Vet Care

 Afternoon & Hello.

In case you don't follow our FB feed, Ziva was taken to the Emergency Vet Clinic yesterday.

Since early on, if her mouth can reach it, she'll chew on it or plain old swallow it.  

It's a known problem and something that has caused numerous issues. 

She's ruined everything from shoes to health equipment. She still swallows my hair scrunchies whole and any small cloth.  Rope toys are not to be given unless you keep an eye on her.   Is that a piece of cardboard? In her mouth it goes.  She'll tear apart toys and swallow pieces.   

Because of all that, she's had regular intestinal issues.  We've joked that she'll be the dog that they find tons of toys in the stomach.     
For the most part, she has passed everything. 

However in the time that we've had her, she's never thrown up (or gagged) over several hours only to bring up spittle or bile.   She's never been listless and lethargic.  She'd moan. She couldn't get comfortable. She would not go to the bathroom, eat or drink.  

She was lying outside on the patio or in the rocks--while it was lightly raining.  That was the Bernese loving cold weather coming through while trying to get comfy.

We attempted to get her a same day appointment, but there was none available and if it ended up being a blockage--she'd end up at the Hospital we went to anyhow.

If you know Ziva, you know she is a happy go lucky-extremely loving dog.  She'll greet "most" strangers with a hug or wanting a pet.  She loves car rides & looking out the window.   She loves food.  She is a bottomless pit.   She loves playing with her siblings. 

Yesterday she was none- of those.    Hence we went to the ACN.   During the ride she just laid there.   Couldn't get comfortable, would switch positions, but just lie there.   At the clinic, she barely greeted the tech that came into the room.   

They took her for X-Rays. Good news was there was nothing in her stomach.  Her small intestines were what we were watching & they sent us home with orders to not feed her. 

She slept most of the time. Only threw up 2 more times. 

This morning she was more like her old self.  It was a relief to see.   She did have a BM and appeared in good spirits.   She was 80% like her usual self. 

We returned for our appointment and another set of XRays.  The issues in the intestines had shifted and along with the BM, it appears she's going to be ok. 

It could be that she over-ate on Thursday. I had mentioned she was being a pig & over ate some of her special food that we only give her in moderation.   

Or it could have been something else.   However they gave her some anti-nausea medication. She's eaten and appears to be on the mend.  

Bad news...... Volos was gagging just before we left and I just cleaned up two spots in my office.   

NOW...
It could be his nervous stomach at being left home 2 days in a row.   He does not deal with that well.   --OR-- was it a virus that Ziva had?     Remains to be seen. Fingers crossed because this Momma will not deal well. 

Speaking of Volos.  I believe I mentioned he had a few lumps I wanted the vet to look at.  I needed to know if these should be removed or if they're just fatty.  Determined they most likely need to be removed.  There are 3 significant ones that need removal and a few that should, but if we can't locate them on day of surgery (due to size), it is not the end of the world. 

I was HOPING to wait until after the new year.  For obvious reasons that EVERYONE is aware of...INFLATION... it has kicked us hard along with some other issues not discussed here. 

I had to put Ziva's vet visit on the CC--which I HATE, but it needed to be done.  While Holding my boy and feeling the lumps..feeling like they grew.. I said screw it.   He needs his surgery. 

I love that boy and Berners on average live 8-10 years.  We adopted him at 5 and we're going on 8.   I am not ready for anything to happen to him.   This dog is my everything.  So I'm calling on Monday to schedule his tumor removals.  

Rich's forever dog was Sheba.   Mine is/was Galen.   However, Volos is nudging him to 1.5 place vs 1st.   I love this guy.    So I beg of you to keep him (all of them) in your thoughts. 

 

Grooming!

 Volos was not a happy camper yesterday.    

Lately he's been a little "raggedy".   His hair just was getting too long to be "cute. His paws--he had "grinch feet" -where the hair was so long on his paw pads.   I contacted Marlo at the play care (they also do grooming) and got him in for a Friday appointment. 

NOT HAPPY

Both boys went yesterday, I was at an appointment so it was much easier for R to get them out.  When Volos came home he was handsome  & smelling pretty.  Well, I assume it was pretty.  I don't do well with strong perfumed products--so I'm going to say he smells nice from a far.    His hair is all trimmed up & he looks so handsome.   

Of course he told me about the torture he had to endure: being "man handled", getting sprayed with water, & the buzzing of clippers and whatever else.    I think it was worth it but he disagrees.   

