Goodbye Sweet Lucy

My heart is broken my little girl Lucy passed away at home with me by her side last week.  Lucy struggled with health problems over the past 5 months.  She was in and out of the vet office, saw three different doctors and obviously misdiagnosed with vestibular disease.  I always had a feeling it was more than that.

The past 5 months I would hold Lucy in my lap like a baby and cuddle her each evening while watching TV.  Thursday, February 7th was not any different.  I walked Lucy around 6pm, after her walk I tried to feed her and she wouldn't eat.  So I gave her a peanut butter sandwich along with her pills and she gobbled it down.  I was happy to see her eat.  Then she jumped on my lap as usual and I held her, running my hand up and down her back, played with her ears, and just snuggled.  She began  panting, which scared me.  I continued to hold he and thought maybe she needed to go potty outside.  She went outside and did her business.  I brought her back in and she jumped on the opposite sofa from me.  She sat there for a couple of minutes and suddenly jumped off that couch and ran to the hallway.  I think she was trying to get to her crate, but didn't make it.  She collapsed in the hallway.  I was freaking out and called my daughter.  I thought she was having a seizure.  I was petting her, trying to move her to get her out of the "seizure".  But she passed away within a minute.  I'm balling my eyes out to my daughter..."MY LUCY IS DEAD, MY LUCY DIED"!  It was about 9:30pm and had no idea what to do with Lucy.  I draped her favorite blanket over her with one paw not covered.  I had to leave her one paw out in the open just to see her.  My daughter called the wonderful people at Honor Thy Pet in Tampa to make arrangements to have Lucy picked up.  They came around 11:30pm.  Ralphie sat next to me like a statue as they carried her out of the house.  I had Lucy cremated to be with me forever.  She will be on my shelf next to Ollie.

As I write this, I am crying and crying.  I'm having the hardest time with this.  Lucy would have been 4 years old next week on 2/21.  She was way too young to leave so soon.

Ralphie is okay.  I feel he disconnected from Lucy when she became sick.  But each morning he peeks in the room where Lucy's crate was.  He seems to be more giving me extra attention and always by my side.  I'm sure he senses my sadness.   Love.

Goodbye My Sweet Lucy.

Vizlsa - Vestibular Disease - Week 6

Today is the last day of week 6 of Lucy's vestibular disease, or is it really vestibular disease??  I'm not so sure anymore...perhaps a stroke??

I didn't see much change in Lucy this week.  Still with the tilted head and bewildered.  She's still leaking, more so at night.  Lucy was diagnosed with a UTI and more meds were given to her.  She's on Cefpodoxime Proxetil 200mg, one pill a day.  It seems like giving the pills smothered in peanut butter is the easiest way.  I've been giving her Dramamine on her real dizzy days.  Her energy level is low, probably from all the meds.  She's eating good and still drinking a lot of water, but I'm limiting the amount.  I bought some doggie diapers in hopes to save time on laundry.  I just use them at night, but they're not working.  Even though I add an additional pad to the diaper, she is soaking through them and leaking from the side of the diaper.  It's a real struggle.

Bewildered...hiding in the closet.

My poor baby girl. 😢😢😢

Sporting her doggie diapers.

Vizsla - Vestibular Disease - Week 5

Today ends week 5 of Lucy's vestibular disease battle.  Really no changes.  She still has the tilted head, vertigo, and little bladder control.

I took both Lucy and Ralphie to the vet yesterday.  What a fiasco... taking both dogs at the same time!  I made the appointment during their slow time, but it was a struggle handling both dogs myself.  Ralphie just needed his heart worm test and Heartguard.  Lucy had her follow-up check-up, UTI screening, and heart worm test.  The doctor is speculating she may have a UTI because of her lack of bladder control.  I'll get the results next week.  But in the meantime, she gave Lucy antibiotics, Clavamox 375mg, take twice a day for 7 days.  Hopefully this will help!  I'll be ordering Lucy some doggie diapers today.  That should help with less laundry.

If Lucy still has the vestibular symptoms in 2 months, the vet recommends tests and more tests.  I really don't think they can do anything if she had a stroke for the after effects.  But we will see.  The vet bills are starting to add up.  🙁

At the vet. You can see Lucy has little control of her head.

Tilted head Lucy. Ralphie was a handful for his doctor's appointment.

