dog having permanent nerve damage resulting in the dog unable to blink, make the side of the face drop or mouth dribble ( which my dog was already doing )or get an infection in the ear which had been operated on, which meant that as the ear hole has now been sewn up the dog has to have the same operation to try and get rid of the infection which is inside.

I was not happy with this option and asked to have my dog referred to a dermatologist. To try and cut a long story short – She has had three visits now and the Otitas Media Middle Ear infection has completely cleared up in both of her ears but now they are trying to find out what has been causing the ear infections, whether it is a food or environment allergy. I am feeding her a hypo allergic dry dog food ( and only this ) at the moment to see if her skin is ok with no signs of inflamed ears or other parts of her skin and if after six to eight weeks on this food she is fine then it will be assumed that she has a food allergy which has been causing these ear infections and I can slowly introduce her regular food ( one at a time ) seeing if anything will trigger her skin inflammation off and if so that food will not be included into her diet.

This is not a quick solution or inexpensive but neither would the total ear canal removal have been but at least my dog gets to keep her ears intact.

I wanted to share my findings with others as when I first heard what condition my dog had and my vet’s only option for her I was desperate to read something positive but could not really find anything.

Mollymoonlight

Thank you so much for this Ellie, I have a spaniel with typical spaniel ears, so I will keep an eye out for this. It's very frustrating when vets hit you with these things, too many of them are far to quick to suggest drastic surgery rather than give you the option of seeing a specialist. It's great that you had enough savvy to look into this option. We have a horse at our yard who has been going through a similar trauma at the moment, and his owner has spent a small fortune on treatments that were completely unnecessary.

Ellie0077

Thank you Mollymoonlight, it is a very major operation and my vet was only too quick to suggest that my dog had this operation otherwise she would be in pain for the rest of her life and the problem would only get worse which I know it would without treatment but the vets can not buy in the solution which the dermatologist made up especially for my dogs condition ( why they can't buy it from the dermatologist's or perhaps they won't sell it to them, I just don't know) But she has had a cat scan and camera down her ears which is how we now know that all the infection is out and her ears haven't been damaged so it it really great news for my dog who is a Cocker Spaniel ( forgot to mention )