Teddy's New Adventures

[bullant12]

What's that ole say'n? "The road to HELL is paved with good intentions."

Some of you got to see the care & attention that I give Teddy on a daily basis at SpYderFest While I'm sure some others just saw a crazy lil dog with a shaggy look'n MoHawk running amuck around Cowtown like he owned the place In any case, you should know that I love Teddy and do whatever I can for his best interest. I'm not a vet, nor a dog trainer like many at SpYderFest had assumed. I just work with the lil guy a lot & we have mutual love & respect for one another, I think that's what makes us "Click" so well

With all that be'n said, I think I almost killed my lil buddy last night We were suppose to take his new over to my best friends house so he could help install TEDDYS new GPS & Rear View Camera System. After I got home yesterday, (expecting another mess to clean up) Teddy seemed almost like his usual self, no mistakes to clean & he was VERY HAPPY to see me, jump'n around like a crazy dog So I took him out to potty, and he #1'd a bunch, but no #2. I was a lil concerned, but if you had seen what I cleaned up the previous day, you would understand why I was sure he was just "empty." Well, I didn't take this into consideration when I gave him his meds. I had even asked our vet here about giving him so much at the same time, & she reassured me it shouldn't be a problem. I believe, when going over all the meds with me, she might have told me to make sure he had already eaten, but that wasn't listed on any of his med. bottles, so I gave him his 1/4 pain pill with a bit of PNut Butter, then his Anti-Inflamatory liquid, then his liquid pain med for his collapsing trachea.

For those of you not familiar with small breed dogs, the price you pay for selective breeding can be detrimental health issues for the animal. That's the main reason I got out of breeding when I was married & lived in Florida. They preach breeding for the betterment of the breed, but so many times, it's exactly opposite that. With breeding poms down in size thru out the ages, we have compromised there bodies and many are subject to various health issues. Teddy has two of them. A collapsing trachea, which means that when he gets excited or stressed, his tiny wind-pipe (trachea) has a tendency to close on it's own, called a "collapsing trachea" causing him to cough uncontrollably & gasp for air. The other as I'm sure your aware of is his "Luxating Patella." Thats where his ligament going from his knee-cap to his lower leg has a tendency, when over exerted, to "pop" out of position causing pain & gimpiness until it's back in position.

Well, back to the point, his food and water was down & available but he hadn't eaten & I gave him all his meds. I decided to go ahead & shave him down as the most of the cold weather should be behind us He was being really good about get'n shaved, & with treats in hand, it usually isn't a hard thing to get done. But about half way thru, I could tell he was really tired, cause he was just standing there with his eyes closed letting me clip away. Next thing I knew, I thought he was just try'n to lie down so I couldn't trim under his belly & arms (seems to be ticklish) but his whole body went limp & he just kinda crumpled right there on the floor Talking about Spaz'n out, what do you do in a case like this You can't call 911 for animals

Anyways, got in touch with a vet tech & since I could tell he was still breathing, she suggested I take a small ice cube & hold it to his tongue for a few seconds & BAM!!! That did the trick It was almost like reanimation, he just came back to life. Seems since he didn't have anything in his stomach to help absorb all his meds. that his blood pressure dropped quickly & that's what caused him to collapse (pass out) & that the shock of the ice on his tongue got his adrenaline running again & perked him right up He was still very aloof for the next couple of hours, but after eating & drinking, he seemed back to his normal self

Never a dull moment with this pup around, thats for sure
Lesson of the day-
Only give meds after eating, never before

WOW Quite a scare!!! Nice to know that ice in the tongue technique helped... never heard of it!!

[jvicker]

Wow! Glad everything is ok, again. Looks like you could use a vacation after your vacation.

[CyncySpyder]

WOW Quite a scare!!! Nice to know that ice in the tongue technique helped... never heard of it!!

Yeah, me either. I'm just glad that it DID work. Don't even wanna think of what may have happened if it didn't

Wow! Glad everything is ok, again. Looks like you could use a vacation after your vacation.

Ain't that the truth but there's no vacation from the Tedster, he's 24/7/365 & I like it like that Tho, I learned a few things from SpyderFest that I'll change for when we go to Maggie Valley in May & that will hopefully give us a more enjoyable experience without over taxing the lil guy

Thanks everyone for all your concern and well wishes. I've read them all to Teddy & we both really appreciate it

[draboo]

Great to hear about the ice cube. Will keep it in the archives.

Seems like Teddy and Kiddo share that common Pom handicap. Kiddo is half Pom and half Shih zue. She started that "honking" thing when she was a few months old. We give her a quarter tab of some sort of med, possibly an antihistamine, 1 of 2x a day with a blob of string cheese. If we let it go for a few days, she does start "honking" again. We had another pom 20 years ago that did the same thing when he got excited.

A side note about Benedryl. It is pretty much harmless. We give it to Kiddo to calm her down in extreme stress situations, like airplane rides. WITH FOOD, of course!

Benadryl for Dogs

How is Teddys leg?

[CyncySpyder]

Great to hear
Benadryl for Dogs

How is Teddys leg?

