Category Archives: Fred

Again.

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Fred had a seizure on Jan 27 2012 – it had been 6 months and 2 days since his last seizure.

Fred had another seizure this morning – making it 13 days since his last.

I’ve had a loss of words for a few weeks and especially today.
I decided since we could use the support and love and im speechless I would leave you with my original post that I did to inform our Hound Girl readers of Fred being diagnosed with Epilepsy.

Fred has canine epilepsy.  When Fred has seizures they are Grand Mal and it affects every inch of his body.

Fred started seizing out of the blue over a week ago.  He was a healthy happy 4 1/2yr old bloodhound.

Seizures are horrifying.  They say it gets easier as time goes by to watch your dog go through it. 

As each day passes that he is seizure free I will begin to not jump at every move he makes.

There is nothing I can do to cure him, but I can control his epilepsy.

This takes time, patience, medicine, and one hell of a fight.

Fred is not in any pain, this is something I have to remind myself of daily.

He may be scared after wards but Scott and I are here for him to help him through that scary time and if we are not Haylie is here to assure Fred this is where he belongs.

Right now there is allot of uncertainties but one thing is for sure no one is giving up on him.

We are hopeful but we are scared.

I’m grateful to so many of you that check on us daily, post on your blogs about us, email me like crazy when I need support and allow me to cry to you when I’m scared.

I owe everyone a huge thank you for all your loving and supporting comments.

FRED is a fighter and is ready to FIGHT.

My Own Pharmacy

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Once a week I have to sit down and divide and cut up Fred’s pills.  This week he had a few more because he was on an antibiotic for the growth that was removed off his side.

I’m sure many of you can relate to this picture.

Sure, I never thought I would have a dog that had to take daily medication twice a day.  I thought my pill cutter would only be used for my medicine.  Heck I don’t even have a pill organizer!!

For those that are new to our blog – Fred takes thyroid medication and phenobarbitol for his epilepsy.

As of last week there were not as many pills he was taking.  Fred had a thyroid level check and his blood test came back showing that it was still low so we had to up him a little more on this thyroid medicine.

Fred is feeling great so please dont worry.  Knock on wood we are still seizure free.  I would sit and cut and organize pills every day if it meant Fred would remain healthy and seizure free. 

Cheers to all the other druggie dogs!!

Fred and the Bump

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Fred has had a growth on his side for a little over a week, we have been keeping a close eye on it.  Its doubled in that week so I put a call into the vet yesterday when I got home.  He wanted to see Fred, so Fred and I loaded up and off to the vet we went.

Its not the best picture because a certain hound wouldn’t stand still but you can see the growth

My vet did have a gut feeling that it was non cancerous but he did want to remove it.  With Fred being an epileptic dog we try not to sedate him due to the increase risk of him seizing.  

Fred was a little nervous today and positioned himself between the exam table and the chair, in hopes that the doc wouldnt see him!

I opted not to go into the “back” with Fred this time.  One of my favorite vet techs was there to console Fred.  I was a little too nervous and that wasn’t going to help Fred.  Today he was very scared at the vet so I just didnt want to make it worse.

 

Fred has 4 staples and some stitches, he ate his dinner like a champ and slept very well last night.  Staples will come out in about 2 weeks.  Hopefully we can avoid the cone as long as he leaves it alone!

I did opt out of getting his growth biopsied, I did this for several reasons

  1.  The vet had a gut feeling it was not cancer – I love my vet and do trust him.
  2.   If it was cancer I would not subject Fred to chemo – he has been through enough in his life, we would just live day by day and enjoy the time we had.
  3.  I would rather take that $140 and spend it on Fred with things he loves and to spoil him!

Today Is A Good Day

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Today is special.

  It marks 2 months since Fred had a grand mal seizure.

Fred still has epilepsy – there isn’t a cure.  It can be managed with medication most of the time.

 The odds are that he will still have a few seizures a year and I’m ok with that, things could be worse.

I can finally take a deep breath.

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**Enter my current contest for a free bag of pet treats (they are good for cats too!) just click HERE

Alot Of Words Wednesday Camera Time

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Don’t forget to enter our contest to win a free bag of grain free dog treats, click HERE to go enter.  Please give the page a minute to load the “rafflecopter” entry form.  These treats are for cats too! 

