More tired than I was on Friday? Maybe

[unicornduke]

Last week was hot and tiring at work, but I did get to eat some incredible delicious blueberry/lemon twist ice cream and I normally abhor fruit in my ice cream. Mara had a vet appt on Monday about her legs, which she got gabipentin and new joint supplements. Since she will refuse food if it has a pill, I've been manually pilling her first thing in the morning. Only doing the morning doses, which seems to be helping her. She was full of beans by Friday afternoon.

I had lots of things to do over the weekend and then Friday night, Mara had just the worst diarrhea. Multiple times despite me taking her out. 12:30 am bed cleaning and dog butt cleaning was no fun especially because it requires the hose. She did it again on her other bed by the time I woke up at 6.

I cleaned her up again, hosed the bed covers off, then washed them. Put her on the balcony for a bit, cleaned the floor because it got everywhere and then fed her rice. Other than one midday goo on our walk, her stomach was perfectly fine after that, probably due to the rice and plain dry food combo. I was trying to figure out what she ate, since I'm pretty strict with her diet due to *waves*, and I think it was the dark colored crunchy thing she ate on our walk along the road the day before. Either that or the quarter size piece of dried beef, but I have my doubts. I don't know what the dark crunchy thing was, dried poop, dead animal, live baby turtle, truly no idea (the snapping turtle that I saw in the swamp across the road was trying to lay eggs in the gravel on the road bank a couple weeks ago, so baby turtles are possible)

Got past that, spent Saturday tired but not the worst, just emotionally exhausted mostly. By the end of the weekend, I got things checked off my to-do list plus some relaxing and dinner at a fancy (to me) Italian restaurant where I got really really good risotto plus two meals of leftovers.

Last night, Mara had the leg twitches at 1am. It is specifically one back leg and it kicks really hard and over and over. She's really distressed by it (reasonably) and there isn't a ton I can do. Usually the best thing is to sit next to her in a way that the leg can't kick out far, which seems to be really painful until it slows down a bit, then get her on her feet and get her to drink water. Once all that happens, it may twitch again but only a few times and then it stops. This time I was able to give her a gabipentin since I only have her on the morning dose right now and she seems mostly back to normal this morning. This happens every so often and I need to bring it up to the vet again. It does seem to be aggravated by dehydration (it's so humid right now, and Mara gets so hot, so fast and doesn't want to drink).

I got my work tasks done this morning, my truck inspected, oil changed, tires rotated this afternoon and now I'm dragging. But crafting later and B is coming over to escape the humidity.

Comments

[reedrover]

My sympathies about your sick Mara. That’s rough, emotionally and physically. I hope the new drug regime helps!

[unicornduke]

She's getting up there in age, she's at least eight and a half, if not older so it's to be expected, but still hard. The rescue thought she was about two when she came in. She was full of beans this morning, so that's something.

[ranunculus]

Poor old pup. Cleanup is just no fun.
Have you tried shearing her? Tazlina LOVED to be clipped. She used to frisk around with her tail in the air, showing off, right afterwards. I think she would have kept herself clipped year round, in 11 years I only saw her obviously cold a couple of times but then I let her hair grow in mid-winter. Her hair grew back really fast, I think she would have loved a clip about every 3 weeks in the summer.
Have been very sorry to miss crafting recently. Will undoubtedly be back with you soon as it will be too hot to do anything outside.

[unicornduke]

I've been doing some strategic trimming on her butt and belly. I worry about a full clip because she's got pink skin and double coat. She doesn't spend a lot of time outside so I'm not too worried about sunburn but from what I understand, the double coat shouldn't be cut because it causes issues with temperature management.

I figured you were super busy with some cooler temperatures! Can't wait to have you back when it gets hot!

[ranunculus]

Tazlina had a double coat and the coat itself made her overheat much of the time. Toward the end of her life she would actually ask to be clipped. It was hard, but possible to clip her so short that skin showed enough to sunburn. Most small clippers allow you to choose the length you clip to. I always did the shortest possible. A week after her clip it would have grown more than an eighth of an inch.
I'd be happy to box up my clippers and loan them to you for use during the rest of Mara's if that would help.

[ranunculus]

I suppose this is really belaboring the point but I feel strongly about this.
Tazlina, with her long double coat would start slowing down on walks when the temps went above about 70 degrees. By 90F she was miserable, panting the whole way and clearly struggling. She began to get "hot spots" under her fur, not bad but they clearly bugged her - and this was living in relatively cool San Francisco. So we tried having her clipped. All of a sudden she had energy, could keep up even when it was hot, quit panting desperately on walks and was clearly extremely happy. Her "hot spots" disappeared. Until outside temperatures dropped into the low 30's she was never cold, even with a new clip.
I had a lot of people look at her and say "but the long coat creates an even environment for her". I thought that was incorrect. I personally will not wear a heavy jacket when temps go above 70 degrees, why would the dog want to? Most of the working dogs that I am acquainted with are either bred for short coats or are clipped because they could not possibly do their job without staying cooler. Dogs with double coats are bred for places like Scotland or the Shetlands where it rains regularly and the air comes right off the cold Atlantic in a almost never ending, temperature lowering wind.
One last point: clipping your dog reduces the sheer volume of hair in the house.
Ok, I'll shut up now. ;)

[unicornduke]

I'll think about it and probably talk to the vet about it. I need to call her and talk about the gabipentin dose anyway.