Category Archives: Furkids

Dandy, Doogie

Dandy at Home

After a pit-stop at Sonic (in which Dandy did not deign to share her popcorn chicken with me), Dandy came home. She seemed much relieved to be home, she waddled into her crate and burrowed under the blankets. Doogie too was very much excited to see her, forgetting to eat as he rushed back and forth from the crate to greet her.

Dr Hayashi instructed strict crate rest for the next 4 weeks. Dandy has been prescribed Tramadol and Previcox and physical therapy 2-3 times daily to get her back legs stimulated. One thing I am glad for is that Dandy still has good bowel control, she is able to go to the bathroom when I take her out.

She will have to wait two weeks to get her staples out. Doc also recommended getting some blood work done because of elevated liver numbers. Until then, doctor advised withholding the Previcox.

Dandy also has a recheck scheduled at the hospital in 4 weeks. Doctor was optimistic, but at the same giving some realistic warnings. While Dandy has some use of her back legs, there is no guarantee that she will regain full use of them. She may be clumsy from now on. She might get worse, she might get better. However, only time will tell.

Dandy, Furkids

Dandy under the knife

After I left Dandy at the hospital, Dr Hayashi called to confirm that a CT scan revealed that a disc had herniated; they would perform the hemilaminectomy on Dandy right away. Post-surgery (about 1.5 hours later), Dr Hayashi called to inform me that Dandy had done well (she indicated that there had been some calcification) and explained that she would be hospitalized a few more days and would begin therapy starting tomorrow. Due to the calcification, she indicated that Dandy might undergo longer recovery, but the doctor sounded optimistic.

I scheduled visitation for Saturday 10am.

Dandy, Furkids

Specialist Visit–straight to surgery

After what seemed like hours of waiting, my vet finally contacted the hospital and I was able to take Dandy in for a nominal $250 emergency visit fee.

Her doctor, Emi Hayashi, performed some diagnostics and determined that she still had sensation in her back legs, but recommended surgery right away since 2 weeks of crate rest and medication has not done her any good.

I was able to apply for CareCredit online prior to the visit and obtain a $3000 credit. The estimated cost of CT scan, surgery and hospitalization is estimated to run from $3000 to $5000. According to the staffer, they will use the CareCredit right away toward the cost of her surgery, anaesthetic blood work, and hospitalization, since they required the minimum of $3k for a down-payment before starting Dandy’s care.

I hope to have left Dandy in good hands and hear how the surgery has gone very soon.

Dandy, Furkids

Dandy Down

As of this morning, Dandy has lost the ability to use her back legs. However, she is still able to control her bowel movements and went when I took her outside. I’ve contacted my vet to get the information on the neuro-specialist. Upon contacting the practice, I was told that the next available appointment was Tuesday, and that if the vet contacted them to inform them this was an emergency, then they could squeeze her in. Luckily Dr Ali recognizes that this is indeed an emergency and promises to call the specialist.

Dandy now behaves as if nothing is bothering her except that she can’t seem to walk right. She doesn’t have the ability to lift her back, and I can’t determine if she has lost all feeling back there.