I Heart Sausage Dogs

I heart sausage dogs by Dane Flighty

Our Kansas City pal 'Dash' writes (way back in the middle of August - we're so behind!) with this great little image:

Dear Joey and Maggie,

I hope all is well in Chicago. It is brutally hot here in KC, so everyone is staying inside (or in a pool!) as much as possible. I came across this today as I was looking for some prints for my house. I may not be able to pass this one up . . .

I hope Joey is feeling better!

Take care,

Dash

Dachshund Dearest

Ms. Crawford relaxes with her beloved 'Pupschen' in 1939

I think the most important thing a woman can have - next to talent, of course - is her hairdresser.  ~Joan Crawford

Photo Source Unknown.

Reggie the Dachshund Driving the Bulldozer at the Rough & Tumble Parade of Power

That video title pretty much sums it up! The Parade of Power is put on by Rough & Tumble, an Engineer's Historical Association in Kinzers, Pennsylvania.

Vintage Dachshund Relaxation

Mid-Century photo source unknown. 

Never Forget

Within hours of the September 11, 2001, attack on the World Trade Center, specially trained dogs were on the scene, including German Shepherds, Labs, and even a few little Dachshunds.  Source:  99 Fun Facts About Dogs.

Tomorrow is DRNA's 14th annual Midwest Dachshund Festival at the Vermilion County Fairgrounds off U.S. Route 150 near Danville, Illinois.  We won't be attending this year with Joey recovering from surgery, but hope that everyone has a great time!  Above is this year's patriotic t-shirt design.  Read all about the festival at the Commercial News, or the official MWDF site.   There will be 17 vendors this year including Midwest Dachshund Rescue and Dachshund Delights, who is also sponsoring this year's event.  Dodgerslist, your IVDD resource, started this annual event 14 years ago. 

Speaking of Dachshund Delights, we are honored that your 'Long and Short of it All' host 'Joey' is featured in this month's newsletter and that 'Maggie' is Dachshund of the Month!

 

Joey continues to recover very well.  His appetite continues to improve, and he has not vomited since last Sunday morning.  He is off his anti-nauseants and has been started on ursodiol for his "gallbladder sludge."  He has an appointment next week for his second monthly DOCP injection for Addison's Disease, and his 2-week post-surgery follow-up. 

Have an awesome weekend!

The Life and Times of a Post-Surgical Dachshund

Your 'Long and Short of it All' host 'Joey' continues to recover well at home after his surgery!  It's a busy time, hence the lack of updates, but all your prayers and well-wishes have sure helped get him to this point.  Thank you from the bottom of our hearts.  For those just joining us, here is Joey's diagnosis post surgery:

Post operative bilateral adrenalectomy and spleenectomy

Iatrogenic hypoadrenocorticism (Addison's Disease after removal of adrenal glands)

Resolving PTE (pulmonary embolism - blood clot in the lungs)

Resolving pancreatitis

Blunt tail trauma from tail wagging

This is a list of his medications:

Plavix 75 mg - 1/2 tablet orally once daily for 10 days.  This medication helps prevent blood clots from forming.

Amoxicillin 100 mg - 2 tablets orally three times daily for 14 days.  This antibiotic has been stopped for good due to nausea.

Metronidazole 250 mg - 1/2 tablet orally twice daily for 4 days.  This medication for diarrhea has been stopped because his stools were well formed, and it was possibly causing nausea.

Ursodiol 100 mg capsules - 1 capsule orally once daily with food.  This medication for "gallbladder sludge" has not yet been started because it causes nausea.  Will be started soon.

Prednisone 5 mg - 1/4 tablet orally once daily for life. 

DOCP 24 mg - injection for Addison's Disease every 25 days for life.  Next dose due September 13, 2010

Famotidine (Pepcid) 10 mg - 1/2 tablet every 12 hours to help with prevent stomach upset.  This was added a day or so after he came home because of continuing nausea.

Metoclopramide (Reglan) oral liquid (seen in amber oral syringes above) - 2.5 mg/2.5 mL every 8 hours.  This was added to his regimen on Friday because of nausea.

Cerenia 24 mg - 1 tablet orally daily for 4 days.  We asked the vet to give us this stronger anti-nauseant on Friday in case things got worse over the long holiday weekend.  Luckily, things have continued to improve, and vomiting didn't get "out of control" for us, so he didn't get any doses.  This medication can't be given for long periods of time, and he was getting this in the hospital, so we were just saving it in case of emergency.

Probiotics - We asked the vet if we could give him this to kick-start his intestinal flora.  He agreed that we could.

Rescue Remedy - one of our herbal friends suggested that we spray a little of this inside his ears to promote well-being.  He runs to hide when the bottle comes out!  It doesn't get sprayed IN his ears, but just on the inside flaps.

