Lisa's Vet Procedure

Over the last few months, I had been keeping tabs on a lump on Lisa's backside. Not to go into gross detail of the exact location of this anomaly, let's just say it's with in 1 1/2 inches of an area frequently used for bowel evacuation and leave it at that. ;-) We all know that as dogs age, they get bumps and skin tags here and there. We can choose to have them removed or watch them and act on them at later time.

In Lisa's case, she has a few that the vet and I discussed already, but this one kinda surprised me. Beardies tend to need a good butt-check and subsequent butt-wash now and again because of debris and feces being caught in the hair back there - not any fault of the dog or their digestive system, just nature of living with a long haired dog. It was at this time that I found this lump. It didn't seem to bother her when I touched, so I decided to do a little research online and keep an eye on it.

As the months progressed, the lump didn't really change much. However, the area around it did. In the last few weeks, Lisa had begun biting at her rear and as a result, she ulcerated the skin around one of her anal sacs. This prompted further investigation into lump. The vet and I agreed it was best to have the lump removed. So last week, Lisa went in and had the procedure. While she was out, we also had a full abdomen x-ray done and her teeth were cleaned up. I figure rather than have her put under anesthesia again, better to make good use of it while she was out.

I, of course, was a nervous wreck and resorted to the nearest shopping mall for some holiday retail therapy to take my mind off matters. ;-) It almost worked...almost. I knew she was incapable hands - that wasn't my worry. My concern was over her in post-op. If you remember, it was in her post-op recovery hours from her last procedure that she bloated. It was comforting to know that if she did bloat again, it wouldn't be AS bad as it was since her stomach had been tacked; she wouldn't torsion again. But, still I would prefer to avoid the entire scenario altogether. Since the bloating incident did not happen on this vet's watch, I was very thorough in making sure they understood she was a high risk dog and all necessary precautions were taken. Additionally, I took some additional steps of my own and brought a shirt I had worn to have in her cage with her, so when she'd wake up, she'd smell something familiar. That, plus us having been at the office the week before and Lisa getting a good dose of love from the staff set us up for a good outcome.

And that's exactly what we had! Thank the Lord! Lisa came through her procedure again with flying colors. She was quiet and never fussed and never showed any bit of anxiety. When I picked her up, she acted tired, but was ready to go with me wherever I wanted to go. When I got her back to the house and The Boys got to "debrief" her, I fed her a little canned I-D with some chicken broth on it and she gobbled it up. My Lisa was indeed back!

It's been almost a week and she's healing up nicely. Haven't heard back from the vet on the results of the biopsy yet, but the x-ray only showed a little arthritis in her back, so that was good news. This week we get to celebrate Lisa's first Christmas as a free dog! I can't wait to celebrate it with her and the New Year!

Completely Unrelated Notes:
Apologies for not being able to keep up regular status reports on Lisa. Another rescue has been taking great amounts of my time. I'll post some info about her remarkable story when I can.

I'm attempting to get more pictures up of Lisa and enhance her site a bit. If I get the time, I'll actually design her something of her own! My main goal, however, was to get the information out there to be able to help others. Design has to come second to that! :-)

When It's Not Their Fault

Knowing what is normal for your dog is essential to understanding when something just isn't right about them. It could be a change in their normal routine to a full blown behavioral issue. With Lisa, I've come to expect certain things from her. Like, she does not urinate in her crate. Strange? Absolutely! For a puppy mill dog, this is one of the hardest obstacles to overcome with crate training.

Dogs are inherently born with the necessity to keep their "house" clean. Meaning - you don't poop where you eat! Given the opportunity, dogs will choose to do their business away from sleeping and eating areas. There are exceptions, but this is a general rule and one that can be observed from as early as 5-6 weeks old. Puppies at that age will choose to go away from where they eat and sleep - they make not always make it, but you can see them make an effort. However, when dogs are kept confined such as they are in most mill situations, they can't keep their areas clean and basically learn to live with the filth.

Lisa, however, seems to prefer to not soil her crate. The only times she has are when she had diarrhea, which I fault no dog for that! Poor things, I know how I feel when my tummy doesn't feel good. Well, one morning I woke up to find Lisa had peed in her crate.

At first, while it was strange that she did go, I didn't think anything of it until she went outside. She squatted, took a few steps, squatted again, took a few more steps, squatted again. Uh-oh! Lisa has a urinary tract infection, I'm afraid. Thinking she'd emptied everything out, I brought her back in and cleaned up the crate. Well, she didn't. It wasn't a lot where she did go, but one area definitely was tinged with blood. This proof was all I needed to confirm my suspicions and a phone call to the vet was made.

Later that day, Dr. Cortiaus confirmed my findings. Lisa did have a UTI. She was prescribed Clavamox and sent home. I've also since started her on cranberry supplements to help, too. She's tolerated the antibiotics well and the infection appears to have cleared up. We'll need the vet to give us the final nod on that.

Lisa's act of going in her crate highlighted that she had a medical problem and not a behavioral one. It was my first clue that something wasn't right with her that day; second and third clues would soon follow. However, had I not paid attention to those early warning signs, Lisa's infection and subsequent behavior because of it would have gotten worse. It pays to pay attention to your dog.

Reminds me of a story I read once about an Obedience lady who was working with her Utility dog on retrieving the dumbbell. The dog had done this countless times before, but for some reason has started refusing to retrieve the dumbbell. It baffled the woman, she didn't understand why. Don't remember exactly what the circumstances were that lead her to discover the real reason for the dog's refusal, but it was his teeth. He had a cracked tooth and the metal of the dumbbell caused him so much pain that he could not pick up the object and retrieve it. Once the tooth was fixed, he was back to his old self. Sometimes, changes in behavior may have a medical basis. Since dogs cannot voice their discomfort, it's up to us to interpret for them.