0:00
So we are at our last installment here.
0:04
So I know we visited a little bit about this last week, but it's not going be our traditional plan.
0:08
So I would normally be trying to pick between my puppies, right or be able to evaluate this puppy potentially to stay for breeding with her issues.
0:19
I would say we're still a ways from basically deciding that she can be retained to show or potentially to be a breeding dog or more concerned about her recovering from her leg injury and making sure that you know, she's a healthy dog, whether it be a companion for me or for someone else.
0:40
You know, potentially if things go really well, maybe she could be included in a program, but we just don't know at this point where we're going to head.
0:47
So just want to update you guys on where we are.
0:51
So we basically left off last week where we were doing some additional Neospora testing, which is the disease that we were concerned about that could come from the dam from raw feeding.
1:03
Again, she was not raw fed, but I certainly enjoy a medium rare steak.
1:08
And I was just worried, you know, she could potentially she could have exposure from something like that, that's just casually that I had given it to her either in the show ring or just at the house.
1:18
So we're waiting on those results.
1:21
The other thing we were starting was under the supervision and kind of direction of some orthopedic surgeons in the area, we were doing a non-surgical but orthopedic procedure called forced flexion under anesthesia.
1:33
So that's what we have in the picture here.
1:35
So that was her first attempt for forced flexion on that left rear leg.
1:40
And then we also were talking about her socializing as a Singleton and then this time.
1:47
So just as a review, so this was that forced flexion procedure we were talking about So started to make some real progress.
1:53
And we I know we talked about that being a really positive sign.
1:56
So the surgeons had really encouraged me to be aggressive on the timeline of when we did these.
2:01
So I actually had asked them, you know, because I was going to be out of town that weekend, can we start things maybe next week?
2:08
And they said, you know, the younger she starts, she's stable anesthetically, the younger she starts with this, the better off and the more likelihood that she's going to be able to use that leg kind of more normally at this stage she's so extended, she's basically using it like a peg leg, if you guys remember.
2:26
So overall she's doing excellent.
2:29
So she is 8 weeks as of yesterday, 14.2 lbs.
2:33
So certainly not missing meals.
2:36
She is now converted over to kibble that is not soaked.
2:40
So I had had her on soaked kibble until about six or seven weeks.
2:44
Some of it was kind of enticing her appetite when she was having some of these procedures done.
2:49
She's under anesthesia for a period of the day, so I was trying to kind of catch up a little bit on timelines.
2:55
I probably would have switched her to kibble, kind of unsoaked kibble formally by six or seven weeks because she was happy to eat it.
3:04
She would get into the other dog's bowls and things like that.
3:07
So she certainly was willing.
3:09
But I just thought for like kind of appetite stimulation reasons, I used warm water and kind of continued to soak instead for that period of time.
3:18
I did switch her.
3:19
She started to grow a little bit intensely and it could be some of her kind of unusual growth could have been how she's bearing her weight since she's really not using her left her leg normally.
3:32
She started to have some changes to her, one of her, the back foot that kind of bears the weight started to get a little bit change, like the dynamic of how the foot kind of sits.
3:43
And a lot of you guys that have giant breed puppies, you know, they tend to be a little bit more sensitive to being on higher protein.
3:49
I'm sure Doctor Lobos can address those questions directly if you guys have any questions on that.
3:54
But basically for large breed puppies, she's starting to approach the age where we want to have them on a large breed puppy formula earlier on in her life.
4:03
She's been on a typical like a, you know, regular puppy formula that's a little bit higher in protein and fat.
4:09
So I went ahead and backed her on to about 7 weeks, backed her on to that little bit lower protein, lower fat variety and her changes.
4:20
She had a little bit of knuckling over her that she isn't doing any more.
4:24
Could be that it was just growth, but could be the change in the kibble.
4:29
So she's also been started on a heartworm and flea and tick prevention, which I started.
4:33
I'm a first of the month girl.
4:35
So that timed the best for kind of her risk and exposure.
4:39
We certainly have mosquitoes and active heartworm disease in my area.
