My girl Cleo

[buddingartist]

Re: My girl Cleo

Louise, thanks for sharing and thanks for the post on my thread,. It means a lot. Why does Cleo take Tramadol. I have been giving it to Maggie for her arthritis. I don't want to give her Rimadyl. Not sure it is helping her much though.

When we took Cleo and Buddy out of that puppy mill, they were 10 weeks old in real sad shape. Cleo has a level 4 heart murmur and she had a fracture on the hind leg but too young for surgery. When she was 9 months, after she was spayed, they did the surgery. In laymen's term, they removed the ball that joins the leg to the hip and we had to crate her most of the time for about 1 year. Could not play with Buddy, no stairs, no jumping on/off couch etc. After that, she always walked with a slight limp. Last summer, it started to get really bad and the x-rays showed signs of arthritis and severe degeneration in both hind legs and slightly in the front right. We tried Metacam only but it did not bring any relief and that is where it was suggested to combine Metacam and Tramadol.

Although both combined together brought her significant relief, the metacam is processed through the liver and as a result, her liver numbers showed elevation compared to last summer. That is the reason we are going to try Tramadol only and it seems to work.

[CarolW]

Re: My girl Cleo

I surely hope the Tramadol alone will work for Cleo! Same as Buddy - one rough, difficult history! Those dogs were and are SO fortunate you took them in, Louise.

Gotta run - dog-time!

Love and hugs,
Sat, 11 Feb 2012 18:26:19 (PST)

[Patty]

Re: My girl Cleo

Louise, I'm sorry to hear about the gum infection. Hope the Clavamox clears it. Will Cleo let you clean her teeth with a brush/toothpaste? Petzlife has a spray as well I think that might help.

What are the rabies laws in your area? Because of Ali's fragile immune system, I had her titered last year. It had been 3 years since her last shot and she still showed excellent immune response. My vet wrote us a waiver so we didn't have to tax her immune system any further.

Kansas State is the place that runs the titers here in the states. I pulled up all the info and printed the form to take into my vet. Just a thought.

Glad you had a good visit

[CarolW]

Re: My girl Cleo

I just re-read your entire thread, Louise. Once Cleo got called two different names in a row - I was in on that, mis-naming her. Yikes - and her name was right there in front of us!

Hope she can have a teeth-cleaning and gets through it okay; remember, she's not exactly the same dog as Buddy was, and there's nothing to say she'll have difficulties as Buddy did.

Love the sound of your new vet. Hope that continues to go well.

Really rooting for you and Cleo!

Did your daughter-in-law recover okay?

Love and hugs,
Sat, 11 Feb 2012 23:13:54 (PST)

[buddingartist]

Re: My girl Cleo

Louise, I'm sorry to hear about the gum infection. Hope the Clavamox clears it.
So do we. The vet wouldn't recommend we do the cleaning now because of the infection. That's what she wants to monitor when we go back in 3 weeks.

Will Cleo let you clean her teeth with a brush/toothpaste? Petzlife has a spray as well I think that might help.

I get the drama every single night. She has to be sitting on the couch in daddy's arms, put her head on his shoulder and gives me the <not you again<. After he sweet talks to her, I do eye drops every night, teeth brushing and a squirt of maxi guard oral cleansing gel every second night, clean the ears every week.

What are the rabies laws in your area? Because of Ali's fragile immune system, I had her titered last year. It had been 3 years since her last shot and she still showed excellent immune response. My vet wrote us a waiver so we didn't have to tax her immune system any further.
Very strict here. Even Buddy had to have the booster last year because of all the wild animals in the area. We have fishers, wolves, bears, we spotted a lynx and 3 dogs have been lost to coyottes this year. Every year, the town report 2-3 rabid animals.

Kansas State is the place that runs the titers here in the states. I pulled up all the info and printed the form to take into my vet. Just a thought.

Glad you had a good visit We will now try and get our appointments with that new vet as much as possible.

I really messed up here. I was trying to provide answers in red next to each question. Instead they all got included in the quote of Patti's post.
I fixed it for you Louise. Patty

[buddingartist]

Re: My girl Cleo

Tks Patty.

Now can you fix Cleo's infection?

Louise

[MaryLea]

Re: My girl Cleo

Tks Patty.

Now can you fix Cleo's infection?

Louise

Very thoughtful, Patty. Just another example of the caring that goes on among the people here.

