Please help,

I have a 9 yr old, female, boxer. When we first got her, everything was ok. She was taken to have her ear's shaped, and her tail chopped.

Within a couple of weeks she started having issues. My option is that some of her nerves went haywire. She could not hold anything down, started scratching till she bled. Took her to the vet, and she was put on a mixer shot that was given to her weekly, for 1 month. That did not work to it's expectations, but it did help. We started buying baked chickens and mixed it with rice, and she started holding her food down for the most part.

Around 6 months ago, she started having seizures, and the vet said she had a brain tumor, something that was typical for that age and breed group. She was put on meds that would stop the siezures.
Around a week ago she started to walk in a counterclockwise cirle, go straight for a couple of feet, then circle again, none stop. She was housed trained within a week, and only had incidents within that week. She was let outside and almost died from the heat. On that particular day, I left about 10:30 am and returned around 12:30, she was still outside, none stop since around 7:00 that morning. She refused to go back in the house, so she walked till she dropped and almost got eaten up by fireants. When Iwent in the back yard to find her, she was laying on her side, with about 20-30 red fireants eating away at her flesh. I brushed her off and lay her down on the her pillows on the patio to check her for ants. She was only breathing rapidly, so I brought her inside to cool off. I got a bucket of ice water and dripped it in her mouth with a towel, then my fingers, until she got better a few hours later.

She still walks in circles, but her reactions are slower than ever.

Please if anyone can help my boxer to ease what has triggered these circle patterns

Curious Owner wrote:

She still walks in circles, but her reactions are slower than ever.

Please if anyone can help my boxer to ease what has triggered these
circle patterns

Your post makes it very difficult to figure out the time line of
events. When did your dog get left out in the heat? Was it
recently? Did it coincide with the circling behavior?

Boxers should *never* be left outside in the heat, especially not
elderly, sick dogs. It sounds like your dog had heat exhaustion or
perhaps heat stroke, which could have cause brain damage. It is
possible that is what is causing the circling behavior. The
circling could also be caused by a stroke.

Please, take your dog to the vet as soon as possible. She sounds
like a very sick dog. It is impossible for anyone here to know what
has happened to her, but your vet should be able to figure it out.

--
Shelly (Warning: see label for details)
http://www.cat-sidh.net (the Mother Ship)
http://esther.cat-sidh.net (Letters to Esther)

Well for one thing don't let the dog outside that's just common sense when
they have this condition. The options are either see if the brain tumor can
be removed and hope that she recovers or as bad as it sounds have her put to
sleep. This is no life for a dog. I had the same thing happen to Brandy at
the age of 10. I came home one day to find her walking in circles and
falling over like she was drunk. Within three days she got so bad the she
was completely paralyzed we chose to give her peace at that point rather
than put her through surgery at that age.

Celeste

"Curious Owner" wrote in message
...

Please help,

I have a 9 yr old, female, boxer. When we first got her, everything
was ok. She was taken to have her ear's shaped, and her tail chopped.


Within a couple of weeks she started having issues. My option is that
some of her nerves went haywire. She could not hold anything down,
started scratching till she bled. Took her to the vet, and she was put
on a mixer shot that was given to her weekly, for 1 month. That did not
work to it's expectations, but it did help. We started buying baked
chickens and mixed it with rice, and she started holding her food down
for the most part.

Around 6 months ago, she started having seizures, and the vet said she
had a brain tumor, something that was typical for that age and breed
group. She was put on meds that would stop the siezures.
Around a week ago she started to walk in a counterclockwise cirle, go
straight for a couple of feet, then circle again, none stop. She was
housed trained within a week, and only had incidents within that week.
She was let outside and almost died from the heat. On that particular
day, I left about 10:30 am and returned around 12:30, she was still
outside, none stop since around 7:00 that morning. She refused to go
back in the house, so she walked till she dropped and almost got eaten
up by fireants. When Iwent in the back yard to find her, she was
laying on her side, with about 20-30 red fireants eating away at her
flesh. I brushed her off and lay her down on the her pillows on the
patio to check her for ants. She was only breathing rapidly, so I
brought her inside to cool off. I got a bucket of ice water and
dripped it in her mouth with a towel, then my fingers, until she got
better a few hours later.

