Update: Our Next Step

These were taken at the beginning of the month...before my back ankles decided to go bad on me. 

First, thanks again for your thoughts on the Rimadyl.  It has helped me tremendously and now Mom's not in tears every time she looks at me...sheesh, that was getting old! ;)  She did however ask my nice vet about doing bloodwork to test my liver and kidney functions so we will be doing that tomorrow.  Mom and Dad also started giving me glucosamine too.  Hopefully, I won't have to be on the Rimadyl for long or if I do need something Mom will ask about using a different medication or doing something to where I am not on the Rimadyl for an extended amount of time.

The next order of business is that the vet called us yesterday.  He got the results back from the radiologist.  The lump they removed from my mouth was what we thought...Canine Papiloma Virus...nothing major.  He said they normally go away on their own but it can take awhile so probably good we cut it out.  Second, the radiologist couldn't give any answers regarding the x-rays.  He said I was definitely showing signs of arthritis but couldn't find any OCD lesions on these x-rays.  He also noted some inflammation.  He recommended a more extensive x-ray work-up or a CT scan.  We have decided to go for the CT Scan as that should give us more info.  On Monday, we are headed to WSU for an orthopedic consultation.  Apparently, WSU is one of the best vet schools in our country so that is good. :)  After they assess me, if they decide I need surgery then that will probably happen on Tuesday if Mom and Dad agree and then I can hopefully come home on Wednesday.  It all sounds a little scary, but I will be brave!  We are very appreciative to my vet for answering all of our questions and thankful the radiologist report came back so quickly.  Wish me luck blog buddies...I will update you after my consultation. :)

Kisses,

Nala

Thoughts on Rimadyl & Thanks

Amber, Nala's Mom here. :)  First, I want to say how AWESOME you dog bloggers are!  It makes me tear up just thinking about how understanding and great you all are.  I know you understand the love for a dog in ways people without will NEVER get and I am grateful for all of your well wishes for my sweet Nala.  She brings me so much joy and it is so incredibly heart-wrenching to see her like this.  Ever since Friday she has been very stiff and it is noticeably hard for her to get up on her back legs and she is very careful when laying down as well.  When she goes to lay down her back leg muscles seem to me to tremble a little.  As most of you who we have known for awhile are aware, Nala has always been an extremely active dog and one of the most hard-core players I know.  She used to literally run laps around her friends trying to get them to play.  Now, she can barely go on a short walk it seems and she just wants to lie down.  She doesn't even get up and come running to the door with her tail wagging when me or her Dad get home.  She just lays there looking at us and it seems there is so little we can do to help her.  So, this morning I called the vet and told them this and asked if there was anything we could do to help her while waiting for the results.  He told me to come down and he gave me some Rimadyl.  She's had Rimadyl before and seemed to do ok with it, but I wanted to get your thoughts on this drug.  There are so many bad side effects and horror stories out there, in addition to the success stories, and it's making me crazy.  I want to help Nala feel better and give her some pain relief but I also don't want to give her something that will harm her in the long-term.  Any thoughts or personal stories would be greatly appreciated.  Thanks again for caring...it really means alot to me. :)

Major Health Issues

Part 1
Hi blog buddies!  Remember when I told you about my leg being hurt?  Unfortunately, it turns out there was more to it than just a sprain.  Mom first noticed my limp about 3 weeks ago.  Last week she took me to the vet and he said it was likely a sprain.  Mom told him she heard my leg clicking like sometimes ankles will click or pop when you walk, and he felt my ankles but said there was no inflammation or anything.  He sent me home with chewable Rimadyl tablets and put me on strict rest.  I was home for about a week and then Mom and Dad had their anniversary trip, and I stayed with my Nanny & Grampi.  I finished all my pills while I was there, and when Mom and dad first picked me up I seemed like maybe my leg was a bit better.  However, when they got me home I went back to my stiff and limpy walk.  Mom was very concerned and felt like it wasn't just a sprain but was hesitant to take me back to the vet just yet as it hadn't been a full two weeks of rest for my leg.  Also, when I walked she could still hear the clicking sound.