Whenever he gets groomed, he always looks chubbier to me.   His hair is cropped closer to his body & he no longer has longer locks to give the illusion that he's smaller.   No matter-- he's handsome.

As usual, everyone but Volos playing

The sun is glowing off of him right now:).  

Truthfully, he gets over his grooming torture pretty quickly.   He loves people too much to hold it against them.  Plus he likes his daycare people.  

I've been trying to get photos of him with his new "do", but he won't sit still.

Volos & Peryn went to the vet on Tuesday.   Peryn was due for a booster & Volos gets bloodwork every 6 months.  I do this with Volos to be on alert for any changes that may indicate cancer.   With his MCTs (3 in which need to be removed at this time) I am hyper vigilant with him.  He's going on 8 and this is my "Soul Dog".  I am not losing him any sooner than necessary.  

The removal surgery is TBD ..by me.  If I could, I'd have it done now, but circumstances just aren't allowing that. 

Next weekend, I'm leaving him for 5 days.  UGH.  I am going to miss him.  I hope he does ok without me.  Going to visit my Mom & Brother.  Only Lada is allowed to make this trip with me.  

Currently the kiddoes are in the basement with R.  We have a party to attend today & we need to exercise them before we leave...

Photos from this morning.....

Came out of the shower to this

Twin "Terrors"

Morning after grooming, shiny & handsome

You can see his trim better in this picture

 

Merry Christmas......A Pupdate

 I cannot believe a month has passed.  I don't know where time is going ....  I'll tell you these pups.... They sure keep us busy.  

Starting with the baby...

Ziva. Ziva. Ziva.   Long gone is our cute, sweet little baby girl.   We have a monster on our hands. This girl is big.  The biggest (size wise) of all the dogs.  She's about 5 lbs away from Volos, but gaining.  She is a little more than 50% of her adult size.   
She is the sweetest most loving dog you will ever meet. HOWEVER....  She does NOT listen. She eats ANYTHING she finds. She jumps up to hug anyone who visits. 

The worst is the eating/chewing anything & everything.  If it's at her level, it'll be in her mouth. The items she's destroyed (shoes, Christmas cards, boxes, etc. ) or eaten is absolutely ridiculous. Her most recent big thing was the 6" long toy rope. She came home from day care the other day due to throwing up.  In the AM we found the rope in the midst of a pile.   She's too quick for us at times.   

We cannot wait for her to grow out of this phase (we hope she does). 

She is the dog that day care is made for. She loves playing with her friends & her sister at day care.  I've even had to hire someone to come on their day off from day care to play with them for an hour to give me a break during my lunch time. 

It has been successful as they absolutely love their companion.  When the hour is up, they are practically passing out in my office.   

Lada & Ziva are BFFs.   They are constantly wrestling in the house.  It is cute & really makes us happy that Lada has a companion & Ziva has an outlet for her puppy energy. 

Lada:  Lada is still Lada.  Protective of the family (her pack included) and loyal to Momma.   Occasionally allowing one of the others to get affection from Mom, more often not.

She loves to play fetch with the tennis ball when playing with the humans, but absolutely loves wrestling & running with her baby sister.    
She hasn't forgotten her brothers either. She still engages with Volos & Peryn when appropriate.   

As of the last month & half she doesn't want to go to day care.   We force her to go because she is one of the ones that need to go. Plus if Ziva is going to be there, Lada is.    I think it has to do with the fact that Volos hasn't been going. She doesn't like that he's home alone with me.

If she had her way, she would play with every one of the pack & keep me to herself.  She absolutely loves their weekly companion, it's almost competition for me (ha ha). No her companion is # 3 on her list of favorite people on the planet after Me & Rich. 

Peryn.   Peryn is Peryn. Still a jerk.  Still a bully.   He's seemed to have softened a little bit.  There is "some" acceptance of Ziva. I've heard that he almost plays with her at daycare.    At home if he's not chasing a ball or playing fetch, he'll try to taunt her (not as obnoxious about it as he is with Volos).   

Peryn is accepting of whoever I have had to come play with him. IF it means he gets to play fetch or have someone down there when he pushes the ball, he's all for it.   

He taunts Volos, but not as much. I think because he splits his attention between Volos & Ziva or playing with Lada it's eased up a bit.  Don't get us wrong, he's still a world class Jerk....just a very cute one. 

