Tag Archives: vet

Mother's Day race in Calgary

Mother's Day 2016Yesterday was the Forzani’s Mother’s Day Race in aid of the Neo-Natal Intensive Care Unit. It’s a cause we’ve supported before and this day was pretty nice. Weather was warmish, with only a slight wind, just enough to help keep you cool as you run.

Showing off my numberThe race is a bit strange in that you actually run down one of Calgary’s main streets – Macleod Trail – but only on the south bound side! The north bound side is still active, with cars whizzing by… There is a barrier, so there is no danger, but it is one of the charms of the race.

The course was nice and flat, with only a couple of minor uphill portions. I did pretty well, but I tell you something is very strange. I use the app MapMyRun to track my runs, and as I crossed the start mat, I clicked it on… After the race, it takes quite a while to get the phone out, turn off the app, and save it. I was really pleased with my time of 32 minutes and 20 seconds. Pam and I had a look and we oohed and aahed.

Maurice getting readyI check my official chip time on the website this morning and I’m at 37 minutes! Ah well… I prefer the MapMyRun stats, but I guess I have to live with being 34th in my category. In my last race I was 630th in my category, so that’s not a bad comeback.

We had lunch with Mom and Rod a little later on. Nice Mother’s Day.

 

Sept 12 Update for Max

Last night Dr Shawn called (our Vet) and he was pleased with the improvement Max has been showing and said that as long as things are holding the course and he’s improving, no need to see him yet, that he will call in a weeks time. Up to now the office has been calling every day or two to see how Max has been doing. I can’t tell you how impressed I have been by that. It’s really made me feel like we’ve finally found a vet that cares and goes that extra mile. If you want your pet to have good care, take them to Scottsdale Veterinary Hospital on Scottroad and 70th avenue, across from the Krispy Kreme.

Anyways no major change in Max since the post 2 days ago. He’s still walking now on all 4’s at times, but sometimes he knuckles the front left paw, and sometimes he walks normally. He’s unsteady at times and leans to one side, but he’s mobile and able to get himself in and out of the back patio area up and down one stair. He could not do a whole flight of stairs, but for the one, he’s able to manage. Last night was the first night he has slept without a pain med to settle him and he did ok. I came upstairs to bed at 2:30 and he was panting away , and after I gave him a good long drink of water he settled.

we have been keeping the bedroom window open for fresh air and the fan on oscillate to move the air around at night as it can get stuffy upstairs. and we have to keep the door closed at night so he doesn’t fall down the stairs.ย  Anyways that’s been more comfortable for Maxie, who is quite sensitive to the heat.

Our company has gone now and the place is quiet, Max was pretty good with having new people in the house, especially good really, considering he’s a barker and growler when “strangers” to him are around.. he did bark a bit at first but then he was pretty good. ๐Ÿ™‚ Way to go Maxie!

A huge thanks to Nick for bringing us his gift of the watercolour of Buck. Nick you will never know how much this means to us. We lost Buck not quite a year ago now, and it’s still painful for us, so to have him back with us like this, is a great comfort. A great comfort. Our family is whole again. ๐Ÿ™‚ Now when Maurice and I are in the family room with Maxie, we have Buck watching over us ๐Ÿ™‚ Our angel Buck. You made that happen Nick, and it is an extremely meaningful gift.

Today is a lovely sunny day and my vacation is coming to an end. I’m back to work in 2 days, but I’m hopeful my brother Peter will be coming out to visit us after this next stretch I have to work…ย  Come Peter, and you can see Maxie’s recovery and fight to get back on the road to health. ๐Ÿ™‚

…Pam…

Max Update Sept 8th 2009

Max slept upstairs with us again, and did pretty well. No diarrhea last night. He got up with Maurice this AM around 6:30 and Maurice carried Max downstairs and out and he peed. His appetite continues to be good, and we are encouraged by the occasional correct usage of his left front paw. (usually he’s got it curled though and not walking on it, but the few good steps shows us that he is correcting it and knows he has a foot there at least. I’ve not done a pain test to see if he reacts to pain on the foot, but should do. I’ll try it when I do his range of motion exercises. Well, I may as well do those right now so I can let you know the results ! Be right back.Max hurting

Ok… well his range of motion was good. I did not get a response when I pinched his paw but I was not pinching too hard, Maurice said he did get a response this morning so that’s great. As I was on the floor doing Max’s range of motion exercises and massaging his legs and shoulder the Vet called (Shawn) and he wanted a progress report. He was pleased with what I told him regarding the walking. He said that sounded really hopeful, and he decreased his prednisone to one tab per day now instead of one tab 2x a day. He asked if there was still blood in the stool and I told him no, none that we saw. He was happy with that. He asked about the diarrhea and I told him last night was good, but night before was 3x… he’s asked that we monitor it and if he continues to have diarrhea by the weekend when he will call for his next report, that he will add a medication.

