Carol's Dog Blog

The name kind of makes the pit of my stomach turn and my heart lurch.  This is a disease mainly of older dogs where they get tumors either on the adrenal glands or on the pituitary.  The result is an extreme over production of cortisol which can cause all kinds of havoc in a dog.  Chanel may have it.  Chanel is one of very few dogs that I have had since an 8 week old puppy.  She was a wheezer and there wasn't much hope for her life.  I took her thinking that at least I could give her a good year of life rather than her being put down at a young age.  Well...Chanel turned 13 years old on June 4th and ran great all last winter.

But this spring she started drinking huge quantities of water and being pretty lethargic.  I took her in for blood work and her liver enzymes are elevated plus her white count is low.  Both signs, along with the increased thirst, of Cushings.  I didn't do anything for a couple of weeks as I researched the disease.  Some people opt not to treat at all.  The prognosis is about the same....a life expentancy of 2 more years.  But without treatment, a cushings dog pants a lot, drinks tons of water, can become incontinent (luckily Chanel can hold it for a long time and rarely goes in the house) and gets a large layer of fat that develops around their abdomen resulting in a very big pot belly.  Their joints start to disintegrate, their muscles mass disappears and infections are common.  But they can live 2 years like this as the disease progresses.  Or you can treat....there are many different drugs and some of them have bad side effects.  But, if one can work then it can hold the disease at bay for awhile with a better quality of life.

Chanel went in for the Cushings test yesterday.  After fasting and initial blood draw, they give them a very low dose of dexamethiprine then take blood at 6 hours and 8 hours.  I brought her home after the initial blood draw and Don took her back (I was working that day) at 6 hours and I picked her up an hour later and sat with her until the 8 hour draw.  It was sent out and the cortisol levels will be checked.  We won't get results back for 2 weeks so I will be reading and thinking about the treatments. 

On one hand, she has had an amazing life.  And to make it to 13 years is great for a wheezer!!  (also her 2 brothers have already died of other things).  But, selfishly, I don't want to put her down if I can make her more comfortable for awhile and dampen back some of these symptoms.

I'll update when we get results.

Well, at least we know.  Diagnosis from the biopsy: Moderate to severe lymphoplasmacytic and eosinophilic enteritis with central lacteal dilation, mild multifocal chronic LP gastritis.....

We have done just about everything diet wise as you have read in previous posts.  Even the supplements like Digestin and GI Cell support that have worked really great for a couple of our other senstive digestive dogs have not helped Onyx.  From an expert in Seattle the only treatment are 2 different immunosuppresant drugs.  Since Onyx did terrible before on prednisone she is now on Budesonide every day.  Added to that is Azathioprine.  That is the "nasty" drug.  Careful monitoring of neutrophils is critical as this drug is very toxic.  But....if we don't try something then Onyx will die.  The vet in Seattle said only 50% of these dogs get better and live.  sigh.

She is down to 32 pounds.  A bag of bones.  Her energy levels and attitude though are almost like any other dog.  She still has her beautiful sleek black coat (even while shedding!) and her eyes are bright and cheery.

We have also switched her food.  Something I swore that I would never do (and I become quite obnoxious on my soap box about this) is to feed a "dog food" with corn in it.  We have Onyx on Science Diet I/D both dry and canned.  The dry food has the first ingredient as corn.  No dog should eat a diet of corn!!  I'm so against all these dogs foods that have corn, especially as the first ingredient.  But obviously Onyx can't process anything else.  So, now her stools are nothing but yellow corn.  ugh.  BUT...our vet has ordered a different very low fat dog food.  It should be in soon.  I'm curious to see what the ingredients are.  It is not a Science Diet food.  (If you read most of the labels on all the Hills/Science Diet regular foods, they are full of corn and corn products.  Why????---cheap fillers that turns to fat.  No wonder our pet population is obese)

She doesn't seem to be processing this food either.  The vet did say it could get a little worse before her body starts to react to the drugs and begin the healing process.  She is on pretty high doses right now and the object is to get her stabilized and digesting food, then start to slowly wean her off the high doses to where she can maintain with the smallest amount of drugs.

So we continue to battle with this disease.  I will keep this updated as to her progress.

Well....after months (years) of going around and around with Onyx and her diet, she had exploratory surgery today.  In the past we kind of managed to keep her at 40 pounds by changing her diet frequently.  Seemed that she would do well on one food but after a week start having blowouts again.  We would change the food and it would happen again.  We tried dog food of various kinds and cooked chicken.  We had her on many different drugs (metronidizole, prednisone) none of which worked and only made it worse.  She took Digestin and GI Cell Support for months which really helped another one of our sensitive dogs, but they didn't work for her.  Her weight has been dropping and her protein levels in her body are low.  So she is basically starving to death even while eating 4 times a day.

