Second Opinion

Tags

animals, dogs, pets

I took Kingsley to a different vet today for a second opinion.  At first, I felt like a total douchebag calling his old vet clinic and asking them to fax over his file, but now I’m glad I did.

I took him to the vet that does chiro on Ziggy – Dr. Orchard.  She’s an expert on pain management, and at the very least, I hoped she might be able to recommend some other sort of treatment that just a course of steroids.  He’s still in a lot of pain.

She did even better than that.  She found pain in his ribs and back, probably from a wipe out on an icy sidewalk this winter (I think I remember him falling a couple of times, actually.  He likes to dig tunnels in the snowbanks and sometimes digs right off the edge of a yard).  This explains why he hasn’t been jumping up on things, or doing tricks.  He’s also had difficulty sleeping, probably due to this pain.  The vet prescribed Metacam for a week to see if that helps resolve the soreness.  If not, she thinks it can be fixed with one or two chiro appointments.

Then she asked if he was treated for the infection in his teeth.  Bwuh?  That was never even mentioned.  Yes, at least two of his teeth have very bad infections.  This is *possibly* the cause of the mascatory myositis.  She said a long-term, severe infection could cause an autoimmune disease.  She put him on antibiotics for two weeks.  It’s longer course of antibiotic treatment because she’s hoping to knock out the infection 100%.  It’s not safe for him at the moment to have any dental work done, so if it can be healed with antibiotics, that would be the best solution.

She also told me to put him back on his regular food, and not bother switching his diet.  I had started switching him to a higher-calorie dry food, as recommended by his previous vet.  I went to Critters, and they told me to try Satori.  Turns out, Satori is extremely rich and hard on a dog’s GI track, especially a pup like Kingsley who’s had GI track issues in the past.  I found out today that the reason they recommend this food is because the store, Critters, owns half the company that manufactures Satori.  Grrrrrrrr.  Buyer beware.  So I bought some doggie probiotics to sprinkle on his food while his gut recovers from my stupid mistake.  This will also help his gut while he’s on the antibiotics.

I feel so relieved.  I feel like there’s hope that he’ll get better now.  I know the muscle waste is permanent, but I don’t want him to be in pain.  He’s 13 years old, and he’s a small dog.  He could live for another three or four years yet.  I have hope that he’ll be restored to his former playful self and spend his remaining years free from chronic pain.  Before today, I was seriously starting to think I would have to euthanize him soon because I couldn’t stand to see him hurting so much.

Always get a second opinion.  Lesson learned.

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Mascatory Myositis

Tags

dogs, mascatory myositis, pets

This guy, right here.  My Kingsley. 



Today I found out he has an incurable degenerative disease – mascatory myositis.  I’m feeling like pretty much the worst dog mama on the planet right now.  

I took him to the vet today because he seemed to be depressed.  His tail was always down, he wasn’t eating his kibble, he wouldn’t do any tricks.  A couple days ago, he tried to eat a rotten sandwich he found in the snow and when I pried his mouth open to get the sandwich out, he yelped.  I thought maybe he had a tooth infection that was causing him pain.  So off to the vet.  I wasn’t prepared for the diagnosis.  

His immune system is attacking the muscles that control his jaw.  First, they become inflammed and sore.  Later, in the advanced stage of the disease, the muscles waste and atrophy, leaving the dog with a very stiff jaw and unable to chew.  The vet pointed out that his tempo mandibular muscles had quite wasted away, but because he is so furry and fluffy, I just didn’t notice.  I did notice that he wasn’t eating, but I thought he was just being picky.  He ate his raw food fine; he just didn’t want his kibble.  I put it away after ten minutes.  Essentially, I’ve been starving my dog.  Worst mama ever.  

He’s on high dosage steroids (prednisone) and a pain killer that is the dog equivalent of morphine.  He is feeling fine.  I soaked his kibble so it was soft and chewy, and he gobbled it up.  The steriods should bring down the inflammation, but he is thirteen years old.  The vet said that at this point we just want to make him comfortable.  We may be able to stop further detrioration, but he won’t improve.  

So, Kingsley, I’m sorry.  I’m sorry I didn’t notice what was happening.  I was so busy with work and foster babies, that I neglected my fur babies, my furry soulmates.  I despise people like me who have human babies and suddenly neglect their fur babies.  All I can say is that it wasn’t on purpose, Kingsley.  I thought I could handle it all.  I never meant to push your needs aside.  I can’t imagine my life without you, and I honestly don’t know what I’m going to do when the day comes that I have to say goodbye to you.  My world will grow dim.  Also, I know you can’t actually read this, Kings, smart as you are, so instead, I’m just going to sit on the couch and rub your belly while you sleep and snore softly beside me because affection is the language you understand best.  I’m so glad we found each other, Kings.  

