I'm Tired
I'm soooo tired the past few days. I hope I'm not getting sick. Cooper had another Immunoregulin. He is still improving and growing. His "true" personality is showing it seems. He is quite the demanding fellow... and isn't afraid to bark to get what he wants. He has dug up the carpet in two places now. He also tore up a good part of his bedding. Ever since he became Mr. Destruction, I've been keeping him in the bathroom with his crate pushed up to the entrance. I have to also then put a baby gate on top of the crate because he jumps like a grasshopper. I'm guessing he has some sort of separation anxiety. LOVELY. Based on my experience with Onyx, he is not going to outgrow it. I'll need to work with him on not getting anxious when I leave. Those that knew Onyx know I'm well experienced with the separation anxiety problem. It took years, but Onyx got over it.
Still Improving
Cooper is still doing well and there are still no signs of any neurological problems. We have for sure 2 more Immunoregulin treatments scheduled, and then we'll see. I'm nervouse about the vet giving him the Parvo/Distemper vaccine. I'm afraid of the distemper vaccine kicking something on in his immune system. The vet says its fine, but it makes me nervous.
I saw this morning on the news an organization called Pup Squad. They are having an event today downtown called "Barkitecture". I'll probably go check it out, although I'm feeling quite lazy. Anyway the organization sounds fabulous. It is made of former BARC volunteers who wanted to help the puppies in particular. Fabulous!
I saw this morning on the news an organization called Pup Squad. They are having an event today downtown called "Barkitecture". I'll probably go check it out, although I'm feeling quite lazy. Anyway the organization sounds fabulous. It is made of former BARC volunteers who wanted to help the puppies in particular. Fabulous!
Rabies
So we are well enough to have our rabies shot. He supposedly had it at BARC, but you know how I feel about the odds of that! We also had our immunoregulin treatment. All in all we are trucking along. Oh, I did pull a live worm out of his butt. That was "cool". He's been dewormed again for like the 3rd time.
I came home today to find a surprise at the top of the stairs..... for some curious reason Cooper decided the carpet was not up to his standards so he dug it up. Literally its in shreds. Now, the carpet is old and needs replacing, so I'm not as mad as I could be, but it was shocking to see none the less. Yikes!
I came home today to find a surprise at the top of the stairs..... for some curious reason Cooper decided the carpet was not up to his standards so he dug it up. Literally its in shreds. Now, the carpet is old and needs replacing, so I'm not as mad as I could be, but it was shocking to see none the less. Yikes!
Ghost Dog
Not much to add about Cooper lately. We are trucking along, no problem.
My posting today is a long overdue one about my dad's dog Sherlock. He is probably one of the most beautiful dogs you will ever see. We guess he's some sort of la
b/weimeraner/dane mix maybe. Anyway, he is a rescue from Louisiana. He is only a year and a half and spent the first bit of his life tied to a tree. Anyway, my story is from last Monday. Cooper was just finishing at the vet. My mom and I were both there, so she took Cooper home and I went to Taco Cabana to get fajitas. Once I turned on my parent's street, what do I see? My parents' neighbor tackling a collarless Sherlock to the ground.
So the great chase begins. I pulled over and thought (ha) that Sherlock would be excited to see me. NOPE. He took off running. I followed in the car (I have a white MINI Cooper that he barely fits in). Man, can he run. 35 mph maybe? It was annoying. Every now and then he'd stop, but then take off. Now, this isn't my first time to deal with a running dog, so I went for my tried and true strategy of running the other way, NOPE. So we continued. I thought to myself, "I have food... surely he'll come for food." Well let me just say the chase escalated to my throwing tortilla chips and even taco meat out the window to no avail, all the time dropping some unladylike words out the window. I even tried playing dead in the street (with a taco of course) but he didn't care. I did eventually catch the s.o.b. All that running meant he needed to relieve himself.... so I slammed on the brakes and grabbed him by the scruff of the neck. I wish I had taken a picture of his face at that moment. It was a classic "oh crap" expression.