So she got 7 samples taken from her intestines, stomach and liver.  The results should be in early next week and we can maybe find out what is really going on with this girls body.

Strawberry was a very shy dog at the shelter.  Her new owners renamed her Ruby.  We had her here for a few days until her travel arrangements were made.  One thing I always try to impress upon people is to the "right" way to approach a shy dog.  This will be a first blog (of several) where I will try and explain all the different things we do to work with a shy dog and bring them out of the shell.

First is to never pet a shy dog OVER it's head.  A shy dog really needs to know where your hands are at all times.  When approaching a shy dog, your hand should be out in front of you, and you should approach a dog very quietly and gently.  Often turning to the side will help the dog relax rather than facing them head on.  The dog will pick up on any anxiety, fear or forcefulness from you.  Let the dog sniff your palm.  A human sweats a lot through our hands and scents are very important to a dog.  Turn your hand over.   Let them sniff the top.  If the dog is not fearful or pulling away you can pet it under the chin.  But again, don't go over the head.  Let the dog see where your hand is going.  If you keep it in front of the dog they are usually way more relaxed and receptive to a scratch under the chin. 

I am wracking my brain.....what can I do for work that involves dogs?  Training? Boarding kennel? Baked treats?  I have been a waitress at the same place for almost 7 years.  I love working nights so that I can have all of my day time devoted to the dogs.  Skijoring in the winter time and hiking/biking/running with dogs in the summer time.  BUT.....I really would like to quit and find something different to do.  I'm not good at sitting on my duff all day in front of a computer.  I need to have an active job that keeps me moving although I am good at routine stuff like computer data entry.  Don keeps throwing out ideas and I keep cutting them down.  I have been out of the "normal" work force for such a long time that I know I don't want to go back to an 8 to 5 job.  But what to do????  That is my dilemma at the moment.  I am a firm believer that once one door closes another opens.  Maybe I just need to quit my current job and let fate take its course as another job or possibility for working for myself materializes.  But that is always a scary proposition as I still have to feed the dogs every day!!

I have never been out of work.  Never, in my life.  Something always seems to drop into my lap just when I need it.  I'm used to working hard and used to working long hours.  I've done a lot of things from my "career" job of a chemist, to substitute school teaching, baking, waitressing, cooking, bed and breakfast owner, maid, bartender, secretary......should I go on??  I have a ton of skills.  Just need to formulate all I can do into that fabulous job preferably working with animals that doesn't take me away from the house for 10 hours at a stretch.  Picky?  I guess.  At my age I am glad that I can have choices and that I am quite happy doing a variety of different things.

I know it will all come together for me.  It always does.  I've never gone hungry, nor have my dogs.  I just need to get the confidence and nerve to make another plunge into something different.

Don took this video of me skijoring with Shaman Millie and Blackberry, followed down the trail by Sara Elzey and her dog Dylan.  Now that spring is here and the trails are melting I love having a few videos to look back on and dream of next winter.

I love my older dogs.  (Of course I love all of my dogs...)  I can't understand really how any musher can get rid of their old dogs.  After those dogs have run their hearts out for you, have been in your life for many many years and that many people have raised from puppies.  I guess my bond with my dogs overrides the mentality that they are a farm animal and once their working life is over, then it is time to get rid of them.  As they age and change, mellow and settle into their older bones, the geriatric dog brings a song to my heart as I watch them run and play and lay in the sun peacefully.  The husky is a tough breed.  They don't have a lot of inherited diseases.  Their mixed breed genes keep them from many of the woes of the purebreed dogs.  In my video, Beans turned 15.  Another dog tottering through the frames is Crowe who is soon to be 14 years old.  Star will be 15 in May.  5 dogs are heading to 14 this spring and summer.  Many are turning 12 or 13 this year.

I think of them in their prime.  Their speed and their athleticism.  Many of these older dogs are still running and it still thrills me to take them out even though we can't go as far or as fast.  Just the joy on their faces of the run makes it all worthwhile.  I don't care about winning or racing all the time. (although we do both at times!)  I just care that I can give my companions a satisfying and happy life with the geriatric years full of activities and love too.

You can read about Misty on my web site under "successes."  It took her quite awhile to trust anyone and over the last several years this little girl has just blossomed into one of the sweetest dogs that we have.  Lately I have been loose dropping her at the truck after a run and taking walks with her and a couple of other dogs near the truck.  So today we decided to see how she would do on a loose walk from our house.  We took her with Ivy and Mardy who are great about coming when we call them and never run off out on our many walks.  Misty did great.  She will become one of our free running dogs.  You could tell she was so excited about a new environment.  Although she runs consistently in our skijor teams it has taken awhile to be able to totally trust her off leash.  She has proven herself to be able to take on long hikes.  We were probably gone for an hour today on the trails around our area.  We ran into a neighbor on the trail with his BIG wolfhound mix.  Misty was apprehensive with the new dog and with a strange person but she skirted around them nicely and we kept on our merry way.  It is always nice to introduce dogs to long walks in the woods.  The nomadic instinct of the dog pairs up nicely with our long hikes.  We are looking forward to summer and many walks and runs with our dogs.

