Tick Panel

Duncan’s tick panel came back yesterday. He shows a low positive for Ehrlichia (coincidentally, the same illness that Reyna was positive for a few months ago). The titer number is low enough that its impossible to tell if this is a current infection or an old one, but we’re going to throw 28 days of Doxycycline at it and see what happens. At the end of the treatment they’ll run another titer. If the number goes down, then we were mostly likely dealing with an active infection. If the number doesn’t change, then it was an old infection. Of course, even if its active there’s no way of knowing if this has anything to do with Duncan’s problems. But it’s the only thing we have left to try.

Better Living Through Pharmaceuticals

Last night was our group herding lesson. We had so much fun! One of the girls brought cupcakes for a belated birthday treat, which was a great way to start the evening. I’d given Duncan a couple of doses of Rimadyl before herding, and it made such a huge difference from the last time we were there. It was obvious to everyone that Duncan felt a lot better. He was laid back and relaxed, but his tail was wagging the entire time. He was so relaxed, in fact, that even though we had some really light sheep during our last two runs, he was able to keep everyone calm and moving at a reasonable pace (rather than the all-out running I’d expected). We worked on moving the sheep around the arena, stopping at gates, putting the sheep in a pen and getting them back out again. We had a couple of minor incidents – the first was when Duncan went into the pen to get the sheep out and he got a little grabby. I noticed later that one of the sheep was bleeding, but I don’t think it was all Duncan (apparently, the dog running before him had also been grabby). During our first run with the really light sheep, one of them bolted while we were trying to pen them. The stupid thing managed to run itself directly into the fence and then basically bounced backward into Duncan. I was still at the pen and couldn’t see exactly what happened, but everyone else did. We all agreed its not Duncan’s fault if a sheep essentially puts itself in Duncan’s mouth. I think he was just as startled by it as everyone else… The great thing was that a couple of minutes later, Duncan was able to go back into the arena and walk those same sheep around with no trouble at all. I was so pleased with how our evening went, and it was so wonderful to see Duncan happy about herding again. If a little Rimadyl has such a dramatic effect on him, we might actually be able to get back into regular training. I’m not going to push for any trials by the end of the year, but maybe next Spring…

Walkies

For the last couple of months, I’ve been trying to walk Reyna at least four times a week. The weather and my schedule occasionally get in the way, but we’ve been pretty successful overall. We generally get started between 6:30 and 7:00am, walk at least three miles each morning, and occasionally up to five, depending on how much time we have. We average a 20 minute mile, so we’re not exactly meandering, but the walk still takes time. The neat thing about it all is that I’ve lost about ten pounds and Reyna’s in the best shape she’s been in for several years.

The route we take is generally quiet, with only a few houses along the road. Reyna loves it because there’s always something dead at some point along the walk. Occasionally she gets really lucky and it’s a deer, but its usually something smaller, like a possum or snake. She also gets to stalk the oncoming traffic, which is a huge game for her. The downside is that most of the road apparently isn’t maintained by anyone, so the grass and weeds on the shoulder are as high as Reyna’s head in a lot of places. She doesn’t mind it too much, but it aggravates me a bit to walk through all that tall stuff when we have a row of cars coming towards us. Thankfully, that hasn’t been too much of a problem for us.

Until today.

School is back in session and, based on the number of cars, most children don’t take the bus anymore. There was so much traffic today that our walk took considerably longer than usual (we slow down and move farther onto the shoulder when cars pass, since some people don’t make any real effort to avoid hitting us). By the time we got home, I was so annoyed by the whole mess. Obviously, its time to break out the flashlight and reflective vests and start walking even earlier.

Sheepies!

Saturday evening, I took Reyna for her first herding lesson since Spring 2008. I decided to try her on tending, rather than arena style herding, since I figured she’d still be pretty interested in eating the sheep. I wasn’t too sure how things would go, but I was very happily surprised. Reyna picked up the boundary concept very quickly and didn’t fight too hard to get in the graze with the sheep. She was also quick to realize that she needed to prevent the sheep from leaving the graze. Claire and I were both extremely impressed with how well she did. Who knows, I may have another herding dog on my hands.

