Late Night Disturbances

Last night around 3am Samson woke us up head-butting the door and wanting out of the bedroom. It was at this time when Abby happened to barf twice on the floor in the bedroom (totally unrelated to Sam — he just wanted to lay in the hallway). That's the 2nd time she's done that within the last 3 or 4 months, and she's also had diarrhea on one occasion during that time.

Last night we ate bacon and pancakes for supper, and Travis gave her and Samson both a little bit of each, so maybe that had something to do with it. Another possible factor is that we changed to a new dog food (from Old Roy Large Breed to Iams Large Breed) within the last 6 months.

Anyway, just wanted to document.

Intermittent Lameness

Samson has been pretty limpy for a couple of months, so the vet prescribed 100mg doses of tramadol for him. She said what we had been giving him (meloxicam — it was working quite well for a while, by the way) only helps with inflammation; it does nothing for the pain. We just gave him his first dose of the new stuff, so hopefully it will make him feel better. The vet warned that since tramadol is an opiate, it may make Sam act a little dopey or sluggish. We'll see...

Aural (Ear) Hematoma II

The good news: Samson's 1st aural hematoma healed without any problems or deformities. :)

The bad news: Samson now has another one. Same ear.

We haven't taken Sam to the vet yet, but since we had some of the meds left over from last time, we're treating his ears for an infection and hoping that it fixes itself. We first noticed it three days ago, and it hasn't gotten any worse. The hematoma isn't as large as the first time he had it, and we're monitoring him closely to try to minimize how often he shakes his head.

We'll keep an eye on things for a few more days and hope that it starts to get a little smaller as the blood is reabsorbed into his body. If we continue to see no change in the size of the hematoma, we'll just have to take him back to the vet. We hate to do this because Sam is getting on in years (he'll be 8 in August), and we would really rather not risk putting him under anesthesia. We'll do whatever we have to do, though — Samson's health is priority #1.

Aural (Ear) Hematoma

We had to take Samson to the vet for an aural hematoma today. Apparently he had a mild yeast infection in both ears (likely due to his seasonal allergies) which caused him to shake his head enough to cause the hematoma in his ear. A hematoma is basically a pocket of blood that forms in the ear; it's usually caused by excessive head-shaking or by trauma to the ear. People who box often get ear hematomas too; it's what causes cauliflower ear. Samson's wasn't too bad. The vet had to drain the blood by using a syringe, and we were given meds to put in his ears to fix the yeast infection. If the hematoma fills back up, we'll have to consider fixing it with surgery. Hopefully that won't happen.

Sam on Thyroid Meds and Meloxicam

Just noticed this draft and figured I'd publish it. Based on the post title, I'm going to assume that this is when we first started Samson on his thyroid meds and meloxicam. (note added October 8, 2020)

How did she know???

So, here's a rundown of what just happened:

Travis said he'd cook supper if I took the dogs for a walk around the neighborhood. Sounded good to me, so I finished up my internet surfing, and 5 or 10 minutes later I got up and went into the bedroom closet to put on my tennis shoes.

Well, as she often does, Abby happened to follow me into the bedroom and as soon as she saw WHICH shoes I was putting on, she was instantly really excited.

I hadn't said A WORD. How did she know?!?! lol If I had grabbed my flipflops or heals or flats, there would have been NO reaction from her at all!

Dogs are so smart. lol

100th Post!

It's our 100th post! So here's a triptych of Samson enjoying a good brushin'. :)

Now back to business... We finished up Sam's prednisone regimen. He did really well while on the prednisone (as expected), but his limp fully returned after weening him off of it. Bummer.

We took him to the vet for a check-up since he's overdue for one of those anyway. The vet said that he'll probably always have the limp and there's nothing to be done about it. He's not a proponent of surgery (in any situation, not just this one), and he says that pretty much our only option is to give him remadyl to help with the pain.

Travis didn't like the sound of that.

After our vet visit and a few days of research, Travis bought some MSM (methylsulfonylmethane, 1000 mg once per day) which works alongside glucosamine to help with overall joint health. He also learned about a common human drug that helps with arthritis and joint pain called Meloxicam. Meloxicam is much gentler on the digestive tract and will not cause upset stomach like NSAIDs; it's also a very affordable $4 for a 30-pill prescription at Walmart, whereas remadyl is $1 per pill. Our vet didn't even mention this option.

Have I mentioned that we're considering switching vets?

Anyways, Travis called a friend at the vet's office and the friend called in a Rx of Meloxicam for us (7.5 mg, once per day). When Travis went to pick up the Rx, the pharmacist at Walmart actually mentioned that it was pretty common for veterinarians to call this in for pets.

We gave him his first pill tonight, so we'll just see how it goes from here. Fingers crossed!