How Did You Spend New Years?

Warning!  Gross Post!

This morning I had the rudest of awakenings.  I woke up to the lovely sound of retching.  Springing out of bed as fast as I could (at 6:30 in the morning), I hustled towards the ominous sound.  It was Ryder.  Puking up the bits of toy he decided to eat Friday night.  Now, I had thought I'd caught him quickly enough.  Apparently I was a smidge too slow.  Not only did he puke up the hunk of barbell I caught him destroying, he puked up a huge portion of the toy Tessa had destroyed.  

You know the warnings, dog must be supervised, blah, blah, blah.  Well, I DO supervise the little wrecking machines!  You would be stunned at how quickly they can get into trouble.  All it took was me walking into the next room to get a drink of water.  And Whammy!  Brand. New. Toy.  Poof!  Gone!  Well a good sized hunk of it anyhow.  I promptly took it away and threw it out.  Meanwhile, behind the couch Tessa was happily ripping the stuffing out of the Brand. New. Toy.  Unbeknownst to me, Ryder had also helped himself to the innards of this toy.  How do I know?  Well, at 6:30 in the morning when he puked it all up there were hunks of the toy I took from him, as well as this plastic and stuffing that had been in Tessa's toy.  Lovely.

Then on our walk in the park I noticed he was struggling a bit to do his business.  Very out of character for my speedy doody man.  Telling myself not to panic or get too worried before I checked the dog run at home.  Once home, I noticed some diarrhea and stool so I decided against calling the vet.  Bowel movement had to be a positive thing.  

About an hour after he eats his supper he so kindly puked it all back up.  On my freshly cleaned floor.  This prompted some agony over calling my vet on New Years Eve.  Some Internet searching induced paranoia prompted the phone call.  Where I was informed to watch him.  Closely.  She gave me some advice of what I should feed him to try and help him pass things on his own.  So here I am.  Waiting for my dog to puke or present some fabulous diarrhea.  Let the good times roll.  If he gets worse, the vet will meet me at the clinic and we'll begin some diagnostics.  Come morning we're to make a decision if he needs further care.  

Yep, I am that girl.  Here's a sampling of one of the puke's I cleaned off my floor.  Nummy!

What To Do??

Sam (my vet) came out today.  Whiskey has been moving a lot better so I wanted to get her assessed to see if she would be able to make a riding come back.  Sam watched her move.  Then we did the flex test.  It was ugly.  While "off" normally, when the flex test was done she was clearly lame.  Because I wanted to know and asked Sam thought she'd have a less than 50% chance in making a riding horse for me.  I could hop on her and take her for jaunts around the field but she'd never be able to do anything beyond that.

So now what?  I have this lovely mare who is broodmare sound.  But I don't really need a broodmare.  I don't really need (or want) a bunch of foals.  Does she become a field ornament?  It seems a shame as Guinness is quite a nice little foal.  (Even Sam commented on him!)  What's the right thing to do?  For me, and her?

I guess there's some thinking in my future...

Murphy's Law

What is it with animals that they can't get sick during normal vet working hours?  Why do they have to wait until the clinic closes for the holiday weekend?  I hate calling the vet after hours but that is what I did yesterday.

Saturday night Tessa begged and pleaded to be let out more than once.  Sunday my mom and I took the three Borders for a walk in the local grazing reserve.  It was there that I realized my little Tessa was not feeling so good.  The poor girl squatted, and squatted.  Watching what was coming out of her I knew she needed some intervention.  I wasn't willing to let it ride out for another two days so I called Sam.  She's such a great person.  She went to the clinic and put some meds in the mailbox for me to pick them up.  We started Tessa on PeptoBismal and some kind of antibiotic.  (Huge honking horse sized pills!)

Throughout the day I kept my eye on Tessa.  She mostly slept.  And yes when she went outside I ruthlessly watched her "stool".  She's seems to be a bit better but still isn't her normal self yet.  If she's still having problems she'll go into the vet on Tuesday for a check up.

Lucky girl gets a bath today before company arrives to remove the "trailers" off her hind end...

Herpes Outbreak

The barns up here have shut their doors. They are limiting movement and if you dare remove your horse, they won't accept it back. Why? There has been verified cases of Equine Herpes Virus. This is a highly contagious and often fatal disease for horses that has limited treatment and prevention options. Please read the copied letter for information on the disease and some background on the outbreak. And if you are a horse owner in the Western States or Provinces - perhaps it's best to leave your horse at home for the next few weeks. You know the saying - an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure...

Here's the copied letter (off Facebook.)