(If you want to know how Kingsley came into my life, you can read The Story of Kings here).  

This Week on the Homestead – We’re Dying for Spring

Tags

backyard chickens, dogs, Home, pets, spring, weird eggs

Oh, this has been a long, grey, cold, dry winter, and everyone is just dying for it to be over.  The girls are tired of being cooped up.  They pace back and forth in the run, and squawk until we let them roam in the yard.  The boys go absolutely nuts if they don’t get their daily 20-minute walk.  And the humans?  We just can’t wait til we can play in the dirt.

A few photos from our week:

Ziggy and his Frog.  The Frog is on its last legs (you can see he’s already missing a foot), but Ziggy drags this thing everywhere with him.  It’s his latest “baby.  He’s had a few “babies” over the years, and they all end up in the trash eventually.  He loves them to death.

Someday, I’m going to do a photo series called, “Eggs You’ll Never See in a Grocery Store.”  I had no idea these weird things could happen to eggs.  Before I had chickens, I only ate grocery store eggs.  Clean, white, sanitized eggs.  I had no idea that chickens could produce such abnormalities.  Take this weirdo of an egg.  It’s Liesl’s.  I think she may have consumed too much calcium last week.  Weird, right?

Oh, dirt.  Glorious dirt.  Will covered one of our raised beds with plastic a couple weeks ago, so the ground was thawed enough to actually work the soil this past weekend!  It felt so good to put a shovel in the ground.  Ginger was happy to be back to work in the dirt, as well.  She had a great time scratching it up!

And now, as I’m writing this, it’s snowing outside.  April 23rd, and it’s snowing.  A few weeks ago, I was joking when I said maybe Winter will never end.  Like somehow our world turned into Westeros (from Game of Thrones), and Winter may last for years.  But as I watch the blizzard outside my window, I really am starting to doubt if this Winter will ever end.  At this point, we are going to have snow on the ground well into May.  MAY.  The only way Mother Nature could make up for this awfulness is to skip Spring entirely and go straight into Summer. Okay?  Okay.

A Warm Day. Finally.

Tags

backyard chickens, chickens, dirt bath, pets, Poultry

Oh, it was practically summer yesterday.  A high of -1C (30F)!  The girls spent most of the day out of the coop in the run, instead of running in and out of the coop for a quick snack or drink of water.  It was great to look out the window and see them scratching in the dirt.

They also took advantage of the warm weather to take a long-awaited dirt bath.  They look dirtier now, but they must feel cleaner because they were having a great time rolling in the dirt and sand.

Alas, the warm weather did not stay.  By this morning, it was -20C (-4F) again.  Sigh.  At least we had a little break.

Zig Goes to the Chiro

Tags

chiropractor for dogs, dog chiropractic, dog chiropractor, dogs, pet, pets, Ziggy

Yes, that’s right.  Ziggy sees a chiropractor.

A couple years ago, he started favouring his right hind leg.  I took him to his vet, and the vet put him on an anti-inflammatory for a few days, thinking he must’ve jumped off the couch or something and strained it.  Well, it didn’t go away, and the vet told me the next step would be x-rays, and possibly surgery.

Ummm, no.  I found him a doggy chiropractor instead.  He had a seriously messed up spine, especially his lower back region near his tail.  She told me his back is a bit too long for his legs, and his muscles are working overtime to keep his back in shape.  No wonder he growls whenever someone pets him – his back hurts pretty much all the time.

The first treatment was not fun.  He bit the vet twice.  That’s why he wears a muzzle now whenever we go.

It took about three treatments before he started to really improve.  He also lost nearly seven pounds (which is a lot for a little guy!), so that relieved some of the pressure off his lower back.  The treatments don’t even phase him now.  We go two or three times a year for upkeep.  He doesn’t get upset at the vet anymore, but I still muzzle him, just in case.

After he’s had a treatment, he’s full of energy.  He must feel like a puppy again.  (I know exactly how he feels – sometimes, for a few lovely hours after I’ve had a chiro treatment, I feel like I’m 24 again).  Ziggy gets a little crazy and loves to play fetch with his ring for about 20 minutes after we get home.  Then he remembers he’s ten years old, and goes to sleep on the couch.  It’s a dog’s life.

Winterizing the Coop

Tags

animals, backyard chickens, chickens, pets, Poultry, winter, winterize the coop

The first question most people ask when they find out we have chickens is, “How do you keep them warm in the winter?”  We have serious winters here.  It has been known to drop below -50 Celsius (sometimes even -60 with the wind chill).  The normal temperature in January is about -25 C.  Getting stuck outside during a Saskatchewan winter can kill you.

So I totally understand why people are concerned with how our chickens stay warm.  I certainly was when we first got them.