Thanks for the tip. Teds leg is there, tho getting him to not jump or run on it is a losing battle. He'll be running fine one minute. & the next he's back to be'n gimpy: (

[2Gunns]

Teddy's newest adventure is turning me into a CAT PERSON...... my heart can't take the excitement. GEEZ... I bet you did "spaz-out"

[DynamoBT]

Scary stuff!!! I can't imagine having my dog collapse like that! I'm so glad you were able to revive Teddy!!! He is quite the character!!!

All the problems you mention with small breeds is all something to take into consideration when I start looking for our next breed of dog. We want to go "smaller". Bullies are big and strong and an awful lot of work!!! We just want a couch potato!! But, lots of small breeds have their issues. Heck, big dogs have their issues too!! There isn't a breed out there that doesn't have health problems. One needs to do their research and find a breeder who health tests all her breeding animals. No guarantee of course that the pups will be problem free. But, you do the best you can.

Good luck keeping Teddy quiet!!!!

[napper39]

im glad things are getting better hope there are no more bad times for your best friend..

[NancysToy]

Great to hear about the ice cube. Will keep it in the archives.

Seems like Teddy and Kiddo share that common Pom handicap. Kiddo is half Pom and half Shih zue. She started that "honking" thing when she was a few months old. We give her a quarter tab of some sort of med, possibly an antihistamine, 1 of 2x a day with a blob of string cheese. If we let it go for a few days, she does start "honking" again. We had another pom 20 years ago that did the same thing when he got excited.

A side note about Benedryl. It is pretty much harmless. We give it to Kiddo to calm her down in extreme stress situations, like airplane rides. WITH FOOD, of course!

Benadryl for Dogs

How is Teddys leg?

Shih-Tzus have the collapsing trachea problem, too. Most of ours had it.

[Spyder Cat]

what a scare! Sure glad Teddy's okay!!!!
Leroy scared me like that when he was 9 months old. He died in my arms (we can only guess he was stung by a bee)
and I had to do CPR til we got him to the vet. So, I carry benedryl with us everywhere we go now!
Glad to know about the ice trick!!! Hadn't heard that one before!!!

[CyncySpyder]

Thanks everyone for your concern about Teddy It's just gonna be day by day with him for a while. He goes back to his vet on Manday to check his progress.
I gave up on his pain pills, he just refuses to swallow them. And yes, I've tried most the tricks I know about putting them inside food/P-Nut butter but he'll just eat the food & somehow manages to spit the tablet out. It must taste really really bad, cause I even faught with him once to MAKE him swallow it, & yeah, down it went. But as soon as I released him, hack hack cough cough, pop comes the pill. So, with his trachea issues, I probably just made it worse

We left about an hour late yesterday for our road trip up to Columbus at the Ohio Spyder Ryders Cinco de Myo get together. Cause why, yup, cause of me try'n to do the right thing but only making things worse When I gear up Teddy, I sit & he jumps on my lap & assumes the position for getting his harness & riding gear on. After that, he usually just jumps down & shakes to make everything shift into place for him. Well me be me, thinking he shouldn't be jumping down on a sore leg, I pick him up from my lap & set him on the floor. Which he immediately falls on his side & gets up limping & gimpy again with a lil look of confusion & a lil whimper of pain

He still had fun running around at the meet n greet as did I
Tho, we didn't make it home til almost 11:30pm & I had to be up for work at 4:30am

[Jewels]

hope your sweet doggie keeps getting better! We look forward to seeing him again riding his SPYDER! He is so cute!

[BMF_RACING]

Wow, sorry to hear about Teddy troubles. I will have him in my prayers for a fast recovery.

[CyncySpyder]

OK, so I'm stressed out, and like they say, when you get stressed it lowers your immune system, & yeah, so now I have a Frik'n cold. Can't breath or sleep & a sore throat like crazy.

Went over to my best friends house yesterday after work, but I was too out of it to help him take the tupperware off Teddy's new so we can start the mods of its new GPS & Rear View Camera system. So we are gonna try again today after he gets off work around 2pm. Thankfully, Im off on the weekends usually & am off this weekend.

I think I may have lost my cell phone & its my ONLY phone. I may have left it over at his house last night (at least Im hoping I did) cause I cant find the dang thing anywhere So if your wondering why NO PICS/VIDS, when we first got home from SpyderFest, I couldn't find the cord to connect my cell (which I use to take all the pics) to my computer so I couldn't upload any of our SpyderFest Pics or Vids & now that I went & bought a new cord yesterday, I can't seem to find my cell. Not to mention, the cord I got at Verizon yesterday looks to be the wrong cord, cause I just cleaned out the Camper & found the lost cord & they have two different end connections

Teddy refuses to take his pain meds in pill form & Ive given up try'n, cause Im just causing him & myself too much stress. I told his vet how hard it is to try to get him to swallow tablets, but we were thinking with p-nut butter/greenies that it would work. But no such luck. Now this morning, he was fine going out, but when coming back in, he musta twisted it wrong again, & back to gimp mode he goes. I know he's in pain, but damn, this is killing me. I wish i was the one hurting, and not him. He's just laying at my feet looking at me & you can just see the pain in his eyes

I think someone stated that it sounds like I need a vacation from my vacation ...... AMEN!

