Lola's WeBlog

Most if not all of Lola's biggest fans have already heard, but there is very sad news...

While she has overcome the infections, the disease has moved forward and is now severly effecting her front legs. She now has troubles with the wheel chair and can only be in it for a few minutes before simply wearing out. She also has troubles with the stairs.

As a result of all this, her quality of life is simply not what we would like it to be. She never smiles anymore. The last time I saw her smile was over a month ago. As you can see from the pics on this page, she has always been a very happy girl. To see her depressed is wrenching.

For these reasons, we have made the decision that she will be put to rest on Friday 3/21, at noon. Good Friday and the first day of spring.

Over the past two years Lola and I have recieved a great deal of support from individuals and organizations far too numerous to mention. However some it just would not due to not mention:

• K9 Carts East for supplying Lola's dog cart. This device alone has made whole worlds of difference in her well being over the past year.
• Day Hollow Animal Hospital and Cornell Companion Animal Hospital, for diagnosing the condition in the first place, and for helping out whenever I needed it.
• My parents and sister, for their encouragement and support
• Alicia, Liz, Burt, Donna and the many other dog lovers for their support
• And of course, Dexter, Speckles, Chloe, Scout and Trapper

In the end, Lola had a happy if not a long life. At least not as long as I would have had it. But I am comfortable that she was as happy as possible for as long as possible, and that I have done as much as possible for her (and considerably more than most people could have). So in the end, no regrets.

Any advice at this time for those reading because their own beloved pet is starting down a similar journey? The obvious sentiment is to enjoy every moment you have. Also when the time comes to let her go, don't hang on too long. If she is ready, then you keeping her alive for your own sake is causing her unhappiness. As for more practical advice, you need to keep her happy and comfortable for as long as possible. For Lola the wheel chair added months to her life. Keep her active, outside, chasing tennis balls and socializing with other dogs. As she gets worse, bed sores and infections will set in. It is incredible how quickly they come on and how devastating they can be. Jump on them immediately! Get her to the vet and get those problems taken care of.

The only other thing left to say is best of luck to all of you.

I think that I do at times tend to spin things in a positive way. But hey, who wouldn't? Today I want to recount the facts first, then spin it down below. Some of you who know and love Lola may find this difficult to read.

As of last Monday Lola had been on Cipro for a bit more than week, and I had taken other actions as described in my last entry. At that time I was seeing little if any improvement, so I made a second vet's appointment. Shortly there-after she stopped eating and developed diarrhea. Actually I'm a bit surprised it took that long. Cipro is pretty strong stuff.

Thursday, the day before the vet's appointment, two things happened. One is her urine started turning colors. The told me that is blood in the urine, and could be from a urinary tract infection (which the vet already suspected) or possibly from something further upstream such as a liver or kidney infection. The doctor is very worried about these infections, especially since after two weeks taking cipro, they seem to be getting worse.

The other thing that happened was I took Lola for a walk. She has considerable trouble with a lot of terrain these days. I suspect her shoulders and front paws bother her from trying to pull to much weight - lacking any assistance from her back paws. So I took her to the Hickories park in Owego. It is nice and level with paved walkways, kind of similar to Otsinengo in Binghamton or Cass park in Ithaca. Figured level paved walkways would be easier on her than the hilly wooded terrain at Oakley Corners. But she just didn't seem to enjoy it much. Not the usual bouncy smiling Lola that we see in all these photos. The entire walk she just sort of plodded along mechanically.

It got me to thinking. I haven't actually seen her smile since the previous vet's appointment. I'm worried that she has lost her zest for life - lost the will to live. The vet agreed with me and said I should start thinking about ending it. She cautioned me against keeping Lola alive to long for my sake, not for hers.

Finally, before starting the spin, I want to mention difficulties keeping her dry. I think I might have mentioned this last time. She can't walk, but it seems the number of times she urinates has increased. I keep her on a rubber mat with holes in it, to try and keep her up out of the urine, but it is not entirely effective. I've tried keeping her on towels, but the vet said that can hold the urine against her body and make the sores worse. I've also tried absorbent pads, but after lying on one all night she was just simply soaked through. For those of you reading this because you have a dog in a similar situation, be very careful about this. I'm finding it one of the most difficult things to deal with, and also one of the most dangerous. I blame this for contributing to the sores and making it harder to heal them. And I believe the sores led to the internal infection.

Is there cause for hope?

Things change daily, and it's so difficult even for me to keep up. First of all, since last Monday the sores have started looking better, and last night almost over night they seem to have closed up and have a layer of skin over them. The ones on her feet appear smaller (hopefully that is more than just my imagination. As for the wetness, yesterday I purchased a blow dryer. It takes considerable time to get her dry and I probably will not have time in the morning before work. I hope to use it in the evening while watching the news.