4:42
So she started Simparica trio on the 1st that kind of times with everybody else in my house.
4:51
We also started safe outside socialization.
4:53
So she is going to several obviously lots of appointments.
4:56
So she gets a lot of outside socialization that way.
4:59
I'm also planning, I have one of those Academy kind of style deep trolley kind of setups that you can like it's like a wagon that you can drag behind you.
5:11
I'm going to plan to do that rather than taking her places.
5:15
I mean, for Parvo exposure for one.
5:17
So like for disease exposure, it's better for them not to be on the ground in high traffic areas, but even in low traffic areas where I would normally have let her walk a little bit, she's going to have a little bit more trouble kind of keeping up.
5:29
And I think it frustrates her sometimes too.
5:33
So I think she'll have more a more thorough experience if she is up in a cart or being carried so that she can really focus on like what she's being exposed to rather than trying to get where she's going.
5:45
She's also been getting new types of treats, new toys, new sounds.
5:49
She has not figured out I have a lick a mat for her, which you guys might be familiar with.
5:53
I love those for puppies.
5:54
She's not quite at the age where she understands, even though she's really food motivated.
5:59
She doesn't quite get the lick a mat, but she definitely gets reinvigorated and energy from new things constantly.
6:07
So like even if it's rotated things where I've got like a toy box and I pull, you know, toys that she saw two weeks ago back out, it's suddenly a brand new toy.
6:15
So she's been very good for those types of things.
6:19
So as far as her leg goes, so it's still a little iffy as far as you know how this is going to go.
6:24
The flexion procedure.
6:25
So that I showed you on that picture just a minute ago, the slide, they went really well.
6:31
We probably went a little bit too heavy too quickly.
6:35
Might be that it was just coincidence, but she ended up having some pretty significant inflammation from one of those exercises and she spiked a fever, didn't feel very good.
6:46
She was having a lot of swelling.
6:47
So I ended up taking the bandage off even though we had just started her on kind of bandaged treatments.
6:53
And after that swelling, well, now she's got that like pressure from the swelling in her leg made her nerve kind of function on that leg a little bit less effective.
7:02
It’s hard to tell if it's nerve function versus her still healing from the swelling.
7:08
But since we're about, we're probably about 10 days out from when that kind of issue popped up, I think it's probably real.
7:15
So we've been kind of treating presuming she's got a little bit of nerve recovery to go.
7:21
She is improving, but we're holding off on procedures at least until she's 10 weeks old.
7:25
That's when we're going to see the orthopedic surgeon again, just to revisit and see where we are.
7:31
So this is the, again, that flexion procedure that we were doing.
7:33
So just trying to make her leg bend kind of like it normally would.
7:36
We're trying to stretch the muscle in the front of the thigh is basically the one that's compressed or tightened down.
7:44
So this is like our little makeshift bandage that we attempted to put on.
7:49
This was unfortunately this bandage went on.
7:51
It wasn't too tight, but the bandage went on the same day that she started to get the issue with the swelling.
7:57
So I ended up taking it off and then proceeding, like I said, to taking her into the clinic.
8:04
But there's this is a little bit of an illusion.
8:06
It doesn't it looks a lot bigger than it is.
8:07
It's if you can imagine that the left leg is in front of the right leg.
8:12
So it's not as impressive as you would think, but quite swollen.
8:16
She's pretty uncomfortable and then that the picture on the right is it's the other direction.
8:21
So remember it's the left leg on that right picture.
8:25
So you can see she's kind of standing on the top of her foot.
8:28
She is kind of putting some pressure on it.
8:30
It is a little bit flexed compared to where it's been.
8:33
And honestly the rehab vet was very pleased to see how much flexion she was still retaining because the idea was if the bandage wasn't on that her bent leg would kind of go back to where it was and it hasn't.
8:44
So it has stayed with some flexion, but still not a normal leg.
8:50
All right, So just a review on the Neospora component to this puzzle.
8:56
She we had that testing that was still pending the last time we visited the second wave of testing.
