More Pupdates

So sorry to hear about Bubbles, my bros cat was missing for 2 days and just showed up yesterday. Bro says he looked like he lost weight.

Oh, Holly, how devastating! I'm so sorry. I, too, will hope that she simply got closed in somewhere such as a barn nearby and will come back home soon.

Big Big Hugs!
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Ric and Holly, I am so sorry to hear about Bubbles. It's hard enough to lose a pet but even more frustrating when you don't know what happened to them :( Same thing happened to me years ago when my favorite cat of all times, Leon, then 13 years old, disappeared. Like Bubbles, he took off on one of his excursions and never came back :( Hugs to both of you.

Ronnie, I thought I had my hands full with two dogs! Beautiful dogs :)

This is an old thread but figured it was the appropriate place for my pupdate - we've had a couple of frustrating months with Lucy :( In September she had a weird spot on her nose that looked like Lucky (our cat) might have "tagged" her when they were playing - they get a little rough with each other! By the end of September I saw another weird spot developing at the tip of her nose and we thought she had just irritated it from all her digging in the gopher holes. However, a few days later it looked like it was spreading and a quick trip to the vet determined it was "puppy strangles", something I had never even heard of and though we caught it in the early stages it was still stubborn to treat :( http://www.google.com/search?q=puppy+strangles&rls=com.microsoft:en-us&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&startIndex=&startPage=1 Initial treatment with antibiotics and Prednisone didn't prove successful as the condition persisted and we had to continue treating her. Unfortunately for Phoebe, Lucy had no interest in playing and her "lovebug" personality quickly changed with the Prednisone :( Then, in the middle of November she had problems with her left front leg and was limping. Testing for Lyme proved negative and we never determined what caused it but she did improve and since she was already on Prednisone there wasn't much else we could do! THEN, just as we're finally decreasing the Prednisone treatment she lost her ravenous appetite and stopped eating for several days :( Her small ID tag was missing and among other things she might have ingested we suspected some type of blockage as she was miserable. First trip to the vet didn't reveal any probable cause and we were sent home with special canned food which would hopefully "push" anything out of her system which might be causing the problems. Within 24 hours she still hadn't had a bowel movement and refused ANY food so another trip back to the vet's for x-rays :( When the x-rays didn't reveal anything that might be causing her problems they kept her there for the day for observation after giving her several things that would hopefully provide a stool sample for testing. Nadda! By the end of the day the vet gave us an option...we had been waiting to have her spayed until she was finally off the Prednisone and since she only had several more days to go, they suggested spaying her and doing exploratory surgery while they were in "there". Long story short, they didn't find anything other than a tremendous amount of gas and $$$$ later, Lucy returned home on Saturday and the past week hasn't been easy :( Rick has now changed her nickname from "Lucy Lovebug" to "Lucy Lucifer"! LOL She's been on a special diet and after 3-4 days of hand feeding her to encourage her to eat, we think she's finally returning to normal! It's odd because other than the fact that she had no interest in eating she's been perfectly normal in all other respects - wanting to play with Phoebe, etc. What's been really hard is just trying to keep her "quiet"! Because she had a much larger incision than what is required for normal spaying she's been leashed whenever we go outside and all she wants to do is RUN! The good news is it's now been a week, her appetite has improved and we can give her a little more freedom, though it's tough keeping her quiet when she's so excited about all this snow! Needless to say, the whole ordeal has been frustrating, stressful and even though it IS the holiday season, I'm not in a very festive mood :(

RCN, Poor baby. Hope things improve for the little darling very soon.

so sorry to hear that... will be praying for good things

what an ordeal. sure hope it's all behind her.

I hope she is back to her sweet self soon. What alot to go thru. Hugs & kisses to her.

Oh RCN, You have had bad luck with the dogs. I remember your telling me about the puppy strangles. BTW, I have a few pics that I keep wanting to post and send you.
These were taken when we stopped by RCN's home for a quick visit.

I know :( What is up with that??? Our vet has one of Lucy's sisters and has contact with five other pups from the litter. Supposedly the puppy strangles is a genetic thing and she's told us no one else has had this problem - why us? What with Phoebe's problems and now Lucy's, I told the vet we've probably seen her more times with these two dogs than I've ever seen a vet for ALL my dogs in ALL my life! I guess it's just a good thing that we adore our vet, she's super and I let her know OFTEN how much we appreciate her concern :) Fortunately it appears that Lucy has finally recovered from whatever it was in her system - I've never been so happy to see a dog doing her business, in the gardens no less! LOL Took a few pics of them playing in the snow this weekend, this one shows Lucy's "pink nose" from the puppy strangles. She does have a little bit of white fuzz growing back and we're hopeful it will continue to fill in over the winter - the vet has cautioned us about skin cancer and we'll have to apply special sunblock for her if the fur doesn't grow back completely :(

Poor Lucy! I'm so glad she's doing better. Deb, don't forget to apply the sunblock now, not just in summer, especially with all the light reflected from the snow.

I always use sunscreen with zinc oxide because the zinc helps with inflammation and helps my rosacea. Might want to ask the vet if that would help Lucy's skin heal, if it would safe if she licks it. Baby rash cream with zinc oxide is good too.

Ladies, keep in mind 2, 81mg. aspirin a day are not only good for your heart, but now they say it improves surface circulation and reduces rosacea.
If flying it is good to help prevent DVT and is one of the safest NSAIDs known. Ric

Ric and Holly, forgot to thank you for the cute pic! With a little downtime yesterday and after much encouragement from my daughter, I finally figured out how to shoot a video with my camera! Emily really wanted to see the dogs in action playing in the snow, now all I have to do is figure out how to send it to her!

Hart, Lucy's appt for staple removal is scheduled for next Monday and I'm going to take a list of the sunblocks I've found online for the vet's approval - they're not cheap :( We have to be careful with the ingredients because when we were applying Vitamin E to her nose, Phoebe's mothering instincts kicked in and she kept licking it off! LOL

FYI, I finally figured out how to upload videos of my "Snow Dogs"! I had to set up a you tube account but I can't post a link because I kept the channel private for family and friends - my video skills aren't worthy of a public channel! LOL If anyone wants to see Phoebe and Lucy playing in the snow send me a Dmail and I'll send you an invitation to see them :)

This is what I use, has only zinc and titanium oxide, if they're safe for her. It's $14.95 a bottle but it's a good sized bottle that lasts for a long time. You can also order a sample size for 80 cents. BTW, this store has some kind of sale over every holiday so if you get on their email list, watch for a sale coming up for New Year's.

If I use this regularly, my rosacea pretty much disappears.

http://www.paulaschoice.com/product/pure-mineral-sunscreen-spf-15/sun-care

The other product I use, which is basically aspirin in a bottle to put on your skin, is this:

http://www.paulaschoice.com/product/exfoliating-one-percent-bha-lotion/bha-aha-exfoliants

When Jello had the puppy acne, the doctor had me give her Derm Caps and I was amazed at how fast her skin cleared up. Don't know if that would help but your vet should have them or you can order them online. They're fatty acid supplements for dogs. He had also prescribed prednisone and I ended up not even using it because the Derm Caps worked so fast and so well.