Re: The appointment is made..... Ok .....trying not to make a drama out of a crisis or vice versa as all is not totally lost...... Monday was the start of the Eid holiday here...it was 3 days that is a bit like Xmas eve to Boxing Day,everything is on skeleton staff and funny hours and I've already mentioned my lovely vet Paulina gave me her number is case I was worried about tail developments......her last exam had left her happyish but not 100% satisfied..... I got in from our early walk Tuesday and in the time it took me put his lead back in the drawer ....5 seconds he pulled the gauze through the small whole in the end of the syringe I use for the splint and there was blood.....quite a lot.as I turned to get my medical supplies down,chris appeared in the kitchen without our customary warning( then one party grabs the tail) so dexter did a leap and a thwack that we both missed.........blood bath!it was awful......we calmed him down enough to examine it and basically the wound was totally open.....I rang Paulina.....I feel awful admitting this as it wasn't even 7am ,burst into tears and when she got the gist of what I was saying she told me to meet her at the surgery ( big bouquet of flowers have since been delivered)her exam established that there was no infection but she couldn't understand the deterioration in healing so it was cleaned,dressed minimally....idea being to get as much air to it as possible and for me to go away for 48 hours ,not touch it with anything and see if it would dry up..... That went to plan,I've been back on the couch because we really do have to catch every wag and the morning times are just to difficult to do this,he doesn't jump but he does the butt tuck thing and spins rounds and his tail doesn't tuck.....it wags madly ......catching every hard surface in reach .....if I sleep with him,we wake up together,calmly and quietly. Last night he woke me up at 1 am....I could hear him licking ....put the light on and the splint was off and when I looked in it the gauze was wet with yellow coloured lymph like fluid......absolute nervous break down by me,wound is wet,it's been licked and I thought I could detect a smell.....cried my eyes out all night thinking he's going to lose his whole tail......things seem that way at 3am!!he was restless,wouldn't settle ,trying to lick ( he's hardly bothered with it all week ) he finally settled down at 6 am....usually when we are going our for our first walk....... Couldn't get into the vet until 11 .... So took him on a short toilet walk ,after which he just came back and lay down with his head in my lap....now you all KNOW how dexter tortures me for food....he ate his breakfast but only because I put it down. When I got to the vet she said the healing had completely broken down and she was advocating a further amputation to about half the length of his tail but she wanted her partner to come in and have a look for a second opinion........he thinks all is not lost,he doesn't believe there is an infection,he says there is evidence of good secondary healing,he thinks the fluid on the gauze could well have been a combination of dexters saliva,dried blood from a previous bleed and the antiseptic wash it's been having....he said the smell wasn't infection.however he then mentioned a condition called vasculitis because they can't understand why it had started healing so well at the beginning and then started to deteriorate.he said if Dex is a sufferer then a further op,with a bigger impact and bigger wound would be unwise as it's going to be an even bigger job to get it healed up.he has suggested a course of medicine to lessen the impact of vasculitis in anticipation of a further op( it's the mildest course of medication as it's not a given he has it and more aggressive medicines have steroids in which I think he said have an impact on immunity? Might not be remembering that right though)an antiseptic wash and some collagen powder sprinkled on the wound and the tail left completely undressed and open to the air.....plus a massive ecollar that he can't get anywhere near himself at all times. He's had a painkiller and is sleeping quietly and I have to say that the wound looks dry and the best it has for a couple of days.....the fact that it is uncovered just freaks me out so much though.....it doesn't look nice at all.I've totally lost my confidence in my abilities to care for it.....it's emergency hours only tomorrow because it's the weekend but I'm taking him in every day for the next 3 days whilst we wait and watch and Paulina or her partner will do the powder for me ,it's really simple to do bit I'm scared. If there is no improvement in the next 3 days then he will have to have the further amputation as this wound really won't heal so I have got everything crossed that that doesn't happen it will be so painful for him. We are desperate trying to catch every wag and now he has no protection on it,the house is on lockdown,the front door bell is disabled and a note on the door not to knock,to ring one of us and if we go out we call from the car so that the other one can hold onto him while we come in. I never knew that something called Happy Tail syndrome could make us all so miserable x
Re: The appointment is made..... Oh Angela , I really am so sorry to read this, poor Dexter and you too , just keeping everything crossed that the healing process kicks in big style , hugs to you xx
Re: The appointment is made..... Oh Angela, you poor love, big hugs!!! Everything crossed here for you and Dexter xxx
Re: The appointment is made..... This is heartbreaking to read - after the absolutely herculean effort you have put in. :'( :'( :'( So sorry to hear this. I can't tell you how much Charlie and I wish for a good outcome soon for you, and this gets healed up. Big, big, hugs. xxxxx
Re: The appointment is made..... How heartbreaking for you Angela. I am so sorry. Would it not be possible to keep him in his crate for a few days to keep him quiet and just take him out for quick toilet breaks on the lead?