As it turns out he had slipped his collar while on leash with my dad. Technically he shouldn't be on his regular leather collar but his Easy Leader or choker, but that's how it goes. He is now micro-chipped of course, and if we could GPS chip him, I think we would. Jerk. : )
My posting today is a long overdue one about my dad's dog Sherlock. He is probably one of the most beautiful dogs you will ever see. We guess he's some sort of la
b/weimeraner/dane mix maybe. Anyway, he is a rescue from Louisiana. He is only a year and a half and spent the first bit of his life tied to a tree. Anyway, my story is from last Monday. Cooper was just finishing at the vet. My mom and I were both there, so she took Cooper home and I went to Taco Cabana to get fajitas. Once I turned on my parent's street, what do I see? My parents' neighbor tackling a collarless Sherlock to the ground.
So the great chase begins. I pulled over and thought (ha) that Sherlock would be excited to see me. NOPE. He took off running. I followed in the car (I have a white MINI Cooper that he barely fits in). Man, can he run. 35 mph maybe? It was annoying. Every now and then he'd stop, but then take off. Now, this isn't my first time to deal with a running dog, so I went for my tried and true strategy of running the other way, NOPE. So we continued. I thought to myself, "I have food... surely he'll come for food." Well let me just say the chase escalated to my throwing tortilla chips and even taco meat out the window to no avail, all the time dropping some unladylike words out the window. I even tried playing dead in the street (with a taco of course) but he didn't care. I did eventually catch the s.o.b. All that running meant he needed to relieve himself.... so I slammed on the brakes and grabbed him by the scruff of the neck. I wish I had taken a picture of his face at that moment. It was a classic "oh crap" expression.
As it turns out he had slipped his collar while on leash with my dad. Technically he shouldn't be on his regular leather collar but his Easy Leader or choker, but that's how it goes. He is now micro-chipped of course, and if we could GPS chip him, I think we would. Jerk. : )
Not A Fun Weekend
So. I've been pretty bummed about the still positive PCR test from Cooper's urine. I did talk to the vet and he said it is possible that the urine will come back positive for quite a while. Ugh. So why was the weekend not fun, you ask? Could it be the weather? No, that was quite awesome. Lack of sleep? No, I slept like 20 hours so far. Maybe its all the diarrhea I've cleaned up? DING DING DING!
It started yesterday. Let me say that throughout the distemper he has only had minor tummy issues. I don't know whether this is distemper connected or if its some other bug, but he was going every 30 min to an hour..... literally wherever he was standing. Now the good news is that it wasn't much each time, but it did become bloody, probably from inflammation. I had to go to Petco and buy more of that stain remover.... Nature's Miracle. Anyways, the diarrhea seems to have stopped for now. Needless to say, off to the vet tomorrow. I hope its not giardia. That is apparently really hard to get rid of, but fits his being a stray.
I came across another blog of a woman going through the distemper curse with her rescue. Check it out. http://lyla-cdv.blogspot.com/.
It started yesterday. Let me say that throughout the distemper he has only had minor tummy issues. I don't know whether this is distemper connected or if its some other bug, but he was going every 30 min to an hour..... literally wherever he was standing. Now the good news is that it wasn't much each time, but it did become bloody, probably from inflammation. I had to go to Petco and buy more of that stain remover.... Nature's Miracle. Anyways, the diarrhea seems to have stopped for now. Needless to say, off to the vet tomorrow. I hope its not giardia. That is apparently really hard to get rid of, but fits his being a stray.
I came across another blog of a woman going through the distemper curse with her rescue. Check it out. http://lyla-cdv.blogspot.com/.
Bad News
Okay, its not that bad, so calm down. He is still with us. However, his PCR test results are in, and distemper is still showing up in the urine. BUMMER. So we keep on doing what we've been doing I guess. He'll still do Immunoregulin on Monday. Look, I logically knew he likely would still have a positive result, but I was really hoping. I'm not sure what this means for him being contagious either. We don't go walking because of this (and if its in his urine I guess that's the right call). I just don't know. He needs the rest of his vaccinations as well, but I don't want to do anything to his immune system while its still fighting the distemper. Ugh. Stupid virus.