As shown below, the neurological version IS EHV-1 (aka EHM): (For those interested, the Flu/Rhino vaccine we give protects against EHV-4. To my knowledge, there is no vaccine for EHV-1.)

Message sent to AAEP DVM Members in the U.S. and Canada on May 16, 2011

Currently, there are reports of equine herpesvirus myeloencephalopathy (EHM) affecting an unconfirmed number of horses in the U.S. and Canada. This outbreak appears related to initial cases at a cutting horse show in Ogden, Utah, which was held from April 29 - May 8. Horses at that event may have been exposed to this virus and subsequently spread the infection to other horses. While the true extent of this disease outbreak is uncertain, there is clearly a very significant elevated risk of EHM cases at this time. At this time control of the outbreak is critically dependent on biosecurity.

Laboratory submission of nasal swabs and whole blood samples collected from the exposed horse can be utilized for virus detection and isolation. Please consider testing any suspected cases.

The EHV-1 organism spreads quickly from horse to horse but typically only causes neurological disease sporadically. However, in an outbreak of EHV-1 neurologic such as we are experiencing now, the disease can reach high morbidity and case fatality rates. The incubation period of EHV-1 infection is typically 1-2-days, with clinical signs of fever then occurring, often in a biphasic fever, over the following 10 days. When neurological disease occurs it is typically 8-12 days after the primary infection, starting often after the second fever spike. In horses infected with the neurologic strain of EHV-1, clinical signs may include: nasal discharge, incoordination, hind end weakness, recumbency, lethargy, urine dribbling and diminished tail tone. Prognosis depends on severity of signs and the period of recumbency. There is no specific treatment for EHV-1, although antiviral drugs (i.e. valacyclovire) may have some value before neurological signs occur. Non-specific treatment may i nclude intravenous fluids, and other appropriate supportive therapy; the use of anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) is strongly recommended. Currently, there is no equine vaccine that has a label claim for protection against the neurological strain of the virus.

Horse-to-horse contact, aerosol transmission, and contaminated hands, equipment, tack, and feed all play a role in disease spread. However, horses with severe clinical signs of neurological EHV-1 infection are thought to have large viral loads in their blood and nasal secretions and therefore, present the greatest danger for spreading the disease. Immediate separation and isolation of identified suspect cases and implementation of appropriate biosecurity measures are key elements for disease control.

Please report any confirmed EHV/EHM cases or suspect EHV/EHM cases to your state/provincial animal health department as soon as possible.

For additional questions, please contact Keith Kleine, AAEP director of industry relations, at (800) 443-0177 or kkleine@aaep.org.

Sincerely,

William Moyer, DVM
2011 AAEP President

Can't Win for Lousing

I can't win for losing right now. My darling fur-babies picked up lice (or should I say a louse) at doggy daycare. They called me yesterday at work to say one of their regular grooming and weekly daycare visitor had some even smaller visitors on it. As a result they checked all the dogs, and my little man Ryder, had a louse setting up house. Not cool.

A call to the vet, and an order of the topical treatment were the result. I have 5 dogs. I have 5 dogs to treat at least twice this month. You do the math...

The positive is that it's lice and lice are significantly easier to treat than other types of pests. I'll put Revolution on them to kill anything that may be trying to take up residence. I'll also do all kinds of laundry, and thoroughly vacuum (isn't vacuum a strange word??) the house and my truck. Let the good times begin...

Irony

Yesterday, Reba and I made the trek down to Calgary. My dearest friend lives there, and I'm blessed that she's the host-est with the most-est. Reba had an appointment with a specialist and I was getting some visiting in beforehand. I had had my vet look into finding me someone to do an eye exam on Reba after her DNA results. She referred me to C.A.R.E Centre. Once there Reba received her eye exam. We were looking for CEA/CH. I needed to know for my own peace of mind just how Affected she was.

Butterflies in my stomach, I patiently waited while the tests were done. And then the vet looked me in the eye and said, "Her eyes are normal." Say what???? Blinking, I looked at him confused, and pointed to the copy of the DNA test. So now I have a nice certificate saying my dog is Affected, and I have another one saying my dog is Normal. Just a bit confusing. He basically said that there are all kinds of variations and while my dog may have the DNA profile she clinically does not have the disease. The results will have no affect on her ability to see and work. And I should feel free to breed her if she has merit. (This one I didn't even ask to know.) Good to know. He did say because of the DNA results to make informed decisions around the breeding aspect (ie. breed Normal). He said a bunch of other things that made me go, "Hunh, really?? Who knew!" that I won't get into because I don't want to create a firestorm. It was a great learning experience for me.

I have to say that was the best and most worthwhile vet bill I've ever paid. Peace of mind - priceless!

