Five Dog Quartet

Emma is doing great! I ran her into the vet this morning for acupunture and phys. therapy, and she walked in on her own four feet. Sandra was excited and said the last time she worked with Emma she knew Emma was on the verge of making a huge leap, and becoming almost normal. I expressed some concern about how she drags her left back foot a little when she walks, but Sandra said that was normal, and she expected that would go away with time because Emma would continue to improve over the next six weeks, but not in the leaps and bounds she has in the last two. So that was good news.

So our little Emma Lou is happy and healthy once again. Sandra says she doesn't think Emma will have to see her anymore, though she would love for us to keep her updated. I am waiting to hear from Dr. Caplan to see if she will need anymore acupunture. Life is good!

Emma had another round of physical therapy on Wednesday. She is just doing so well! Ben and I are ecstatic about her progress, and it seems unbelievable that just last week I was afraid I would have to put her to sleep because I was concerned she would never walk again.

Today, she is bouncing around the house, a happy camper. Jumping on and off the couch, and playing with the other dogs. Ben has been putting her on a leash in the backyard to keep her from hurting herself because she is trying to be so active. She isn't yet able to get on and off the bed, but I am working with her to use the dog stairs for that instead of jumping. After this experience with her back, I am working on getting all of the dogs to use the stairs consistently. Jumping on and off of our king size bed is not good for small dog backs!

Emma has physical therapy on Monday again, along with acupuncture. I'll keep you posted!

There was great interest when Benjamin wrote on his blog about me running the Curly-Bug into the E-Vet on Wenesday evening. He was couging really hard like the was trying to cough something up, and the last thing I wanted was to wake up and find him unable to breathe in the middle of the night. So, I ran him in. He coughed and choked on the way there, but when we got there, he was mysteriously without symptoms. The staff petted him, and said how cute he was, and enquired about what kind of cough it was. When they started quizzing me about kennel cough and reverse sneezing, I told them I had worked in a shelter for 6 years, and knew it was neither of those. This was a scary, choking cough, and with Curly, you just never know what he could have gotten into while playing in the yard. When he started to strut around the exam room acting like he was about to lift his leg and mark something, I knew he was fine. We left after being there an hour, and haven't heard the cough since.

So yes, Curly is a faker! Maybe he was feeling left out with all the attention Emma has been getting. I personally think it's his allergies, so we'll play it by ear, and I'll probably start getting him treated by our homeopathic vet. I'll keep everyone posted, but for now, Curly is fine.

So Emma had her first true physical therapy yesterday. According to her report card, she did the tilting board one time, the ball 3 times, walked 3 times, and did the underwater treadmil 3 times. All that in addition to her accupunture. She is bouncing back very nicely and I am super happy with her progress. She was really tired when I got her home last night, but when I put her down in the yard she was ready to go! I decided to try an experiment, and see if she could walk around without help from her sling.

Well, as it turns out, she did great! She walked around, went potty, ran a little, and fell a few times. She is much happier when I am not trying to help her. Emma obviously has her own plans when outside, and it does not include mom holding her back with a sling! She even played with the Curly Bug last night, though she couldn't quite keep up with him, which I'm sure he loved. I will continue to let her outside while I stand in the yard and make sure she doesn't get herself into trouble, but I'd say she is on her way to recovery!

Miss Lula Bell (Emma Lou) seems to be on the road to recovery. We have been faithfully massaging, flexing, and working on her two bad legs on her left side. I used the tilting board, and physical therapy ball 7 times yesterday, and so far twice today. Sandra said to use it 10 times, but Emma gets so tired afterwards I didn't have the heart to push her. Today I am striving for 10 times.

However, she is trying to use that left front leg (the worst affected) and is using her left back leg much more, and it isn't knuckling over hardly at all. Today, she was able to easily get into the correct stand to urinate, and it was exciting! With her sling on, she also followed Ben around in the yard while I used her sling and steadied her.

We had one slight set back when she attempted to follow the other dogs outside and jumped off the bed while I ran towards her yelling "no Emma, no Emma, no Emma, no"! She didn't stop, jumped for it, and fell when she hit the floor. I freaked out and checked her legs, back, and reflexes. She seems to have come out unscathed, thank god. I have to learn to be more vigilant, because she wants to get moving, and like her Mama isn't being patient about it.

For now, she seems to be making huge strides, and the sooner I can get that sling out of the picture, the happier she will be. I have ordered Emma a Lupine Harness, collars are now only for identification. There will be no more neck straining with leashes attached to collars. Emma is first, but soon all four of the children will be sporting them when we go out.

Tomorrw I will be dropping her off for her first physical therapy, and I can't wait to see the results!