Just because Reyna got the boundary concept didn't mean she wasn't going to test it occasionally...


We definitely didn't have the problem of Reyna watching me more than she does the sheep. She was very focused on the sheep.


Reyna and Emily (who really didn't care about the dog) had a stare down.


Since the sheep weren't moving, Reyna decided she could take a quick break, too.


Reyna working the edge of the boundary.


And staying outside the boundary on the corner, just like she's supposed to do.


Reyna took water breaks every so often.


But even during her water break, she still kept an eye out for the sheep.


We also had the fun of a loose rabbit in the field next to the graze. The silly thing came up to the fence at one point, which really distracted Reyna from her sheep. She actually started stalking it, until the rabbit apparently realized that it was not in the safest possible location. Once the rabbit was out of sight again, Reyna went right back to her sheep.

Good, Bad And Worse

I dropped Duncan off at the vet school shortly before 8am this morning. He was scheduled for anesthesia at 10, and the procedure was scheduled to take about two hours. At 1pm, the neuro vet called to tell me that Duncan was awake and moving around. I picked Duncan up around 3:30, chatted with the vet student for a bit, and got home about 4:45. Poor Duncan was so agitated when I got him – he was definitely very ready to get home.

For some reason, Duncan thinks that the chair is the safest place in the exam room…


So, the good news is that they didn’t find anything untreatable. The bad news is that they also didn’t find anything specific or treatable. The worse news is that the neuro and ortho vets have absolutely no idea what’s wrong with my sweet boy. The next step is….nothing, really. Just waiting to see if Duncan gets worse. They want to see him again in three months to evaluate any deterioration that may occur.

We are going to run two more simple tests. They’re sending off blood to do a genetic test for Degenerative Myelopathy. The vets are all in agreement that he doesn’t have it (or, if he does, it’s the oddest presentation ever), but they also agree it doesn’t hurt to check. After all, if he doesn’t have the two genes required, then we can pretty much mark DM off the list of possibilities for good. They’re also running a fairly extensive tick test. Again, no one (including me) thinks he has a tick-borne illness, but its just one more thing we can officially rule out. And then we’re done. Unless something dramatic happens in the next three months, we’re scheduled to go back to the vet school in November.

In the meantime, I get to be entertained by a very groggy puppy…

Duncan insists he’s wide awake.


But then again, maybe not.


No point in pretending any longer…

Sadness

My deepest condolences to Steve and Laura, who lost their beloved Mushka to cancer this weekend. I'm sure he and SamDog are playing together again, happy and pain free.

Vet School

Today was a long day at the vet school. Duncan’s appointment was at 9:45, and we finally saw the first vet at 10:30. After the student did an exam, the neurologist came in. We spent about an hour with the two of them, and then they took Duncan for a visit with the chief neurologist. They told me they wanted Duncan to see the ortho vet again, just to find out if there were any significant changes from our last visit. They initially said the ortho could see us between 2pm and 4pm, so Duncan and I left the vet school around 12:30 to get some lunch. We found a nice little Italian place that let Duncan sit on the patio with me while I ate. We got back to the vet school about 1:00 and were lucky that the ortho schedule had cleared up and he could see Duncan right then. We finally made it home a little before 3pm.

After all of that, we’re a little farther ahead than we were after our last visit, but not a lot. The neurologist doesn’t think Duncan has DM, thank goodness. He isn’t making any promises, of course, but he said it would be the oddest presentation of DM he’s ever seen. All of the vets are in agreement that something is very wrong, the primary problem is neurological, and his orthopedic issues are a result, but not the cause. His knee is still a separate issue, of course, but they don’t think that’s gotten any worse. They also think he’s scuffing and dragging his feet because he’s so low to the ground, not because he doesn’t recognize where his feet are. They said he basically just can’t get his feet up high enough to keep them from scuffing.