If Lola is not enjoying life and has lost the will to live, what hope is there? But is this true? She has an infection, and a fever along with that. I've had fevers before, and I know when you have one you don't feel like eating, exercising or smiling. If we can get her over this infection she could bounce back.

Trouble is that is a bigger if than it might at first sound. She is not a well dog, and the vet is seriously worried she will never overcome it.

At the vet's suggestions, Lola is now on a diet of hamburger and ground turkey. She enjoys that and eats it right down. I've also taken her off the antibiotics for the weekend to try and get the diarrhea under control. The plan at this time is to talk to the vet on Monday and decide where to go from there.

The longer term plan is wait a few months, until the weather is good, probably in May or June. If she has is not happy and smiling then, then it will be time. If she is happy and smiling, then we can hold out until life becomes bad again.

Wanted to make a quick update after Lola's vet visit on Friday (today is Sunday).

I mentioned previously that Lola has sores on her feet and has now developed obviously infected sores on her flanks. The vet commented that such things are inevitable, and after we get these cured it will happen again. We are taking a number of actions to cure these.

First, the sores have two causes:

1. Lola drags her butt around, and that scrapes the fur and skin.
2. When she doesn't drag herself around she has accidents then has to lie in the urine until I get home from work or wake up in the morning (depending on the time of the accident).

One would think the obvious cure is simply to keep Lola clean. That is just not easy. So the vet gave me something called Cavilon barrier film spray bandage. This is a liquid spray that does not seem very bandagy. It supposedly forms a coating to prevent what the vet terms "urine scald" (I call it diaper rash). She also gave me something called Collasate type I collagen. This is a gel that you put on the wound in a thin layer, and it gets really sticky really fast to make a protective layer. (Collagen is a protein found in finger nails and gelatin.)

We also got 14 days work of cipro, the same antibiotic used to treat Anthrax. There is a worry that the cipro will bother Lola's stomach, but so far so good.

But a final thing that I did that is very important is this: I purchased a dog "crate", and a rubber mat with large holes in it, the kind that mechanics use to stand on so they don't have to stand on cold hard cement all day. The idea here is to keep Lola from dragging her butt around, and keep her up above the results of any accidents she might have.

I have been home since we started these things, and results will not really be clear until several days in to the work week, but so far the wounds look a lot cleaner and she smells a lot better. So here's hoping we can keep ahead of them!

Over the summer she spent most of her time outside. I think the sores were less of a problem then because when she had an accident the urine would go into the ground. Now the ground is frozen solid and she spends most of her time inside. If she can hold out until May, things will get a lot better.

As far as booties go, I am not using them as long as Lola is in the crate (doggy jail). Not much point if she cannot drag herself. Better to let air be able to get to her sores. Once she's all healed I'll not put her into the crate, and then use the booties to prevent new sores.

I don't know if I reported this previously, but Lola is getting clumsy in her front feet. I know I have reported that Cornell says the disease will not move forward but the internet says it will. Her regular vet agrees with the internet, and says it will move forward, but she doesn't think that is the cause of this clumsiness. The wheel chair forces Lola to put all her weight on her front paws, and that is damaging her wrists. She's walking flat footed. We don't have a good answer for that as of yet. I've put weights on the back of the wheel chair to try and move the weight back. It would be nice if the positions of the wheels could be adjusted, but they don't on this model. Dr. B (the bet) also says she will look in to getting Lola splints. These are things designed specifically for Lola, and apparently there is someone in Binghamton that does this. But I am worried about the cost.

As I said earlier, the winter has not been easy for Lola. But the vet says she is surprised Lola is doing as well as she is. We cannot expect a sick dog to live forever. But if we can deal with the sores and the wrist problems, she should be around for a good long while yet.

Bad news. The past couple months have been rough on Lola. We expected that. She cannot exercise as much these days. When I get up it's dark and when I get home from work it's also dark. I think this is having an effect on her mental state. She does not seem as happy these days. Hopefully things will improve in the spring. Daylight savings time starts early this year, in March. Hope to be able to walk her at Oakley Corners then (weather permitting).

Another bit of bad news, Lola has developed sores on her feet. This comes from her dragging herself around. I've spent several months trying to find protective booties. Most of what I've found are lightweight things for keeping feet warm. These would rip to shreds in a few seconds. I found plans for home-made booties from duct tape. I attempted this but they did not stay on. Finally located a company in Allantown PA that is attempting to develop a more protective booty. We will start working together to try and develop something that lasts. Unfortunately in the past day or two I've discovered Lola now also has sores on her flanks. I'll have her in to the vets in a few days to see what can be done.

Lola says "Happy Yuletide Everyone!"

