Ruff has some serious medical problems

Ruffin will need to have his Spleen removed.

During a routine exam last Friday at Noah's Ark, our Veterinary doctors office, our Vet discovered a tumor on Ruff's spleen. Dr. Matt McGlasson asked me to get Ruff in to see Dr. Bruner a specialist, to confirm his exam. I took Ruff in this afternoon and Dr. Bruner showed me the Ultrasound images and there is a massive tumor 8.4 cm (3.3 inches) wide on his spleen that has already cavitated. There is no way to tell if the tumor is cancerous or not but at least there is no sign of bleeding yet. I have no other information until I get a chance to talk with our Vet tomorrow.

On the plus side Dr. Bruner said Ruffin was in excellent health and should have no trouble surviving the surgery.

I am still amazed at how Ruffin is acting. In the last three weeks he has been in to see three doctors and he takes it all in like he enjoys the adventure. Before, during and after Ruff has had no change in attitude and shows no sign of discomfort. This morning was typically normal for him. He got up, went outside did a pee and a poop came in and took a nap.

At the Vet's office this afternoon he flirted with two female staff and one woman in the waiting room. While waiting for the Doctor he smooched one of the nurses. Back home, he ate a big dinner and another chopped sirloin burger to raise his blood count up and is now taking another nap. Nothing seems to bother him.

It may be a month early but it already feels like Spring

This past week we have had more crazy weather. Yesterday we had a fast moving snowstorm that gave us 3 inches of snow. And by this morning it was all melted away. Well, at least Ruff and Bess enjoyed it for a few hours. Here are some photos.

Gotta say one thing about the weather map today. It sure is colorful. Our little snowfall may last awhile. The darker blue band is moving Northeast right over us. Hey, we just got a Saturday Surprise Snowstorm. OK, only a little one, but every snowflake counts. (no pun intended) but then it kept on snowing.

3 hours later the little snowfall that could turned into a snowfall that did. Now we have at least 2 or 3 inches and Bess and Ruff are having a good time. Weatherman said it will all go away by tomorrow.

 

 

 

 

 

 

And today it was all gone. And everything was muddy again. They say it isn't over till its over but I think that Spring is taking the upper hand and Winter is losing its grip. Even when we get a brief change in weather. And speaking of change, here is our 7-day forecast.

And just to put everything into perspective, after I went through some old snow photos of our Rottweilers enjoying some deep snow I happened to look at the dates and they were all taken in the month of March. So this is going to be interesting.

Weather Report: Extremely Muddy

This Winter so far has been one of the mildest as far as snow is concerned. But never-the-less, it has been one of the wettest. We had enough rain to make at least 2 feet of snow but luckily most of it came down when the temperatures were above freezing. Most of the grass has disappeared within 25 feet of the front door and that is because as soon as Ruff gets outside to pee that's as far as he gets. And the bare earth has become super-saturated and very muddy. Since Ruff lost his eyesight I have to take him out on a leash. He used to wander a lot further to take his pee breaks when he could see where he was going.

So it looks like the first outside project to be addressed when the weather gets warm is to put down some new grass seed. And don't expect any pictures. I am worn out from mopping up muddy footprints and sweeping up the dried mud in the front hallway.

I miss having at least one deep snow because the Rottweilers just love plowing through it and having a fun time. Now that we are spending most of our time indoors everyone is getting lots of nap time. Speaking of which, Ruff tried to take an after dinner nap. Bessie thought he needed company.

When Bessie isn't giving Ruff so much attention she lets me know how badly she wants to have someone to play with. Every time I see her out alone in the fenced yard around the pool she seems to be looking for a playmate. I am seriously going to look for an adult Rottweiler around her age so she has someone to run around with like Ruff had with Axl years ago. Meanwhile in the house, this is what I have to contend with.

Another rainy day and more muddy feet. So passing the time on FB. But someone isn't happy about this. I think she wants me to throw her the ball. I love to play catch with Bess outside but we can't do that in the house. Too many times that ball has bounced off her nose and flew around the room.

This morning after breakfast Bessie went outside by herself and Ruff went over and laid down on one of the doggie beds outside of Bessie's little house to take a nap. As soon as Bess came in from the backyard she went over and laid down next to him to keep him company.