Then I realized . . . they’re chickens.

The pioneers and homesteaders did not have electricity, but they had chickens.  Also, chickens are not mammals.  Just because you wouldn’t want to be outside in the winter wearing a feather sweater doesn’t mean that a chicken is freezing to death, or even uncomfortable.

We winterize our coop, but we do not heat it.  Some people do, and that’s totally their choice.  We specifically chose cold-hardy breeds of chickens that can handle low winter temperatures.  If you do choose to heat the coop, and the power goes out, the chickens will die for sure.  We decided to not take that risk.  Also, having a heat lamp in the coop is a fire hazard.

Here’s what we’ve done to make the girls comfortable for the winter:

• insulate the coop and fill the bottom with a thick layer of wood chips;
• give them lots of straw in the nesting boxes to snuggle into;
• use a flat 2×4 as their roosting bar so that they can cover their feet with their feathers when they sleep;
• put a fluorescent light in the coop on a timer so that they get 16 hours of light per day;
• use a heated water dish to keep their water from freezing;
• staple a plastic barrier around the bottom of the coop to give them a shelter from the wind;
• tarp the run to keep the snow out;
• feed them cracked-corn scratch in the late afternoon (their body temperature goes up as they digest the corn);
• have enough chickens so that they can keep each other warm.

The most important thing we’ve found is to make sure there is enough ventilation in the coop.  We close the window, but we never put anything in front of the door – it stays open all winter.  Chickens can withstand the cold, but if the coop is humid, they will get frostbite.  So even though it goes against all my instincts, we make sure there is plenty of airflow in the coop all winter.

The girls don’t seem to mind winter at all.  In fact, they love to be let out to scratch in the snow and peck at the frozen soil and plants.  Besides, there’s nothing cuter than chicken paw prints in the snow.

Tiny Little Rototillers

Tags

animals, backyard chickens, Chicken, chickens, garden, Home and Garden, pets

A few weeks ago, we corralled the chickens into the garden and let them scratch away at the soil to their hearts’ content.  Little did they know they were actually breaking up clumps of dirt and spreading compost.

Last week, after we had finished most of the harvest, we released the girls again, but this time we let them free-range all day.  As Will turned the soil over with a shovel, they immediately jumped in and started scratching away.  Sometimes, they didn’t even wait for the shovel to get out of the way.  They scratched, they pooped, they dirt-bathed, they stood at the garage and begged for scratch, and finally, they went to bed exhausted.  It was fantastic.

Dog Days

Tags

animals, dogs, off-leash park, pets

Okay, the title of this post is a bit misleading.  It wasn’t a full day at the dog park, more like “An Hour at the Dog Park.”  I wish it had been longer, but it did the trick.   The weather was gorgeous, and the dogs were exhausted when we got home.  They slept all night.

I’ve always believed that a good dog is a tired dog.

The boys have been a bit wild lately.  Lack of attention, I think, and lack of exercise.  I have no time to walk them, and they’re used to daily walks.  They’re going a bit stir-crazy being cooped up inside the house all day.  Thank goodness for off-leash parks!

Put Your Chickens to Work Day

Tags

animals, backyard chickens, Gardens, pets

We decided to let the girls do some of our dirty work this fall.

According to the book Free Range Chicken Gardens: How to Create a Beautiful Chicken-Friendly Backyard; chickens can be wonderful garden helpers – ummmm, yeah.  It’s pretty obvious to anyone within a few hours of having chickens in their backyard that they love to scratch in the soil, looking for bugs and worms, and will turn the soil over and aerate it.  And destroy any living plant in their path.  However, if you stick them in the garden after harvest, they’ll also clean up any left over plants bit or roots (or, let’s be honest, weeds).

So today, the girls went to work.  We used a snow fence to corral them into a part of the garden that was finished (peas and beans, thank you very much), and away they went.  They weren’t too interested at first, but then Will turned some of the soil over with a pitch fork, and that got them going.  They love scratching in newly-turned soil.  They happily scratched away for almost three hours.  I really wanted to stay and watch them, but alas, I had to go to rehearsal.

(What is it about watching chickens!?  I could seriously watch them for hours.  They’re better than TV.)

 

Birds of a Feather

Tags

animals, backyard chickens, Chicken, pets, pullet

Little by little, the new chicken (Scruffy/Black Betty) has started to become part of the flock.

She’s still very skittish around humans, but this morning as I was cleaning the run, she came out of the coop, ate with the other girls, and didn’t run away while I was in there.  When I got home from work, Will reported, very happily, that he was able to get close enough to touch her.  Just for a moment.

We get a little closer every day.

It’s a good feeling when the flock becomes one, and you know all your girls are healthy and getting along.  Love my chickens.

Happy Labour Day