Duncan goes back in Thursday morning and will spend the day having electrodiagnostic tests done. The tests are electromyography (for the muscles) and nerve conduction studies. They’re looking for any odd results. If they find something, they’ll take biopsies of the nerves or muscles and send them to a lab for testing. There are three possible outcomes. 1) They find nothing, and I’m broke and really, really annoyed. 2) They find something, but the lab results come back very general and untreatable, and I’m broke and really, really annoyed. 3) They find something and the lab results come back specific and treatable, and I’m broke but not annoyed. Cross your paws for option three. The bad part is if they do biopsies, it’ll be 10-14 days before we get the results.

Majority Rules

Due to a very generous gift from Mom and Ronnie, I’ve been given the option of turning on the air conditioning. My first thought was to not bother – after all, we’ve made it this long, what’s a few more weeks? However, I don’t run the house as a dictatorship (unless its necessary), so I polled the residents before making a decision. The final results were 6 to 2 for AC (although Duncan voted twice), with 2 abstaining and 1 unclear (not undecided, just unclear). Khar’pern and Per’la were against the AC – they both said they were perfectly fine as they were. Belle voted for the AC, but said it had to be done in moderation, as her bones get creaky if she gets too cold. Loki thought AC was the best idea he’d heard in months. Mikey said it was okay, as long as it didn’t interfere with his sunbeam. Duncan actually voted twice, but I decided to let that slide since he hasn’t been feeling well. Niko thought it would be fun to be cool again, although he was concerned that he’d molted too many feathers to adjust to the new temps. Parm actually voted to be allowed back in the house, but since that wasn’t on the ballot, his vote counts as an abstention. I didn’t vote since I’d have made an even number and might have caused a tie. Reyna…well, I don‘t know what Reyna wanted, because she just spun in circles and barked. By that point, though, we had an obvious majority vote for AC, so I decided it didn’t really matter what she thought. Before bed last night, I turned on the AC for the first time this year. It took all night and part of the morning to cool the house down to the programmed temperature. Now I just have to find a temperature that keeps us all cool but doesn’t leave me sitting on the couch with a blanket wrapped around me. One not-unexpected side effect of the AC is a significant spike in spinning and barking. Apparently, Reyna’s feeling really spiffy now that she doesn’t have to camp in front of the box fan…

Thanks again to Mom and Ronnie, from 5 cats, 2 dogs, 1 bird, and me!

Water Games

Duncan and I were supposed to meet a friend at the lake for a swimming session Monday evening, but she canceled on me. Instead, Duncan and I took Reyna with us. I was a little concerned, because I generally don’t trust her off leash in a potentially public place, but no one else was around so it worked out just fine. Reyna had a lovely time swimming around our little cove. It was interesting to see how upset she got when I swam away from the bank. She would become visibly agitated until either she was beside me or I swam back to the bank.


Duncan, on the other paw, apparently forgot everything he learned Saturday. I had to coax him into deeper water and then hold him up while he flailed around for several minutes. All his splashing accomplished was getting water in his face, which made him even more upset. When he suddenly realized (remembered?) he wasn’t going to drown, he settled down and swam very nicely. The three of us swam back and forth across the cove a couple of times, and I had to laugh when Duncan tried to cheat by running along the bank instead. Thankfully, the terrain at that particular spot wasn’t very conducive to walking, so he gave up and got back in the water.


Duncan isn't actually swimming here, but I really like this picture...

Mycroft

My sweet boy is 10 years old today. Happy Birthday, Mikey!

Save The Date

Duncan goes to the neurologist Monday, August 16. Cross your paws for him.

Catching Up

The most important news is that Duncan is getting worse. His pasterns (wrists) are collapsing, possibly due to the way he’s compensating for the changes in his back end. We went herding Thursday night, and its obvious that his pain during activity is increasing. After a short session (less than 10 minutes), he was doing a very awkward bunny hop (not a normal running bunny hop) anytime I needed him to move faster than a walk. I’m going to start wrapping his pasterns to provide some extra support, but I really don’t know what else to do for him. I emailed the ortho vet, and he wants Duncan to be re-evaluated by the neurology department. His thoughts are that its possibly Degenerative Myelopathy or a problem with a disc in the lower lumbar area. Still waiting for neuro to call me back.