Part 2
The next day when she was brushing my teeth she found an odd growth on the inside of my upper left lip near the corner of my mouth.  It looked a bit like a wart so Mom looked for it online and found that it could be some kind of viral thing.  Well, she decided to call the vet again just to be sure so she took me back in that same day!  Let me tell ya, I was NOT happy to go back to the vet even though they are always super nice to me.  For some reason, I get all shaky and nervous in that place.  The nice vet looked at the growth and said that Mom was probably right about it being viral, but said if she wanted he could certainly cut it out and send it in to the lab to find out for sure.  Now, back to the leg.  Mom also took this opportunity to tell the vet about my continual leg clicking sounds, so he felt my legs again and could hear the popping too.  Again, he left it in Mom's hands to decide whether or not we should do x-rays.  Mom, of course, said let's do leg x-rays and cut the growth out and send it in.  At this point, Mom wanted more definitive answers, but was hoping she was being paranoid.

Part 3

So, my appointment to go in was just yesterday.   Mom dropped me off at 7:45am.  When she opened the door to leave I must admit I acted a bit like a puppy as I struggled against the most pawesome vet tech to go with her.  Nothing against the vet tech, but if my Mom was leaving then I wanted to leave!  My paw was curled around the nice vet tech's leg trying to push off it for leverage to get out the door but that didn't work.  Anyway, they sedated me and began their work.  The growth that they cut out was no problem and didn't even require stitches, so that was good.  Then, the vet performed his orthopedic exam and was pushing and pulling and moving my legs all around.  He heard the clicking sound in both of my back legs.  He then took two x-rays of each leg.  At this time, he noticed some things floating around in there at my ankles which is not normal.  He called my Mom at 11:00 to ask permission to take more x-rays for better views to try and determine the problem.  He told her about the floaters and said I was showing signs of arthritis.  Mom was blown away as I am ONLY 4, but told him to do what he needed to do.  After this, Mom was very worried about me.  She kept herself busy cleaning the house and doing other things but finally just after 2:00 she still hadn't heard back from the vet, so she broke down and called to check on me.  At that point, the vet said I was just waking up and Mom could come and get me, and they could discuss his findings.

Part 4
When Mom arrived, she went into the office with the vet.  I was still sleeping off the sedation meds.  He showed her the x-rays and the floaters.  He said that he thinks this really warrants a specialist's eye, but that his thought is that this is something called Osteochondritis Dissecans, or OCD.  The way we understand it is that it is basically a cartilage disorder where my cartilage and bones haven't fused properly.  Instead, my cartilage has just continued to build up creating a flap underneath between it and the bone.  Little pieces have then broken off and mineralized, which is what the floaters are.  Mom asked if it was genetic, and he said that vets do consider it to be a genetic thing although it sounds like it is not extremely common.  Mom looked it up online later and found that it can also be caused by trauma but can't think of any trauma I suffered that could have caused this.  Apparently, giant and large breeds tend to be diagnosed with it more often and dogs that are prone to hip dysplasia are also more likely to be diagnosed with it.  So, anyway the vet is going to send off the x-rays and the growth to the radiologist first just to check with him or her before sending me to a specialist.  He told Mom that if it is the OCD that I can have a surgery that will help relieve it but that arthritis is in my future. :(  Also, alot of dogs are diagnosed with this way earlier so he says that if this is what it is then for me to have the floaters means I have been dealing with this for awhile but just started to show signs.  I am tough, what can I say! ;)  So, now we will wait about 7 days to hear from the radiologist before proceeding.  I can only go on controlled leash walks and can have absolutely NO high impact activity.  That means NO crazy "hot laps", running around in crazy circles, but I haven't been able to do that for 3 weeks anyway, so I am getting used to it. 

