Progress report - she's pretty in pink!

She is a walking fiend !!  I think her ability to move around by herself has really boosted her confidence.   She doesn't yelp (much) any more.  She doesn't feel helpless. She can get up and get a drink of water when she wants.  She can move freely from room to room now.

In a week, her progress has gone from 20 foot increments to today...she walked down the driveway,  down the sidewalk past my neighbor's houses,   estimated  200 feet without stopping.   She is getting stronger every day and it is wonderful and amazing to see the significant improvements she has made.

The seizures seem to be under control -  she's still on the .5 dose 8a/8p,  with a .25 dose 4p/4a.   I'd love at some point in time to not have to wake up at 4a every morning, but I'm afraid to mess with her doses now.

She still has the leg tremors...who knows if those will ever go away.  A side effect of that is her hind paws are constantly rubbing against each other and against what ever surface she is laying on.   She has rubbed most of her fur off.   She now wears socks to reduce the chafing and prevent the skin from being rubbed raw.

Pink is a pretty nice color on her !!

Frankie walked today !!!!!

 3 days ago I was worried that she wasn't making as much progress as I had hoped for.  We've been doing daily "walking" sessions....helping her up, supporting her back legs, encouraging her to take steps,   but until this morning,  I had to help her with every step.

This morning the routine started out the same.   Put the food bowl at the far end of the yard.  Help her up, and support her hips as she "walked" toward her bowl.  

After she ate,  I had to take the recycling and trash out.   When I came through the back fence gate,  there's Frankie.    ON ALL FOUR FEET !!   She walked, on her own, across the yard, the patio, out the gate, past the garage to the end of the driveway.   We're talking at least 50 feet of unassisted walking.

This is HUGE !!!!!

First Weekly update

Operation "walk Frankie walk" is in full swing.   

I've wrapped towels around 2 individual leashes...which gives me the ability to support her around the abdomen and chest without the leashes digging in to her...and also saving my back !!

Set up a "track" in the back yard,  with reward stations,  so I could measure how much she is "walking".

I say "walking" because without support,  all she can do right now is drag her body along using the little strength she has in her front legs.

The good news is that Frankie is food motivated.  It can be her breakfast/dinner time or a chunk of apple or a few bites of dog food....Frankie will walk for food !

Every day this week, we have "walked" a minimum of 400 feet.   She seems to be getting a little stronger,  but has yet to be able to push herself up on her hind legs.  

She is still not completely seizure free.   After the initial bad effects of the pheno,  I cut back on her dosage.  I am giving her .5 pill at 8am & 8pm,  and giving her a .25 pill at 4pm and 4am.     I am reluctant right now to up the dosage....it's the balancing act between her being seizure free and getting the strength in her legs.

Keep your prayers and good thoughts coming !!

Which brings us to today...

On Wednesday Oct 3, I made the decision to have Frankie put down.   We were between a rock and a hard place.  She needed the pheno to control the seizures,  but the pheno caused ataxia (hind leg weakness) and she could not walk.   I started saying my goodbyes to her.  The tears would not stop. I felt physically sick to my stomach.  I told her all about doggie heaven  - she would see her brother, Scooter.  She would meet her sister Kelly.  She'd be able to run and play and have dog bones, and not be in pain.  She'd be happy.  I would miss her so much.  She is my beautiful beautiful girl.
Thursday morning, I called the vet and scheduled her appointment for 4p.

But thank Al Gore for the internet!!   I did more research about pheno.  There are both temporary and potentially permanent side effects.   The ataxia and lethargy are temporary effects- lasting 2 to 3 weeks.  Surely I could hold out a few more weeks??  What would happen if I cut back on her dose a little, maybe her strength would come back.

I googled some "post distemper" video's on You-Tube.   There was one showing a dog running and playing with another dog.  Looked pretty normal. There was a video showing a dog walking, but  kind of moving sideways and hunched over.   Looked pretty horrible.

I did take Frankie to her 4p appointment.  The vet assistant picked her up and carried her into a room.  They had blankets waiting for her on the floor.  Tell the vet to put those bad drugs away,  I said, today was not Frankie's day.    The vet and I talked.  She did not express an opinion one way or another, but we did have the conversation again about quality of life and Frankie needing the ability to walk.