The most fun news is that Duncan has finally learned to swim! One of the women I herd with told me about a nice, quiet spot where she takes her dogs, so Duncan and I went out this morning for a swimming lesson. I had to drag coax Duncan into the water once it hit his belly, and then I had to support him for a few minutes while he settled down. His original idea of swimming was to flail about in a panicked fashion, which didn’t do much more than soak both of us. He eventually got the idea, though. He still starts paddling with a frantic leap, but then actually swims. And he is fast. I would swim away from the bank to get him to swim farther, and he would overtake me so easily. The downside of the swimming lesson was that he tried to drown me more than once. For some reason, he thinks getting his paws on my shoulders is the goal, when all that really does is leave deep red marks on various parts of my body and shove me under the water. I learned quickly that the way to handle that is to push him away as soon as he gets close – redirect him, and he’ll paddle off with no problems. I’m not saying he loves to swim, but by the time we were done, I think he’d figured out he wasn’t going to drown. I’m going to try and get him out there a couple of times a week for exercise, since walking doesn’t seem to be the best choice these days. Oh, and I’d like to point out that I was actually in the water when I took these photos…

Here's Duncan launching himself towards me.


He may not look thrilled, but at least he's swimming.


Shortly before he got close enough to shove me under...


Not to be outdone, Reyna got a little swim time in the Suite Paws pool after she had her nails trimmed. This was after our 2.5 mile walk, so she was actually ready for a little rest after her outing.


A couple of days before we had those nasty hot temps, I bought the pups cooling vests. They have inserts of a solid that melts into a gel and keeps the pups cool for about two hours before the inserts need to be replaced. Duncan loves his vest and will keep his belly as flat on the floor as possible to get all the coolness.


Reyna, on the other paw, has decided that the vest is some sort of torture device I’ve created just to make her life utterly miserable. She’ll actually leave the house if I even pick up a vest. If I make her wear it, she keeps her ears down, looks depressed, and tries to shake the thing off for about 20 minutes. Then she gives up, lays down, and proceeds to look like I’ve kicked her repeatedly. But I don’t care, because the vest keeps her cool.

Stormy Weather Girl

Reyna’s been stressy about storms for a while now. Rain showers don’t bother her, but thunder storms and electrical storms make her very anxious. She doesn’t pace or whine, she just follows me around and when I stop moving she tries to break the laws of physics and make the two of us occupy the same space at the same time. We’ve had a few nasty storms over the last couple of weeks and Reyna has decided that she’s tired of the whole thing. Every time she tries to relax during a storm, lightening strikes nearby or we get a particularly loud clap of thunder. During one storm, she even went outside to rest under the deck (she does enjoy the much cooler air that comes with a storm). Lightening hit something very close, and I’d swear she was out from under the deck and practically in my lap before the air quit sizzling. Not a happy puppy.

Very recently, Reyna has decided the best place to wait out a storm is under the end table. I don’t remember her going under the end table even as a puppy (unless it was to hide while she chewed on something inappropriate). Unfortunately for Reyna, she’s too long, or the table is too short. Either way, it doesn’t cover much of her at all.

Bootie Boy

Because Duncan is walking low on his hocks these days, he’s started getting sores on parts of his feet that aren’t supposed to be touching the ground. He’s also tearing up his pads pretty badly when we go for walks. To keep that from happening, I bought him a pair of booties to wear on his back feet.


Duncan is, as always, very tolerant of his mother’s abuses. He sits quietly when I put the booties on him and doesn’t fuss about them at all. He walks funny for the first couple of steps, but then he settles down. I discovered last week that they aren’t good for sheep herding – he loses them fairly quickly. They’re great for walks in the neighborhood, though. An unexpected benefit of the booties is that I can hear whether or not he’s picking up his back feet or just shuffling along – he tends to scuff quite a bit, hence the sores and damage to his pads. I can also tell when he’s scraping his toes, which happens mostly on his left foot and becomes more frequent the longer we walk.