9:01
So these are titers for this disease are negative for both Cabana and Zest.
9:05
So we're calling her Zest now.
9:06
I don't know if we had mentioned that on the last one, but zest in honor of her being a lemon.
9:12
So our hypothesis, so the orthopedic surgeon that I had visited with when the swelling of the leg happened, felt pretty confident based on his exam Originally, he really thought this could have started as an abscess, even though it didn't really fit with, you know, she didn't have a swelling or pain or any known trauma that perhaps she could have had an abscess that was associated with the bacterial issue that we think her sisters had that caused their death.
9:42
So it could be that that caused the initial skin lesion to show up.
9:46
It was weird.
9:47
So it wouldn't, wasn't a typical way an abscess would present, but he thinks it could be that that was all connected and was also having some infection present at deeper levels in the muscle that caused them to contract.
10:00
And then for things to get abnormal for her bone on the outside to then kind of adhere to that muscle and then for all that tissue to get kind of inflamed and contract.
10:12
So he just was thinking, you know, the inflammation and the ER visit.
10:16
She didn't have a White Count.
10:17
So she didn't end up having like evidence of infection when she was at the ER.
10:21
But he wonders if the amount of inflammation that occurred after that flexion was due to having some liberation of some of that infectious material that was kind of still stuck down there and walled off.
10:37
So at this point, we're doing weekly acupuncture.
10:40
So Doctor Torres, that had been managing her as her rehab veterinarian, has been doing those for those treatments for her.
10:48
And it's funny, she does these points.
10:49
I think they're the points over the shoulder there that caused her just to be so relaxed.
10:54
She's like passed out for the rest of the day after she has these procedures.
10:57
She loves them.
10:59
We're doing some massage.
11:01
So whenever it's mostly like as part of play.
11:04
So sometimes whenever we're playing a little bit more rough, I'll and usually whenever she's standing, I'll just kind of massage over her hips and over her thighs and just like kind of make it part of a game.
11:14
It is uncomfortable a little bit.
11:16
So I try to do it, you know, as part of other interactions because I don't want her to get sensitive to kind of being handled normally.
11:26
We've also talked about potentially including something called an Assisi loop, which is thought to help with kind of healing and inflammatory processes via electromagnetic type technology.
11:40
I have no experience with this personally, but I know a lot of rehab kind of folks that really like to include them.
11:46
They are safe for kind of this age group.
11:47
So things like laser we can't do as well this age group.
11:52
So that was something we've tossed around the idea of especially going forward if we're going to do anything more traumatic procedure wise.
12:00
So we're going to revisit that flexion procedure at 10 weeks, assuming her neurologic function is still good.
12:06
She is improving.
12:07
It's just neuro takes a long time to kind of come back from.
12:10
So it's not something where she's going to be night and day back to totally using her leg again.
12:16
We've also discussed Adequan, which is a medication that's often thought to it's used for prevention of like kind of advancement of arthritis in your joints.
12:28
It's injectable.
12:29
And Dr.
12:32
Torres is a big fan of that for anybody that's had kind of this type of history starting at when once they're six months old as pretty young dogs as a good preventative kind of approach since she's going to be bearing a little bit of extra and unusual weight on joints that maybe wouldn't have seen as much of a burden on a normal puppy.
12:52
So we're just trying to play a balancing act.
12:54
And part of me is thinking if she's got some flexion to that leg, it's not it won't flex like a normal leg, but is it better if she can use it functionally where it is?
13:03
Is it better for me to leave well alone once we kind of get her up and on it a little bit more?
13:09
Or will we want to do more of those flexion procedures?
13:11
And I think some of it's just going to depend on like what her neuro status does, but she's definitely going to be as 115 LB adult, she's going to be much better off having four legs if we can get there.
13:24
All right.
13:25
So she is for now, just so you know, she's staying here.
13:28
So still a lot of work.
13:30
And it’s just, it's tough because you know, we're, we would think like, OK, normally we'd be thinking about placement.
13:36
She is going to be a companion puppy, right?
13:39
And she's not going to be able to be a sport dog with a leg like that.
