Week 1!

We have survived our first week as an IVDD family!  Sweetie is adjusting and is keeping us on our toes! 

As you can see, she is being abused terribly . She is wearing a pair of the boots that WHN found on Amazon to protect her rear feet. We have noticed that her rear legs now cross when we have her outside on her support sling. Don't know if this part of IVDD or not but we are keeping a close eye on her.

 

We would also like to thank the friend who sent Sweetie her diaper covers from the wish list!  She will be modelling them later today!







Finally, we have a sample of an embroidered portrait that WHN will be selling to pay for Sweetie's IVDD needs- this is of WDA founding member Siku Marie - once framed it will measure 8 x 10 inches .

If interested please email WHN or contact her via Facebook

Day 1 as an IVDD family- UPDATED

Day 1 as an IVDD family- as you can see, Sweetie is  ensconced on her Coolaroo bed in the dining room (currently the family room but will be the dining room come next month when the furniture arrives).She is drinking like a fish and while she is not telling us when gravity hits, she at least allows us to get her outside. Only one accident so far- Her appetite is still healthy- food being her favorite dish and her bed is positioned in such a way that she has clear line of sight into her favorite room, the kitchen.  Her various medications are disguised in some of her canned food and she takes them without pause.

Her siblings are very wary-  Sweetie needs help and her inability to walk on her own has them confused. 

I slept on the couch last night in order to help during the night- Sweetie only got up to partake of her water dish, and of course to remove the socks that we had purchased to protect her raw feet. Tasha and Anna joined in and it was a girls only slumber party. We have no idea what Geoff and Snoopy were doing in the bedroom.

This morning she went out with few issues- but her back is painful, as she snaps at me when I attempt to use the sling.  So with Geoff's help I carry her outside to take care of business- the sling does help and gravity kicks in.  She is disoriented in that she cannot do her usual routine any longer but she tries anyway.

Breakfast went well, as did dinner last night.

As I sit here in the office working on this posting, the DWM are in their usual spots, and Sweetie has joined us, dragging herself in from the dining room. That is a good sign for me, in that I means she is going to fight and be a full member of the family, and not some invalid upon whom pity is shown. It also means that I have to make her some drag bags,  so if anyone is familiar with them or a pattern please let me know!

We did crate her last night while Geoff took us out for dinner- We used her crate and she stayed in it in the position that we put her- head first.  Not sure how this will work for her.

This weekend is going to be busy as we will be making adjustments to the laundry room and its rear entry door to make them Sweetie accessible- by using this door it will be easier to get her outside, as there is only one step, down from the kitchen into the laundry room, instead of two steps out the dining room onto the patio. Even before this occurred, those steps were always a challenge for me and now carrying a 35 lb beagle up and down, it just isn't a safe option, especially when I am home and Geoff is at work.

Other options that will be appearing on the blog as money allows them to debut are the no walk wagon used by Frankie and Ernie- this will allow us to restrict Sweetie's movements in the house while granting her the ability to be in the same room, such as my sewing room;  a wheelchair ramp, to be permanently installed out the dining room door, as Sweetie and the dachsies are used to using that door to get into their backyard kingdom, and a rear wheeled cart for Sweetie to use outside. 

In the next few weeks, I will begin offering embroidered pet portraits for sale to cover the costs of these items and the additional costs that will be incurred due to Sweetie's IVDD. This will be an ongoing source of funding for Sweetie, and the only honorable way that I could think of to raise these funds, as we had already sponsored a BLogville auction to pay for Snoopy's adoption fees when we first moved to Missouri, and I felt that another such auction would be in bad taste. 

UPDATE!
I have set up an Amazon wish list for Sweetie, primarily as an aid for me to keep track of what she will need, and also as a way for friends to help if they so choose.  Please let me know if I have overlooked anything that she will need as we are new to this, even though we have been owned by dachshunds for almost ten years.

https://www.amazon.com/hz/wishlist/ls/1M8FAE06ODJYE?&sort=default

Sweetie Update

Sweetie  will be coming home today, paralyzed in her rear legs.  Unfortunately she had absolutely no improvement at all.

So, our lives enter a new phase-  providing Sweetie with the nursing that she will need the rest of her life. We will be learning how to express her bladder and rectum, via  a towel/harness until we have the funds with which to purchase her a cart. She is happy and we will keep her happy and healthy to the best of our ability.

Life is so hard at times

As blogville knows, this year has been very challenging to say the least.  Our grandmother died suddenly last month, Dad became very sick with E. Coli and still has it, and all four of us has had bouts of diarrhea and Snoopy was hurt by a roofing contractor working next sore.

Today tops them all- WHN and Dad went to a medical appointment leaving us alone with the back door open to prevent accidents-.  All was well, or so they thought.  When they left all four of us were behaving as usual, but when the humans returned Sweetie and Anna were outside sunbathing. Or so WHN thought- in actuality Sweetie was dragging herself to the stairs as she could not stand up on her rear legs at all!  She had scraped the skin on her bottom and rear legs raw in her attempts to get inside.  WHN and Dad picked her up and got her on her bed nearest the back door.  The vet being closed for the night, WHN is taking Sweetie to the vet first thing in the Am.  Dad will help get sweetie into the car and WHN will have to get her into the travel command post at the vet office.

Sweetie is not in any pain- she scoots around on the floor while dinner was being made to our chagrin but is resting now.  WHN will again be sleeping on the couch so Sweetie can stay put and also to give her any help needed outside

Please pray for Sweetie- this is a terrible shock and came out of no where.  We have already priced drag bags and carts and will figure out how to pay for the latter.