Birthday Boy

Duncan is 5 years old today! To celebrate, I got him a pup cake from Gourmutt’s Bakery. The very talented Alexa did an excellent job of decorating the cake, making it perfect for my Super Duncan!


As always, Duncan was very tolerant during the pre-cake birthday shoot.



Reyna certainly enjoyed her participation in Duncan’s birthday celebration.


I couldn’t resist getting a shot of Duncan’s tongue. Yellow and blue really do make green.


Happy birthday, Duncan! May you have many, many more!

Baffling Boy

Well. Today’s visit to the vet school wasn’t all I’d hoped. Duncan took the family trait of making the vets work for a diagnosis a bit too far. He was examined by an ortho and a neurologist, and had blood work done and x-rays taken. After all that, the vets agree there is definitely a problem – Duncan’s rear end is slowly collapsing. They just don’t know what’s causing it. Thank goodness we had the video from May, because that meant they didn’t have to take my word for it. The vets could see a difference between May and today. They found some evidence of what might be a possible CCL (ACL for humans) tear in his right knee, but the x-ray didn’t show anything significant. They didn’t find anything wrong with his spine, and the vet said that the protruding vertebra is due to the sinking of Duncan’s rear end. One good thing they discovered is that Duncan’s really not in any pain from the sinking. He does have some pain with the right knee, but as we already knew, that’s intermittent.

So, the results are as follows:

Regarding his knee, the vets aren’t concerned about it at this time. If Duncan starts to have prolonged trouble, lasting a week or more, I’m to bring him back in for reevaluation.

Regarding his back end, the vets are concerned, but baffled. The neuro feels that its possibly a myelopathy or chronic disc lesion, but they can’t find real evidence of either at this time. If Duncan continues to sink but doesn’t have any other related symptoms, they would likely do a muscle biopsy, which I took to be a rather unpleasant procedure. If he starts showing other neurological signs, like dragging his feet or wobbling (actual back end wobbling, not his normal sashaying), they want to see him.

Which means we wait.

While we're waiting, Duncan is allowed to continue herding and going for walks. Poor boy. He’s had such a hard day and the sedation is still making him groggy, but we still don’t have the answers we need. I bought him a cookie at Gourmutt’s today – I’ll give it to him tomorrow when he’s awake enough to appreciate it (and keep Reyna from stealing it).

No Walkies

This morning, I woke up planning to take the pups for a romp through the woods. Did we get to go? Of course not. When we went outside for our morning routine, I discovered that Reyna had acquired a rather nasty limp. I don't know what caused it, but I do know its bothering her - she hasn't wanted to play at all today. I doubt we'll walk tomorrow, either. Even if the limp is gone by morning, I don't want to exacerbate the problem. Never a dull moment around here...

More Updates

Yes, I know I usually do individual posts for different topics, but I haven’t been particularly motivated lately, so here’s another cluster update.

Onyx went to his new home this past Saturday. I have a good feeling about this family, and I’m sure he won’t be returned again. Of course, even if he is, he won’t be coming back here. Duncan is so happy Onyx is gone. I have to admit, I am, too. Its nice to not wake up at 5:15am every morning to the shrieking of an overly dramatic puppy. The house has been so calm and peaceful since he left…

Speaking of Duncan, he is getting steadily worse. I’m so glad he finally gets to see the ortho vet this coming Tuesday. Duncan is no longer standing properly most of the time, and his back end is sinking. He’s walking much lower on his hocks than he should be, and he’s walking lower today than he was even two weeks ago. Paws crossed that the ortho can figure out what the problem is, and that the solution is something that won’t cost a small fortune.

Still no news on the job front, which means still no A/C. The last couple of days have been really nice, but we had several days when Reyna and I were fighting over who got to sit in front of the box fan. Not fighting too hard, mind you, because it was much too hot for anything more than some halfhearted snarling.

In the Good News category, I’ll be getting a new roof later this summer. The insurance company did an inspection and determined that there’s been enough damage to warrant a complete replacement. And the best part is that insurance will pay for the whole thing. That should add some value to the house if I end up putting it on the market.

