Maggie in Missouri

…that started out with me hovering over my pup on the sidewalk, at 11:30 Thursday night, thinking she was in serious trouble.  We had gone out for our last quick short (they’re never quick) walk of the night, and Maggie laid down either to rest or to stubbornly refuse to turn around towards home.  Totally normal, so I was checking email on my phone and after a few minutes tried to coax her up.  That’s when I noticed she didn’t look good.  She was holding her head low and her eyelids drooped, she didn’t even look up at me.  She even seemed to be breathing very slowly, not panting or smiling like usual when we’re outside.  10 minutes I stood there watching and hoping she’d perk back up, but no change.  I texted my awesome neighbor (they have 4 kids including a teenager, I knew they’d still be awake) to come out and stay with Maggie while I ran home and got my car.  Her husband walked down to where we were and Maggie didn’t so much as look at him – under any normal circumstances she would be jumping and growling at a man walking up to us at night.  I picked her up and put her in the car and she didn’t squirm at all.  I considered going straight to the nearest animal hospital.  But on the drive around the block she sat up in the car and looked more alert.  When we got home she walked into the house but laid down right away and seemed to have trouble holding her back legs under herself.  I honestly thought she had a stroke or was going to die right there in front of me.  You know how your mind races when something’s wrong with your dog.

 

Well she got up a few times and looked shaky but not worse, so I just stayed with her.  She didn’t look like she was really in distress, just barely with-it.  She wouldn’t drink, but later ate a little treat.  OK.  I sat up and stared at her until 2:30 AM.  Convinced she wasn’t gonna die right then and there, I slept for a while.  The next morning, she still looked pretty wiped out, but got up and walked around a bit in the house.  No interest in going out.  What the heck?  Still looking droopy but not agitated or in pain, so I left for work for a couple of hours and made an appointment with her regular vet in the afternoon.  By 11 AM she went out but just laid in the grass, at least she had her head up and was looking around and stuff, but still about 10% of her normal level of activity/alertness.  The vet checked her legs, joints, etc. and found nothing wrong.  Maybe a pulled muscle or nerve in her back.  Maybe just weak – she had not been eating well for a few days (still trying to settle on a new dry/wet food combo that she’ll actually eat).  But the vet recommended chest x-rays to see if her heart and lungs look OK.  I had thought we might do x-rays a few months after her surgery, but since we’ve decided not to do chemo or other further treatment, I was dreading it.  If her cancer had spread this quickly, I knew it would not be a good sign.  [The tumor on Maggie’s leg was an undifferentiated soft tissue sarcoma, locally very aggressive but sort of an X-factor on metastasis…20% on the low end up to 50% on the high end.]  So I held my breath and paced for the 15 minutes it took for them to complete the x-rays.  ALL CLEAR.  WHEWWWWWW!!!  She got agitated while they were in the back room, and pooped all over (I’m glad I just pace when I’m stressed!!), and honestly, looked much happier after that.

 

The vet sent us home with gabapentin in case she has a tweaked nerve, probiotics to help her tummy, and basically a clean bill of health otherwise.  Her mild arthritis has not gotten any worse post-surgery, and her hips and knees “feel good” to their trained inspection.  Also a good reassuring bit of news when I mentioned it’s hell getting her to take pills – apparently they use a place that can process almost any prescription into liquid suspension…so if we get into a situation where she needs other meds and won’t take them, that may come in very handy.  Luckily the gaba is small enough to hide in a treat.  She refuses pill pockets now and larger pills never slip by her anymore.  Since Friday afternoon she has looked better and better, and ate well each time I fed her since then.  We went for a short walk today and she looked great, pooped out for a few minutes, and then got up and ran.  OK, crazy lady.  I feel like this panic/relax/rejoice cycle is just becoming the norm for me now.  At least this round ended with some really good news with the clear x-rays, quite by accident.  I’m sure I would have put off getting them if it weren’t for this episode, so I guess it all worked out alright.

 

Here is Maggie doin’ what she loves – laying the grass and going after squirrels.  If someone had told me that she’d be JUMPING UP on trees just a few weeks after amputation, I wouldn’t have had a split second of hesitation to do it!  They are amazing.  Just amazing.

 

Actually, that was going to be the title of my post 2 weeks ago, but I never got around to it and am just now catching up.  It was, indeed, a week revolving around poop.  Maggie had diarrhea and vomiting for several days and we never did figure out why.  Things seem normal now, and I’m guessing either a change in her diet or…poop!  Poop File #1 – Suddenly Maggie is disgustingly interested in eating any variety of poop she can find in anyone’s yard.  Any ideas on this?   Missing something in her new healthier diet (I switched to a better brand of light/senior dry food that she just plain won’t eat, and grain-free canned food)?  Or just trying to gross me out?  I have a hard time “dragging” her away from things when on walks now, even with her harness I don’t want to pull her off balance.

Poop File #2 – Maggie figured out how to scrape at the ground with her back paws after going potty.  I always thought this was hilarious and looked like a cat in a litter box, but she’s always done it.  It took 5 weeks to figure this out with one front leg to balance on.  I’m counting it as a success!

Poop File #3 – Another success, and a doozie… Maggie can once again scoot her butt across the carpet/grass.  Go Maggie!!  She really has to work at it, which cracks me up, but she looks so proud of herself, which also cracks me up.

Poop File #4, and another ridiculous side-effect of life post-amp – we never make it all the way around a block and past a city dumpster on walks, so I end up coming home with a poop bag on every walk.  Since I’m usually preoccupied with getting Maggie back into the house and checking to see what my kiddo was up to in the house by himself for 10 minutes 10 times a day (gaining responsibility, I guess), I don’t run the poop bag all the way out to the dumpster behind our house, so we end up with a little pile of poop bags behind our house.  CLASSY!!

