WhiskeyintheJar Romance

Since I don't do Copy a Romance Cover much anymore, Raiden wanted to pop in and say hi.

Hi!

I've been posting pics of him over on Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/witjr30/ periodically, so if wondering what he is up to (spoiler alert - snoozing and catching rays) feel free to pop over there and get your good doggo fix.

I think I've mentioned some health problems we've been dealing with, so a quick update to people who get invested in internet dog lives like I do.

He is a little over eight years old now, which for Rottweilers, is getting up there. Two years ago we kind of noticed what people generally call Fly snapping. This video is exactly what he was doing https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M2t-F3yORZo

He'd also whip around to look at his butt as if a bug was there. His leg licking started to get bad, he would only be able to play for a minute before he'd stop to lick. The vet consulted with a neurosurgeon and after watching videos of Raiden, said they were probably partial seizures. 

We could do an MRI, brain scan to look for a tumor but the cost and fact that brain surgery was not an option for us, had us declining. At this point they were getting troublesome but didn't seem like a medical emergency, so the vet gave me drug options we could start him on and I was reading about them online. 

After his yearly checkup the vet recommended a teeth cleaning, I asked if going under anesthesia would be a problem for him, she said it shouldn't be. Now, correlation does not mean causation as all you good science people know, but when he came back home, the next day was awful. He would snap and pace for hours and when he grew tired wedge himself in our basement bathroom between the toilet and shower facing the wall. For three days that was all he would do. Not a good week for us as I'm sure you can imagine as we thought we only had one choice at that point. 

The vet suggested we try starting him on Phenobarbital. A drug with success in combating seizures in dogs. I wasn't a complete fan of this because I had read how it destroys dog's livers but this seemed like a we have to do something pretty quick. Two weeks on Pheno and his seizures were 95% gone. 

This was about a year ago and while sometimes I can tell a bigger seizure pops through, he'll snap and lick but for only under five minutes, compared to the hours long episodes and no wedging, facing wall in bathroom. 

The vet and neurosurgeon said we couldn't be 100% sure it was a brain tumor without brain scan but it was their best guess. Now that he hasn't regressed or gotten worse, they seem a little baffled but I'll just take any healthy time I can have with him.

About five years ago he had TPLO surgery, basically what would be a torn MCL/ACL in a human knee and we were told there was a 70% chance the other leg would go too in the first year after surgery. We made it past that first year, so we felt pretty good. Unfortunately, though, it looks like, while not completely torn, his other leg is facing the same problem. If you know anything about this surgery, it's not cheap. So right now we have him on Meloxicam, basically a pain med, and he hasn't whined in pain and actually steps on the leg, so definitely helped. 

We did a full wellness exam to see if he would even be healthy enough for the surgery and his x-rays came back no bone cancer, which if you know Rottweilers this was big at 8yrs but his liver results weren't good, his levels were very elevated from last time. 

So, where we're at, getting liver blood work done again next month to check that issue out and make final decision on whether to get the surgery done or not. 

I become a mess even trying to talk about this to people who ask about him, my default is not to even talk about it and just say "He's good!". I don't consider him my "doggie child" but he's one of my bestfriends and it is rough hearing words like brain tumor, liver levels elevated, or even his eyes are starting to get cloudy from age, losing a little of his hearing, or just the tone of the vet when she says, "Now, he is an eight year old Rottie." 

So, please enjoy the pics of him sleeping, smiling, begging for food, occasional dress up, and graying snout because they are a lot easier to post than talking about his health issues. I'll try to remember to post more pics over here but Instagram is an easier format when I'm just posting on the fly.  

Anyway, if you made it this far, thanks for always enjoying Raiden's pictures :)