Part 5

When Mom brought me home it took me a while to get back to semi-normal.  I was very groggy from the meds still and couldn't control my bladder...I know, embarrassing, but Mom reassured me it was not my fault and she didn't care if I peed all over the floor!  Finally and thankfully, that went away, but I have seemed quite weak on my back legs.  Mom thinks I must be sore from all the moving around of my legs during the exam in addition to my condition.  She has been sticking close to me, and she even fashioned me some stairs to get up to the bed with her and Dad so I don't jump.  :)  For now, she used an old box with stuff inside to make it solid and a big Rubbermaid bin.  She put a blanket over them and I have been using my stairs quite well.  Today, Dad will try his skills out and attempt to make me a set of stairs.  The vet did say short jumps should be fine as long as they don't seem to bother me, but Mom thinks their bed is too high.  It is pretty high, I must say.  He also said short walks would actually be good for me.  So, that's where we are now....taking it easy and waiting to know more.  I am handling it ok, but I do worry about Mom.  I don't think Moms ever like to see their "kids" in pain.

I'll keep you posted and next time, I promise I won't write 5 chapters. ;)

Love,

Nala

My Pawrent's Anniversary

On July 11th, my pawrents celebrated their first wedding anniversary.  They have been celebrating for like two weeks though!  On their actual wedding anniversary weekend they went to this fun little town called Leavenworth to eat at this Italian restaurant and then they went to an outdoor theatre to watch The Sound of Music.  They said it was fantastic, but I wouldn't know as I stayed home.  Lucky for me though, my pals and dog sitters, Mel & Emil, hung out with me. :)  The next night Dad took Mom to the restaurant where they had their wedding reception dinner.  Then, last weekend they went on another trip without me...I'm tellin' ya, this is NOT the summer of the dog!!  It was ok though because I got to stay with my most beloved Nanny & Grampi!  While I was livin' the good life with Nanny & Grampi, they went to Olympic National Park for 3 nights.  They went on some cool hikes and even found themselves literally surrounded by a herd of elk on one of their hikes.  I can only imagine how exciting and scary that would be.  They said this was the reason they didn't take me...dogs aren't allowed on trails in National Parks!  How rude!  Anyway, on their actual anniversary day we all went up to the place they got married for some photos.  You know my pal Ozzie, the white Golden Retriever, right?  Well, his Mom Julie took the photos for us and she did a most PAWESOME job!  She is great!  Thanks Julie for the lovely photos!  I'll stop blabbering now and let you see a few more shots from the evening. ;)




This one is one of Mom's favorites of all of us.  She LOVES how I'm peeking my head in between.  She says it's just like me always placing myself right in the center of things!  I have no idea what she is talking about! BOL!


One of me & Mom


Check out Mom's feet...they are both off the ground!  hehehe!

Of course, I have to leave you with a funny one!  Can you tell that it was a tad windy up there? ;)  I think I am about to take flight.

Playing Hard To Get

Marlin pretends he doesn't like me, but I know he really does. :)

On a side note...I went to the vet yesterday because I have been a bit limpy since I played with Marlin last.  The vet just said it was probably a strain, so he gave me some chewable pills which I eat like treats for inflammation and I have to be on strict rest for 2 whole weeks!  It's already hard!  Wish me luck.

Tagged by Honey

Hi everyone!  I was tagged by my pal, Honey, to play two games.  The first is to tell the origin of my name and how it came to be mine.  Well, my Dad actually came up with the name Nala although he says he didn't get it from the Lion King movie which is what Mom asked him the first time he told her of the name. :)  He seemed very disturbed by this Disney connection, but was willing to overlook the fact that people may associate my name with that.  So, just to be CLEAR...my name was not derived from any Disney movies! ;)  Anyway, so Dad picked it out and Mom agreed that it would be a very nice name for me.  The origin is African which is only fitting as I am an African breed.  The meaning of the name varies depending on what you read.  Originally, we read that it meant 'African King' although Mom and Dad said they must of meant 'African Queen', obviously. ;)  And I must say that I am the QUEEN around here!  Another meaning I just read was 'successful', and I would like to think that I am successful, at getting treats that is! BOL!  Anyway, that is how I came to be known as Nala.