Poop File #5 – actually more of a helpful tip: if you find yourself returning from a jaunt in the park with a poop bag in hand and no garbage can nearby (of course I used to just run Maggie over to a farther-away garbage can, but now I know she’d tire out)…dreading the thought/smell of bringing it in the car with you – clip it under the rear windshield wiper until you get home to throw it away.  If nothing else, nobody will tailgate you on the drive home!  [Full disclosure: I didn’t actually throw it away; it’s in the poop bag pile in the back yard with the others. I swear I’m not really that lazy, but sometimes there are just too dang many other things to do.]

 

Alright, enough potty talk.  Maggie is doing GREAT.  She runs and jumps (I hold my breath).  She lays around and looks happy.  She doesn’t tire out as quickly.  She infuriates me by refusing to take her Denamarin (for liver) no.matter.what.we.try.  We finally got chewables from our vet (at twice the cost, of course) and she even turned up her nose at those…this morning I crushed them and mixed in with some food and the medicine actually entered her body, amen.

I have one question for others here – did your pup return to rolling on his/her back, and if so, how long post-amp? Maggie used to just chill like this a lot, and hasn’t rolled onto her back at all since surgery.  Not sure if she can’t hoist her way around or thinks she wouldn’t be able to get upright again, or what.  She does lay flat on her stomach with the incision area partially under her, so I don’t think there’s any residual pain at the site, but she has not laid actually on the incision side or on her back at all.

Finally, on a really good note, I noticed something a couple weeks ago that is a great reassurance about our decision to amputate.  Over the last ?? several months or more before we knew anything was wrong with her leg, Maggie had taken to laying down with a big, deep, loud SIGH.  I thought this was an old age thing, since I knew she had a little arthritis, and you just get used to your dog’s noises after a while so I didn’t think too much of it.  Well after the craziness of the first month post-amp, I started to realize that I wasn’t hearing this loud sigh anymore when she would flop down.  So I started listening for it, and nope, it’s not there.  This must have been a sign of pain or discomfort LONG before any limping or other signs.  Even though she tires out more now, she doesn’t seem as WEARY as she did before.  Cancer or not, we’ve given her a new lease on life for now.

 

I know I owe some pictures, but my computer is being a POOP and won’t allow me to download photos from my phone right now.  Soon.

 

Take care all you happy hoppers!!

Cindy and Maggie

 

Hello Tripawd Folks,

We are happy to bring an update on Maggie, 5 weeks out from surgery and feeling great!  She’s still working on stairs and building up stamina for ‘real’ walks,  but all in all life is grand!   Maggie has conned us into going for 8 walks a day, by refusing to use the steps to the back yard and convincing us that walking out the front door with a leash on = WALKIES!! (not just a quick potty, like we pretend it’s going to be).   The startled little yelps that I mentioned in the Forum seem to have tapered off for now, thankfully, only heard it once since Saturday.

I still have my moments of looking at her and thinking “what have we done!?” – not because she’s not recovering fantastically, but just because it’s something I never would have imagined happening.  Of course I never imagined having to deal with canine cancer, so it’s a little reminder that you gotta do what you gotta do, and roll with it.  Something I’d recommend for anyone new to this site, starting out on amputation recovery, is to jot down a couple of successes and setbacks each day for the first couple of weeks.  I did that just to keep track of what was going on (did I get her out to pee at 4AM today, or was that yesterday?) but it proved to be SO valuable when I would worry about her recovery, to see that she DID make progress every day even if other things were challenging.  Now that we’re past the “panic over every little thing” stage, it’s amazing just to go back and read what those first several days were like and how far she has come.  AMAZING!  Watching her walk and run so confidently now, it’s hard to remember that a month ago her little legs were shaking with every step.

So I thought this would be a good time to enjoy Maggie doing some of her favorite things this week:

Snuggling up on the couch.  She’ll always use a pillow if there’s one handy.

Scruffing around in the dirt. She is trying to figure out “digging” with one paw…it’s a herky-jerky affair but pretty darn cute. Easier when she lays down to dig. 🙂

Sniffing around the trees for signs of squirrel…she’s also back to jumping up on the trees occasionally (scares me but I’ll get used to it).

Happy walks, even if they’re just down the block and back.

Doggin’ around in the back yard.  What leg? I’m not missing a leg!

Begging at the table.  Must have been chicken nuggets for the kiddo that night. (Why yes, that is a rug being held down with duct tape in the background.  All hail duct tape.)

 

And getting underfoot in the kitchen – this is when I knew she was feeling back to normal!

 

Here’s hoping the next week brings even more progress – for her and for all of your pups!!

Maggie has been very wary of steps on three legs. She bit it on our carpeted stairs 2 weeks ago, the first time she tried them. Not so good for her confidence, and she hasn’t gone near them since.  Tonight as my son and his friend were upstairs watching tv, I heard Maggie hopping around near the bottom of the stairs.  She wanted up, where the action was.

I put on her harness – she doesn’t really like it but it gives me a little confidence to be able to keep a hand on her just in case – and after some coaxing she bounded up the stairs almost as smoothly as before.  She was as surprised as I was!  The look on her face when she got up on our bed was priceless!!

I have no idea how we’re gonna get down those steep turn-of-the-century  stairs later, but who cares?

Ok she’s not actually smiling here but she was super happy! Yayyyyy doggie in bed!!!!

And I shouldn’t be sitting here, I should be taking Maggie out for a walk!

She is doing well, starting to build up more strength every day but we can tell her creaky old back legs are stiff and sore sometimes.  On those days she lays down with a thud.  But she’s come so far in a month, and I’m so proud of her!