Thanks for all the tips on getting the pills down him.  We can't use peanut butter or anything fatty because of his pancreatitis.  We tried the pill pockets, but they didn't work either because he chews everything and found the pills and spit them out.  He's starting to swallow larger pieces of food now though, so if we coat the pills with canned dog food, we're getting him to swallow them.  Finally.

Diet:

Joey is getting different types of canned dog food that came home with him from the hospital.  He eats every 4 -6 hours.  Evanger's, ID, and the newest is WD.  Never in a million years did we think we would offer him food that contained corn and peanut hulls, but it is low fat and fills him up.  He is getting to the point that we may switch him to a low-fat kibble - and we're sure he'll hate it.  The internal med vet doesn't want him back on raw - he doesn't like the raw diet (no surprise there) - but he says we can start him back on it in a month or two "if we so desire."

We also make chicken and rice, or ground chuck (96% lean, cooked and then blotted with a paper towel) and rice for him.  We add fat-free yogurt to his food as well for intestinal flora support.

Exercise:

Joey and Maggie went on 20 - 30 minute walks every day over the holiday weekend.  We went to the park where he could walk off-leash at his own pace.  Maggie is the one who isn't really up for the walks!  Joey enjoyed the fresh air, and also spends a lot of time on the deck sunning himself.

Overall, Joey is doing very well.  His vomiting episodes are becoming less and less frequent - not sure if it's the metoclopramide which is finally helping, but it seems to be mostly bile that he is vomiting.  He gets pieces of low fat wheat bread several times a day between meals to help soak up the bile.  He hasn't vomited now since 5 AM on Sunday morning, so things are looking up in that regard.  He's happy and fairly active, although he understandably likes long naps, but then don't we all? 

Maggie is jealous of all the food and snacks that Joey is getting all the time, but we give her little bites of his food so she doesn't feel completely left out.  She's happy to have her brother home.

Home, Sweet Home

Please accept our humblest apologies for not updating the past few days - it's been a whirlwind of activity.  A lot of folks have been worried, but the good news is that your 'Long and Short of it All' host 'Joey' is indeed home!  He came home on Wednesday afternoon to much fanfare.  While Dad's friend picked him up at the hospital, a lot of the hospital staff came out to the lobby to wish him a fond farewell.  Dad left work early to meet his friend at her house where Maggie was also staying for the week.  Joey was sure excited to see his Dachshund friends, and also his sister.  Maggie and Joey seemed a little indifferent at first, but it didn't take too long for them to lay down together and to clean each other's ears and faces.  Hope to get some photos of Joey and Maggie together soon.
Joey is still a pretty sick boy, and he's on a lot of medications.  He's on Plavix once a day for his blood clot in his lungs; amoxicillin as an antibiotic; metronidazole for diarrhea; a small dose of prednisone for life; ursodiol for his gallbladder sludge (3-4 months), and will be due for his DOCP injection in a few weeks (a shot for his Addison's disease, which he will get the rest of his life).  He also gets a hot pack to his jugular twice a day where his central catheter was.  All of his stitches have been removed.
The skinny boy is eating small amounts of canned food every 4 hours around the clock.  We take one tablespoon each of two different types of food and mix them together in little meatballs for him.   He seems hungry, and has an interest in food, but he chews the food slowly, spits a little out, and sometimes doesn't eat it all. 
He vomited the first evening he came home at about 7:30 PM, and again at 2:30 AM and 4:30 AM (Thursday morning).  We called the vet about this, and have withheld his amoxicillin and ursodiol because they make him nauseous.  We asked the vet if we could add Pepcid and some probiotics to his list of meds, and he agreed.  Joey didn't vomit yesterday morning and afternoon, but he did vomit again in the evening at 7 and 9 PM, and this was without receiving the amoxicillin and ursodiol.  He got some plain cooked chicken breast about 1 AM this morning, and has not been sick.  His stools are nicely formed.  He remains somewhat bright and alert even with the nausea.
It's a challenge to pill this boy now.  It has always been fairly easy to give him any pills in the past: stick it in a piece of cheese, and he gulps it down.  But now that he is chewing his food, he finds the pills and spits them out.  Even if you stick the pill in the back of his throat, he has developed this gag reflex where it instantly pops back out again before the hand you used to put it in his mouth even has time to close his snout and caress his throat.  The little devil!   We will be talking to the vet today to see about how we can put him back on the amoxicillin and ursodiol with his continuing nausea.
So that's where we are this morning.  And Joey hasn't been shrunken and turned into a cute wooden artifact, as seen in the photo above.  It's a gift from Honey, Teddy, and Chili!  Thanks!  It sure did brighten our day when we got it late last week.  Cool, right?  And thanks again so much for the comments and emails - they are a lot easier to read to Joey now that he is home.