There is something about black and white photos I love.  They give me peace.  They also make my devil dog look sweet!

Lately I’ve been trying to photograph the dogs in different places and from different angles to try to add some diversity to my pictures. 

Then I realize the more pictures I take the more time I have to spend in photoshop!  Sometimes I can’t decide which color edit on a photo I like better, which was the case with the picture above so I figured what the heck I’ll post both of them!

Camera: Nikon D80, Photoshop: CS5, Pose: me on the ground lying on my back hoping Fred would not drool on me.

Review – Swamp Cooler

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Swamp Cooler – Cooling Vest – Ruffwear

I know some of you may be thinking why in October are we talking about a cooling vest?  Well we are still walking in 90 degree weather in the evenings and we don’t leave home without our swamp cooler vest.

Most of you know that we live in Texas where more than half of the year it’s very hot outside. This past summer it became hard to walk the dogs because the temperature did not lower enough for me to walk the dogs until late at night.  That is hard when you work to be walking your dogs at midnight because it finally cooled off to 90 degrees! 

My problems have been solved with the Swamp Cooler Cooling Vest by Ruffwear.  This coat is perfect for any dog that lives in humid areas or places where the temperatures can get too hot for dogs.

Now that Fred has been diagnosed with epilepsy it was important for me to ensure that Fred doesn’t become over heated on a walk because that could result in a seizure.  Keeping a dogs body temperature down is important but even more so when you have an epileptic dog.

How the swamp cooler works.

    1.  Evaporative Cooling- the natural process of evaporation dissipates the stored heat, chilling the swamp cooler.
    2. Solar Protection -the Swamp Cooler’s light fabric reflects sunlight, heat, and ultraviolet rays.

    3. The Swamp Cooler cools the dog and absorbs the dog’s heat.

The coat fit Fred like a glove with plenty of room left to adjust the size.  We took him on a nice long walk in the coat and I checked him after wards for areas that might cause discomfort (under the armpits, neck and belly) and I saw no such signs. 

The swamp cooler was so easy to use 

  1. Soak coat completely with cold water. 
  2. Wring out the excess
  3. Slide over dogs head and secure the buckles at the rib cage
  4. Get out and go!
  5. Recharge the coat by doing steps 1-4. 

You can visit Ruffwear HERE

This is my second product from Ruffwear and I still believe in their products and will still pay whatever the cost for their products because they last and hold up through the wash.

 *I received this item for review, this is my honest review.  I was not compensated for this review.

Allergies aren't just for humans

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*****If you are on facebook we could please use your VOTE!!!  I entered a picture of Fred and Uncle Mickey for the look a like contest :)   You can vote once daily!  Please click https://www.facebook.com/#!/FetchCorporate?sk=app_262878517080091 to go and vote! Thank you ****

 

Saturday morning I noticed that Fred was itching again.

Fred went to the vet a few weeks ago because all down his back he had these little sores. 

He was given a steroid shot and a round of prednisone. 

Fast forward to Saturday.  Fred was miserable itching again.  I ran my had down his back and could feel the sores again.  Then I noticed in his groin area the sores had spread. 

Sigh…vet time again.  I really should own stock at my vet’s office.

We left there with a diagnosis of enviromental allergies with a secondary staph infection.

Fred is now on an antibiotic and steroids.  I will be holding my breath while he is on the antibiotic because alot of antibiotics can lower the effect of phenobarbitol and the last thing I would want is Fred to start seizing again.

The silver lining is that with Fred getting 6 pills twice a day now he loves all the cheese and turkey dogs that his pills are hidden in!

Fred and the leather collar

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Fred was given a leather collar.

Why you might ask… Well because for some reason people love Fred!

The problem is that the spec’s I gave the company for his neck size is way off.

So Fred never gets to wear his collar because it’s HUGE on him but with help from our readers I have found a place that will fix it professionally for me!

I did put it on him for the football party this past weekend and of course right as I was taking the picture he heard Scott and good ole Fred just can’t concentrate on more than one thing.  It was either pose for the camera or watch Scott…sigh…Scott won.

 

 Stay tuned for a picture of Fred in nice collar in the next few weeks!