January » 2012 » Pugg Life

So how was your Friday the 13th?

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So our earlier post was about Vince’s ‘eye of doom’. Now the eye and I go way back (over 6 years now) and I’ve gotten used to the funky look of it. However as in earlier post it does tend to scare vet’s when they see it for the 1st time.

So yesterday was Friday the 13th. All was well, went out and did errands. Knowing the weather was going to get frigid while I cleaned and did laundry I got a batch of veggie chili going on the stove. Vince was super restless and super barky – he usually isn’t in the day time but figured maybe he was just over-tired or something. Around 3:30 I finish up and go to pick him up and carry him around for a bit – this usually soothes him. That’s when I saw the eye of doom had changed. It was shut and it became clear that Vince’s barking was because he was uncomfortable.

Now mind you when I got home at 1 pm the eye was ok – so whatever happened, happened while I was doing stuff around the house. Vince has been scratching at an itch on his ear so I think he was scratching at it and got the eye with one of his nails.

I called the vet immediately, knowing the visiting opthamologist was in on Friday afternoons and they had me bring him right in. The fact that our vet is within walking distance (not that I walked him there) is kind of a blessing. He was seen, dx’d, and on his way with a bit of antibiotic and a bit of analgesic in under an hour.

To add insult to injury I had the groomer there dremel his nails down BIG TIME so this didn’t happen again (mind you his nails were just filed a few weeks back). So catastrophe was averted, only $100 was paid out, and Vince got another batch of guilt meatballs (the tastiest protein around).

Sigh…how was your Friday the 13th?

How does a teenager get drugs these days?

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Now we adopted Vince 6 years ago. When we adopted him we knew he couldn’t see, wasn’t a big deal to him so it wasn’t to us. His right eye is considered ‘dead’ – it was injured when he was 3 and his lack-of-care-givers opted against doing anything about it. So that one is mostly closed and we just keep it clean and hydrated.

Now his left eye – now that’s a world of fun. Clearly *a lot* happened there but we’re lucky that there’s no pain/discomfort going on. He’s got an ulcer on the eye, some spots, PK of course, and a cataract. I swear when you look into his eye its like listening to a seashell…you can hear the ocean

Again, we know he doesn’t see out of this eye so we keep it clean and hydrated and all is good. Well a new vet saw Vince’s eye last week and freaked. Was convinced it was gonna pop any minute or that he had glaucoma or that it was going to have to be removed. I’m rather diligent in my Vince-care so he’s tested for glaucoma at least 1x a year and I look at that eye every day so would know if any changes.

But Vince heard ‘glaucoma’ and his little ears perked up (which is an in-joke as Vince is deaf). I could see the little green plants in his thought bubbles – yup, Vince thought he was gonna score medicinal marijuana. My furry little stoner. He’s already on some kind of watch list I’m sure because he’s on a controlled substance (phenobarbital) LOL. And it goes without saying that this day and age if Vince wanted/needed pot I could find it for him.

Alas Vince’s dreams were dashed today we saw the opthamologist. Who assured the vet that I was right, there’s a lot going on but nothing new and that keeping his eyes clean and lubricated is the best we can do. So now depressed Vince is sleeping in my lap, lamenting the fact that he won’t be getting high on a regular basis. So since I’m a Jewish mother and feeling guilty over the fact that my teenager has no recreational drugs, I’m heating up his meatball maker so he gets something extra special for dinner.

Vince has alzheimer’s but I’m the one losing my mind…

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Well it’s been a while. We had so much to say last year and no time to say it. Around the time of our last blog post (spring 2011), our old man Vince started having some health issues. Vince will be 14 this coming April and is blind, deaf, and has a “roommate” (brain tumor). I know, you’re thinking “what else could go wrong?”. Well Vince’s age put him right at the sweet spot for canine cognitive dysfunction aka doggy alzheimer’s.

Yup, we’re that lucky. Now, how did we figure out what was going on? As per list above, Vince has a couple quirks already. But he’s a happy boy and doesn’t suffer from any of these issues – only my wallet and my heart do that. But in Feb/Mar he started getting really restless…he’d pace all day (instead of sleeping like he normally would LOL) and at night – forget it. He’d fall asleep for an hour, wake up and bark and pace til you gave him a treat, fall asleep for another…rinse, lather, repeat. He wasn’t sleeping restfully and I wasn’t sleeping at all…but my ordeal is a post for another day though.

So he went to vet and got checked out…I went into this knowing it could be a handful of things, from CCD to cancer or ??. After a lot of poking and prodding nothing came up as funky so we were left with cancer we couldn’t find or CCD. Now in all my research of CCD the restlessness and barking and basically the “inconsolability” (I may have just made up that word) were key symptoms. But another was peeing/pooping in the house. Now Vince once held it for 16 hrs (don’t ask) so I didn’t think it was CCD…then it happened. Vince walked past me in the front room and just let go – peed all over the floor. Over the next few days this kept happening, no matter how often we took him out, so I dx’d CCD.

As an FYI we had already tried supplements like melatonin and even tried Valium for the restlessness at night, absolutely no effect. My vet had never dx’d CCD before and wasn’t that familiar with Anipryl – the only drug that treats CCD. But key with Anipryl is you have to start it early or you get no results. I kind of put my foot down and said it was my $ to waste if it didn’t work but I didn’t want to wait until it was too late. So we started the Anipryl…and it’s working…so here we are.

That was a long answer to a short ?, but also gives you the background on why we’re making this blog all about CCD and on dealing with it. It’s not easy to be a caregiver for any animal with a chronic condition…but the lack of sleep and the increased demands 24/7 of dealing with a CCD dog can bring the kindest, most self-less parent to their knees. There’s a lot of frustration and exhaustion and anger. You get angry at the disease and try not to take it out on the dog – of course I would never harm Vince, he’s my life – but I’m glad he’s deaf cuz boy has he been called some nasty names over the past months.

So I want other caregivers to be able to use this blog as a resource for education about CCD and treatment, but also as a spot for moral support. I’m not in this alone and neither are you.