13:41
She can't be a show dog with a leg like that.
13:44
Even if it improves, I think it's going to change the way that she ambulates.
13:47
So I think it does make it complicated for placement.
13:51
Mostly I want to control her ability to get to rehab appointments, the ease of care, the inexpensiveness of care.
13:58
I mean truly compared to if I place her with a home right now, it could be that she gets there in time, but for now, she's going to stay with me.
14:06
So out of curiosity, I'm going to send out her genetic panels that I would have done if I was keeping her kind of as breeding stock.
14:13
And I haven't registered her yet, but I plan to.
14:17
She probably even as a three legged dog, she's probably going to do things like rally.
14:22
There's some sports that you can participate at least on the AKC side that are kind of companion events.
14:29
And then as far as Cabana goes, can she be bred?
14:32
Is she really negative?
14:33
I hope so.
14:34
We are going to breed her.
14:36
So I’ll be breeding her on her next cycle, probably going to be in the fall or winter in this case.
14:41
I'm going to breed her to fresh semen and not I had some frozen semen ideas for her, but I think it better that she contribute to the breeding population since she is a dog of so much worth, you know, genetically as well as structurally.
14:55
I think it's just an easier bet that she's going to get pregnant and carry well with fresh versus frozen.
15:01
Not to say that the frozen is why this all happened, but some individuals, it's just a struggle to be able to do frozen semen repeatedly.
15:12
So we just want to say thank you for following us along.
15:17
And just remember, even when you plan everything as well as possible, sometimes things just happen and you just got to keep on keeping on.
15:26
So I'm going to see.
15:27
Well, if we've got any questions, that's great.
15:29
I'm going to grab puppy really fast and see if we can't get her on the screen for you guys for just a minute.
15:43
She's as big as the screen now.
15:45
You guys will just not recognize her.
15:48
I know.
15:49
I just woke her up from a nap.
15:50
Let me see if I can.
15:52
Hi.
15:52
Are you going to come over here?
15:53
Come here.
15:53
Right here.
15:54
Come right here.
15:56
What are you doing?
15:56
I can't believe how big she got.
15:58
I know.
15:59
Let me see if I don't know.
16:00
If it did it automatically Take Me Out of.
16:03
Hold on.
16:03
Let me take out a screen sharing.
16:04
I'm not sure if it's just us that can see her.
16:07
Stop.
16:07
Share.
16:08
OK.
16:08
Let me try that.
16:10
There we go.
16:12
There she is.
16:14
Miss Zesty.
16:15
How cute.
16:17
I also really love the name Zest.
16:19
I don't know if it also crossed your mind that I interpret it as like she owes a zest for life.
16:25
She exactly.
16:25
No, it was a multiple, multiple thoughts on that for sure.
16:29
So great name.
16:30
Yeah, but she's good.
16:32
She says I was just sleeping, but she's the sassiest puppy.
16:35
I really.
16:35
I've had to make a lot of intention.
16:39
This puppy at 3 or 4 weeks old was already dominance growling at me like I'm the boss and you're not.
16:44
And she's going to be a big dog.
16:46
So we nip that in the bud real fast.
16:49
What do you think?
16:50
Having fun?
16:51
Do you like it?
16:53
She loves the spotlight.
16:55
She does.
16:55
She does.
16:56
What are you all doing?
16:58
Amazing.
16:59
Well, Doctor Hesser, thank you so much.
17:01
We truly, as a community, cannot thank you enough for doing this with us.
17:05
I know it is not what any of us expected, but I think it was such an incredible experience for our community.
17:10
I could say personally, I've loved watching this journey.
17:14
I'm rooting for Zest.
17:15
I'm excited to see her grow.
17:17
So you'll have to keep sharing pictures with us because I'm sure our community is very invested in her very lovely life ahead.
17:26
Yeah, well, and she, We’ll have a few seminars later in the year.
17:31
So I'll definitely make a little update whenever I see you guys on those.
17:35
Oh, great.
17:36
I'm sure everyone's going to love to see her.