So that brings us to today,  Oct 8.   I've cut her dosage back  - .5 pill at 8a and 8p.  .25 pill at 4p and 4a.  I noticed that as the pill would wear off,  her seizures would start back up.  This second smaller dose, helps to even out the med.

Yesterday, with supporting Frankie under her chest and hips, she was able to walk 10 feet across the yard to get to her dog food.   Today Operation "walk Frankie walk" begins with my friend, M's help.

I hope my next blog includes a video of her moving on her own four feet....I'll keep you posted.

It's late September and we're back in school...

An update on Frankie's physical condition, 2 months into this.

As I mentioned,  she could barely walk.  No strength in her rear legs,  she would "bunny hop" to get the momentum to get up on all four feet.   From there,  she could go 20 feet or so before she would tire.
She did not walk in the house at all - she could not get traction on the wood floors.  She would lay on her dog bed, and I would pull her around as I went from room to room.
Obviously she could not jump, so I'd have to pick her up to put her on the couch or my bed.  At 50+ pounds, that became a good work out for me...just have to remember to use my legs, not my back!
She was a yipper.  I think out of frustration because she was not mobile, I think to get attention when I was not close by,  and still having these doggie dreams.  Neither of us had slept a whole night through in 6 weeks.
Her hard pads had completely peeled off.
Her fever did seem to start going down.  Can't pinpoint when that happened,  don't think it was a result of the herbs,  I think that was just coincidence....but really really encouraging.
Those leg tremors that appeared end of August were now full force.  Literally, her hind legs would twitch every second (I timed it).  Some times the tremors were so hard her whole body would shake.  Other times, they were pretty mild and that's when she slept the best. 

My next door neighbor,  who would hear her yipping,  thought she should be put down.  I thought about sending a note to my surrounding neighbors, apologizing,  but didn't.  The neighbor across the alley has 2 large dogs that bark every morning at 7am when they go outside.  And I mean every morning - I don't need an alarm clock anymore.  The neighbor on one side has a yappy dog that barks...when it plays, when it is outside to potty,  when it chases squirrels, etc.  A neighbor on the other side would let their dog out at 3am and it would bark 15 minutes before it was brought back inside.   For now,  they could put up with a little yipping.

My mom thought she should be put down.  I finally had to let her know that that topic was off limits.

Two things happened during that last week in September.

I realized those "doggie dreams" were really seizures.  I don't know why that didn't dawn on me sooner, I guess because they were different from what I had experienced with Young.

Frankie had to be able to walk.  I had a "quality of life" discussion with my vet.  We both agreed,  if Frankie could not walk outside to potty, if she could not move around the house, if she could not walk in the back yard,  then it would not be fair to her.

Another in the rescue organization was fostering a dog with seizures.  He was on phenobarbital and something else.  After researching the pheno, I was concerned about side effects.  I did not want a dopey, lethargic, spaced out dog.   She said that her foster did not show any of these signs, so I put a call in to my vet to get a prescription going.

My friend, M, was helping me to get Frankie walking.   We'd move 10 feet away from her...and entice her with treats,  praising her effusively as she would get up and come to us.  10 feet grew to 15 feet, 15 grew to 20, etc.  It didn't seem like she had to "bunny hop" to get up and she looked so much stronger in just 3 days.  We both were thrilled.

Friday night, Sept 28, I gave her the first pheno dose.  We slept almost the whole night through for the first time in a very long time.  It was great.  It rained all day Sat & Sun,  so no walking practice.   By Tuesday, 3 days on the pheno,  she could not walk at all.  She could not even get up via "bunny hop".  She could barely pull herself along with her front legs, dragging her whole body behind her.
Crap.

I started feeling like I was torturing her.  Was I selfish to keep her alive?  Was I selfish to put her down?  How much more could she and I take?

Dr. B

Most people who know me, know that I don't enjoy science fiction and am a "get to the facts" type of person.   For me to schedule an appointment with an vet that practices Chinese medicine was completely out of the box...but I was frustrated by the fact that my vet was saying there was nothing we could do and only time would tell.  I was desperate to find anything that could help Frankie.

