Tuesday, March 15, 2011

At the Risk of Repeating Myself...

The truth is...Facebook has stolen my blog. I have lots to say, and Facebook lets me say it quickly and in fewer than 420 or so odd characters. I know this because several times I've written a post on Facebook only to be told it's too long. Probably was a post better suited for a blog, but when I told Facebook to put my too-long story into notes, it didn't tell me to copy my text first - and when I got to my notes, it was a blank page. So, a post lost - lost on Facebook, and lost on the blog. Because I was not motivated enough to write it all over again.

My blog is blogging me down...even though it actually is a better forum for sharing stories accompanied by pictures. I need to get motivated again to write here or shut it down.

So, I will post some updates that will be repeats for those of you who are my friends on Facebook.

1. I was reluctant to write about Loco because I suspected something serious was going on with his health and I didn't want to write until I had all the details. The weekend after I got back from Canada (about 10 days ago), Loco had a fever, was listless and didn't want to eat. I found a big tick and a small tick (in the same spot) on his left shoulder, and feeling around, thought I felt a huge, hard lump behind his left ear. By Monday he was eating again and acting more like his old self, but I took him to the vet anyway.

The preliminary diagnosis was ehrlichiosis (tick disease), something he's been treated for before with limited success. He cannot take the monthly tick drops as he is very allergic, so my method of control is tick patrol over his body, which he quite enjoys because it's like a little massage. One big danger of this disease is platelet destruction, leading to uncontrolled bleeding and often, death. A year ago Loco's platelets were low, around 25,000 (they should be 10x that level), but after 2 months of treatment the platelet count did not go up so we abandoned the costly testing since there was nothing more to do anyway, apparently. We waited for signs of cancer, as that was the next logical explanation.

Blood tests this time showed a shockingly low level of 2000 platelets - a level where most animals quickly die. The vet had never seen a level this low before, and came right over to get Loco started on the antibiotic of choice for the tick disease. Along with diet, the only other thing to be done is to keep him quiet in an attempt to prevent any type of injury that might trigger a bleed.

Loco is horrible for taking pills, he can spit them out after you're sure he had to have swallowed them. I thought I had him fooled after I started stuffing them into the hollowed out center of a piece of hot dog, but now he's caught onto that trick and won't even eat the piece of hot dog when it doesn't have any pills. The battle continues, he will be on meds for a while, so I am going to win...

Unless you knew about his platelet problem, you would think Loco was a happy, healthy, energetic dog. His blood will be retested in about 10 days, so we'll see if the meds have worked this time. Fingers crossed.

11 comments:

drgeo said...

Poor Loco! Our dog spits out pills too. If I put the pill on the bottom of a treat his tongue can detect it easier than if it is on the top. He also likes peanut butter, so a pill rolled into PB inside a small piece of bread or tortilla solves the problem.

IslaZina said...

Poor Loco! I am glad Punta tolerates ivermectin and related preventatives, but I still pull the occasional tick off of her.
I am glad you are bloggin again!

Ann said...

Our pup is unusual in that I can toss him a pill & he will eat it--must think it's candy.
I hope you don't shut down your blog--I enjoy reading it--I find I reach a different "audience" between FB & my blog.

Sue said...

drgeo - he doesn't like peanut butter, I tried that one. I thought I had him licked with the hot dog trick, but now he's onto it.

Z - so that stuff isn't 100% anyway? Loco has very few ticks these days, he's the only dog on our block now so that helps a lot.

I will try to keep the blog going, I actually enjoy writing, I just seem to have so many interruptions these days, breaks the thought processes and stalls the motivation.

jeanie said...

Aaww Sue, Maybe you could just take a break from the blog. It seems a lot of people are doing that.

In any case you will always be my friend. I have a tip about the pill thing. I had 4 little dogs (3 were rescues) and I fostered a good few as well. Somebody always need something so I was on a pill mission. I tried everything and the blowing on the tongue thing worked with Tiny Bubba. Only her. The best solution for me was to wrap the pill in a little chicken skin like from Zehrs.

Before anyone e-mails me...I am fully aware that excessive fat consumtion can cause Pancreatitis in dogs. I just used enough to cover the pill. It seems to be easier with something fatty. It just slides down. You have those wonderful Rositeria places.

It worked so well that I actually would cut some roasted skin into squares and freeze it.

I love Loco!!!

Life's a Beach! said...

Well, you know how I feel about Loco. We trick Saby into pills with cheese or peanut butter. The tick thing really scares me since Saby got infested with them last year from staying at Dog Bone Ranch when we even had Frontline on her. Craig was on tick patrol for months. My fingers AND toes are crossed for Loco! I hope he bounces back quickly because he's such a sweet character!

KfromMichigan said...

Poor Loco .. I hope he is doing much better real soon. Please don't stop blogging! I look forward to reading about the animals.

jackie said...

Sue,
Hopefully you will find the right method to get Loco to take his pills. I had the same problem when I had a little cocker. No matter how I disguised the pill (even in ice cream) she always knew it was there and spit it out.

When you want to start out writing a note on FB I find it best to do so in Word then copy it. I do the same when I post on my blog which is not often anymore. A lot of the blogs that I have on my blog roll only have posting once in while anymore. I do believe that FB has been the main factor the decline of blogging.

Linda said...

Prayers coming your way for Loco!!!

Sue said...

Ah Jeanie - Loco despises chicken skin, although he is crazy about the meat itself.

Jackie - if I knew I was going to write so much before I posted I would do what you suggest...but I never plan it that way. At least now I know that FB doesn't carry stuff over to another area, I'll copy before I click that Notes tab.

Thanks everyone for the tips and thoughts for Loco. He's status quo, still spitting out the pills but I just keep stuffing them back in until they're gone. He's suspicious of everything I give him by hand now...lol. However, I'm still the victor, he simply has to have the meds to have a chance, so I will insist...

Anonymous said...

I don't know how Ed does it but he is really good at giving animals pills. He sticks it way back in their thoat and massages it. I will ask him any pointers, I don't put my hand in anything with teeth lol. My self I would cut pills up and put in cheese. I would start a couple reg ones then the loaded pill ones. judy