Buster-- Congestive Heart Failure

Buster........

He's a sweet(mostly) little chihuahua/dachshund we adopted from our local shelter. We adopted him when our Labrador retriever crossed over the rainbow bridge. His name is Buster and he was the perfect little friend for our older dachshund. 
They became the best of friends until our older one got sick. Xena( our older dachshund) had to make the journey across the rainbow bridge. 
Buster was grieving as much as we were. We decided to rescue another dachshund. Jilly then came into our lives. Jilly and Buster became BFFs and still are. a few years later we adopted Baxter. you can read about Baxter and his IVDD recovery in other blog posts. 
So here we are one big happy family. Then Buster was diagnosed with a heart murmur. The Vet found it on a routine yearly exam. It was not bad at first and did not require medication.
We take Buster every year for his yearly check up. The heart murmur stayed the same for quite a while until one visit it was more. It had become time to start medication. We started medication and had an echocardiogram done. We started on a low dose of medication then as things have progressed it has gone up. 
Little Buster is now in congestive heart failure and on two different 
heart medications and lasix for fluid build up. 
He has good days and bad days. 
we make sure he has air conditioning and he has a humidifier. His vet is terrific and Buster loves her. Little Buster has had one fainting episode and gets winded very easily. No more full out running. His best friend Jilly snuggles with him every night. Baxter is always near as well. 
Buster is a very happy little dog. We are looking at buying him a pet stroller so he can sit in it outside. 
he loves being outside and just enjoying the nice weather. 

Thanks for reading.... Hug your puppies.........<3
Please check out Busters Tfund account. Buy a great tshirt to show you are loved by a chiweenie just like Buster. it will help will the cost of Busters monthly heart medications. Thank you so much.
http://www.tfund.com/chiweenielove

Baxters IVDD weeks 3 & 4

Hi everyone, I thought I would start by telling you what IVDD is. I realized after I made my last post that I didn't explain what it is. there are many of you who probably know this information. For those who do not I encourage you to do the research and learn as much as you can. IVDD stands for inter-vertebral disc disease. The cushioning discs between the vertebrae of the spinal column bulge or burst(herniate) and then press on the nerves running through the spinal column causing pain, nerve damage and even paralysis.

Symptoms to watch for:

Neck pain

stiffness

reluctance to move

Back pain

Lowered head stance

abdominal tenderness

Yelping unexpectedly when touched or moving

Sensitivity to touch

Lameness

Dragging one or more legs

"Knuckling over " when walking or standing

Weakness

Reluctance to rise

Walking gingerly

wobbly gait/crisscrossing back legs when walking

Tremors/shaking

collapse

Paralysis

Treatment can be conservative (crate rest and meds) or surgery. Rehabilitation is also recommended to help regain function and speed up recovery. If conservative treatment crate rest is a minimum of 8 weeks. Acupuncture and cold laser therapy are also great to help with recovery. As I mentioned in my last post .... dodgerslist.com has a wealth of information on this subject and a great community forum to ask questions and discuss. Please check them out. I can't recommend them highly enough.

Now back to Baxter...... Weeks three and four.

We were starting to see some slight improvement in week three. He was walking slightly better and not as wobbly. Also had more coordination and was not knuckling over. The back right leg was getting stronger. He still is pooping and peeing at the same time getting pee all over himself.  His appetite is as always just fine. dachshunds rarely turn down food. We are using a sling to help him when outside. There was no more crying when being picked up for potty breaks. At the end of week three we began the wean down process on the cortisone. Within a couple of days he was crying again and started to stiffen when I went to pick him up. He also started to knuckle over on the right hind again.  We had to go back up on the cortisone for five days. so that was week 4. We also had to increase his pain medication for a couple of days. So we had a minor relapse and then he bounced back from it. He continued to sleep in his crib next to the couch. I have slept on the couch near him since this began. He's mommas pretty boy.

By the end of week 4 he was back to showing improvement. He began lifting his leg sometimes to pee again. He is very alert. His tail is not up yet though. It is still down and slightly tucked. I think we'll know he's doing great when the tail is back up.

We started week five weaning him down on the cortisone. next post I'll tell how that went.

Thanks for reading.... Hug your puppies. 💚😃🐕🐶🐾🐩

Baxter's IVDD

Baxter

Baxter is a black and tan dachshund we adopted from Little Shelter Animal Rescue in New York. He is what we in the United States call a tweenie, meaning he's too big to be considered a mini but not quite big enough to be a standard dachshund. Little shelter rescued him and many other dachshunds from a hoarding situation. He has turned into my little mommas boy. they estimated he was about four years old when I adopted him in 2014. I have been blessed to have him in my home for three years now.

Baxter is a very happy, wiggly dachshund who loves playing in the yard with my other two dogs. He also loves chasing squirrels and barking at every dog that walks past my house. We have ramps for our dachshunds to use to get up stairs and onto the couch. My first indication that something was wrong was his refusal to go up the ramps and he was walking very slow. His wonderfully cute wiggle was gone as he would walk very slowly and gingerly. He then cried when I tried to pick him up. Baxter's right back leg was weak and he would have muscle spasms. His Tail would tuck under and he was wobbly when he walked.  Baxter never went down paralyzed which I am grateful for.

I had a dachshund before that had IVDD so my first instinct was to set up a recovery space for Baxter and make an appointment at the Vet. I took him to our usual Animal Hospital but he didn't see our usual Vet at this visit. This Vet believed that Baxter's issue was in his neck. The Vet prescribed muscle relaxers and cortisone. He didn't want to prescribe a pain medication because he believes that it masks the problem. we however convinced him that we needed the pain medication.

We brought Baxter home and began the first two weeks of his crate rest. At first he was very unhappy. He wanted to be closer to everyone. we finally came up with a way to set up a space in the middle of everyone. He can see us and we can pet him and talk to him.

The first week was very hard and very sad. Heart-breaking really. We had a sling to help Baxter when outside to potty. The rest of the time he was resting. It was hard to pick him up because we were afraid to hurt him.  We and Baxter got through it. The second week was much the same as the first. We did not really see any improvement but keep on with his crate rest and medication.

Baxter in his recovery area

Baxter sleeping with his alien friend.

At two weeks we took him back to the Vet for a re-check. this time we saw our regular Vet. She believed that it was definitely IVDD and refilled all of the medications for Baxter. Those first two weeks were very tough. Baxter looked so so sad and pitiful. I wished I could do more for him. As dog owners it is always extremely difficult to see our dogs in pain. That was the hardest thing for me. I was crushed to see my mommas boy in pain and not being able to do anything more than lay in his crate. I had his crate near to the couch so that I could stay near him and sleep on my couch in the living room to watch over him.

I want to take a minute here to mention a couple of great resources.
1. dodgerslist.com     They are essential for information on IVDD. They also have a great forum to post in to discuss and ask questions. I found them back in 2006 when my previous dachshund went down and was paralyzed in the back end. 

2. IVDD and other back disorders Facebook group. They are helpful, encouraging and supportive.

Baxter before the crate rest began.

Next blog post I will cover weeks three and four of Baxter's recovery.

Thanks for reading. Hug your pups.😃💕🐩🐶🐾🐾