Updates and photos of Courage

Here are updates from my friend.

Day One:

Here’s some news on Courage but I’ll have to make it short as it’s been a long day.

Yesterday was quite a day picking up Courage, taking her to my vet for the distemper test and then taking her home. When I first saw her at the clinic and she was being taken out from the kennel she was squealing and showing her teeth and actually gave one of the clinic staff a hard nip as if to say the she was not feeling good and was hurting.

On the drive to my own vet, she cried out at every turn I took and it had to be slow going to try and minimize her moving in the carrier.

Since she has been home with us she has onyl shown her teeth twice 😉 It seems most obvious that she is in pain when I have to move her even just a little to clean her up after she pees on the bed liners in her playpen.

My priorities are to give her a sense of safety which I believe is one of the essentials for healing. We have her confined within a playpen for crate rest to restrict her movements as this will help minimize any more injury to her current fragile state.

She sleeps on several layers of cardboard wrapped up in a waterproof sheet to prevent urine soaking in and then topped by hospital ed liners to absorb any urine when she pees. The cardboard provides padding and also is a good firm surface for her fragile back. When the healing process progresses, she can later sleep on a softer mattress.

I wash her with organic baby products so that the numerous wipe downs per day are kinder and will not take its toil on her skin. One of them is particularly good for breaking down urine which is left on the skin surface and is very helpful in cases like these.

I borrowed some kennel boards on my way home with Courage from a kind friend as the kennel boards are useful for putting in the shower stall when I lie her down to wash her as the water can run through the kennel boards and not pool under her.

Next priority is to asses her bowel and bladder function and help her where there is any dysfunction. I found her bowels quite compacted and that’s quite to be expected as she has been through a very stressful time and bowels don’t always function efficiently under these circumstances. Also the paralysis could be affecting her bowel and bladder function.

Next priority is to gain her trust as she will have to be handled under painful circumstances. I have also started teaching some words like lie down, wash, muzzle, off muzzle, move- so that she can understand what I’m about to do with her when i say the approrpiate word to her. When any life is suddenly afflicted by paralysis, so much is new and frigthening. I try and reduce the anxiaty but making clear my intentions when I work with her so she understand what i am doing with her. It is amazing how fast they learn and understand. Some predictability helps bring a sense of normalcy to the daily routine.

I have had to put the muzzle on when I’m cleaning her as she is in pain and when animals are in pain, there is always a risk that they may bite. When she and I get to know each other better, we may be able to do away with the muzzle. Even with her muzzle she sometimes licks me through the muzzle when i know its painful for her if i’m moving her. If left alone for just a minute, she deftly removes the muzzle!

All movement is minimized and her back has to be fully supported is she is lifted even if only inches off the ground.

 She has been eating well and pooing and peeing copiously which translates into lots of cleaning up. But these are all good things.

 Courage is really a gentle dog and if she shows any teeth it is only because of what she is suffering. At other times I have been able to hold her close.

I am limiting my dogs’ exposure to Courage at the moment as I observe a strict policy of initial quarantine with any new animal brought into our home. Since Courage still has a cold, we will wait till she is better to meet the rest of the pack.

I feel we had a good day with Courage today despite so many unknowns. It brought back to mind a similar day for us several years back when we faced this same challenge and I remembered this verse, as I did then.

Hope is the thing with feathers

That perches in the soul,

And sings the tune without the words,

And never stops at all. -Emily Dickenson-

Cheers and good night,

Cleaning time for Courage. A towel is wrapped around her to make her feel safe.

Necessary stuff for Courage: Kettle for boiling water to wipe her clean, antibacterial hand sanitizer, bed liners of 2 sizes, trash bags, canned food to give her medication, dettol room spray, medication, vit C for stress, boiled water for drinking.

More stuff: organised to make things work smoother and cope better with demanding care- 2types of tissue paper, trash bags, 2sizes of bed liners, extra towels- all ready to go.

Trash from day one: Lots of trash generated from cleaning supplies and materials.

Happy after dinner – there’s actually a smile from Courage!

This is an update on what I have observed with Courage: (she has been with me for about 33 hours)-Shows signs of pain when I palpate the lumbar and sacral area. Also feels like crepitus in this same region.-When I need to gently move her to clean her after she has urinated, she expresses pain and I have been muzzling her as a precaution while cleaning and moving.-I am still observing to acertain if and how bladder and bowel function are affected. At least bowel function is affected as there is loss of anal sphincter tone. Her tail is flaccid. I assisted with manual removal of some stools as I could feel the fecal impaction. Within the last 12 hours she has defecated 3 times and 2 of those produced a large amount of very firm stools. Also urinated large amounts. I have not been able to palpate the bladder successfully as Courage expresses-When I took her home yesterday she presented with moderate decreased skin turgor. She has been consuming a lot of water since and is now only mildly dehydrated. If she still shows signs of any dehydration tomorrow, subcutaneous fluid administration might be recommended.-Appetite has been good. She has been put on a raw diet.-When the skin across the chest is palpated, it feels like subcutaneous emphysema but I am not certain if this is the cause.-A small lump about the size of a 10cen coin on her right flank.-Current medication:Prednisolone, Vetri DMG, Cephalexin, Nerveron (basically B12 I think)

My friend will be taking Courage to Dr Susanna’s place for her first acupuncture treatment this afternoon. Wish I could be there but Her World (the magazine) is coming to my house for a scheduled interview today, so I cannot cancel that. Hopefully, the write-up in the magazine will encourage its readers to spare some time and resources to help the street animals. You’ll never know how far a write-up can reach out.

Meanwhile, I’m sure all of you would agree that Courage cannot possibly be in better hands. Courage is very blessed. We have to take it one day at a time now and pray that with each day, Courage shows more signs of improvement. We hope Courage will not be totally paralysed and can regain some function of her legs. Then, it would be easier for KT Tan to look after her as she would not require so much nursing care. However, KT is also only fostering and not adopting, so we still need to look for an adopter for Courage. I know how hard that is – it’s worse than looking for a needle in a haystack, but let’s keep looking, shall we? We’ll never know until we try.

Thank you, everyone, for your support.