Forgot!
As I've mentioned, I've tried to repeatedly contact BARC about Cooper's distemper. The furthest I've got is leaving a message on some unnamed person's voicemail. A few days after leaving that message, someone from BARC called me and left a message, but it was a "you didn't show up for your neutering.... we want to see how you are adjusting" type deal. Gheez! Talk about disorganized.
Waiting For Results
Cooper had another PCR test on Monday. We are waiting for the results. Last time it took 3 days, so hopefully by Friday we'll get the results. Here's hoping to negative!
Learning Stuff
Cooper is still hanging in. We go to the vet tomorrow for more Immunoregulin. It will be the last twice a week treatment. We will go once a week after Monday, which is good, because I feel like it makes him breathe hard for about 2 to 3 hours after treatment. I ordered the second bottle of the 4life Transfor Factor Plus. I think I need to retract my previous doubt about the product. My vet did find some data that shows it is at least coincidentally beneficial for distemper. There is no way of knowing of course, but we are still neurological problem free. I ordered the product from Judy's Health Cafe. Please visit them if you are interested.
Our vet had an open house this weekend. It was great! Lots of vendors and I got to see the pretty spiffy isolation ICU area that Cooper was in. Pretty nice. The vet is feeling "cautiously optimistic" now. I have to admit, I am too. Of course, any sudden movements make me nervous! I am almost constantly thinking to myself, "did his paw moving indicate a tick?". I guess it doesn't help that I have MS myself. Maybe it does. I don't know, but since I have weird little ticks and shaking, I guess I look for them in Coop. Anyway, we are doing another PCR test this week too. Using urine and/or blood this time. A polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test that looks for viral DNA. To be honest, I'm not quite sure how that works, but I know it involves heat/cooling a sample. It sounds pretty cool.
Yesterday was a political deal at BARC. I really wanted to go, but got a very late start. I think I slept 11 hours! I'm interested to hear how it went.
We spent today at my townhouse in the Montrose. It is nice to be home. We practiced the sit command, and I think he's got it. I guess stay and come will be next. I need to go get an Easy Leader. Oh... Cooper is a BARKER. Ugh. I can't stand that. I hope my neighbors don't want to kill me. I guess we'll need to work on "quiet" or "enough" as well. Maybe he'll grow out of it or neutering will help. We don't walk outside of my patio because I'm afraid of him being contagious. I think the risk is minimal at this stage, but just in case. So, maybe once we can exercise fully, it will help the barking too.
Our vet had an open house this weekend. It was great! Lots of vendors and I got to see the pretty spiffy isolation ICU area that Cooper was in. Pretty nice. The vet is feeling "cautiously optimistic" now. I have to admit, I am too. Of course, any sudden movements make me nervous! I am almost constantly thinking to myself, "did his paw moving indicate a tick?". I guess it doesn't help that I have MS myself. Maybe it does. I don't know, but since I have weird little ticks and shaking, I guess I look for them in Coop. Anyway, we are doing another PCR test this week too. Using urine and/or blood this time. A polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test that looks for viral DNA. To be honest, I'm not quite sure how that works, but I know it involves heat/cooling a sample. It sounds pretty cool.
Yesterday was a political deal at BARC. I really wanted to go, but got a very late start. I think I slept 11 hours! I'm interested to hear how it went.
We spent today at my townhouse in the Montrose. It is nice to be home. We practiced the sit command, and I think he's got it. I guess stay and come will be next. I need to go get an Easy Leader. Oh... Cooper is a BARKER. Ugh. I can't stand that. I hope my neighbors don't want to kill me. I guess we'll need to work on "quiet" or "enough" as well. Maybe he'll grow out of it or neutering will help. We don't walk outside of my patio because I'm afraid of him being contagious. I think the risk is minimal at this stage, but just in case. So, maybe once we can exercise fully, it will help the barking too.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