This too shall pass & all will be well again soon. Keep the faith.... DAMNIT!!!

[Spyder Cat]

Wow, sounds like you're really in a sucky place to be right now. Not only a cold but Teddy giving you such anxiety as well. That's the last thing you need is relationship 'issues' with the Tedster. The whole swallowing the pill thing may be triggering his memory of the 'meds on an empty stomach' episode . . . and who wants to go thru that again, anyway?!
If Teddy's anything like Leroy, prying those jaws apart to insert a pill & shoving it down his throat is never a happy moment.

Glad you have the day off. Hope you can rest up and get better.

[NancysToy]

We always found that wrapping the pills in a little chunk of Velveeta worked for even our most discerning dogs.

[dancogan]

When cheese or peanut butter didn't work, we would place the pill on the very back of the tongue and then hold the muzzle, gently but firmly, closed until he or she swallowed. The pill would go down eventually.

Anyway, best wishes to both of you.

[NancysToy]

When cheese or peanut butter didn't work, we would place the pill on the very back of the tongue and then hold the muzzle, gently but firmly, closed until he or she swallowed. The pill would go down eventually.

Anyway, best wishes to both of you.

Been there, still have the nicks in my knuckles to prove it.

[Yazz]

It was a real treat to meet the Tedster. Have seen how he refuses to eat a snack.

We had cats that were hard to give pills to. We crushed up the pill, mixed it with peanut butter, or for real picky ones, a strong smelling food they enjoy, like tuna fish, and put it on their nose. They go nuts trying to lick it off.

Hope Teddy is getting better. Even if its in small increments each day.

[Marker]

It was a real treat to meet the Tedster. Have seen how he refuses to eat a snack.

We had cats that were hard to give pills to. We crushed up the pill, mixed it with peanut butter, or for real picky ones, a strong smelling food they enjoy, like tuna fish, and put it on their nose. They go nuts trying to lick it off.

Hope Teddy is getting better. Even if its in small increments each day.

We use pill pockerts to give our cats pills, and the pill pockets work the cats eat pills and all

[CyncySpyder]

Teddy goes back to vet today for week 1 follow up & unfortunately I don't think it's going to be good news at all, but I'm try'n to keep a positive outlook. All weekend tho, as soon as he'd start feel'n better, he'd start running around & just about every time, he'd go into "Gimp Home Mode" I swear he's been hang'n around the too much & he caught a version of the "Limp Home Mode"

Once I get situated a lil better, I'll upload pics i haven't been able to get on here. We tore apart teds new red sled and I saw things I've never see'n before Kinda like Frankinsteins Monster there for a lil while, but we got her all back together now with a brand spanking new Garmin Zumo 665 GPS so we don't have to worry about weather anymore on road trips

[murphybrown]

Yep little dogs have that issue...but wow Teddy has the world's best "Dad" to take care of him...what a privileged, gorgeous dog he is!!!!
Keep us posted....

[CyncySpyder]

Ok, let's see, you wanna know what's going on with Teddy, so let's discuss that first

Took the lil guy for his follow up visit to his vet on Monday & she thinks it's best to just wait & see what happens. For the most part, he's doing well. It's just when he gets excited & starts jumping around that he causes himself issues & that's one thing I can't seem go get him to understand. When I try to calm him down, he seems to think he did something wrong & he is be'n corrected, but thats just not the case. So, we are struggling a lil bit with our communication, but day by day, it's getting better.

Sorry I haven't been keep'n up the thread more consistently, but I'm getting over a cold & helping my best friend paint just about everyday as soon as I get home from work, take care of Teddy for about an hour, then we gear up & head over to his place to paint Going thru a divorce is hard enough & I've been there, done that, got the T-Shirt to prove it. So, I'm just trying to do the right thing and be there for him & help in any way we can after all, isn't that what friends are for? So, after we moved his ex out, it's time to clean out the house & start over & adding fresh paint is a great way to start

Have to admit, I didn't think I could love the any more than I had, but WOW!!! TEDDYS new 2011 #1 of 5 SpYderFest EdDition RT-S in Viper Red has me BLOWED AWAY!!! These Elka Shocks are the BOMB!!! I've NEVER HAD SO MUCH FUN DOING 40 MPH IN MY LYFE!!! My friend lives out by the airport & I can take route 8 along the river all the way til it dead ends to get to his house, & it's a fun twisty road that just begs for a good Ryde'n & Teds new Red Sled just loves to chew up the asphalt & begs for more. Lower your center of gravity, shield all the way down, keep a VERY light grip on the bar & lean into the twisties & OH YEAH the GRIN gets permanently glued to my mug

Teddy & I both say,
Thank You Len & Cowtown

Side Note.... Think we've had Teds New Red Sled for about 3 weeks now & it's gotta go in the shop tomorrow for it's 3000 mile oil change & check up

[draboo]

Kiddo sends the Tedster a big "GET WELL SOON,EH?"

[DynamoBT]

The "Red Sled"!!! Love it!!!! Hope Teddy is feeling better soon!!