My visit to Dr. B was interesting to say the least.   First off,  my appointment was right after lunch so that I could bring Frankie in without exposing her to other dogs.  That made complete sense...so, other than us and the receptionist,  the place was pretty empty.   For some reason,  Dr. B still came into the room 40 minutes after our scheduled appointment.   Whoa nelly there,   I told myself,  don't cop an attitude now...maybe she can help Frankie.
Why is it that some vets do not have a "bed side manner"?  Is it because they can't relate to humans that they turn to animal medicine??
I talked about what had been going on ...the disease...and Frankie's behaviour and her continued weakening of her hind legs   In order to get her some sort of workout,  I would put her food bowl at the back part of the yard,  forcing her to get up and walk in order to eat.    This may sound cruel...but I had to do something to get her up and walking.   She could do this...start off at a sort of "bunny hop"  but once she got momentum,  she was up and walking.
The other issue is what I called her "doggie dreams".   About 4am she would get very restless.  She'd get up,  move a few inches, lay down, get up, move a few inches, lay down,  and this could go on and on.   She'd also start yipping   - like she was having a bad doggie dream...only her eyes would be wide open and nothing I could do to console her would calm her down.
The one thing that Dr. B said that made me stop and think....she said "I can get her to walk, but she'll never be completely normal again.  Can you live with that?"     Fair question...and I still don't know the answer.

So,  Dr. B brought out this pendant of some sort....on a chain,   and started chanting the names of the herbs she was going to prescribe....that chanting somehow that determined what the dosage would be.

I quickly learned that speaking during this was not appreciated.

At the end our of hour session,  I walked out of there an assortment of 8 different bottles - herbs, drops, pills that would help bring Frankie back to the healthy world.   Cha-ching...when I searched on the net after the fact,  I was honestly horrified at the bill and the  markup  for these herbs that I had paid. 

September

It was interesting to be able to compare the progression of the disease between the 2 pups.  Frankie was about 9 days behind Young in the progression of the disease.

• Frankie's cough was quickly over in a day. Young did not develop a cough at all. 
• Frankie did not have diarrhea,  Young's never completely cleared up. 
• Honestly don't know about temperature....Frankie's was elevated, but I can only assume that Young's was as I never took his temps. 
• Frankie showed signs that one eye was getting infected.  With the antibiotics, it cleared up in about 2 days.   Young's infection started in one eye, went to the other, the nose, and were still infected when he was put down. 
• Young's hard pads came and were almost completely sloughed off when he died...took about month??   Frankie had hard pads as well...hers are almost completely gone now.

It had now been 30 days since I first noticed Frankie's elevated fever and time for a vet visit.  She was still running a fever, had not gone to the bathroom in a few days, and I was concerned. 
Still contagious, we went through side door at the clinic,  away from the other animal population. Temp: 103 degrees - still elevated. We did notice a slight tremor in her hind legs  - "starting to appreciate myoclonic spasms in rear limbs" were the words on her chart - the first sign that Frankie had neurological damage.
Continue with the antibiotics to combat secondary infections..nothing else that can be done...no way to predict if this is as bad as it gets or if it gets worse.

Once again hindsight...and to anyone else who goes through this...maybe a word of wisdom here.
When Frankie first developed her fever, I stopped taking her for walks.  It was typical 100 degree hot in August and I did not want to wear her out.   She spent almost 24 hours a day sleeping on either her dog bed, the couch, or my bed.
By Mid August,  she was getting weaker.   I did start taking her for short walks...we made it up to the school yard one day, but no running around for her.  She was also getting wobbly.  By the end of August,  she could walk down the driveway, down the sidewalk past a few houses and back, but that was the extent of it.  When you've been feverish and bed-ridden for as long as she had, it made sense that her muscles were weak.

By the first week in September, I realized that I had to do something...I needed her to get the strength back in her legs and was willing to try almost anything.

I considered an alternative treatment -even made an appointment to take Frankie to Austin, TX but decided it was too risky and did not increase her odds.   Lots about that on the web...google "Ed Bonds, NDV serum", and you'll see what I was talking about.

I tracked down a vet who didn't practice traditional medicine but specialized in physical therapy  - they wouldn't see Frankie because she was possibly still contagious.  They did, however, refer me to a vet that practiced traditional and Chinese medicine. 