Actually Lola doesn't say much of anything except "wuff!" But she says it loud and long!

The long nights and heavy snows of December have kept Lola out of the wheel chair for most of the month, but I've gotten her to the dog park most weekends. In between she spends a lot time sitting on the living room carpet, grinning. Don't know what she's smiling about, but I'm glad that she is.

We just spent a good few hours at Oakley Corners, along with Speckles. We walked the snow-mobile trail. Some parts of it were tricky with ice, mostly on slopes, and boggy puddles. Lola gamely pushed on, navigating around the hazards and grinning the whole time. Most of the trail, though, was dry grass. We had a warm spell on Sunday, with a lot of rain, which washed away most of the snow we've had.

For Christmas each dog got a bone and a new toy. One toy is a tube with the ends closed off and a squeaker, made from the same materials as a tennis ball. Lola never took to it, but Dexter and Speckles did to the point where they got into a fight over it. I yelled and got them settled down, but now they seem to have lost interest in that one -- to contentious I suppose. Another present was a tennis ball with a strap on it. The label said that's so you don't have to pick up a slobbery ball, but I figured tug of war. So far no takers. I think once I get Lola into her chair and start throwing for her, she'll be more interested. The big winner is a rubber ball with a squeaker and feet. I get one of these every month or so. Speckles always takes the feet off in a few hours, which she did with this one, then chews on it making it squeek. It's their favorite toy for me to throw, so always a winner.

I have off until January 2, so hope to get out with her a bunch more in the next few days.

Some people will be reading this because they are in a similar situation, or they see it coming, and want to know how to handle it. Fortunately Lola is very intelligent and at times surprisingly patient. She seems to understand her new limitations.

She likes to sleep out front, under the overhang of the house. When the weather forcast is clear and above 20 degrees I let her. Otherwise she sleeps in the basement with the other dogs. So this is an upside to her condition -- I never would let her sleep outside like that before.

During the day I keep all the dogs in the basement. She cannot hold her bladder as she used to, so I expect to do some cleanup when I get home. I keep a mop and bucket full of water next to the basement door, and it gets used most days. [For those of you who are not familiar with my house, there is a doggy door from the basement to the fenced in yard. Lola has troubles with it, and often just stays in and goes on the cement floor. When she does go out she cannot get back in, so if it's cold out I prefer that.]

When I am home I usually keep her in the living room, where she seems most comfortable. I try to get her out every few hours, but she still has lots of accidents. I've purchased a carpet shampooer, and it probably gets used more than any other carpet shampooer every built! (That is most every day, and several times a day is not unusual.)

It probably sounds worse than it is. I spend an extra five or ten minutes a day cleaning. Well worth the effort.

I haven't written much lately, mostly because there's nothing to say. Lola can walk a few steps, then falls to one side or the other. But there's good news -- According to Cornell, she will not get any worse. She enjoys being in her wheel chair. She chases the ball and walks at Oakley Corners. The roots on the trails bother her and she tires quickly. We're learning the trails with fewer roots, the snow-mobile trail is good.

I also take her to the dog park a lot -- I try to get there every weekend. But attendance seems to be down these days, not really sure why. Some complain about people not obeying the rules, but it seems there's not many there these days to not obey. Others complain about how we are treated by the parks department, department of public works, etc. When the park was illegal and we were not treated well by these same organizations, the park would get downright crowded. So what is it? I think people miss the challenge of breaking the law.

But anyway, Lola enjoys these trips, and enjoys wading in Cayuga. There's one beach she can navigate, not the one with the big logs, but the large one on the northwest corner. There's a shallow shelf there, and I can throw the ball quite a distance and she can wade out to get it.

Overall, we have all adjusted to her condition now. She's quite happy and smiles most of the time. And that's the best news.

Aplogies for not posting sooner. New job, spring stuff and all that.

I fear during April Lola lost a lot of ground. I'm rather surprised - She did so well during the cold months, although cold seems to affect her. So it turned warm and the bottom rather fell out.

I have stopped taking her for walks at Oakley corners, and stopped taking her to the dog park. Getting anywhere with her has become just too difficult. I still throw the ball when she's having a particularly good day. She drags her butt along the ground and smiles, but Speckley always comes back with the ball anymore.

But there is good news. I've ordered a wheel chair. With luck it will be here by Memorial Day weekend, but more likely not until the weekend after. There will be a get together at the park the first weekend in June, and that may well be her wheeled debut.

The wheels should allow her to roam freely at the dog park and to chase the ball. We'll give them a try at Oakley corners. She should be able to navigate the easier trails anyway. Unfortunately she cannot be in the chair when I'm away at work. The chances of her getting caught in one of the potholes Dexter creates are too great. But is should help Lola play and be happy for a long time to come!

