meeshka

It’s hard to believe Meeshka has been a tripawd for a whole month! My parents had her shaved, because her coat is awfully hard to maintain and had become severely matted.

Meeshka is actually my parents dog, and I just happened to be visiting when they did the operation. Now I am back in CA and just hear news thru word of mouth. The stitches were removed and she’s been going up and down the stairs (2 at a time). She slipped out of the house and went on a 1 hour run with the family Golden Retriever.

As far as this blog, now I am not sure what to do with it. I could blog about my life, or the dog I own here in CA, but that doesn’t seem appropriate. Most likely I’ll just blog whenever I hear something about M, or when I visit the home-crowd

Meeshka on day two

Hello all,
Meeshka finally ate her painkiller infused dinner at 6 am- thus ending her night of ag-o-ny. Poor thing :(. Later we noticed that her stump is looking puffy, red, and some slight discharge. They said it’s normal and days 3-5 will be the hardest. After getting my wisdom teeth removed in October, I can vouch for that. They also upped her pain pills and injected her with something powerful. really powerful. She’s still breathing, but has been very quiet and dozing on and off since noon.

We’re probably going to purchase one of those Ruff harnesses once her stump heals. Also debating the dog coat- It’s 18 degrees here, but she’ll only need it until the fur grows back. I supposed we could sell it when we’re done. Raised bowl stands are also definite must.

Hello all,

Day 2 started with Meeshka taking some “baby steps” –we were so very proud to see her walking!

She inhaled her food, did her business, and hopped around the house. This is the first time I’ve wished we had carpeted floors. I love, love, love wooden floors– the color, the feel, plus they look nice no matter how you decorate the house. Unfortunately the drawback is that Meeshka slip-slides all over them. We put down a lot of throw rugs, but it’s not enough to cover the whole house so we’re constantly rearranging them. Have you ever seen a picture of a large object being rolled across logs? The workers, or slaves or whomever are always running in circles taking the log at the end and putting it in front. Perhaps I’ve been watching the Three Stooges way too much, but I feel a bit like that. lol!!

She wouldn’t eat her food* (and thus half her painkillers) that evening so we had a bit of a rocky night. *To clarify: She’s taking Metacam which is a liquid and needs to be sucked out with a syrange then drained onto the food. I even tried mixing it with peanut butter but she still wouldn’t take it. She’s also on normal pills which she did eat when mixed with peanut butter.

Does anyone have tips for mixing medicine with yummy food? This girl is a master at distinguishing between the two.

Also notable, we went sledding and Meeshka was terribly upset about being left behind. We took our Golden, who loved running beside us, but unfortunately gets ice buildup between his webbed toes.

Meeshka is a Collie/Husky mix, approx 12 years old. Four or five years ago, she started growing lipoma tumors. The first was in her armpit, which would have hindered her movement and so we had that removed. No problem. The next year, a tumor started sprouting between her toes and we had that one removed too. Unfortunately it came back. Twice. Now this second time, it just kept growing and growing. Limpomas were sprouting on hemotomas which were getting infected. It was disgusting. Finally the vet said all they could do was amputate it. If there was anything we could have done to save her leg, I would have done it. So this morning I dropped her off bright ‘n early at the clinic, then picked her up in the afternoon just as a snowstorm hit town. Well, the vet carried her into the vehicle but obviously he couldn’t come home with us! So our first obstacle was getting Meeshka out of the van. Instead of laying on the floor, she had crawled upon the bench and we (ok me) was quite terrified of hurting her. We couldn’t coax her off the bench, so panicking, I called the vet and begged a tech to come help us (They’re only a quarter mile away). They said everyone was leaving early to escape the snowstorm but they’d give me more painkillers. I ran all the way to the clinic and the tech must have decided I REALLY needed help so we drove back. After shooting Meeshka with painkillers, we got her off the bench and onto a sleeping bag which was lifted into the house. I stayed with her until she fell asleep. When she woke up, I decided to take her on a potty walk. Getting to the door was very eventful. She had to rest every couple hops– and so did I. Becoming a human sling is making my back sore! So we got outside and flopped around in the snow for about a minute before calling it a lost cause and hopping back inside. About 10 feet in, Meeshka decided that was enough walking. She laid down and refused to move for a couple hours. 2-3 hours after laying down, she finally drank water. Mom and I decided she’d be more comfortable in the living room, so we coaxed her down the hall and into our living room. Meeshka managed to flop on her bad (amputated) side and started howling, which was an awful noise–especially since everyone was sleeping. Somehow she righted herself, but now I’m so upset I’m shaking. I’ve come close to crying but haven’t yet. X’s and O’s to our wonderful vets and vet techs.