I thought I hit the lottery when I was able to get an appointment on September 21st to see Dr. B.  By this time, Frankie could barely walk...I had to support her from underneath so that she would not face plant on the sidewalk.

Frankie's mom

To say that these past 2 months have been horrific is an understatement.   I have been an emotional basket case going between bad and really bad days.  I've shed so many buckets of tears that I thought my body could not produce any more...crying when I talk about it, crying when I talk to Frankie, crying when I think about it, crying when I'm driving,  crying when I drove by a school yard and watched a girl play Frisbee with her dog - her normal, healthy dog,  crying even when I was swimming... good grief!

I've prayed to God...how could you do this to one of your creations?  Please make her better.  Please end her suffering.  Oops...don't take her away from me,  just take her suffering away.

I so want Frankie to be healthy,  I so want her to be a normal dog.  I miss her twice daily "woo woo" as she reminded me that it was time for food.  She would do that with her teeth clenched and her lips would puff up - sooo cute.   I miss her wagging tail.   I miss her running into the woods to find a bunny and come out 5 minutes later and 100 feet away from where she entered.  I promise her that if /when she can do that again,  I won't get upset.

I've had friends ask if I'm mad at the rescue organization.   Hindsight, I do think that they should not move dogs out of vet care unless they are completely healthy...including diarrhea cleared up. I get that they have to balance costs and so want the dogs moved into foster homes as quickly as possible.  Beyond that,  no, I'm not angry.  They did not or could not have known that this would happen...none of us could in our wildest dreams have predicted this.

And to realize that all the dogs Young and Frankie came in contact with are still healthy...it's just rotten luck...Frankie is in that 1% of vaccinated dogs that still come down with distemper.

I've had friends say they'd never adopt from a rescue..stick with the breeders, it's safer.  But it's not.  A friend bought a dog from a breeder that had had distemper.  Not all breeders are reputable and take proper care of their dogs...there are articles every day about animals being kept unsanitary, unhealthy conditions.   I still think rescue is the way to go... you are getting a dog that has been in foster care, they have information on their temperament and personality...and if they have been sick,  rest assured, they are not going to adopt them out until they are healthy.

I've gone through stages of guilt and what-ifs.   If only Scooter had not died,  if only I had gone to Michigan to visit my sister - with either of these scenarios I would have held off on fostering.  The pups would have gone to another foster home and Frankie would still be healthy.

Writing this now,  looking back,  I can safely say these have been the worst 2 months of my life.

Young

Once Frankie's illness was confirmed to be distemper,  I knew exactly where it had come from...Young. 
The other issue was all the dogs that Young had been in contact with:  Addy - my other foster pup, Napoli- who had ridden in the car and spent the first night with us,  Snyder-long story here but bottom line is I took in another foster pup not knowing that Young and now Frankie were walking germ bombs...some dogs that Addy & Young had a play date with when they both seemed healthy.... the list goes on, but it's like a Kevin Bacon nightmare...how many degrees of separation are there??
Any one of these dogs that Young had been in contact with was at risk.   I immediately sent an email to a few key folks in the Lab Rescue organization and those whose dogs had been exposed,  letting them know about Frankie's diagnosis.

I was pretty upset and honestly angry as well.   I did get one response that sounded a little sanctimonious  "that's why we recommend that fosters be kept separated from other dogs in the household"  really - how easy is that to accomplish when you have multiple energetic balls of fur in the house??.      I was also very disappointed that I did not get any replies from a few  - I felt like now I was carrying the black plague as well.


Young had the green eye & nose goop long before the official Aug 14 diagnosis. He also had "hard pads" - literally looked like a dime thick, hard as a rock, callus on the bottom of his paws. Even though he was only 7 pounds, you could hear him clomping down the hall on the wood floors.

 

No point in keeping Frankie and Young separated...the damage had been done.

 

 

I had been rubbing a mix of Castor oil, lavender and rosemary essential oils into Young's paw pads....was that helping to soften them up??  OMG,  the calluses were coming off.   Was this a sign that he was out of the woods, that he was on the road to recovery??