Pics of Lola with her wheels will be posted when I can.

Just got inside from throwing the squeeky toy, so seemed like a good time to update the blog.

While she was galloping around chasing the squeeky just now, she has had a downturn the past few weeks. We had a thaw followed by another big snow and another cold snap, making it impossible to walk at the park. During that time she had worse problems, especially getting up the stairs and making messes on the carpeting.

I started her back on her medicine, and the weather has turned relatively warm again, and she seems to have sprung back. You can't keep a good dog down!

She's been back on the meds about a week and seems to be tolerating them well this time around. In fact I've seen a small general improvement in her stomach in the past month or two. Hopefully she will continue to tolerate the meds. Don't know how much of her turn around was the meds and how much is the warmer weather, but I had the impression before that the meds that at least the meds improved her ability to hold her bladder.

Just for the record (my own record - I'll be looking back at this years from now)

• January started warm with rain, then dried out and got cold. We had about a month of dry cold weather, with lows around 0 and highs around 15. Not the coldest winter ever, and rather pleasant as the trails at the park were clear and walking was good.
• We got hit by a big snow on Valentine's day, about a foot and a half, still cold. This lasted about 3 weeks. The snow at the park was far too deep to walk on, but the snow mobile trail was packed down and solid enough to walk on at that time. Temperatures remained quite cold.
• During the first week of March we got a warm spell with lots of rain. We had flooding and even my basement flooded (first time in the 12 years or so I've been in this house). The snow all melted but I don't recall getting to the park after the big melt. I think probably the rain turned to snow so we never had the opportunity.
• The weather predicted six inches of snow on a Friday night. We got that, and thought that would be the end of it, but we had a surprise six inches on Saturday night. After that the weather turned cold again, and we couldn't walk at the park for another two weeks. Lows remained around 0, some days were less than 20, some a bit warmer.
• Well it's been warm now for a week and half, but it's taken this long for the snow to melt again! We had a heavy rain a few days ago, and that got rid of a lot of it. No flooding here this time, but I'm hearing a lot of reports from down by the river. The park is still snow covered, though. Walked there two days ago and came back with very wet feet. There's only a few inches left and it is very walkable if you don't mind wet feet. Checked again today and the trails are partially covered and partially covered in mud. Prediction is for more rain tomorrow (but the sky is now pretty clear), warm and sunny Tuesday. So hopefully Tuesday we can get back to walking every day.

On the walk Wednesday, Lola got herself into the car without help before starting, and after we were done. Well done Lola! Yesterday Lola was having considerable trouble, but today she's doing much better, so I think the walk just tired her out.

Today (with Amanda's help) I was hoping to get all the dogs out: Lola, Dexter, Speckles, Scout (Amanda's dog) and Trapper (Donna's dog). But it's currently raining. Even if that stops I can picture the park being wet, slippery, slushy, muddy and generally yucky. Oh well.

News seems to be good this month. Lola's holding up there and seems to be stable. Just before the cold snap hit we went for a loooong walk with Speckles. I no longer put her on the leash for these walks because I *think* I can outrun her if she takes off after a deer. So both dogs were off leash and jumping around chasing each other and being very playful in the snow. At least it started out that way. I think half way through Speckles started getting a bit sick of Lola's antics (and Speckles is the puppy!) After the walk I had to help Lola into the car, but she'd gotten herself in before the walk.

Since the cold snap we haven't been out for walks. Too cold for me and even the dogs complain about cold feet. Today the temperature was above twenty for the first time in a week, and I thought about going out, but ended up sleeping through the afternoon on the sofa. Tough life! Perhaps tomorrow.

I suppose I should report on an abscess on Lola's back foot. It's above pad and doesn't touch the ground when she walks. It drained last Sunday at the dog park and several people pointed out blood on the snow. Oops. That must've been two weeks ago. Took her to the vet the next day and got some medicine to put on the surface. We're trying to avoid oral antibiotics because of her touchy stomach. The vet warned it could take a long time to heal because of the myelopathy.

Early this week the vet's assistant called back to see how things were going. I reported no change so they switched medicine to undiluted iodine. Hope I don't spill that stuff on the carpet! That was several days ago and still no change. But I'm sure it'll get better in time.

Lola's frame of mind seems very good these days, even tho she's been couped up during the cold snap. She smiles a lot more than she once did. She used to pay a lot of attention to smaller dogs at the dog park, and act very motherly towards them. I took this to mean she wanted to be a mother. So I went to the pound and adopted Dexter the Beagle to Lola company. Then last spring Speckles joined us from New Orleans. Now several days a week a neighbor drops her puppy off to play. So with all these dogs in the house I think she feels a lot more fulfilled, and that's contributing to her cheerful disposition.

