ILoveLucy
New Member
- Joined
- Jul 30, 2012
- Messages
- 18
- Pets
- Dogs: Lucy, Chickens: ChickieLou, Moose, Cricket
Hi! I've recently adopted/taken in a stray Doxie who's about 10 yrs old. She was found roaming outside a friend's apartment with no ID. She appears to have been bred several times in her lifetime and has many tumors throughout her mamaries.
I had been contemplating a pet for my four year-old and wanted to get her a cat. Everytime I mentioned it, she insisted she wanted a dog. :/ I'm not (wasn't) a big fan of dogs but I'm pretty animal savvy and have a knack for all things animal. So, when Lucy showed up at my friend's place and she posted her photo to help find a new home for her, I decided to meet the dag and give it a shot.
I thought Lucy would be a great addition as she is low maintenance, housebroken, calm, sleeps most of the time, etc. It took me a few days to adjust to having a dog again but soon we were set up pretty well. I even decided to bring Lucy along for a two-week trip to north GA. She did great! And we really bonded on that trip.
Just prior to the trip I had taken Lucy to the vet to get her up to date on vacs and work on getting her spayed. Lucy is a standard size Dox weighing in at about 22 lbs and is black and tan with a subtle touch of dapple. She has no microchip and I can't find any shred of a hint that she is 'missing'. She presented some problems- the tumors, and very pale gums, mastisis (infected milk ducts, from which she was producing milk but a sonogram showed no pregnancy). We did the vacs and talked about coming back in a few weeks to finish that up and do some blood work to test liver and kidney function, and a chest x-ray to check her lungs for the spread of the tumors.
Her x-rays revealed a set of very clear lungs but a HUGE heart! Her heart is almost twice the size it should be. Her liver and kidney funcions are good but the blood work showed that she is severely anemic. So we've started heart meds and fluid pills that she may or may not stay on forever, but the heart meds are a forever thing.
My current committment is to give her the most comfortable life as I can for the time she has left. I want to learn more about this breed so that I can better accomodate and understand her and in effect make things easier for me and my little girl too.
I had been contemplating a pet for my four year-old and wanted to get her a cat. Everytime I mentioned it, she insisted she wanted a dog. :/ I'm not (wasn't) a big fan of dogs but I'm pretty animal savvy and have a knack for all things animal. So, when Lucy showed up at my friend's place and she posted her photo to help find a new home for her, I decided to meet the dag and give it a shot.
I thought Lucy would be a great addition as she is low maintenance, housebroken, calm, sleeps most of the time, etc. It took me a few days to adjust to having a dog again but soon we were set up pretty well. I even decided to bring Lucy along for a two-week trip to north GA. She did great! And we really bonded on that trip.
Just prior to the trip I had taken Lucy to the vet to get her up to date on vacs and work on getting her spayed. Lucy is a standard size Dox weighing in at about 22 lbs and is black and tan with a subtle touch of dapple. She has no microchip and I can't find any shred of a hint that she is 'missing'. She presented some problems- the tumors, and very pale gums, mastisis (infected milk ducts, from which she was producing milk but a sonogram showed no pregnancy). We did the vacs and talked about coming back in a few weeks to finish that up and do some blood work to test liver and kidney function, and a chest x-ray to check her lungs for the spread of the tumors.
Her x-rays revealed a set of very clear lungs but a HUGE heart! Her heart is almost twice the size it should be. Her liver and kidney funcions are good but the blood work showed that she is severely anemic. So we've started heart meds and fluid pills that she may or may not stay on forever, but the heart meds are a forever thing.
My current committment is to give her the most comfortable life as I can for the time she has left. I want to learn more about this breed so that I can better accomodate and understand her and in effect make things easier for me and my little girl too.