Friday, June 01, 2018
Poor Buddy the Wonderdog and his ongoing seizure problem.
UPDATE
Buddy is still with us. He is making a lot less noise although he is still doing some howling. He seems to be "present" and his appetite and grooming are both intact.
The Vet, as I suspected they would, gave me some pushback on ending Bud's life, they would like to do some tests...
End.
My hairy little roommate is in day 7 of the process of having seizures for some period of time (for 2-4 days,never know for sure when it will stop--or IF it will stop) and then almost constant pacing and fretting, He doesn't want to be held. He has NO sense of boundaries physical or social. He is effectively blind and deaf and he either whimpers, whines or howls pretty much 24/7. I recognize that it is very hard for him and I also recognize that it makes me nearly homicidal when I can't sleep and I know EXACTLY how to solve that problem. Piss, shit, hair, drool and the constant Roomba sort of apparently aimless wandering that makes him a serious tripping hazard. I've already stepped on him once, today (he was under the barstool and my foot). It is the constant high-frequency sound, interspersed or supplanted with the whines, whimpers and howls that make it almost impossible to get anything done. I have put off even calling the vet to discuss end-of-life procedures because I keep hoping that he will come back to himself. He seems to have no idea who I am for the last 5 days and that is, afaia, the longest this sort of thing has gone on. The neighbors have all heard me shouting at him--with only one window at the back of the house open about 4" (yes, I'm VERY loud, when I'm upset) and some of them think I'm even more an asshole than they already knew me to be. This cannot go on a lot longer, without one of us having to leave and I can't live in the street. If anyone has any genuine ideas about how to resolve the problem--I just yelled at him to stop howling. He was standing a foot and a half from my barstool, gazing up at me with absolutely no recognition of me in his manner or his eyes--without granting Bud a permanent release, I would welcome it. As well-intentioned as they might be any suggestions which involve money I don't have any of or patience, which I've never had any of, don't offer them and neither of us will feel bad. I am not looking for a way to weaselwalk out of responsibility, I'm trying to find out if there is something that I have not yet found on the toobz or elsewhere that is empirically based. Thanks.
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6 comments:
Aside from visiting the vet and obtaining pain meds and sedatives for poor Buddy, I see no alternative to euthanasia. I'm sorry, but sometimes it's for the best. My last dog (which was my first dog as an adult), a beautiful American Eskimo, went deaf, then went blind, then went incontinent - and finally, it was time... Best wishes - I know it's hard, but what you're experiencing now is harder. Lambchop
Grains can trigger this: a grain free canned diet of meat and fat can help.
Study:
http://www.americanveterinarian.com/news/ketogenic-diet-linked-to-seizure-reduction-in-dogs-with-epilepsy
I make his wet food from boiled rice and ground meat (chix thighs or beef). He an ounce of that with maybe a half ounce of boiled/roasted sweet potato and a 1/2 oz or so of Rachel Ray's "Just 6". He eats the same food, day in and day out and has done so for the last 6 years and 10 months. He gets homemade dog biscuits. I don't think grains the problem but if he comes back to himself we'll give it a try. His weight is regulated by me to stay between 14-1/2 and 15-1/2 pounds per he vets instruction. That seems to have helped. This last week is the first time he's had any seizures that I was aware (and they're nearly impossible to miss) since about August 1 of last year.
Simple inexpenseive tests don't seem to exist beyond the threshold of the animal practice--and I'm not complaining, just noting the fact--and I have no money to spend on this or anything else really.
I will discuss it with Buddy if he comes back to being his usual silently sarcastic self.
Thanks for stopping by.
@ Lambchop:
I would, if I had to do so, build a euthenasia device that uses carbon dioxide and if he had to go, just give him as much of his favorite foods as he wants and try to communicate my gratitude for his dogginess (I don't even love any humans, really--it's a major flaw but one I work on, all of he time) and just let him drift away.
Hoping that's not the way to go, at least until I see he's suffering.
It is time to let him go. He's suffering, and lost. -Lady Alexandra
Sorry for not replying earlier.
Between the ongoing difficulties with Buddy and a few other issues, I've been pretty busy.
I am waiting to see how the boy's doing on Monday. I'm not sure how I'll proceed if I don't sense his presence behind his eyes. But, if he's back to himself, I'll hold off and see how long he goes before it cycles again--the last year was almost seizure free but last week was incredibly hard on both of us.
Thanks for taking the time to comment and know that I will do what is required to help him over the threshold if necessary.
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