Also she's gotten friendlier. She used to be a bit stand offish, but recently she's been coming over more to get her ears rubbed, and doesn't get up and leave quite so quickly when I come to bother her.

Lola says "Happy Holidays, ruff ruff!"

The weather was a bit better in December, so she got more exercise and that helps. I drive her up the road to a local state forest for nice long walks in the woods. Quite often I need to help her into the car before the walk, but after she can get herself up and in. So it seems she has more difficulty with being stiff than with being tired.

Last sunday we walked a good hour and forty-five minutes over hilly terrain. She had no problems and loved it completely, smiling the whole way. At the end of it she was pulling on her leash just as much as at the start. She has plenty of strength left.

Someone mentioned to me at the grand opening of the dog park that I hadn't updated the blog in November. Apologies for being slow. Been quite busy starting a business. But really I just don't like doing updates when there's no good news.

She's declining slowly, but noticably. November was a wet rainy month, and for most of it the back yard was a mud swamp. I had to keep the dogs indoors for a lot of the time and that did not help. Now that the weather has improved I can get her out for walks and throw the ball. She can still run after it, but has more problems than she did. She gets her foot stuck in cracks on the front steps from time to time. My sister saw that on Thanksgiving, and it seemed to bother her. This morning when I threw the ball she fell a number of number of times. Crashed into the fence once, but I think that's because she was watching the ball and not where she was going.

She's been off the medicine for awhile now. Her stomach is usually good, but sometimes turns sour for a day or two and she stops eating. She's on special dog food for sensitive stomachs. Last month for a short period I attempted to transition her to the same food the other dogs are eating, which is also for sensitive stomachs, but after a bit she started feeling ill and stopped eating for several days. I give her zantac when her stomach is bad (on the advice of Cornell), but that time she got so bad she would not take the zantac. She's better now, back on her food.

The good news is her spirits still seem good. Took her for a short walk yesterday and she wanted a longer one. She smiles when I through the ball. And she still pays more attention to the cat than the cat would like. She is definitely still enjoying life.

I'm afraid the news is not good. Lola is still hanging in there, but...

She has started simply refusing to eat any food with her medicine on it. So it's a choice - give the medicine and have her starve, or no medicine. Seems obvious, so she's off the medicine. Since then her limp has become noticably worse.

But her spirits are good and she's enjoying life. When I throw the ball she goes after it. She doesn't seem to notice how bad she's getting. She has some coping mechanisms - you can see how her gate has changed. Sometimes she simply slides her legs. I can imagine them becoming immobile and her not noticing, simply dragging them along as she runs at 30 mph using just her front legs.

But that's a long ways off. She's still using them now, and we're about to embark for a walk. But I do worry about how the winter will affect her. She needs her exercise, and it's difficult with shorter days and worse weather.

Lola's doing well these days.

Lot of people have been asking, so I thought I'd better make an update.

The other day I was mowing the lawn, outside the dog's fence, and she wanted to come over to say hello, so she came over at a slow gallop. She looked graceful and beautiful running, no sign of a limp what-so-ever. I throw the ball for her and she runs after it at a full gallop, and still comes up with it more often than Speckles (although Speckles has gained a lot of weight and confidence, Lola is still far more aggressive).

And I still take for walks in the woods when I can. It's getting dark earlier now, and that makes it more difficult - I have to leave work early to get a walk in and cannot always do that. Also the weather has been lousy. But when we can get out she's good for at least three miles.

As for the medicine, I am now giving her Zantac twice a day, in accordance with directions from the vets at Cornell. She still cannot tolerate her other medicine every day, but I give her that every other day and that seems to work out. And oh yes, she is now on regular dog food. She seems to prefer that over "Lola stew", and the stew takes considerable time to prepare every week.

RANT WARNING I might have some troubles updating the blog for a bit. I've deleted my anti-virus software, and as a precaution I disconnected my phone line from the computer. Why would I take such a step? I've had this particular company's software for two years or so and have never been entirely happy. This year when it was time to renew, they said they would no longer update the virus signatures so I had to download a new version. Ever since, whenever I turned on the computer, within a few minutes a dialog would come up saying "Reboot now or reboot later?". Of course I'd press the reboot later button and get to work - I just turned the damned thing on, why should I need to reboot? So I'd be working away, and the computer would be really slow. And then as I'm typing the dialog would reappear - "reboot now or reboot later?" Now what I want to know is what did this program do that it needs to reboot? Did it dial the modem and download something without telling me?

