Bea 14-196

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Profile

In addition to LOVE this dog has the following requirements:
Entered Foster Care Fence Kid Friendly Another Dog Cat Friendly
 7/17/2014  Optional Yes  Optional  Yes 
This is the most recent information available; however, it may change as we learn more about the dog.

Bea arrived here at our home in Chanhassen, MN last night, thanks to the efforts of several wonderful transport volunteers - it was a long trip from IL, but she did fine.  She is very sweet, and she has the most beautiful auburn coat!  She is currently quite overweight, and has a few health issues, most of which will be alleviated if we can get some of the extra weight off of her, we think.  I just had her in to see the vet, and she weighed 135, when she should be 70-80, so I am starting her on a special diet now.  She is on two different medications for seizure prevention, two different pain killers, an antibiotic for a skin infection, and ear and eye medicines for double infections - both eyes and both ears.  She has been shaved around the neck and around her bottom because of matted fur, and I've continued to trim clumps from her chest and underside.  She is going to be so gorgeous after some tlc!

Right now, she can barely get around - cannot do any steps at all, sits down to go potty because she can't squat... so we're starting very slowly with short little walks from one side of the yard to the other, then she lays down and rests, then we get up and walk back.  She's only 4, so she could have many many years of good quality life ahead of her still!  I think she's probably not herself with all the change she's just been through, and all the medication she's on and everything, so I expect to learn more about her personality in the coming weeks, but so far, she has been extremely mild mannered.  I have 8 and 11 year old children, and she has been gentle and sweet with them.  She has the golden velcro dog tendencies - always wants to be with her people.  Here's a picture of her laying under the hammock to be near my kiddos.  She pays no attention to our cat - has looked at him, but never even tried to smell him.  I have seen zero resource guarding from her - even with food, zero prey drive when she's seen squirrels, and zero interest in tennis balls or toys.  She met two other dogs at the vet today and was pretty indifferent to them - barely gave them a sniff.  I think some of these things are bound to change as she gets healthier and less medicated.  I'm hopeful that I can help rehabilitate her, so she can get excited, and feel joy, and run and play like a happy, healthy dog.  This is a girl with a ton of potential!  Stay tuned......    

At a Glance #14-196

Golden Retriever Born: July 2010
Female 130 lbs

Status: Deceased

Profile

In addition to LOVE this dog has the following requirements:
Entered Foster Care Fence Kid Friendly Another Dog Cat Friendly
 7/17/2014  Optional Yes  Optional  Yes 
This is the most recent information available; however, it may change as we learn more about the dog.

Bea arrived here at our home in Chanhassen, MN last night, thanks to the efforts of several wonderful transport volunteers - it was a long trip from IL, but she did fine.  She is very sweet, and she has the most beautiful auburn coat!  She is currently quite overweight, and has a few health issues, most of which will be alleviated if we can get some of the extra weight off of her, we think.  I just had her in to see the vet, and she weighed 135, when she should be 70-80, so I am starting her on a special diet now.  She is on two different medications for seizure prevention, two different pain killers, an antibiotic for a skin infection, and ear and eye medicines for double infections - both eyes and both ears.  She has been shaved around the neck and around her bottom because of matted fur, and I've continued to trim clumps from her chest and underside.  She is going to be so gorgeous after some tlc!

Right now, she can barely get around - cannot do any steps at all, sits down to go potty because she can't squat... so we're starting very slowly with short little walks from one side of the yard to the other, then she lays down and rests, then we get up and walk back.  She's only 4, so she could have many many years of good quality life ahead of her still!  I think she's probably not herself with all the change she's just been through, and all the medication she's on and everything, so I expect to learn more about her personality in the coming weeks, but so far, she has been extremely mild mannered.  I have 8 and 11 year old children, and she has been gentle and sweet with them.  She has the golden velcro dog tendencies - always wants to be with her people.  Here's a picture of her laying under the hammock to be near my kiddos.  She pays no attention to our cat - has looked at him, but never even tried to smell him.  I have seen zero resource guarding from her - even with food, zero prey drive when she's seen squirrels, and zero interest in tennis balls or toys.  She met two other dogs at the vet today and was pretty indifferent to them - barely gave them a sniff.  I think some of these things are bound to change as she gets healthier and less medicated.  I'm hopeful that I can help rehabilitate her, so she can get excited, and feel joy, and run and play like a happy, healthy dog.  This is a girl with a ton of potential!  Stay tuned......    

