Tak&Jack (photo update 6/4/13)
I know the boys have their individual threads, but I figured I'd put them both on the same thread for more concentrated picture spamming.
Starring... Takoda, 5½ y/o Shikoku Ken
& Jack London, 7 y/o Alaskan Malamute
and we're some pretty cool customers.
Starring... Takoda, 5½ y/o Shikoku Ken
& Jack London, 7 y/o Alaskan Malamute
and we're some pretty cool customers.
Comments
Lookin' pretty scraggly a few days ago.
...and sporting some fashionable bandages after getting his ear ripped up by another dog.
We also went on our first off-leash walk with him on Sunday. I'll post video up of that when I'm not embarrassed at the sound of my own voice.
Unfortunately, by the time we got him in, they didn't want to disturb the clot but the vet said it could have used stitches and not to be surprised if the tip of the ear shrivels. It was a pretty decent wound.
He'll look like a BAMF when it's all healed though, and he's taking it like a trooper. At least it's stopped bleeding now. That was the worst part (like all ear wounds!).
TK off leash! It was his first time and basically all of my nightmares came true and every distraction I was hoping not to come across HAPPENED (gunshots, rabbits, and deer smells) and I was really impressed with him. I thought the rabbit was going to be the last straw for sure, since he and Russell tore off after it... but they came back just a few seconds later.
The far-off gunshots from the nearby range didn't seem to bother him a bit (London's always been strangely curious when it comes to gun fire), but the deer trails and smells were the most distracting for him. Otherwise, it was really awesome to see how responsive he is to commands even when he's distracted.
As a bonus, here's London off-lead. London has always been much better than any other Malamute I've known when he's off leash - even when he was a puppy and a troublesome adolescent.
The jerks were shedding all over my apartment.
They both had new baths and I think they're finally done.
I'll get pictures of them looking fabulous in their summer coats soon.
TK, looking handsome.
TK, London and Russell with me on the way to work.
This is... normal.
Also, I think Kuma and TK are out of the same litter! I thought they were full brothers out of different litters, but it looks like he was born Sept. of '07.
@cezieg - His ear is doing well! The tip of it (where it was split through and through) is shriveling a bit, but the inside (where it was split all the way down) is healing nicely and almost scarred over. It was a pretty nasty slice, even for me... and I've seen a lot of ear wounds.
Just tell me how awesome I am at taking pictures. Class A photographer here.
London, on the other hand, decided he'd shed for the summer and... idk... get an all new undercoat a few weeks later. Ass.
&
On Sunday night, I noticed his stomach was a little inflated, but I'm used to seeing that since his GDV surgery. I told myself not to panic because he was acting normal otherwise. He was probably just gassy.
Sunday night into Monday morning, he vomited up black/dark-brown, tar-like vomit which included undigested food. I cleaned it up, made a note of how unusual the color and consistency was and how unusual it was that there was food in it... but I noticed a piece of plastic in the vomit so I went "well, London's eating stupid things again" and tried not to panic. He was acting normal otherwise and eagerly ate his smaller-portioned breakfast.
Monday afternoon, he vomited up breakfast and a little piece of bagel I'd given him. There was no retching. It was just BLAH, HERE'S BREAKFAST. I started to panic a little after that spit-up when I realized he didn't look so hot.
Got into the vet on Monday afternoon - I suspected an obstruction since London hadn't passed anything but water that day. The vet said he didn't appear to be in any pain and said to hold off on x-rays until tomorrow morning (if his symptoms were unchanged) unless an emergency happened.
Tuesday morning, he pooed and I had a mini celebration. Never before had I been so happy to see poop. Unfortunately, he vomited up his bland diet breakfast (cottage cheese - ew, thanks for being allergic to rice, buddy) and I promptly called the vet. We x-rayed him to reveal an unidentifiable blockage behind his stomach and a lot of gas in his intestines. The vet referred me to the ER vet for an ultrasound to see what it could be.
We got to the ER vet at 10:30 and waited for a while. Everyone and their brother had dogs and cats and alligators who had emergencies that day. Never before had I seen the place so busy. Anyway, they took London for what they said would be "about 2 hours". I didn't see results until 2:30. They were that backed up. It was awful.
Anyway, when the specialist came out to finally talk to me, she asked if we could go outside and I immediately went "fuck, my dog is dying". TURNS OUT... the "unidentifiable blockage" was actually a portion of his stomach that had hardened and thickened and lost the layering I guess healthy stomach has.
London has a fuckton of ulcers and they suspect he has cancer in there, but they can't tell until they stick a scope down there and get to biopsy it. They also suspect he's experiencing kidney failure but I had already maxed out my credit cards and spent all my money getting that far, so we're in a special place in hell in my house right now.
At least London's stable and he's no longer vomiting. He doesn't seem to be drinking any more than usual - the only signs of kidney failure I saw was vomiting... and now he's got some muscle weakness, but they hella sedated him yesterday because after 5 hours of being someplace he didn't like, he started putting up a fuss and would not stop until he was tripping over his own feet... so he may still be groggy from that.
TL;DR: London does things big or he doesn't do them at all.
Also, he has a stomach full of ulcers and might have stomach cancer & kidney failure, because... why NOT add it to the list of things to experience, right?
Now here's special-snowflake-princess-baby London, melting into the floor after we got home from the ER vet.
On the sidenote, I have a cat that's had severely compromised kidneys (and hyperthyroid and debilitating arthritis) for a couple years now and it hasnt killed him yet- we had been giving him subQ fluids till we decided that was not high quality of life for any of us, and he hated the SciDiet food, so we said the hell with it- we'll just feed him regualr canned food- he is Cat Everlasting. So if the stomach thing can be helped, maybe the kidney piece can be managed for a while?
I hope it works out I don't know what else to say sorry.
Please keep us updated on things.
I will kind of echo Chrystal though--my girl Shiba has had kidney problems for over a year now, and they come and go. It's hard to get through when she's really sick, but then she bounces back again. We've not got to the sub-q fluid stage yet, thankfully, but I've got a bunch of anti-emetics, including injectable ones, that I keep on hand for when she starts. The big worry with her is dehydration....Her signs are that she has periods of drinking constantly and vomiting up water and bile and won't eat (and her BUN levels go sky high), but if we interrupt the vomiting cycle with meds, she comes back from it.
Not at all comforting I know, but wanted to add that sometimes they surprise you, and you have more time with them than you think.
And, I usually don't go for the more invasive methods of diagnosis anymore. No biopsies, ultrasounds, etc. I just can't afford it, but also often, it's just not going to help me to know. We get as good a diagnosis as we can from what can be done without being invasive, and treat, and see what happens. Sometimes it's frustrating, but it also is what I can do for them, and I realized, when I lost a dog to bone cancer, that actually doing the biopsy and confirming what the x-rays told us was not necessary--it would just be expensive and painful, and wouldn't save my dog.
So you do what you can. As you well know, mostly being with him and keeping him comfortable is what's important.
I'm sorry though. It's super hard to deal with a sick dog, especially if it's serious, and you're not really sure what it is. Good luck to you, and keep us posted.