So then I'd log on, and my connection would act really slow. I'd be scratching my head and looking at the connection speed and thinking "This ain't right," when a dialog would pop up saying "Finished updating virus signatures". And the connection would speed right up again. Ok, so I would find something I want to download, and start up the download. Out here there are no high speed connections (some day I'll rant about my experiences trying to get a connection via satellite dish!) so downloads can take ten hours or more. So I'd go mow the lawn, walk the dogs, etc. And when I'm gone, unbeknownst to me, a dialog would pop up saying "reboot now or reboot later?" After five minutes it would time out and reboot! So much for being able to download *anything*

A few years ago I got hit by a virus. What were the sympoms? My computer got very slow, would log on by itself, the virus would take up bandwith on the modem, and the computer would reboot at random times. So I got some anti-virus software, and what is the anti-virus software doing!?!

(For those of you having a bad day, being a little slow and might have missed it, I'll clue you in - my new anti-virus package is acting just like a virus!)

Of course after all this ranting it would be poor taste to come out and say that this software was Symantic Norton's anti-virus suite. Oops! Oh well.

Lola's been having considerable stomach problems. She first started refusing to eat her "Lola stew," so I put her back on regular dog food, putting her medicine on top. She at that for awhile, but last weekend started refusing to eat that too. Then twice I found dog vomit - both times on the carpet! One has left a stain even with though I used the pet stain remover on it.

This was not necessarily Lola's fault - I have reason to believe it could have been Speckles. But given that Lola has been refusing to eat...

So I started feeding her regular food without the medicine, and by the end of the weekend she was eating again. After some difficulty, I was able to get ahold of one of the vets at Cornell, and he recommended Zantac. So I purchased some, along with something called "pill pockets" - bits of processed chicken with holes in them that you can put a pill into to make the dog swallow it easier. Actually the ones for dogs are too large for the Zantac - they fall out, so I got the cat version. Lola's been taking these twice a day, and that seems to be helping. Most of the time she eats regular dog food with the medicine on it. I've not gotten back to the stew yet. Probably give it a week or two before we try again.

I want to make a point about scientific research:
I actually spoke to a couple vets at Cornell, and they both suggested I stop the medicine, since there "is no proof that it works." I disagree with this statement - there is a study from the University of Florida that indicates the treatment helps 80% of the dogs they looked at. There sample size might be small, and the results have not been verified by other studies, but...

If there have been no other studies, you cannot say the results of the one are not valid because they have not been verified. Until there are more studies, our best scientific data indicate the medicine has the potential to help.

To say anything else is like saying there is no life beyond Earth because we've never seen any. "Lack of evidence is not evidence of lack." Of course I would feel differently if we have no reason to believe. But in the case of Lola's medicine, we have at least one study that strongly indicates it can help.

BTW, it might be worth mentioning that so far Lola is in good health. I throw the ball for her and Speckles every morning (Dexter would rather dig for moles than play with us - he certainly has Beagle in him.) Lola cannot run quite as fast as Speckles, but she's aggressive and usually brings the ball back. We also still go for walks in the woods, or along the road if it's too wet. She walks fine, although she scrapes her one foot. She doesn't seem any worse than she was nine months ago. Is that because of the medicine, or because the disease is just not progressing that fast? Who knows. I just hope she continues in good health.

Lola spent the day at Cornell today, and got another MRI. (I think that's what it was - some sort of image, anyhow.) It showed no change in the "mass". This is good - it is not growing or changing, so it is less likely to kill her. So we are not going to operate.

The doctor was very nervous about operating, anyway. He felt that where the mass is and it's size and all, he'd be likely to do damage and perhaps kill her while attempting the operation.

We discussed the possibility of imaging in the future, to keep an eye on the thing. Here's my thoughts:

1. If it does start to grow the doctor cannot do anything anyway.
2. Taking Lola to Cornell and leaving her there by herself is very stressful for her. She does not enjoy it at all.
3. Stress can potentially make her myelopathy worse.

All in all, it looks very disadvantageous to take more images.

So at this time I have no more appointments at Cornell. I will probably not update the blog very often - only when there is news to report.

I've exchanged e-mails with "Lola's student." I was wondering what "a mass impacting on the vena cava" really means - is it about to rip a hole in the vena cava? Is it going to collapse the vena cava?

The vena cava is a vein or artery (I'm not sure which) that connects directly to the heart. There are two, the inferior and the superior. I believe the inferior attachs to the top chamber of the heart, and so is smaller. But they are both quite large.

Now I've never butchered a deer or anything like that, so I do not have first hand experience with these things, but I suspect they must be pretty tough, so I wouldn't think tearing would be the issue. So if the issue is being collapsed by the growing mass, would it be possible to put a stent in place to prevent that? I would think that would be much less stressful than what the vet had said about pushing the organs around to get at the thing and cut it out.

So anyway, what the student says that the vet said is this: The growth has actually gotten into the vein already - apparently it can do that without causing bleeding. Now the worry is that piece will break off and act like a clot - plugging a smaller vein somewhere. Another worry is that it can grow large enough to simply close off the vein.