Volos- my baby. my boy.  I adore this dude so freaking much. He began showing reluctance in going to day care, so we began allowing him to stay home. 

Then on Dec 1 he had surgery to remove 2 more Mast Cell Tumors (MCT) & he was kept home until stitches came out.  He is back at daycare today just to get him out of the house, but he'll most likely be back home tomorrow.   

He isn't a social dog. He isn't a playful dog (not the way he would need day care for) and he isn't for dogs getting up in his business.   We send him to keep him socialized & all that but he goes sparingly now.   He ABSOLUTELY loves being home with me.  During my breaks I get on the floor to cuddle with him.  He gets so excited about that. 

If I run an errand, he is in the car with me.  If I just sit around, he's right there with me.  He's a chill dog overall so day care is just a thing every so often.   Lada is very jealous of that.   However she NEEDS it , he doesn't. 

His MCTs were low grade with clear margins, so we're doing ok until we find more that need to be removed.   

At night where he once was reluctant to climb into bed to lay on me, he no longer is. That is HIS SPOT.  I often wake up & find him there.   He no longer needs prompting. Mommy is his night-time spot. 

Ziva still pretty much can do whatever she wants when it comes to Volos.  Not one to share his food, treats, or toys, Ziva can take what she wants.  It may not be super obvious, but he adores her.  She forced herself into his life and now he just accepts it.  It's pretty darn cute.   

Their favorite thing to do is lay at the bottom of the stairs & destroy toys or cardboard boxes.   They're so silly.

  

Volos and his recovery

 Dec 17 2020.

Volos update.

This dog.......   
IF you remember back in Jan/Feb we took him to the vet for the "7 day return policy".....  Back then he had 2 lumps removed. One was just fatty tissue and the other was a Mast Cell Tumor.  (MCT from here on out).     MCT's are essentially a form of cancer.    Statistics indicate 60%-70% dogs that develop an MCT only develop one.

One thing to note about Bernese Mountain Dogs is a large reason their life spans average 8 years is a number of them develop cancer. 

Volos had 3 removed recently.  We only elected to send 2 off to pathology.  Those 2 were MCTs.   So at this point in time, anytime Volos has a growth on him, we have to monitor and have the vet evaluate.   Fun times ahead.

Surgery went well. Clear margins on all the removals.   However, our issue has been with Volos afterwards.    His one site, next to his eye, has had zero issues. 

He caused the one on his back right leg to leak and weep blood after coming home, but essentially was fine.   

The one on his left front leg has been the biggest PITA.   He blew the stitches and then the wound opened more.    The vet chose not to re-stitch as the location is not conducive for stitches and recovery...especially as much as Volos moves about. 

It looks REALLY nasty, but it's healing on course.   

He had his stitches taken out and I don't know if his movements did something , but the back hind wound is bleeding. Essentially it looks like it tore open. I didn't really look at it when he came out of the vet, but I know going in it was fine.   GRRRR

Thing is, he's REALLY REALLY DIFFICULT to hold down to look at. I have no issues with him letting me wrap his front leg, but trying to let me look at his back wound....yeah.  Rich is going to have to do that. I was able to throw on a bandage. So frustrating. Let me tell you! Looks like another wound we have to let close

However in spite of all the blood and guts, he's had zero issues with it.   He is too active.  He paces & runs when the other 2 are home.

Definitely my problem child.   

 

The dogs are doing well otherwise.  Hyper and crazy, but they gel well together...mostly.  Volos and Peryn are a very odd pair.  Peryn does EVERYTHING he can to try to entice VOLOS to play with him.  

And here we have a Christmas gem for you..

What?! Two posts in one week?

 Your eyes aren't deceiving you. We've posted twice this week.  The Daddyman is otherwise occupied, leaving time for Momma to play around. That doesn't happen often--so enjoy it. 

Regular visitors may notice a slight change in layout & design.  Having had time, found the settings to make some long wanted modifications.    Once upon a time all I did was update and work on webpages and graphics.   That young lil lady eventually got a job, moved back to her home town and got lots and lots of dogs...  Bye bye free time. 

So yes, I made some updates to the layout and colors.   Hope it makes reading easier.

Secondly, I'm writing to tell you about Volos.    