 Young started to "jaw chew"   - not very often, maybe once a day or so,  but he'd move his mouth like he was chewing a wad of gum.   This is a classic distemper sign of neurological damage.
In the middle of the night on Saturday, August 25,  I woke up because Young was making noise in his kennel.   I wrapped him in a towel and brought him to bed with me.   In the early hours of the morning, he woke me up with a horrible howling that was agonizing to hear.   He was having a huge seizure.   He had a few more seizures Sunday morning that left him completely limp, like a wet noodle.   I contacted my vet liaison and they made arrangements to have me bring him in to one of their vets that was open on Sundays.
The drive to Ft. Worth was a quiet one...I did not have a good feeling about this.  After an exam by the vet and a discussion with the rescue org, they made the decision to put him down.

This is a picture of Young when he first came to my house on July 18...what a beautiful boy.  He's in a better place now - yes, Wendy,  I believe all dogs go to Heaven.

 

Distemper

Do a quick search of "distemper" and there are zillions (ok, maybe not that many) sites on the web.  They basically all say the same thing...

Highly contagious - unvaccinated dogs and young pups whose maternal antibodies fall below protective levels are most at risk.

The virus attacks the brain cells, cells that line the body surface, including skin, mucous membranes, and the gastrointestinal tract.  Nice huh?

First signs 6-9 days after exposure - check.

First stage -

• Characterized by fever spike - check
• Second fever spike along with loss of appetite, listlessness and discharge from eyes and nose - check
• The discharge becomes thick and sticky - check
• Diarrhea and vomiting - check
• Dog seems to get better, then relapses - check

Second stage -

• Signs of brain involvement - slobbering, head shaking, "gum chewing" seizures. 
• Tremors - "myoclonus"  - rhythmic contractions of muscle groups up to 60 contractions a minute.  The jerking can effect the legs, the head, the whole body...turn your dog into a bobblehead dog.
• The only good news here is if the dog recovers, the jerking continues indefinitely, but may become less severe with time.    But it may get worse before it gets better - check
• Hard pad - attacks the skin of the feet and nose.  Appears about 2 weeks after the onset of infection - check check and check

Treatment:  NONE
Just like any human virus...it has to run it's course.   All you can do is keep your dog on antibiotics to prevent secondary bacterial infections.
Supportive care to prevent dehydration,  meds to prevent vomiting and diarrhea, and anti-convulsants to control seizures.

Outcome  -
I've read there's a 50% survival rate in young pups  and a 70% survival rates in healthy adults.
All these second stage symptoms can take any where from a few weeks to a few months to completely manifest themselves.....there is no way to predict how severe this virus will impact your dog, so time is either your friend or enemy.  

So why did Frankie get distemper??
Just like getting a flu shot does not guarantee you will not get the flu....being vaccinated does not guarantee that your dog is 100% protected.   Maybe there is something else wrong with her immune system,  maybe she never developed enough antibodies, maybe the vaccines were old or not administered correctly  (twice??)   Who knows...and honestly...not sure at this point what knowing would accomplish.   Bottom line...she has distemper, now how do I deal with it?

Why put her through this?
I wonder if that mortality rate includes all the dog owners who give up, who don't want to deal with the disease and make the decision to put the dog down.
Early on,  without knowing what was wrong with her,  my goal was to make her comfortable and do what I could to help her fight what ever infection was raging in her body.
Once the diagnosis was confirmed,  the big unknown was how bad will it get with her...and only time would tell.  Too early to give up on her...she was, after all, a healthy strong 2 year old gal,  not a weak 7 pound pup like Young.

Addy

Addy went to a new foster, where she remained healthy.  

She is available for adoption......here's the link to her and other great labs available through DFW Lab Rescue    http://www.dfwlabrescue.org/dogs/available

Where it all begins

As a way to help me get over the loss of Scooter  (more probably to avoid dealing with it)  I decided to start fostering for the lab rescue organization.   
There were a group of puppies that needed homes, and I volunteered to foster 2 of them.

July 18 -
 I coordinated to meet another volunteer to get my new foster pups.   There were actually 3 - Young, Addy and Napoli.   Young and Addy were going to stay with me,  Napoli would be picked up the next day to go to another foster home.

When we met,  she mentioned that the pups had diarrhea,  but that was probably due to stress and changes in their diet.   Little did we know...