In a week, on the 25th, she will be going back to Cornell for more imaging. We believe that will show us how it is growing, and hopefully will show us it is not growing. I expect to get her back on the 27th, and will post the results a day or two after that.

Had the follow up exam with the soft tissue people today. Actually wasn't much of an exam - no new tests or any thing. The soft tissue vet (who's name I do not recall) gave me a consultation. I think we could have done it much more efficiently over the phone! The fact that I had to drive there, at the specific time I had to drive there, managed to disrupt my entire day.

The vet explained that the growth is in an annoyingly difficult location, such that surgery is dangerous and they might not be able to fix the growth. They won't know until they try operating. He agreed that Lola could suddenly drop dead, but he also cautioned that the operation could kill her.

He then suggested waiting a couple weeks and doing some more imaging. If the mass has grown or changed we will operate. If it has not changed, it is possible she could live a normal life span with the mass the way it is.

I have had a bit of time to think about the operation. It could be dangerous, but she will be at one of the world's best animal hospitals with lots of people there trying to help her. If she keels over in the woods during a walk, well then what? Seems to me an operation is the safer option.

As to her health now - good and bad. I was throwing the ball for her last Sunday and she was running and jumping and having a grand old time. At one point she jumped high enough to get her back legs 2 feet off the ground. Her head must have been six feet or more up.

But then later that same day she was scuffing as badly as I've ever seen her. It comes and goes, sometimes in a few minutes. I am hoping with the medicine the good times will get better and the bad times will go away.

Talked to the lab in Florida, and they promised me the next shipment will not include the medicine I got from Cornell (Aminoproic acid). But now I'm wondering - do they automatically ship the meds and charge my credit card, or do I have to call every month to order. Each of the two meds are $25 a bottle, but the anti-oxidants are something like $80 for a bottle (one month supply).

Due to the continuing wet weather, I walked Lola on the road today. About three miles. Hardly saw her scuff her paw at all.

Also noticed her tail is almost completely normal now. It occurs to me, I have not seen her chew it or worry it in some time.

Lola's medications are mail ordered from a lab in Florida. I arranged to get one of them from Cornell and she's been on that since I brought her home. The stuff from Florida just arrived, and I found they'd sent me all three, including that which I had gotten from Cornell. They seem easily confused at the lab. Thanks to the July 4th weekend, it looks like I won't be able to talk to them until next Wednesday.

Lola's new diet is interesting. I have to cook it myself, rather than getting it from cans or bags. It is made from pork and tofu, with broccoli, spinach and rice. I put her medicine on top of this, along with spices recommended by the diet - dry mustard, dry ginger and raw garlic. Lola actually likes it! (I would've thought there's too much veg and not enough meat for a dog.) But she does still act hungry after eating it, so I mix it with her old dry food.

Perhaps it is appropriate to mention the flood of the century here. We live north of Owego in Tioga County, which is not far from Binghamton, which has been in the national news this past week. Tioga is one of the counties declared a disaster area from the flooding. We live up on a hill and well away from the river, so the only problems we've been experiencing are getting around and shopping. The roads and the stores are all closed.

I went in to get Lola first thing. We started with a consultation with my student and Dr. Little. It is degenerative myelopathy.

During the past two days, I've spent some time investigating this condition on the internet, and had further discussions on it with my student.

The myelin is an insulating tissue that surrounds the nerves in the spinal column. Degenerative myelopathy is an auto-immune disorder in which the immune system attacks the myelin. This causes signals between the brain and dog's back end to be lost. She loses feeling and control of her legs. Eventually she will go completely lame.

It turns out that scuffing of one foot, causing the nails to be worn down, is a classic symptom of this condition.

Some of the web sites I looked at said that it will move forward, making Lola lose control of the front legs, and then it will attack the brain and kill her. Dr. Little said this is very extremely rare, and it usually stays in the back. So it could make her lame, but it will not kill her.

There is a treatment for it. (Many web sites said there were no treatments.) The treatment involves damping down the immune system so it stops attacking the myelin. This involves two medicines, a bunch of anti-oxidants, and a special diet. Also an exercise regimen that includes aerobic exercise and walking.

For more information on degenerative myelopathy, including the exact treatement, click here

So we went from a state of little hope to a state of good hope.

*BUT*

In addition, the scans just happened to catch a growth on her adrenal gland. The growth had entered the vena cava, causing a worry. This is a vein that connects directly to the heart. If it gets blocked, the symptoms will be similar to blockage caused by plaques, including chest pain and possibly a fatal heart attack. Dr. Little warned she could drop over dead at any time.

Lola is one sick puppy.

Dr. Little recommended an appointment with the hospital's soft tissue people to discuss the options.