Truthfully, I forget what I do write about. Throughout the week I often compose blog subjects in my head.  What actually gets posted is often a far cry from what I originally thought about. That being said-- Volos had a biopsy done on one of his growths. It was another mast cell tumor.   We decided to remove it being that it was the 3rd growth since we adopted him.

After the initial appointment we found another spot and another fast growing "growth" next to his eye. Thanks to Galen & Duchess, we recognized the eye one as a fatty tumor.

He had his removal surgery yesterday.  The other 2 are being sent for pathology to make sure we got them all and to find out if the 2nd one is a MCT.  

Poor dude.  Picked him up and he was still drugged out and in the cone.  Cone FREAKED him out. Every time it made a sound or moved, he freaked and tried to escape...causing it to move and freak him out more.

His freaking out caused one of the wounds to seep.  I made a quick online purchase and went to pick up an inflatable collar.   Five minutes later, Dude is acting normal.

What didn't help during this time of being drugged and in a cone that freaked him out, my smoke alarm went off.   THAT WAS FUN.

He can't go to daycare for 2 weeks until his stitches are removed.  He stayed home and slept.  Part of it is because he's recovering and the other is he missed his siblings.    He came to life when they got home.

It will be a long 2 weeks I can tell you that. 

The dogs were away from day care for 6 full days. Longest week of my life.   Wednesday I took them to the farm where snow was EVERYWHERE.   Lada was disappointed because she couldn't play fetch because the ball kept disappearing in the snow and neither she nor I could find it. 

They did end up playing with the tug.    

Volos LOVED IT. Snow and this dude....  He really came alive and wish I had been more ready with the camera.   Here are some pics & Vids from the visit..including 3 way tug!

   

  

7 Day Return Policy

Seven Day Return Policy

When we adopted Galen, our very first dog, I didn't bond with him immediately.   Then he got very very sick and I couldn't even begin to feel anything for him other than my general love of dogs.  I kept wondering if I should have picked out another dog.  What if there was something seriously wrong with this one?
He eventually got well and as anyone who knows us knows--He was MY love.   

When we adopted Sheba, it took me time to get used to her. I used to be the center of Galen's world and then along comes his very own live in playmate. She had some issues due to her early abuse, but I came to love that dog more than anything. 

Goldberg was a different case as when he came to us, it was a temporary situation. We even tried adopting him out.   He was such a hard case to break some of his very bad habits and then his health issues began.   He became my little clown--buddy and was with us until the end-10 years later.

When we adopted the rest Duchess, Athena (and ALL her known issues) Peryn, and when we brought home Lada--never once did I think of returning them.   

Through all the tough beginnings I stuck it out because I could never do that to a dog.  

When we adopted Volos on Monday, we were told that they had a 7 day return policy. That is where we can return him at any point for any reason and get our adoption fee back.    We can return him anytime after, but we do not get the fee back.

For that reason and the fact that he has been limping since we brought him home, we took him to the vet today.

We had them look at the paw and also 2 masses on either side of him.

The results-- one of the masses is possibly a cancerous Mast Cell Tumor.    
And the paw... He has a torn ACL.    

To sum it up, he requires surgery for both issues.   Expensive surgeries.   AND... 1 of those surgeries may uncover if any cancer has spread. 

Considering we just lost Duchess almost 2 months ago to cancer, you can imagine how we must feel.   
Additionally, we just got this dog on Monday and find out that he requires expensive surgeries.  

"Whew! Good thing you found out and can return him and get your money back"
"With all Athena's issues, you can't afford another dog requiring all this expensive work"
"Oh that's easy--get your money back and don't spend anymore on the dog. You've barely had him a week."

When Volos was back getting the xrays and the tumor cells being looked at, we had a discussion.  What would we do depending on the outcome? Fortunately we're on the same page, so no arguing necessary.

This dog... this dog that we've only had with us going on 5 days is the sweetest, most loving dog we've ever had.  He wormed his way into our hearts from moment one.   It doesn't matter if he's going to cause us to go broke for a little while, he's one of ours.   
One caveat is this. If we find that there is cancer and there aren't clean margins--meaning that the cancer has spread--we will be returning him.    I cannot go through this again.  Also keep in mind, I'm saying this now--hours after his appt.  Ask me again in a few weeks..........


Never one to ask for help, I'm considering doing one of those go fund me things to ask for help...Considering.  I don't know how I feel about asking for money.....   We'll cross that bridge when it comes to it I guess.

Mass removal & Biopsy scheduled for Feb 3