So the short of it is: vet is happy, prednisone decreased, all other meds the same. We’ll continue to do range of motion and massage on the limbs.

Max update Thursday 5:54 pm

One of the vets from Scottsdale Veterinary Hospital called today to check on Max. I told her what we had been observing over the last 3 days since we saw our vet Shawn… she said that this gave her good reason to be hopeful, the fact that he is correcting his hind foot when he knuckles and then corrects to walk on pads.. that it shows he’s feeling his foot at least. She said that this sort of thing sometimes takes months, not days.. and that it could be a slow road to recovery but that she has seen dogs some back from being totally imobilized to walking again. She gave us hope when she told us that.

Also, I called the Abby SPCA today to talk to Alicia , the gal there who loves Max so, and wanted to keep her updated as to whats happened with him. She was not in, but I gave our ph# etc and she called while I was on the phone with the Vet, so I found her message and Maurice called and talked to her.

Alicia, you are welcome to come by anytime to visit Maxie..ย  heheh he might bark at you though.. you know how he is! ๐Ÿ™‚ย  He’s had a quiet time of it the last few days doing mostly laying in the family room by the fresh air and door, or just outside on the cement pad, on his sheepskin bed…

We are doing ROM (range of motion) exercises with his limbs and the left hind leg shows no stiffness, but his left front leg is stiffening up and so we are going to double our efforts and do his exercises more often.. we want to try to keep his limbs limber and not go stiff as a carp!

We are expecting houseguests in a couple of days, and I’m not sure how Maxie will react to them, but we will take it day by day.ย  He will not be left alone to struggle or flop around. Either M or I will stay with him.

Last night Maurice was able to get more than 2-3 hrs sleep and I had a solid 6 hrs so we are both feeling alot better today, we were going on fumes there for a bit, but feeling stronger today! ๐Ÿ™‚ For me, today has been a day of hope. When we were eating dinner Max stood up and balanced on 3 legs and drank water.. he’s not able to walk on 3 legs by himself, but just the fact that he was able to stand and balance on it, made my heart sing. THAT is courage.

Dude came at me with scissors!

Max in the car     So I get a nice dinner and things are looking good. It’s the weekend, they’re plenty of cats to chase in this neighbourhood – what could be better?

Hey a Car Ride! Sounds good to me. Sounds good to me. Let me turn around in a couple circles here and make sure …. yep! Sounds good to me!

Off we go – man that was one SHORT Car Ride! Right to this 24 hr place called a Vet…. now what’s that all about?

And suddenly I know! The dude came at me with scissors! What was I do eh?ย  Sheesh, course I’m barking at him – what so special about him, besides the scissors??

They grab my legs and next thing i know I’m muzzled and pinned! Luckily it didn’t take long – and I only put up a token struggle so they know i’m not happy!

A dog biscuit or two makes things seems a bit better…. Another short car ride and here i am typing – good thing i have such tiny paws – makes hitting the right keys easier!

Bark at you soon!

Max

Max's first Vet Visit

Scottsdale Vet        Today Max is going to go see the Vet for his check up. When we got Max from the SPCA, he came with a certificate that gives us a free Vet check up, and so he will be going today as we have to get him seen within 3 business days of picking him up. Because he is such a good walker, we are going to walk over to the vets together he and I and we will meet Dr Peter together. According to the previous owners he is good at the vets, so we shall see!

Max is up to date on his : distemper / hepatitis / adenovirus / parvovirus / para influenza / rabies / bordetella

He has to go back to the Vet on Oct 24th Friday to have his sutures out, where his dewclaws were in the back. Those were removed when he had his neutering done. The neutering has dis-solvable stitches but the dew claw sutures are not. Dad is going to have to take him to have that done, because Mammy has to work. ๐Ÿ™‚