 

The weather out here this year has been crazy. I think I mentioned within one week we set a new daily high temperature record (55 degrees) as well as a new daily low temperature record (-7 degrees). One night we had an ice storm and the next few days the trees and shrubs lit up like sparkling diamonds covered in ice.

And a few days ago we had a very enjoyable ice cream party. One of the all time favorite treats that our Rottweilers love is ice cream. Too bad they can't have it every day. Too much milk or dairy products gives them tummy aches so we have to limit this to once in awhile.

 

So long for now.

 

A funny thing happened at the Vet's yesterday.

Following Ruff's scary weekend I can't tell you how relieved I was when he started feeling better Sunday night. My worst thoughts at the time were that Ruff had given up living and was shutting himself down and preparing to die. Friday and Saturday were so bad he couldn't even stand up on his own and I had to lift him up on his feet with a belly band to take him out to pee.

Several people suggested that he was having a very bad reaction to the Tramadol and it had made him feel so sick it was too difficult to eat anything. That made a lot of sense when the affects appeared to be wearing off Sunday afternoon.

On Monday morning Ruff acted like nothing was wrong at all. He was up on his own and walking around and even ate breakfast. So I decided to give him and Bessie a treat.

I had a few things to do yesterday away from the house and because Ruff was feeling so much better I decided to taken him and Bessie with me in the minivan because they love riding in the car. We had four brief stops to make and they were not left alone in the car very long. One of my last stops was near Noah's Ark, our Vet, so I took Bessie in to get a toenail trim. I left Ruff in the car because he was sleeping on the back seat. The car has tinted windows so no one could see him and I opened one of them to let in some fresh air.

I always wonder about other people and their dogs when they describe how afraid the pets are to be taken to their Vet's. None of our Rottweilers ever feared going there. They actually enjoyed the experience seeing old friends and meeting new people. Bessie was very excited with our long drive and she practically dragged me into the office when we got there. I make no excuses for the way Bessie acts out in public. She is very friendly with adults, children and other dogs. She is just very excited when she meets them.

The waiting room at this Vet's office is a very large room divided into two sections with a short 3 ft high wall with chairs against each side. As soon as I sat down Bessie jumped up on the chair next to me and sat down, too. All of our Rottweilers have done the same thing there and we have been going to this Vet for over 20 years. This is one more strange thing that I have never seen other dogs do. They like to sit in the chairs just like the people do.

Bessie was excited to meet everyone so the first two women she greeted were on our side of the divider. As would be expected as soon as one of the women asked what her name was and I told her, when the woman said, "Hello, Bessie" Bessie had to go over and visit. That's how quickly she makes friends with strangers. 

Then while Bessie was visiting her new friends three more women came in and sat down on the other side of the divider behind us. Bessie came back up and sat on her chair next to me and turned around to see who was behind us. Then she stuck her face over the divider and gave one of the women a sneak kiss on the back of her head. Everyone watching her started smiling and laughing. This led to everyone talking about Rottweilers and they all admitted they either used to own one or always wanted one.

Bessie had a great time, made several new friends and everyone enjoyed meeting her. And Bessie also made a favorable impression on how friendly and lovable Rottweilers really are.

Old man Ruff had a very bad weekend.

For the last five days I was deeply worried about old man Ruff. He was having great difficulty standing up and walking without assistance and worst of all, he had stopped eating. Here is a chronological record of the events that I posted to my friends on Facebook. It started with a visit to the Vet's office Thursday morning.

Ruffin gave me a major scare this morning. I took Bess and Ruff out for their morning pee as soon as we all got up. Ruff seemed a little slow in moving but he did everything outside the way he always does. But when we came in instead of coming out to the kitchen for breakfast and a drink of water he laid down by the front door and went back to sleep. 

It is just so much more noticeable when there is an abrupt change in behavior for him to do something so out of the ordinary. Two hours later I woke him up to check on him and took him out again. When I brought him in I took him out to the kitchen and he wouldn't drink any water. This was very unusual because he drinks tons of water and pees every couple of hours. I even thought he might be Diabetic. 

I decided he needed to see the Vet so I got him into the mini-van and took him to our Vet at Noah's Ark. He got to see his favorite Doctor and had some tests done. And while one of the girls was hugging him he got his nails trimmed. First the good news was he was not Diabetic. His Glucose was 105. He had normal temperature and weighed 131 lbs. He did have some puss when they took a urine sample and along with the blood tests we'll find out the lab results tomorrow. Dr. Matt put Ruff on some Tramadol for arthritis and Cephalexen for the UTI infection. And as soon as we got home Ruff had a big drink of water.