It took this long, but I finally got Lola in for her MRI. I really didn't know what to expect. The vet told me that I would leave her, they would knock her out and put her in the scanner, then I would come back at the end of the day for consultation, then take her home.

I took her in around 9:00, and like any vet's office, waited for some time. A student eventually came out, introduced herself, and took us back to an exam room, where she examined Lola. She took Lola out and walked her, then took her into a back room where the vet and another student would look at her. I was left for some time in a very cold exam room.

Eventually Lola was brought back, along with the student and two other people. One was introduced as Doctor Amy Little, who would be the vet in charge of Lola's case.

Doctor Little explained that Lola had a problem in her back, and they had narrowed down the location, but they would need to do some imaging to find out exactly what the problem was.

They where pretty sure it was one of three things:

• Cancer, pinching the spinal column. If this was the case, it could have metastasized, and might be very bad.
• A disk problem. If this were the case, it might be appropriate to operate, or it might not, depending on what the scans showed.
• Degenerative Myelopathy. This is a disease unique to German Shepards, and possibly a few other breeds. There is no good test for it, we diagnose it by ruling out the other options. There is no cure, and it is invariably fatal.

At this point most people seemed to be thinking a disk problem. My own vet had mentioned that, and Dr. Little seemed to think that was the most likely option. She asked if I would want to operate if that were what it ended up being. I told her I needed more information.

They took Lola back into the back room and told me they would keep her two nights. I could come see her that evening.

I did go see her that evening. They had run some tests but quite frankly I don't recall what Dr. Little told me at that point. They let me take her down to the dog park to get out and socialize, but I had to bring her back pretty quickly, before "my student" went home for the evening.

The x-rays came back showing no problems. The vet said there could still be a back problem that does not show up on x-rays, such a slipped disk.

I had noticed that the claws on one of Lola's back paws were worn down. I showed that to the good doctor. At that point she tried several things like:

• Walking her in the parking lot again. Nothing.
• Turning the effected foot over, so the top of the foot is on the pavement. She took some time to right it, which indicates a back problem.
• Holding the other paws up and walking her to see if she can walk on just the one paw (with most of her weight being supported by a rather strong assistant). She fell over.

At this point the vet started believing me about Lola's limp.

The vet ordered an MRI at the Cornell University Companion Animal Hospital

The vet also prescribed steroids and another round of antibiotics. This medication had no effect. In addition she prescribed a "unique protein" diet. This is a very expensive dog food made of duck and potatoes. It may have helped - Lola started chewing her tail less, and very slowly the fur started growing back. But even so, I have had to keep a close eye on her and stop her from biting herself from time to time.

At about this time I started recieving e-mails about the "horrible stuff" that goes in to commercial dog food. Upon further investigation, I found this "horrible stuff" to consist of meat by-products (of all things!)

Meat by-products consist of things like brains, hearts and kidneys of butchered animals, also known as organ meat. Now when wolves in the wild make a kill, these are the parts of the animal that the alpha wolf gets to eat. Why? Because it is the most nutritious!

In addition, there are things like intestines (which people eat when it is used to wrap sausage), and cartilage (which Lola will eat if she finds a dead animal). These things might all sound gross to us, but dogs are not humans. They have different nutritional needs, and are happy to eat things that we can and should, but do not for culteral reasons.

I have also heard many conventional pet foods have a lot of corn in them, which dogs find difficult to digest. Lola was not having troubles digesting her food, and the vet was definitely concerned about protein allergies.

In short, I don't have a problem with high quality commercial pet foods, and still feed them to Dexter and Speckles.

The vet said it could be an allergy or back problem. I mentioned that Lola had a slight limp, which could further indicate a back problem. We took her out to the parking lot and walked her, but she was not limping at that time. I rather think the vet did not believe me. She ordered some x-rays, which would mean knocking her out and leaving her for awhile.

She did not like being left there at all.

The vet's first thought was it was some sort of abcess, and gave Lola a round of antibiotics. Also bitter apple spray to put on her tail to stop her from worrying it.

This treatment did not help at all, and she continued to chew on her tail and pull more hair out.

I was lying around on the sofa reading, when I heard a noise that sounded like a dog was ripping the fuzz off of a tennis ball. This made me curious, as I knew they did not at the time possess tennis balls - Dexter always pulls the fuzz out and makes a mess, so we stick to hand balls that have no fuzz.

On investigation, I found Lola was pulling the fur from the tip of her tail.

"Now what," I asked myself, "would make a dog do that?" I immediately thought it was probably something pretty serious - if you consider what that must feel like, in a normal healthy dog, then you must draw the conclusion that pulling the fur out of tip of the tail must indicate some problem.

Obviously I made an appointment with the vet as soon as I could