We have a lot of dogs in the house.  14 usually.  They like to find their favorite places to curl up for a nap.  These can change from one day to the next.  Blackberry, in the first picture is not only curled up in a dog bed but rests her head on a pillow.  ahhh. comfort.  There is always a dog on the love seat.  Robin and Jewel are sharing this one.  Mardy (the Irish Setter), Misty (white) and Blackberry round out the dogs in this picture.  Mardy and Misty are sharing a king size pillow.  We have blankets, dog beds, bed pillows, crates (doors are always open) and rugs around the area.  Did I say I lived in a kennel?  This is really the dogs house, not mine!!  I periodically fix the blanket on the love seat, but the dogs love to pull it out at the bottom to snuggle against.  There is no real hierarchy as to who gets the couch.  It is first come first serve!

A great skijoring day on fast but a little bumpy trails.  Hard to hold the camera, my poles, and take steady pics when you are doing 18+mph.  Blackberry (on the right) and Millie in lead.  Shaman in wheel.  Blackberry and Shaman both came from our animal shelter.  It is a well matched speedy team that is a joy to run.

All through the winter we feed twice a day.  In the morning the dogs get a rich meat "soup".  It starts out as a 50 pounds block of either a mix of meats or chicken.  This block just happens to be chicken.

We score the meat with a circular saw:

and then cut it into chunks with an ax.

This we keep frozen until we want to use it.  Each night we pull out 2 blocks (10 pounds) and thaw it over night.  In the morning we add boiling water to make a nice meaty warm broth for the dogs.  This keeps them well hydrated all winter.  As the weather gets warmer we cut down to 5 pounds each morning and as summer comes on we switch over to some soaked kibble as it is hard to find frozen meat blocks up here through the summer.  We do like to broth in the morning year round and feed in the afternoon.  In the summer fresh water is available every day.  Some people use large bowls or coffee cans on the sides of dog houses but we like to dump the water every day and make sure they have fresh each day.  Since our dogs are mostly either in the house or in large fenced in yards, we put single large bowls of water in each area.  We have never had a dog turn up its nose at their beverage in the morning. 

Social time is very very important in a huskies life (or any dog for that matter).  Even on the coldest of days when many of our dogs stay in the house or the dog barn, we let them out all together in a huge play group.  Dogs are very social animals and love to play and interact.  Some dogs only like 1 or 2 friends.  Other dogs love to play in a large group.  In our kennel there always seems to be one or 2 dogs that are the play instigators.  Shaman and Jenny are probably the hardest players.  They are both from the Fairbanks animal shelter and have been with us for several years.  Shaman is the cream colored boy in the video and Jenny is the black pointer mix.  They can always get the other dogs to join in and run around the yard at top speed.

People have often talked to me about shoulder and wrist injuries in sled dogs.  I rarely have that problem and I think it is because I let my dogs free run most of the time.  A dog on a chain often runs around in its circle in the same direction.  This makes muscles that are not balanced.  Too, with the chain pulling down on the dogs collar, many sled dogs can develop chiropractic problems.  With a free run kennel, the dogs turn, jump, run and are able to stretch out their bodies and their muscles on a daily basis.  Even after a summer of not running in a team or skijoring, our dogs are all in great shape and start off the winter training able to do more miles without any injuries.

Many people are worried about fights.  We have had a few and they are very scary.  All of the dogs are neutered and spayed so that definitely helps.  But we also respect the hierarchy of the dogs themselves and the dogs have great respect for us as the ultimate last word in the kennel.  I don't suggest that people just let their chained up dogs loose if they haven't done a lot of research on pack mentality and hierarchy.  I hate to see dogs chained up all of the time and try to suggest starting with just a couple of dogs at a time.  The rewards that come back from having a free run kennel are great and the bond that you have with your dogs can't be described.

My favorite winter activity is skijoring.  The dogs love it and it gets us all outside for some good exercise.  It tends to be pretty easy on the dogs too as they age and we have quite a few 13+ year old dogs still running.  We don't go far.  Maybe 4 miles with the older dogs.  Some of the trails can be pretty hilly too but I think they like the up and down instead of running just on the flat.  Here is a short video that I took when we skijored at North Star Golf Course on Sunday.  In lead are Robin (13.5 years old) Chanel (12.5 years old) and Misty in wheel at a young 6 years old.