Bet you wish fixing the infection were that easy! You'd do it in a New York minute.

Mary

[k9diabetes]

Re: My girl Cleo

Sorry to hear about the infection. Clavamox can definitely cause stomach upset - it was one of a couple of antibiotics that Chris couldn't tolerate. He threw up twice a day on it and it would take a few days after stopping it or starting it for the effect to end or restart.

I didn't realize Ruffles went on Metacam without a blood panel first. I could see perhaps a vet would risk it in an dog in a great deal of pain and a client who couldn't afford the bloodwork, but otherwise I believe it's standard procedure to check the liver enzymes first.

Natalie

[Patty]

Re: My girl Cleo

Tks Patty.

Now can you fix Cleo's infection?

Louise

Ha ha. I wish it was that easy! If I could, Ali wouldn't be on antibiotics for infection seemingly every other month.

[buddingartist]

Re: My girl Cleo

At today's visit, the vet was pleased with how Cleo's gums looked and the improvements in her eating, etc. She went ahead and gave her the rabies shot.

As for the teeth problems, because of Cleo's heart murmur and her age, she is a bit concerned about putting her under for the teeth cleaning. We all know that good dental hygiene is key if there's a heart problem so what she is recommending is that we put Cleo on Clavaseptin 5 days per month, every month in order to keep the infection at bay. She did explain the risks in going in that direction in that if Cleo ever catches a super bug that is resistant to antibiotics, there could be a problem. We are leaning towards the 5-day regimen for now. We will also continue to brush her teeth every second night and I noticed that Cleo is not fighting me as much now. In addition, the vet ordered some kind of liquid that is to be added to her drinking water. Don't remember the name off hand.

Cleo has been doing very well without the metacam and we will keep it that way for now and only give her the tramadol. We have to go back in early May for the Revolution and we will do the blood work then to check on the liver enzymes.

As for the hot spots, she recommended MalAcetic (from DermaPet) wet wipes. The vet's own dog came to her at 9 months when the owner simply could not cope with her severe allergies and she claims that using those wipes helps trememdously.

So overall, my old girl is doing well.

Louise

[MaryLea]

Re: My girl Cleo

Great report, Louise! Glad to hear Cleo is doing so well.

Mary

[Judi]

Re: My girl Cleo

I'm glad things are going well for Cleo! I hope the wipes help with her allergies. Judi

[Shellie]

Re: My girl Cleo

Glad things are going so well! Let us know how those wipes work...we're always looking for allergy relief around here it seems! LOL

[Patty]

Re: My girl Cleo

So overall, my old girl is doing well.

Good to hear, Louise!

[buddingartist]

Re: My girl Cleo

Well, it looks like we are on the right track with Cleo.

The first 5 days of March, she got the antibiotics Clavaseptin. We will do it again the first 5 days of April and taking her back to the vet late April early May for blood work and to get the Revolution.

We started the HealthyMouth addition to her water and she is now fully transitioned to the 1 tablespoon to one quart of water. So far, her gums are looking great, no more signs of pus on her gums and most of all, her breath is now fresh. I don't know how valid the HealthyMouth is but I have noticed that her teeth are getting much easier to clean and the brownish color is slowly disappearing and even though I still get a bit of the <drama queen< look, she no longer fights me when I brush her teeth, but she still hates thos eyes drops (Genteal) and having her ears cleaned.

I guess, her teeth and gum problems were really affecting her as she is back to having a healthy appetite, is now eating normally and a lot of people in the neighbourhood have noticed the change and how well she looks.

Still doing very good on strictly the Tramadol only and no obvious signs of limping.

As for the wipes, I know many of you have experienced the same kind of winter that we had in Canada. The one week+ in March where we had summer weather, she was licking her paws furiously. I used the wipes, cleaned between each toes, pads and on top and she stopped.

The only problem now is that she is getting extremely spoiled and we are bound and determined to make every day the absolute best and to make it last as long as we can. When we named her, Ron suggested that she would be our little Queen Cleopatra and, being a mouthful for a name, she shortened it to Cleo. She truly has become a little queen ... she takes over the king size bed, owns the preferred spots on the couches and loves to go for car rides alone with daddy.

Our old girl is a happy little girl once again. Oh, she still hates Quentin cause he gets too much attention from her mommy and daddy

Louise