Now onto the second game which is called All About Me.

THE BASICS

1.) Name and Age:

Nala ~ 4 years old

2.) Breed:

Rhodesian Ridgeback ~ We are famed lion hunters from Africa and have a distinct ridge on our backs that seems to be seen as a Mohawk by punk children. :)  The hair really just grows in the opposite direction...we do not get our hair cut that way.

3.) Nickname(s):

Nals, Nali, Nala Wala, Sweet Pea, Baby Dog, Nalster


4.) Where’d ya come from?

I was born in a small town named Yacolt, WA at a place called ApacheRidge Ranch.  It was about a four hour drive for my humans to come pick me up, and they took me home when I was 9 weeks old.

FAVORITES

1.) Toy:

I don't really have a favorite toy, but at the moment I would have to say my yellow fuzzy guy I got from my brother, Remi, for my birthday and Easter!

2.) Snack:

Cheese, peanut butter, & frozen yogurt cubes


3.) Human person:

Well, most of the time I'm a Momma's girl.  I like to be close to Mom and know what she's doing.  She's the one who mostly takes me to play with my doggie friends so I like to be close by in case I need to be prepared to go. :)  However, at night I can't always be by Mom because she is a bit of a restless sleeper so most of the time I stick close to Dad.  I know he will protect me from Mom's crazy sleeping habits. :)

FUNNY STUFF

1.) Worst habit:

Hmmmm, probably going to the back door and knocking on it with my paw to be let out when really I don't need to go out.  Mom or Dad come and let me out and then I walk in a circle and come straight back to the door to be let in.  Once they let me back in, I make a beeline for the treat jar because I know when I come in from going potty I get a treat.  Unfortunately this little trick doesn't work if I don't go potty, but it doesn't stop me from trying! BOL!


2.) Most embarrassing moment:

Just recently when Mom and Dad's friend, Scott, was over I ran right into the screen on our back door.  Scott let me out, but the light wasn't turned on so I couldn't see the black screen.  This has happened once before, but Mom realized it must have been due to no light so she turns the light on for me but Scott didn't know that.  It was quite embarrassing to do that in front of our friends. :) I didn't get hurt...just a bit shocked is all.

3.) Family dynamic (this is a question for those of you with more than one animal in the house. i.e. who is alpha? who is the cuddler? who is the naughty one? etc. I just want to know how you fit into the family!)

Ok, technically, we are ALL animals here so I am going to answer for Mom and Dad too.  Dad would say, it's him as the Alpha, me second, and Mom third. :) BOL!  Mom would say it's me first and that she and Dad take turns going between second and third.  I say it's ME all the way!  I mean, I have these people wrapped around my paw.  Ok seriously, although I do manipulate and get my way ALOT I also can be submissive and I know the rules of the house.  As far as who is the cuddler...it's definitely Mom.  I only cuddle when it suits me.  Naughty...me. NEVER! ;)

4.) Your humans’ FAVORITE thing about you!

My Mom and Dad both love my playful spirit.  People still ask if I am a puppy which may be alarming to some doggie owners out there but Mom and Dad take it as a great compliment. :)  They say it's because I'm so happy and bouncy, and they LOVE that my "puppy" spirit has lasted well past puppyhood.

Well, I have completed my two games.  Thanks for tagging me Honey! :)

Red Rover, Red Rover...

I dared Marlin right over, but he declined about halfway through. ;)  Come on Marlin, that's as deep as it gets.  I promise!  Then again, I guess I can't blame him seeing as how I'm not a fan of water that goes above my chest either.