The last tidbit - Mikey and Per'la finally made up. I caught them cuddling and grooming each other a couple of days ago. Its good to have peace in the clowder.

Unless something particularly interesting happens between now and then, I’ll post a Duncan update Tuesday.

Updates

So, finally got hold of a real live person this morning. Not someone at the local ESC office – they’ve never bothered to return any of my calls. This week, I’ve been calling a benefits hotline. Couldn’t get through at all yesterday, but managed it this morning. After sitting on hold for 20 minutes (literally), an actual person answered. I almost hung up, I was so surprised (flashbacks of trying to register for classes at State and accidentally hanging up on the system because I was so used to a busy signal, my brain didn’t process the system pick-up fast enough to stop my finger on the disconnect button).

I do qualify for the Extended Benefits program, and I’m to keep submitting the weekly claim as usual (after all the unanswered and unreturned phone calls, it took the guy lass than a minute to reset my claim to receive EB money). The downside is that the state can choose to discontinue to the EB program at any time, without warning – basically, they decide the unemployment rate has gone low enough and they turn off the benefits – because the rest of us will magically find jobs, right? The program that brought the benefits out to 99 weeks is currently on hold. If I’d run out of regular benefits before May 22, I’d qualify for whats left of the original extension, but I was just a few weeks too late for that. Congress may vote to extend those dates, but who knows if or when that might happen. At this point, I’ll continue getting money unless the state chooses to cancel. Let’s hope they don’t cancel, or that Congress approves the date extension first. Because, after all, even the pups and kitties need a roof and kibble.

Still working with the student loan folks to try and get a forbearance approved. Finally got someone at the mortgage company to tell me I can apply for a loan modification. Of course, I have to have an income to be approved, so we’ll see what happens with that…

Speaking of the pups and their kibble…I just finished cutting up an 8 year old turkey so I could get the silly thing in the crock pot. I’m going to have to do two sessions, as it is just a bit too large. The pups will be able to enjoy it for at least a few days. Turkeys come with odd things inside. I never knew that packets of gravy and soup were natural parts of the bird… As an experiment, I gave the pups raw chicken legs a few days ago (don’t worry, raw chicken bones don’t have the shattering problem that cooked bones do). I figured Reyna would love the idea of raw chicken, and that Mr. Picky Duncan would boycott the meal. Boy, was I wrong. Duncan was all over those chicken legs, while Reyna tried to figure out how to eat the rest of her meal without actually touching the leg. I have to admit to being surprised.

A bit of good news – Onyx should be going to his new home this coming weekend. The family met him this past Saturday and fell in love. I think everyone here will be very happy when Onyx is gone. Poor Duncan’s had a lot of trouble this time around – a lot of jealousy and general annoyance. I’ll be happy to only have my well-behaved pups in the house. Onyx has yet to figure out that coming when I call is a good thing, but running away from me is really, really not.

Oh, and in answer to the question - I assume my A/C still works, its just not on because I can't afford the huge jump in the power bill.

Walkies

I’ve been taking the pups for early morning walks in the woods when I can. They love the woods. It’s a lot prettier (and smells better) than the neighborhood, and there are certainly fewer cars. I can even let the pups run off-leash for a bit (not Onyx, of course – he’s too young and foolish for that kind of freedom). The biggest problem with the woods is the bugs. I swear, it seems like there’s always some nasty buzzing thing who decides it has to follow me for the entire walk. Of course, I just love the bugs that manage to trap themselves in my hair. And the ticks. I pulled 6 off of us after the last walk. Poor Duncan seems to attract his fair share of biting, buzzing things, too. He spends most of the walk twitching his ears, trying to shake the bugs off. A smaller, yet long-term problem has manifested itself on my legs. Apparently, I brushed against some poison ivy during one of our walks. Thankfully, its not too bad – just a few streaks along both calves. Itchy, but not much worse than the mosquito bites on my legs. I don’t know why I bother spraying Off before I go outside. Speaking of itchy, the rash on my arms finally went away. Only took a little over two weeks. Still don’t know what caused it, but I won’t be using that sunscreen again, just in case.