Pat Shields
Adult Guinea Pig
- Joined
- Jun 27, 2011
- Messages
- 1,151
- Reaction score
- 50
- Points
- 425
- Location
- USA MO, Ft. Leonard Wood area
Hi, all,
It's just been one major disaster after another here (one minor). As you know, just before Christmas my friend died, and that kept me on the road for a bit. Since then, my MS has developed a new, painful symptom and I've had to do traveling to get that taken care of, and the drugs keep the pain away but also keep me from the computer as I can't stay awake. It even kept me from going to my aunt's 80th b-day party. Then my Tatiana dog developed limb pain so her surgical hardware (plate and screws) from an accident was removed, and that is when they could see that she had bone cancer causing the pain, not the hardware.
Her leg was amputated by removing it out of the hip socket. Now the cancer has spread to her lungs and she is dying; she is being treated through the university veterinary hospital, and that requires driving. We started chemo pills yesterday to shrink the tumors and allow her to breathe more comfortably; I pray it works. I know the cancer will kill her, and she has begun slight organ failure, but I don't want her to suffocate. She has stopped eating, but she is still enjoying life enough that I must spend intense time with her day and night to keep her from suffering. If I continue to force feed her, as I am doing now, at least she won't starve. It is not time for her to be PTS yet as when I ask "Do you want to go for a walk with me?" if she feels well enough she will, and we walk around the property and she sniffs and investigates and sometimes runs off for a swim in the pond.
The minor disaster is that I cannot afford Internet access for the house I bought, so when I am out there I can't log on.
I am writing all that to tell you that because of all your prior information to me, I knew what to do when Salvatore developed a problem, and I didn't have to log in here in desperation. He woke me up yesterday morning about 2 a.m. crying and fitting, and he had been scratching and had scratched a raw spot. Every time he would scratch the spot it caused him severe pain. Those of you who have treated GPs with mites know exactly what was going on with him. I bathed him (a goodly clump of hair fell out, too), plastered the bare areas with Vaseline and triple antibiotic ointment. I tried to bandage the raw area, but I was afraid the tape encircling his body would restrict his breathing, so I removed that and cut off the top of one of my socks to make an elastic vest for him with holes for his legs. This worked miraculously as he could not hurt himself by scratching. He also got a tiny drop of children's liquid Benadryl, .02 cc. once every 12 hours. I also removed the hay when I cleaned and sanitized the cage, as surely the hay was rubbing against his skin stimulating the itching, like a feather on your face will make your face itch. I replaced the hay with towels as I have no fleeces.
The vet who saw him previously when I brought him to my house was able to see him that same afternoon. Although she still could find no evidence of mites after examining hair follicles and skin scrapings, she decided that even with the assault to his immune system she would begin the ivermectin. I brought Redemption along in case she was giving injections, as if one needs it surely the other does. I don't keep them together but I do keep them beside each other. She gave me liquid and more graduated syringes to take home and administer 1 dose every week for 3 weeks, 0.5 cc for Sal and 0.6 cc for Red.
Here is Salvatore and his little "jacket":
It's just been one major disaster after another here (one minor). As you know, just before Christmas my friend died, and that kept me on the road for a bit. Since then, my MS has developed a new, painful symptom and I've had to do traveling to get that taken care of, and the drugs keep the pain away but also keep me from the computer as I can't stay awake. It even kept me from going to my aunt's 80th b-day party. Then my Tatiana dog developed limb pain so her surgical hardware (plate and screws) from an accident was removed, and that is when they could see that she had bone cancer causing the pain, not the hardware.
Her leg was amputated by removing it out of the hip socket. Now the cancer has spread to her lungs and she is dying; she is being treated through the university veterinary hospital, and that requires driving. We started chemo pills yesterday to shrink the tumors and allow her to breathe more comfortably; I pray it works. I know the cancer will kill her, and she has begun slight organ failure, but I don't want her to suffocate. She has stopped eating, but she is still enjoying life enough that I must spend intense time with her day and night to keep her from suffering. If I continue to force feed her, as I am doing now, at least she won't starve. It is not time for her to be PTS yet as when I ask "Do you want to go for a walk with me?" if she feels well enough she will, and we walk around the property and she sniffs and investigates and sometimes runs off for a swim in the pond.
The minor disaster is that I cannot afford Internet access for the house I bought, so when I am out there I can't log on.
I am writing all that to tell you that because of all your prior information to me, I knew what to do when Salvatore developed a problem, and I didn't have to log in here in desperation. He woke me up yesterday morning about 2 a.m. crying and fitting, and he had been scratching and had scratched a raw spot. Every time he would scratch the spot it caused him severe pain. Those of you who have treated GPs with mites know exactly what was going on with him. I bathed him (a goodly clump of hair fell out, too), plastered the bare areas with Vaseline and triple antibiotic ointment. I tried to bandage the raw area, but I was afraid the tape encircling his body would restrict his breathing, so I removed that and cut off the top of one of my socks to make an elastic vest for him with holes for his legs. This worked miraculously as he could not hurt himself by scratching. He also got a tiny drop of children's liquid Benadryl, .02 cc. once every 12 hours. I also removed the hay when I cleaned and sanitized the cage, as surely the hay was rubbing against his skin stimulating the itching, like a feather on your face will make your face itch. I replaced the hay with towels as I have no fleeces.
The vet who saw him previously when I brought him to my house was able to see him that same afternoon. Although she still could find no evidence of mites after examining hair follicles and skin scrapings, she decided that even with the assault to his immune system she would begin the ivermectin. I brought Redemption along in case she was giving injections, as if one needs it surely the other does. I don't keep them together but I do keep them beside each other. She gave me liquid and more graduated syringes to take home and administer 1 dose every week for 3 weeks, 0.5 cc for Sal and 0.6 cc for Red.
Here is Salvatore and his little "jacket":
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