Young and Addy were typical puppies...cute,  full of energy and absolutely adorable.  But 4 days later,  Young seemed to have less energy, he wasn't eating with as much gusto, and I was worried he was getting dehydrated.  His diarrhea had not cleared up,  so on Monday I took him to the Highland Park Animal clinic (HPVC), another one of the vets the organization uses.   



They were concerned enough that they kept him for a few days,  with an IV to get him re-hydrated.  I brought him back home and he seemed better,  although now he had some green eye goop...looked like the beginning of an eye infection.

July 27 -
Frankie was burning up - she was radiating heat and I didn't need a thermometer to tell me she was running a fever.    I took her to my vet,  North Dallas Animal Hospital,   along with Young so they could look at his eye infection.
Tests were run.. x-rays taken to rule out a blockage...no diagnosis for Frankie.
The vet, however, cautioned me about Young's eye infection.   "It could be a sign of distemper" she said,  so keep a watch on him.     She then launched into an explanation that the distemper vaccination was very effective, and as Frankie had been vaccinated,  there was nothing to be concerned about.

Frankie was put on antibiotics and prednisone to help reduce the fever.

**Note here - normal dog temps are somewhere in the 101 degree range.   Frankie's were spiking as high as 103 to 104 degrees.

July 31 -
Young seems to have gone downhill again, back to HPVC for an extended stay.
Frankie's fever had gone down, but was back up again.   My vet referred me to the Center for Veterinary Specialty Care in Carrollton. 
More tests, an ultrasound, and the diagnosis:    "fever of unknown origin"  - no kidding !!

Aug 6 -
Young comes back home.   He now has "green goop" discharge from both eyes and his nose.  HPVC is stymied...they don't know what is wrong with him.   He is now in quarantine - a kennel in my home office rather than with Addy.

Aug 7 -
Frankie is developing a cough  - kennel cough???   good news is she's still on the antibiotics
Notice that Young's paw pads are hard, like he has bad calluses.  I begin to suspect he has distemper.

I sent a note to the rescue group...it was beginning to look like a bad day care...everyone sharing their germs...time to get Addy out of here while she was still healthy.

Aug 9 -
Took Frankie to North Dallas vet to do a viral panel  - testing for rocky mountain fever, distemper and a few other viruses

Aug 14 -
Confirmed.  Frankie has distemper.
We immediately take her off the prednisone.  Although that was helping to keep her fever down,  it also suppresses her immune system.   We need that as strong as possible now.

**Another note,  I had to go back to HPVC to get more meds for Young and had a discussion with the vet.  He was shocked to learn that Frankie had distemper, passed on from Young.   He said that it was a very difficult disease to diagnose - to which I now believe is just B*S*.    When my vet made the first mention of possible distemper in Young,  I started researching...and the symptoms that Young displayed - the eye infection, the hard paw pads, were classic signs that this vet missed.   I honestly think that because this clinic is in high end part of town,  its just something they have not encountered.   My next door neighbor, who grew up in the country,  called it just by looking at Young.

Scooter

S

 
Scooter and Frankie became fast friends.  I used to take them to a large field behind a local community college.  Scooter would play fetch while Frankie tried to chase bunnies out of the woods. 
They loved to meet their friends, Aramis and Blue, at the field and play with them too. 
(OK maybe Scooter, not so much...he was too focused on his kong)

After a big 4th of July, swimming at the dog park and a few days later in a friend's pool,  Scooter died unexpectedly on July 11.  

I was devastated.

A little background

Or as the food critic,  Anton Ego, would say...a little perspective.

I was looking for a companion for my dog Scooter after losing his sister a few months before.      Frankie came to my home as a DFW Lab Rescue "foster" dog with the intention of helping find her a "forever home".   The day I came home and found both Frankie and Scooter on my bed together, I knew we had found our new friend.  I formally adopted her in March 2012.

Frankie was approximately 2 years old.  She had been picked up by animal control in Feb 2012 as a stray.  Her owner came to the shelter and signed her over.   At the shelter, she received her first round of vaccinations - the standard parvo/distemper and rabies.

Once DFW Lab Rescue pulled her from the shelter, she was taken to one of the vet clinics that the organization used.  She stayed there for a week as she had a cough, and was given her second round of parvo/distemper vaccinations there.