Well I got Emma home last night, and she was so excited to be there! She wanted to run right out the dog door, but of course I couldn't let her, because we don't want her to fall. I ran her out into the yard, to try and get her to go potty, but being a girl set in her ways, she can't get into the right position to go, so she holds it. I feel bad for her, and I want to get her started on physical therapy right away, so she can do all the things she used to do.

I ran her into the therapist today, who works 3 days a week at Dr. Caplan’s office. Her name is Sandra Hudson, and she was so excited to work with Emma because she had seen her while she was still at the vet clinic being diagnosed. Sandra said she loves neurological cases, because it is so great to see them progress. She wants us to get started right away, so she loaned me a peanut shaped therapy ball, and this tilting board to use at home this weekend. The board Emma didn't mind, but she wasn't so sure about the ball. Sandra said to try and do the exercises between 10 and 20 times a day this weekend, to get her started. Emma also got put into the underwater treadmill for 2 minutes so she can start getting acclimated to it.

I will be dropping off Emma on Monday before work, and Sandra will work with her many times throughout the day to give her the maximum benefit. On Monday after Sandra gets some time to work with her closely one on one, we will decide how many times a week Emma should go and start to make some goals for her. She said that usually it takes about 6 months for recovery, but she thinks Emma will make much quicker progress than that. (Crossing my fingers)

So we will start this weekend, and I can't wait to see what Monday brings!

So Emma hurt her back on Monday. I'm not sure when or how, but when I got home from work on Monday, she was having trouble walking. I immediately ran her into the Emergency clinic, where they put her on an IV and kept her for the night, referring her to Dr. Caplan in the morning. (You may remember Dr. Caplan, she also treated Basil)

When Dr. Caplan examined her the following day, the outcome was not good. She took some video of Emma trying to walk and sent them off to a neurologist at Texas A&M for a consult. During the exam, Emma was scheduled for a CT scan and a spinal tap. Since she wasn't in any pain, we just weren't sure what we were dealing with. However, after the neurology consult with the A&M vet, they decided it wasn't brain related either, and since Emma is part schnauzer, many of her symptoms pointed toFCE, which is basically a spinal stroke. To get a concrete diagnosis a Myelegram was done to make sure there was no pressure on her spine, and nothing else odd going on. Everything came back clear, and she was diagnosed with FCE.

The good news is all the research I have done says that with FCE 90%-95% recovery is usually possible. We got off lucky, while she has one limb not working at all, and one at least showing little movement, she still has feeling in both of those legs. Her right side was minimally affected and is attempting to make up for the affected left side. Emma is able to urinate and defecate on her own, is in a good mood, wants to eat, and in general is still a happy dog, though confused about what is going on with her body.

They are keeping her tonight, and I can pick her up tomorrow. Emma will have acupuncture today, and will have a Physical Therapy consult on Friday. I'll keep you posted!

Emma Lou was a little waif when I brought her home from Austin Humane Society to foster her. She belonged to a family who had gotten her as a puppy for their daughter. Two months later, when they decided they didn't want her anymore, they threw her in the backyard and decided to starve her. I don't know how long after that a family member saw her and intervened, but she showed up at the shelter door just before closing lethargic and barely able to hold her head up. An IV was inserted for fluids, and she was fed her first good meal in I-don't-know-how-long. One of the clinic staff took her home that night, to watch over her and monitor her condition.

When I walked into the clinic the following morning, it was the first time I had ever seen her and I was greeted with a happy "roo, roo, roo!” I was sucked in by her fuzzy face and sweet disposition, and since the person who had taken her home last night was also fostering a litter of puppies, I offered to take her home.

I placed her in the master bathroom, since being all tile, it would be easy to sterilize. She was not happy with this arrangement, but dealt with it well. I bathed her every other day in an antifungal shampoo, and it was only a couple of weeks before her fur started to grow in and I knew that soon she would be able to join us in the rest of the house.

When that day came, she was a happy little Emma monster and took right to harassing the other two dogs. Who were older, and not ready for this little 4 month old puppy to be jumping all over them. Ben and I quickly fell in love with her, but we really weren't sure we wanted another dog. When she started showing some dominant aggressive tendencies, I quickly enrolled her into an obedience class at the shelter, and started bringing her to work everyday to get her as socialized as possible. All the work paid off, and soon, one of the students in the vet tech program was calling me, interested in adopting her.

I set up a meet and greet with the student, and on my way out the door that morning, Ben said asked me why couldn't we just keep her? I didn't want to think about that with the meet and greet happening that day, so I grabbed Emma and headed out the door. However, when I got to work I was a sobbing mess, and didn't want to adopt her out. The tech student was very understanding, especially since Emma was not really what she was looking for. Elated, I quickly filled out the paperwork and adopted her myself.

Emma quickly turned into the sweetest tempered of our three dogs. She is fun and funny, and loves to talk. Even to this day when we walk in the front door after work, she does her "roo, roo, roo!" in happiness.