Updates

Saturday, August 9, 2014

Miss Bea needs to be changed to an unavailable for adoption status for now, while we work through her health issues.  She is continuing to lose weight, and has just begun to wag her tail in the past couple of days, which is great to see!  I still have not witnessed any seizures, thank goodness, but she is really having a hard time getting around right now as she goes through her change in medications.  I'll continue to write updates for her, hopefully with reports of lots of progress in her health.  She is so sweet, and such a beauty! 

Friday, August 1, 2014

Bea's blood test results came back today!   Her thyroid, kidney, and liver are all good.  Her phenobarbital level is fine, but the potassium bromide was high, and a common side effect of that is ataxia- basically why she stumbles around like a drunken sailor when she tries to walk.   The vet wants me to wean her off of that one and try a different one instead.  She said she may get worse before she gets better, because there will be a period of about two weeks while the old med is getting out of her system and the new med is starting to work.  During this transition, she may struggle even more with her balance and muscle control than she already does, which is hard to imagine.  So, we don't have a quick fix, but we do have hope for the future.  Her eyes, ears, and rash have all cleared up, so we're done with antibiotics and creams, for now at least.  We still have her 2 seizure meds and 2 pain meds, 1 of which the vet also wants to wean her off- she thinks the Tramadol is contributing to her ataxia, so we're slowly stopping that one, but continuing with the Previcox.  She told me to google seizures in dogs and watch some videos, so I would know what to watch for.  I have not seen her have one yet.  Hope I never have to!  But I know that's unlikely.  Anyway, it's good to have all of this additional information, and a new path to follow as far as her treatment.  Fingers crossed!

Wednesday, July 30, 2014

First the good news- Bea has lost 5 pounds!  I took her to the vet yesterday instead of waiting another week, because she was having so much trouble getting around and was so lethargic.  They took blood samples to test her thyroid and everything, so we should hear the results of those soon.  It was quite an ordeal to get blood from her- 3 different vet techs tried all different veins, but she has so much extra fat in the way, it was very hard to get blood.   Poor Honey Bea.  She was a total trooper though- always sweet and gentle no matter what!  I will send another update as soon as I get her test results- this information is so important, because we may be able to simply tweak her meds and greatly improve her quality of life.

Saturday, July 26, 2014

Bea has been here a week now, and if she is making progress, it is too slow to be noticeable, but we are going back to the vet in a few days, so we will be able to see if she's lost any weight, and they will do some blood tests to check her thyroid and make sure we have all of her meds right.

I was keeping her bed in the laundry room and closing her in there at night- I was worried that if she were loose in the house, she might try to come up the stairs or hurt herself somehow, but she did not like being alone in a closed room- she cried and cried.  We tried a baby gate instead of the closed door and she pushed it over- she really wants to be as close to her people as possible.  I think I remember reading that she had a cage in the past, but I don't currently have one, so the last couple of nights I've left her free downstairs- I realized that she knew she couldn't do more than one step, so she wouldn't attempt the stairs, and she doesn't ever chew anything or get into anything, so it has worked out better, because she just sleeps at the bottom of the stairs and does not cry anymore.

There have been some fireworks in the neighborhood lately, and a huge thunder storm the other night, and Bea has not been phased one bit by either of those things, not to mention all the yelling and jumping around that my kids do- she could not be more mellow- but again, this could be because of her medications and may change as she begins to feel better.

She seems to have a very sensitive palate.  She can smell medicine in any form- she won't eat chewable joint supplements, and if I put the chewable pain killers in with her food, she eats around them.  I've tried pill pockets, but she chews everything really well before she swallows it, so she'd always spit it out once she crunched into the pill inside.  So I've just been putting her pills down her throat, a few at a time, and she is totally docile and compliant for this, although I know she doesn't like it.  At first I was feeding her Kirkland canned food- beef or chicken with gravy, but she wouldn't eat it unless I put a little real chicken or ground beef on it.  We tried a prescription weight loss food from the vet, but she wouldn't eat that at all.  This morning, I picked up a bag of salmon and herring food from the RAGOM office to try, and she really likes it!  I was also going to get a ramp, to help get her in the car, but realized that she can't walk well enough to get up one of those right now, so I am going to continue lifting her into the car, and try using a sling around her back end to help lift.

She has a neat marking that makes her uniquely beautiful- a pretty little white tuft of fur on her chest.