Doggy Drama

Last Wednesday, courtesy of Kodiak’s very intense interest, I found a mass on Reyna’s rear, just under her tail. Yes, Reyna has a mass on her ass. Or, if you prefer, a bump on her rump. Dr. Lapham thinks its an infected anal gland and it should be better after 10 days of antibiotics, hot packing and cleaning. Paws crossed he’s right, because he’s concerned about the fact that its on the same side of her body as the masses on her belly a few short months ago. If this thing isn’t dramatically improved within the 10 days, we have to consider the possibility that its connected to whatever caused the other masses. Which would be very much not good. Poor Reyna, she’s got an infection, she’s taking antibiotics that make her feel ooky, and her mom is messing with her butt twice a day. Its no wonder she’s not a happy pup these days. And naturally, this all occurred two days after I told WakeMed that Reyna was ready to go back to work…

Duncan apparently decided I didn’t have enough stress in my life and he had a grand mal seizure Thursday night. I awoke to a loud thump and then took a few seconds to realize the noise I was hearing wasn’t the pups roughhousing. I talked to Dr. Lapham Friday morning and we agreed to hold off on medicating Duncan. His first grand mals were last June, and his last seizure was December 22, which put him just a bit outside the 30 day window of concern. I decided to go home early to check on Duncan and get Reyna ready for her appointment. I’m glad I did, because I found significant evidence that Duncan had another grand mal during the 4 or so hours I was gone. Another call to Dr. Lapham resulted in “bring him in, its time for meds.” So now my poor puppy is on a (relatively) low dose of Phenobarbital. With luck, that will be enough to control the seizures but not cause too many side effects. I still have nightmares about all the side effects Reyna went through when she was on it several years ago. Since its Dr. Lapham and not the vet school handling the case, we’ll have more flexibility with the dose. So far, I’ve only noticed a slight increase in Duncan’s lack of coordination. Of course, its Duncan, so a lack of coordination is something of a given… No grand mal seizures since Friday morning, thank goodness. We’ll just have to keep our paws crossed and see how things go.

On the good side of things, the mass Kodiak got from his rabies vaccination is still there, but it is significantly smaller than it was. It should continue to shrink with time.