Vizsla - Vestibular Disease - End of Week 4

Week 4 is coming to an end and I'm beginning to worry a lot.  I thought Lucy would be pretty much recovered by now.  In some ways she is, like she's walking better and not flopping around. She's eating, however being very picky.  Her head is still tilted and many times I see her just standing with a look of bewilderment.  She has no bladder control.  Urine is leaks out of her when she's sleeping.

I'm going to call the vet tomorrow but I know they will want to start costly tests, which I can't afford. I understand this can run into thousands of dollars and being a one income household I just can't afford it.  I'm praying so hard that she recovers.

I'm scared for my Lucy.

Vizsla - Vestibular Disease - Week 4

Wow I can't believe a couple of days ago began week 4 of Lucy's struggle with vestibular disease.  She's getting better very slowly but sometimes it seems like she's takes a few steps back.  For example, she wouldn't eat yesterday, but today she's eating.  Her head is still hangs low and tilted.  She's able to walk but still loses her balance.  Still can't jump up on the bed.  Today while outside she was standing outside in a daze, tail tucked low, and had a difficult time moving.  It looked like she was having dizzy spell.  I gave her a couple of dramamine and it seemed to help.  She still doesn't have full control of her bladder, but that's getting better too.  She took her last prednisone pill yesterday, so her peeing should be tapering off soon.  On the positive side, Lucy has a lot of energy, eating pretty well, and walking better.  Time and love will heal her to 100%.

Vizsla - Vestibular Disease - Week 3

Yesterday was Sunday, September 23rd beginning the third week of Lucy's vestibular disease.  It was not a good day.  I went out for a few hours yesterday with my daughter.  I came home and found Lucy in Ralphie's crate.  I knew something big is wrong.  Why is Lucy in Ralphie's crate??  I walk in the living to see my heavy floor lamp on the floor shattered.  The ceramic lamp was crushed along with the all broken glass involved.

I lifted the lamp upright, but it was on the
floor with the shattered glass.

Thankfully Lucy wasn't hurt but she was all shook up, very frightened.  It seemed like she regressed yesterday,  back to square one.  She was flopping around everywhere.  Very scared.

I decided to work from home today to watch Lucy after her horrible day yesterday.  She seemed better today.  Still doesn't have her balance, still with a tilted head.  But it was good to be with her all day to keep an eye on her.  She slept most of the day.  

It's a challenge to work from home without all my office things.  At the office I work with three computer monitors and at home I only have my laptop, which makes a few tasks difficult to do.  Plus I don't have all my daily information on hand at home.  But I'll work at home when I absolutely need to...and Lucy is a perfectly good reason.  However, I definitely feel micro-managed at home.  Eyes are on me all day long.  See for yourself in the picture below...LOL

Ralphie...the
micro-manager!

Vizsla - Vestibular Disease - Week 2

Sunday, September 16, 2018
Today begins the second week of Lucy's battle with vestibular disease.  I'm seeing progress but oh so long way to go.  She fell out of my bed this morning landing on her back.  She just jump up clumsily, very startled.  Still very dizzy, disoriented and no control of her head.  She took a short walk around the block this morning and POOPED!  Yay!!  It's been a week since she had a bowel movement.  The pumpkin in her food must have really worked.  We're taking one day at a time...soon Lucy will be good as new!

Today is Saturday, September 22nd which ends the second week of Lucy's vestibular disease journey.  Lucy is still taking the prednisone every other day.  It's making her really thirsty and she's peeing a lot.  I feel bad for her because the urine just leaks out or she can't hold it in.  I'm up about four times during the night to take her outside to pee.   I'm using pee pads, covers, and  old towels to protect the sofa cushions and bed.  I've been washing all these coverings every day this past week.  Tons of work!

Lucy is doing pretty good otherwise.  She's walking but loses her balance periodically.  Her head is still tilted to the right which hasn't improved.

She lost some weight but she's eating pretty good now.  She still wants me to pamper her and bring the bowl of food to her on the couch and sit next to her while she eats!  I know she can eat from her bowl on the floor because she drinks her water that way, but she still needs that special attention until she's 100 percent.  I'll do whatever it takes so she eats.

There is something to be said nurturing a helpless animal back to heath.  I feel closer to Lucy than I ever did before.  I think she feels the same.  I just LOVE her so much!