Gulp!

It's done.  The vet has come and gone.  We injected Whiskey today.  Normally, I am very much anti-injection.  I feel they are overused and often unnecessary.  However, in this case, Whiskey has had over 1.5 years off and is still lame.  I've done all kinds of other treatments with limited success.  

Because I'm anal retentive and wanted to see what's going on in her hock we did radiographs (x-rays).  These showed some issues around the front of her hock, which Sam thinks are likely residual inflammation from when she had the soft tissue damage a year ago spring.  Basically, these first two injections we are treating from a diagnostic point of view.  Are they helping with the lameness?  If they help, how long do the effects last?  With a lot of hope and a little luck this will fix Whiskey's lameness issue.  The flip side being the soft tissue damage was so severe and pervasive the ligaments and tendons will never recover, causing her to permanently be lame.  

With my fingers crossed I'll sit the next four days waiting, waiting for the chance to start legging her up, waiting to see how well this injection experiment works.  And hoping.  Hoping that I'll have my Whiskey girl back and in fighting form.

More Vet Bills to Come

Whiskey is not pregnant.  And she should be.  No excuses this time around.  Sam wants to do a biopsy and some tissue samples to try and figure out if there is something wrong with Whiskey's uterus.  Some reason I've had so much trouble getting her bred.  Needless to say I won't be deciding whether or not she'll be bred again until the results are in.  

On the other hand, this also means I should be getting my riding horse back.  When Sam does do the biopsy, she'll also x-ray the hock and we'll move towards injections - with the hope we can help her move past whatever is causing the problem in her leg.  I miss riding her and hope we can find a quick solution.  However, this also means more vet bills and I was soooooo looking forward to a vet bill reprieve!

Cursed

I'm beginning to think I'm cursed.  Perhaps I'm just crazy collecting animals like there's no tomorrow.  Today, I went into the vet's to pay my latest bill (and yes, what I spend at the vet's would likely feed a poor nation), while I was there I asked Sam about some of the dog issues that having been coming up.  Issues like Bella's continued and excessive butt scootching.  Issues like Joe's nasty diarrhea.  (I have a pretty hardy stomach but cleaning up after the poor soul makes me gag.)  

Long story short, Bella now has a topical cream to be applied twice daily to her hind end which will hopefully stop what Sam thinks may be a minor infection.  And Joe has some antibiotics to help settle his stomach.  Sam gave a fancy name that I don't remember but she thinks he has some doggy illness (likely arrived with it) that we'll treat.  Ha, and here I thought I needed to change his dog food.  

I should know in 7-10 days if both treatments worked.  If they don't, we'll monkey with the dog food in case of allergies.  

Wait'n on Sam

Sam is my vet. She's the person I call when the crap hits the fan with the dogs, horses or cat. This year I've had the opportunity to get to know her perhaps better than a person would want to. (I'm being sarcastic, she's a great person.)

I started the year off trying to breed Whiskey via artificial insemination. This is a more complicated process than a person would expect. First you ultrasound the mare to see where they are in their cycle, and to check to make sure everything is okay 'inside". Once you know where she is in her cycle you ultrasound (that's right - again) when she's cycling to try and pinpoint when they're ovulating. Then you call the stallion owner and "order" the semen. Next the vet does the actual breeding part by putting the semen into the mare. Ultrasound again after 16 days to see if the mare is bred. Repeat the process if necessary. The first cycle we missed and had to wait. The second cycle the stallion literally wasn't in the mood and wouldn't produce. We made the decision to short cycle her. This means at a specific point in her cycle she gets a hormone shot to cause her to go into heat quicker. Do the ultrasound routine. Order the semen. And, the stallion's vet goes on maternity leave. No semen. Remember all of these steps mean vet visits.

I rush to find a local stallion to do the job. By this point I have a fair amount of money invested in vet bills. Missed the cycle, more ultrasounds. Ultimately the mare did not end up bred no baby, but lot's of bonding time with Sam. And lot's of waiting for Sam to arrive time.

During the end of the breeding saga, Moxie the cat, gets mauled by something. I rush her into the clinic. She ends up getting x-rays, heavy duty antibiotics and a splint. This involves repeat follow ups with Sam until the cat is good to go.

When I went to pick Whiskey up from the local stallion's house I discover she can hardly walk on her hind. She moved like something was broken. Once again I'm waiting on Sam. Whiskey ends up with a foot abscess, requiring 2 weeks of poultices and care.

Tessa's turn. When she didn't seem to be healing I run her into the clinic. X-rays and a referral to a specialist later we're on our way. Tessa has been going to see Sam every two weeks for bandage changes and checks. Our 8 week check will be in Calgary with the specialist. I wonder if Sam's sick of seeing me yet?

