ELeVan ~ Honaker Farm Journal

[autumnprairie]

I am glad you took some time, but really glad you are back now

 

[elevan]

Boingo has gone blind in his right eye. The result of his diabetes.

 

[autumnprairie]

Boingo has gone blind in his right eye. The result of his diabetes.

I am so sorry to hear that.

 

[redtailgal]

That fast?!!!

Geesh! Em, I'm sorry.

 

[elevan]

Yeah. The speed of it's surprised me too. But there's no doubt about it. I can poke him in the right eye before he blinks.

Unfortunately since the beginning, even though he's been making great strides, his blood sugar has mostly stayed in the high 200s or above. That's the danger area for blindness in dogs. I had him down to 201 the other day and was so excited but 2 days later he was back to 344.

He's also been being a sneaky little brat and it hasn't helped. I found a pile of half dissolved S.B. tablets. I thought he'd swallowed them and then I'd release him. He must have been waiting for me to turn my back so he could spit them out! I wouldn't have expected that out of a dog! Those tablets are crucial to his particular condition having diabetes that seems to be complicated by Fanconi.

I noticed this morning that he seemed rather defensive of me and couldn't understand why. Then when he decided to "attack" the other dog as is his custom...he geared his body for it and she came at his right side and he didn't notice her until she'd passed by him. (Don't worry...it's a game that they play...not a real attack) I hope that we can prevent him from losing sight in the other eye.

Boingo had me fooled for about a 4-5 day stretch where his urine glucose was doing great but DH had to work late so that I had nobody to help me get his blood glucose. So we missed 2 blood glucose readings in there. It's such a complicated thing when you're dealing with 2 different conditions that cause similar problems...and his weird skin condition is returning...so maybe we're dealing with more than that.

 

[wannacow]

I understand that getting a blood sample by yourself is very difficult. Is it possible for you to wrap him in a towel or blanket to immobilize him? Is he small enough for you do that by yourself? I know I wouldn't be able to wrap our springer up, but maybe Boingo is a little smaller. This "papoose" really helps with small children. It might help with your dog.

 

[elevan]

I understand that getting a blood sample by yourself is very difficult. Is it possible for you to wrap him in a towel or blanket to immobilize him? Is he small enough for you do that by yourself? I know I wouldn't be able to wrap our springer up, but maybe Boingo is a little smaller. This "papoose" really helps with small children. It might help with your dog.

Thanks for the suggestion. Trouble is that I need to immobilize his jaws (or I'll get bit) AND his entire body WHILE I'm applying a firm pressure to his foot to get the blood sample. IF his blood would just flow freely then I might be able to accomplish that on my own but it's a chore trying to squeeze enough blood out to take the reading while someone immobilizes him.

Hopefully it's something that I can keep working with him training wise to be able to manage in the future without an assistant. He now comes to me and sits patiently while I give his insulin injection...but that happens 2 times a day whereas the blood check is one time every other day.

He only weighs 27.5# but is fairly strong. And now that we've added partial blindness to the mix then we add more fear to it as well.

 

[Roll farms]

Poor pooch. You're a good dog mama.

I know how ridiculous Fiddles (6# poodle) is about getting his toenails trimmed, how much he fights. I can't imagine multiplying that by 4.

 

[Mamaboid]

Anybody that has ever had to give a 4 legged animal any kind of attention where they have to be restrained knows that said 4 legged animal automatically turns into a giant octopus with eagle talons on the end of each tentacle. Oh yeh, and they also instantly grow giant teeth with fangs like a tiger. I am so sorry both you and your baby have to go through this. A lot of people would give up....kudos to you for hanging in there and taking such good care of him.

 

[elevan]

Poor pooch. You're a good dog mama.

I know how ridiculous Fiddles (6# poodle) is about getting his toenails trimmed, how much he fights. I can't imagine multiplying that by 4.

Thanks.

Boingo used to hate having it nails trimmed too. Now I sit on the floor with my legs straight out and flip him onto his back with him cradled in my legs. We sit for a minute while I rub his tummy. Then I use the clippers and tap each of his toenails several times. Then we start trimming. This works out well and he's very relaxed during the trim.

I've learned that when I need to get a liquid medicine into him that what works for goats (mini) works for dogs too. I put him in a headlock using my legs (standing up) and drench.

Now, I just have to get him to take his pills without spitting them out in a hidden spot and work on acclimating him to blood glucose checks.

Anybody that has ever had to give a 4 legged animal any kind of attention where they have to be restrained knows that said 4 legged animal automatically turns into a giant octopus with eagle talons on the end of each tentacle. Oh yeh, and they also instantly grow giant teeth with fangs like a tiger. I am so sorry both you and your baby have to go through this. A lot of people would give up....kudos to you for hanging in there and taking such good care of him.

Indeed!

No matter how small or large the critter, if you need to restrain them and work on them at the same time you need 8 arms!

I'm not sure but I think the story of restraining our mini / shetland cross horse is in here someone. It was when the pig attacked him and we had to clean the wound. We couldn't get the vet out (but he gave instructions by phone) and I didn't know about a "twitch" until after. We had 4 people on that horse to restrain him and DH still ended up with pants around his ankles and being tossed through the metal barn wall! (If anyone ends up getting the brunt end of the deal on this farm it's usually DH).