Rocky Mountain Great Dane Rescue, Inc.

March 19, 2007

Leena had a vet appointment today with Silver Creek Animal Clinic in Park City. The appointment began with the doctor walking into the room and crying for about a half hour over her horrible condition. She said we are dealing with a series of infections including ear, eye, gum, skin, and feet problems. She is 50:50 regarding whether or not her skin condition is chronic or something that we can help. It is possible her problems are due to allergens, but not very likely. We did change her diet in case it was an allergy to something in the Science Diet she was eating previously. We are going to switch to Eagle Pack canned wet food primarily due to the sensitivity of her gums. The doctor has prescribed Clavamox and Derramax to treat the infections and inflammation she is currently suffering from.

We are going to re-evaluate in 2-3 weeks to see if there is any improvement. If there is improvement, we are going to proceed with a dental as the next step, but she doesn't want to put her through that at this point. If there is not improvement, it will be time to either take her to a skin specialist or possibly even make a quality of life call. She did say she is quite concerned that euthanasia is going to be the only humane option, but we are all just going to keep our fingers crossed and hope for the best! Please keep her in your prayers.

March 23, 2007

We have recently begun to suspect that Leena's skin problems may be the result of chemical burns. Both the Department of Health and the vet concur that it does look very suspicious and chemicals wear on skin and could definitely be the source of her problems, but it is hard to say for sure. We will probably never know. A good bath would normally be in order, but because of her lesions and weeping toes, they would rather us not bathe her and cause further irritation. The bottom line is that if she does not respond to the antibiotics, she is definitely the victim of chemical burns.

Leena is not having a good day today at all. She whined all night. She ate breakfast this morning, but is now regurgitating bile. She is blowing snot from her nose (inverse sneeze). There is still a little blood in her stool. She is only pooping a little at a time. She is coughing off and on and her slobber is frothy with a brownish tint. Despite the fact that it is very painful for her, she follows her foster mom around like a faithful shadow. Her pacing is extra intense today, so we are very concerned. She normally gets her pain meds around 2, but we may give them too her a little earlier to see if we can provide her any relief.

Caring for this sweet girl has been very emotionally trying on her foster family. I just want to take a moment to publicly thank them for their unconditional love and wonderful hearts! We are still praying that we can help her, but we are also grateful to know that if we are forced to make the difficult quality of life call at the end of this, at least we can rest assured she has known what love and family are all about.

March 26, 2007

Leena is getting worse instead of better after a week on the new antibiotics and pain meds. In addition to the issues already noted, we also have started to observe some pretty bad arthritis that causes her to cry out in pain sometimes. What makes the situation so hard is that she has such a wonderful temperament! Despite her pain, she has not had any accidents, tries to go outside when she has to vomit, and is learning to take her medications on command. She does have some separation anxiety when her foster family leaves and paces and barks, but overall she is so well-trained and behaved. We are starting to really worry that there are just so many issues that it may be impossible to address them all to give her any true quality of life, even with all of the money and resources in the world.

She appears to be having an adverse reaction to the Derramax, so the doctor has decided to switch her over to Tramadol instead to see if we can manage her pain any better and get rid of the blood in her stools. We really won't know anything for sure regarding her skin infection for at least two weeks, but the doctor really believes it is a chronic issue that she will have to battle for the rest of her life. If we are unable to provide her any comfort over the next couple of days, the doctor sadly feels that we will have to put her to sleep as the only humane option. We will keep everyone posted about this sweet girl!

March 29, 2007

Yesterday, Leena started limping quite severely on the front paw. On the new pain meds, she is now testy and growling when dogs get within a few feet from her. She is no longer accepting body rubs and will only allow head skratches due to her pain and discomfort. She can only stand long enough to finish about 1-2 cans of food at a time. I took about 2 hours yesterday to get 5 cans down her (she is supposed to eat 8 by body weight). She has two new lesions. A half dollar size lesion on the back "good" foot continues to keep bleeding. Her urine is now brown.

After speaking to two different vets at Silver Creek Animal Hospital, we have made the very difficult decision that her time has come and we simply cannot put her through this any longer. As much as we all desperately wanted to save Leena, she was just too far gone by the time we got her and there is nothing left to be done. The only way we can help her is by putting her out of her misery. We are all devastated that we were unable to give her the life she deserved.

Her foster mom, Carol, was there with her. Many thanks to Carol and family for loving her so much and showing her love and family. She is now happily playing with all the other Danes who have gone before her!