UPDATE on Ruff. Thursday, February 1st.  He ate his dinner. And drank more water.

Ruffin Update. Friday, February 2nd. Doctor Matt from Noah's Ark just called with the test results. EXCEPT FOR THE URINARY TRACT INFECTION EVERYTHING IS GOOD.

In fact the news is better than good. When Ruff was developing the brain tumor a year ago Doctor Matt ordered a series of blood tests due to extremely elevated liver enzyme scores that indicated Cushing's Disease. The test done yesterday shows the elevated enzyme levels have gone down two-thirds from what the were a year ago. So his health is better than it was.

Update on Ruffin. Saturday morning February 3rd. Ruff had a good night's sleep and went out this morning to pee. I gave him three Cephalexin and two Tramadol pills with a large spoon of peanut butter. He did not eat any breakfast but he had a big drink of water and he went back to sleep in the kitchen. Last night he had a poop and pee outside around 1 AM before we all went to bed.

As an afterthought, the only thing I am worried about at this time is Ruff sleeping as much as he does but Dr. Matt told me he deserves to sleep as much as he wants because he so old.

Update on Ruffin. Saturday, February 3rd.
5 PM, just boiled a chicken breast in some water with a chicken bullion cube and Ruff would not eat it. After it cooled down I put a chunk in his mouth and he spit it out.

Now I'm getting a little worried. Letting everyone on my Facebook page and people from around the world have been sending prayers.

Update on Ruffin. 11 AM Sunday morning February 4th.
Ruff had a good night's sleep, got up this morning and he had a big drink of water. Took him out and he did a big pee. Back in the kitchen I got Ruff to swallow two of Cephalexin antibiotic pills along with a large tablespoon of peanut butter for his UTI. He did not eat any breakfast.

Ruff then went back to sleep. Since he is sleeping so much and not walking around he doesn't need any pain medicine so all I will be concerned with is the UTI and his water.

Update on Ruffin. 2:30 PM Sunday, February 4th.
Ruff had another big drink of water and I took him out and he peed. Came in and make a small cheese omelet in a frying pan with melted butter with 2 eggs and a handful of grated sharp cheddar.

At first he wouldn't eat it and when I put a spoonful in his mouth he spit it out. Then I noticed how he arched his tongue up to the roof of his mouth when I opened his mouth and put the spoon in. So I took a small chunk of the omelet and when I opened his mouth again I forced his head up and dropped the piece in the back of his mouth and held his jaws closed and rubbed his throat to make him swallow. It worked.

I repeated this until he ate the entire omelet and when he was finished I showed him the plate and he licked it clean.

Update on Ruffin. 3:30 PM Sunday, February 4th.
I think I just saw a miracle.
I was in the den and I heard one of the Rotts loudly drinking from the water dish in the kitchen. I went to look and it was Ruffin. First time in two days he got up to go for drink by himself.
I went out and took the roast pork I made earlier and had sliced up and he ate a piece of it out of my hand. I fed him the rest of the roast piece by piece and he ate the whole thing. It was a small one person sized roast but I think his tummy is starting to feel OK. Thank God.

Update on Ruffin. Sunday night, 10:30 PM (after the game)
Took Ruff out for a pee about an hour ago. Ruff also managed a small poop which is a good sign since his stomach has been empty for two days and the only food he ate was this afternoon.

Update on Ruffin. Monday 10:00AM. February 5th.
Everything is back to normal.
Last night I started to see some improvement in Ruff's ability to stand up and walk without assistance. When we were at the Vet's office last Thursday Dr. Matt thought Ruff had some signs of arthritis. That led to him getting the Tramadol. Ruff got two pills Saturday morning but when he stopped eating I stopped giving it to him.

This morning Ruff was up on his feet before I was. I took him out and he did a pee and a poop and came in and had a big drink of water and ate a half-can of dog food. After breakfast Ruff was walking around the house all by himself. Just a few minutes ago he walked into the den, just like he always did, but something he hasn't done since last week. 

Thank you God and thank you all for the prayers.

It is so good to hear the soothing sound of Ruff's soft snoring behind me again.