Re: The appointment is made..... Thankyou everybody,it's so lovely when you come back to the computer and see well wishes,we really appreciate it.Stacia( Sonia ;D) I did thankyou and I replied?i hope it has come through....Lynne missed a message that I sent the other day too..... Heidrun ,thankyou that is something I could think of......although the cone is so big....I think it's 30 " he wouldn't have a lot of space....The next size down and he can reach his tail,he's lay quietly all afternoon by me and tomorrow we are home all day with him ...,same Saturday as that is our weekend so Chris is around with me and I'll either sleep with him tonight or he's going to come up into the bedroom with us.....but I think that might be too exciting and new for him?lets see ...... Oh we will get him right and if effort were enough he would be perfectly better ....he is such a good boy,last night and today is the first time he's showed any signs of it getting him down
Re: The appointment is made..... :'( :'( :'( So, so sorry Angela, you have done such an amazing job keeping Dexters' tail clean and you are a brilliant owner. This has made me cry :'( :'( :'( You bet your life we have every paw all 8 of them and all fingers and toes crossed here that his lovely waggy tail WILL heal and no further surgery will be necessary. I agree with Heidrun it maybe better in the long run to keep him quite in his crate. Lots of love a licks, Helen, Hattie & Charlie xxxx
Re: The appointment is made..... Oh Angela poor you. I'm sat here imagining the worry your going through. Funny though it doesn't matter how much it might hurt good old Dex keeps happy and wagging. : Jen
Re: The appointment is made..... Chris has got clients in town that we have to entertain tonight........at a restaurant now ,NO way at home...how much in this world could I do without that!Betty our sitter is here now,we've tried his crate in the lounge but he's trying to get up and turn around and banging himself on the bars........so she's sat with him on the floor how as I have been and he's just got his head in her lap so I'm going to try that.....he's not in the biggest cage,he's only little!but I'm going to look at a bigger one tomorrow......will he not be just absolutely miserable locked in there all the time?short term misery is better than another operation though,I know! We've had to put the comfy cone on as well as the ecollar...he's just demonstrated he can reach his tail with only the massive ecollar on.... We are going to creep out now so he doesn't know we've gone ...... :'(
Re: The appointment is made..... Lordy, must be driving you mad... poor Dex. Can you strap his tail to his leg? No, silly idea, probably drive him nuts...
Re: The appointment is made..... This is probably a daft idea but I thought of it after reading Julie's idea about strapping dex's tail. What about putting a t shirt or something similar over his back end so his back legs go in the arm holes and the bottom of the t shirt would be somewhere around his middle tied loosely. If positioned correctly it might gently keep his tail in a lowered position so possibly less damage from wagging. Obviously adaption or removal would be necessary for toilet breaks. : It's probably impractical but you might be able to think of something better to do a similar thing you had the brain wave for the tail protector. ;D Jen
Re: The appointment is made..... angela hope you got a good rest today,.....i have been upset over dexter all day from our p m message this morning, you must be besides yourself poor love they sell a canvas type cage that might be better for dexter :'( i hope my prayers are answered, i will ask zowie to get all the children to pray for dexter tomorrow
Re: The appointment is made..... Angela I hope you've come back to a calm Dexter. Thinking of you. Alice
Re: The appointment is made..... Just want to say that I'm thinking of you all too. I think that we are willing so hard for that tail to get better. Wish we had a magic wand or something.... Major hugs from here. You guys are incredible owners, just the best.
Re: The appointment is made..... gosh I've come home ( couldn't wait to get away!)and after a bit of excitement and tail grabbing we are both settled on the floor chilling for a nights sleep......he tries to lick I know! I am a really light sleeper at the best of times I feel him go for it and it takes effort with the huge collar he has onto I feel him do it instantly! Julie you aren't daft,I suggested that to the vet early on and she said with him being such a waggy happy dog,that restricting it would probably distress him and make him chew,lick and worry more so I've not tried it Lynne I've not heard of canvas cages but my mum suggested a soft play pen kind of thing.....I'll have a good consider tomorrow,although for the next 48 hours I won't need to leave his side ! Jen I think the tshirts idea might have helped if it was his castrstion wound....mum had a t shirt on Derry last week for his anal glands and it worked so thankyou . You have all been so kind ,thankyou helen I will PM you in the morn...Nnite ,Gbless x
Re: The appointment is made..... Oh dear, Angela, somehow I missed this the other day....life has been a bit hectic here lately. Believe me, I have total empathy for you on the worries about licking, not healing, infection, and the miseries of The Cone. :'( :'( :'( It honestly almost gave me a nervous breakdown so I can only just imagine what you are going through. It's all so stressful and difficult. They only thing that kept me going was coming on here and being able to vent, so please don't hesitate to do that when you need to. You are all in my prayers....hope you're able to get some sleep, you need to take of yourself too! Hugs and licks and tiny wags to you and Dex both....hang in there....we're behind you all the way.....
Re: The appointment is made..... Hi everyone,once again thankyou for all you kind words and support. We've been to the vet again today as instructed and she watched us from the window as we unloaded Dexter out and walked him in like a broken army...chris holding his lead,me holding his tail,Dex looking a bit downhearted in the middle of us.We've had a bleed again this morning and when she examined it,she said this can't go on.i got upset because I said to her we must only amputate more of his tail if it's in Dexters interest...not because we are finding it challenging looking after him.....she made me run through how our typical day is at the moment and when you hear out loud how life is it sounds utterly miserable ...for Dexter...added to which I am absolutely knackered because I am lying with him every night because even now with this biggest cone....he can still reach the sound site.Chris would take his turn but he's such a deep sleeper I don't think hed catch him . Anyway in summary he is booked in tomorrow for 12.30 to have 15 cms taken off....there's tears dropping on the iPad while I'm typing this .....I can't believe my beautiful ,lovely dog has to have this done.......I totally blame us for starting to cut into it....I don't know what else we could have done to protect the wags but there must have been something I missed or something I could have thought up to live with it.the vet assures me this time it will be too short to bang anything in the house so it will heal.....while that's an assurance one way it makes me so so sad to have him put through this.and I know it's going to be so painful for him......