Today I was once again waiting on Sam. Last night I discovered the weanling Stella had something nasty coming out of or off of her head. Waiting for Sam to call. Waiting for Sam to come out to swab the wound. Luckily Sam thinks its a wound not Strangles, so now its just waiting for the lab.

I haven't had my fill of the vet yet. Whiskey who's been lame since May needs to get her hock x-rayed and likely injected. This is to promote healing as she's been stagnant for a while now. I've pretty much figured with a little luck I'll get all the unforeseen stuff taken care of in time to start the inoculation rounds for everything. Big sigh.

I've decided if I didn't have bad luck I'd have no luck at all.

Welcome Home

Today I left work early. I needed to be home to get my doctoring of the horse ickies done before dark set in. I pulled into the drive at 4:00, stopping only long enough to pull on my farm boots, jacket, toque and gloves. Moving quickly I let the dogs out of jail and caught Whiskey. Once she was treated I moved to Stella the weanling's pen. Stella had had very little (as in none) handling before she came to my house so she is wearing a halter and a drag line until she's tame enough to easily catch and handle.

I grab her rope only to have her twitch, shake her head and rear. Settling her I notice somethings not right. Something is very bad indeed. There is something nasty looking hanging down from under her head. Gently I move her halter. Only to have her rear again. Carefully I loosen her halter and take a closer look. Her halter is covered in goo. Welcome home!

I drop her line and hustle into the house. A phone call to the vet later I'm back outside. Worried my new addition has either strangles or impaled herself on something I can only wait. My vet has Monday's off and with the rapidly disappearing light I'm waiting for my dad to come help me.

We carefully removed her halter leaving a rope around her neck and began to irrigate the wound/abscess with an iodine/warm water mix. Needless to say Stella did not appreciate our efforts. After cleaning the wound we moved panels to create an additional barrier between the two groups of horses. Stella lived alone but shared a fence line.

Next step was sanitizing everything. Strangles is very, very contagious. Spraying boots, washing outer clothing and soaking her halter and lead in a disinfectant wash.

Settling down at the computer I went Internet searching for information on Strangles as I've not had a horse with it. If Stella has it, she's an atypical case. Meaning she doesn't have all the symptoms. Tomorrow morning Sam (the vet) will call. And likely come out and take a look.

Waiting, gotta love it...

Picture taken 1 week later.  Not bad looking now!

Guilt Trip

My Queen of the Universe, like any pampered athlete seems to get more severe injuries than those who spend their lives sitting on the sidelines. Tessa has one speed. Hard and fast. She can't just trot or walk to her toy sitting across the room, instead such an action requires a pounce or dash.

About a year ago, my dad was dog sitting. When I came home I discovered a dog with a mouthful of broken teeth who was lame on one foot. My dad tried to tell me she ran into a gate. (Whatever!) I personally think she got into a conflict with a cow or horse and lost. Off to the vet we go. She ends up having a bunch of her teeth including a canine surgically removed. The paw we decided had soft tissue damage and a possible fracture. Fair enough. Tessa lived the good life until she was feeling better and then resumed her prior activity level.

This summer we were at a trial when she fell into a hole on the field. She didn't stop working, yelp or limp so I didn't think anything of it. Animals are surprisingly tough. That week she was extremely lame. I in my infinite wisdom thought she'd pulled a muscle or had some soft tissue damage. After having her be kinda lame to really lame off and on for a couple of months I took her into the vet. X-rays then revealed she had a pretty major break in two of her foot/paw bones. On a human it would be the bones in between the wrist and knuckles. My vet who understands Tessa's personality and activity level didn't think we'd be able to get a strong enough knit with just a splint. This was because she had broke where she had the fractured bones. We were then referred to an orthopedic surgeon. Yes, just like people there are animal doctors with some specific specializations.

Appointment made, financing in place, we made the guilt trip to Calgary. The entire drive I was berating myself. How could I not know my dog had broken bones? What kind of a crappy, irresponsible owner was I? Tessa didn't care. She still loved me.

After a successful surgery we came home. My high end active dog is now on the equivalent of bed rest. The prima donna gets carried up and down stairs, has attractive head gear (cone head), a sock and modified saline bag to protect her splint from getting wet when on potty runs. Which are pretty much her only outside excursions. She gets to visit the vet every two weeks. Which she loves! Not so much.

Thursday is her six week check. We're battling pressure sores so she's on antibiotics. We're also battling cabin fever so she's also on Chlomicalm (think doggy Prozac).

My Queen of the Universe is queen of this universe these days. Sigh.