Old English Sheepdogs- OESUSA.com

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Spay & Neuter... be a responsible pet owner.
Maggie ~ Meesha ~ Emma & Darby ~ Kaytee ~ Panda ~ About Us

Hmmm... mom and dad are called professionals?

Sheepies In
the News!

Emma, Darby and I made the
local newspaper. I'm shown
"modeling" my Muttluks.

Click here to read the
Traverse City Record Eagle story
titled, "Airy, not hairy: Professionals
offer pet care tips for your home"

February 16th, 2007
I'm Ready for Bed

I'm feeling so much better since Dr. Burke fixed me up. I've got to wear a nightgown so I won't lick my incision and a sockie because I keep licking my leg where the IV catheter had been. My nightie actually has my picture on it! Okay, so it's mom's nightie.

I must say that I sure do like all this food I'm getting to help boost my white blood cells! Because I had to fight so hard when my bladder leaked, my white blood cell count is low. Actually, I'm rather enjoying it though! Doc said to feed me all I wanted to eat but mom reminded him that I was the dog that got into the dog food that time... that story was called "The Day Pandi Got Fat". He laughed and said to feed me 5-6 cups instead. Thanks a lot ma!

February 13th- 11:30PM- Dad and mom picked me up from the vets. Mom was concerned about my SA causing problems if I was left overnight alone. (Remember the top of the Dutch door I destroyed 2 weeks ago?) My second surgery closed up the hole that had opened in my bladder. THAT night went like all other nights after a standard spay surgery... no crying in pain or moaning, it went just as it SHOULD have the first time. This picture is actually of me on Valentine's Day. Mom and her dumb hats!

The Week of February 12th, 2007
Happy To Be Feeling Better!

The Positives: My vets may have figured out why I keep getting recurrent bladder infections and keep peeing in the house. Yay! They did a double contrast x-ray of my bladder and I had surgery to correct a problem. Here's what they found... "Persistent Urachus... the ligament remnant o f the umbilical cord which creates an outpouching of the bladder preventing it from draining or emptying completely therefore making infection more likely. The ligament was removed."

A bladder biopsy only showed that I had an inflamed bladder which is actually good news because severing this ligament may also cure this problem too. It would really be wonderful to not have that urge to potty all the time and not have to be on so many antibiotics. For now I'm going to the fence frequently and in the middle of the night and more often in the house now but this should improve once my bladder has healed. I've got my paws crossed!

The Negatives: That night after surgery, the sutures failed and I leaked urine into my abdominal cavity. Mom and dad couldn't get the emergency vet on call to understand over the phone that something was wrong. After 3 calls you'd think it would be obvious I needed help because of words like "screamed in pain", panting heavy, bit mom, can't walk, vomited 4 times, etc. She said that my breed doesn't handle pain well. At the end of the third and final call, I heard dad ask, "So you can't do anything for this dog." and she said it's best to wait for my vet to get to the office which was still 6 hours away.

With all this said and done, mom and dad think this vet thought all I wanted was pain relief though their objective should have been obvious. Not once did she say, "Bring her in." Mom and dad felt she didn't want to see me and were left with no where to turn... they felt helpless. They will definitely demand to be seen if there is a next time... but will I receive quality care if a vet can't understand the seriousness of a situation? I guess the moral of this story is, "Know where your nearest 24 hour Emergency Vet Hospital is located" even if you have to drive a few of hours to get there. They tried to reach both of my regular vets and two other vets in town that we girls had seen in the past but they couldn't reach anyone or were referred back to this same on-call vet. You MUST have a back up plan should your pet NOT receive the care you feel he/she should! Our town really needs a 24/7 emergency vet hospital.

In the long run, it's probably best that I had to wait because MY vet knew something was wrong and fixed me up with a second emergency surgery. And yeah, I tried to bite him too... it's never been like me to do that but the pain was THAT bad. I'm recovering now and hopefully all of this will have been worth it.