She still walks in circles, but her reactions are slower than ever.

Please if anyone can help my boxer to ease what has triggered these
circle patterns




--
Curious Owner

First off Vets are not GODS, She started circling 3 days prior to passing out from possible heat exhauston. Yes, she is old, and I am trying to do what I can to make the rest of her life comfortable.

Could be a side effect of her medication for Seizures!!!
Introduction to Dog Food(I will not state the name)
Who knows, damn sure is not the Vet, went to several different vets, before coming accross one that had some knowledge on Boxers, over $700 in trial and error of dealing with vets.

Some people should not say anything if they don't really have good insight.

Common sense would tell you to let death do its job, and not to murder your animals and friends, that is the same as pulling the plug on a little sister.

Common sense would tell you to pray for the sin of murdering one of GODS creatures.


[quote=Spot]Well for one thing don't let the dog outside that's just common sense when
they have this condition. The options are either see if the brain tumor can
be removed and hope that she recovers or as bad as it sounds have her put to
sleep. This is no life for a dog. I had the same thing happen to Brandy at
the age of 10. I came home one day to find her walking in circles and
falling over like she was drunk. Within three days she got so bad the she
was completely paralyzed we chose to give her peace at that point rather
than put her through surgery at that age.

Curious Owner wrote:
Some people should not say anything if they don't really have good
insight.

Celeste had some very good insights, actually.

Common sense would tell you to let death do its job, and not to murder
your animals and friends, that is the same as pulling the plug on a
little sister.

Dogs are not people and people are not dogs.

Unlike us, pets don't have the ability to end their own misery. It
is up to us, as pet owners, to ensure that our companion animals do
not suffer unnecessarily. Leaving a Boxer outdoors in the heat is
cruel, and it caused unnecessary suffering. Leaving your sick dog
to linger and die, without medical care, causes unnecessary
suffering and is cruel.

I recently had my cat put to sleep. I suppose I could have let him
linger, and let "death do its job," but I can't think of a more
cruel way to torture an animal. He was in intense pain, and while
treatment would have allowed him to recovered temporarily, his
long-term prognosis was not acceptable.

Common sense would tell you to pray for the sin of murdering

I don't pray and I don't believe in sin, but even if I did, I refuse
to accept that what I had to do was sinful or that it was anything
like murder.

And, if I did believe in sin, I think that subjecting an animal to
cruelty in the name of God would qualify as one.

one of GODS creatures.

I don't believe in God, but even if I did, dogs were created by humans.

--
Shelly (Warning: see label for details)
http://www.cat-sidh.net (the Mother Ship)
http://esther.cat-sidh.net (Letters to Esther)

Curious Owner said in
rec.pets.dogs.health:

Some people should not say anything if they don't really
have good insight.

Some people should not ask questions if they don't like getting
responses. Meanwhile, Shelly asked a whole bunch of questions
in her first post to you. I'm looking forward to your answers.

--
--Matt. Rocky's a Dog.

"Curious Owner" wrote in message
...

Some people should not say anything if they don't really have good
insight.

Those were pretty good insights, actually. Based in common sense and
kindness.

Common sense would tell you to let death do its job, and not to murder
your animals and friends, that is the same as pulling the plug on a
little sister.

Absolutely not! Actually, death by the method you're choosing is, to me,
incredibly unkind....and if you continue to leave your dog outside in the
heat like that, I would venture to say downright cruel.

Dogs don't have the gift of being able to lose themselves in memories. They
live *in the moment*. This is both a blessing and a curse. Its a blessing
for most of their lives in that they exist pretty much in whatever nifty
thing is happening. Its a curse towards the end as the suffering increases.

If your dog is suffering a lot, that's all she has in this world....pain and
confusion, and likely a lot of fear. That's it. If you think leaving her
alone in the backyard for hours, the way you have, to potentially die in
isolation, confused and frightened, is mkinder than the alternative....well,
then you and I have very different notions of mercy.

My poor boy was in so much pain for the last few days of his life that he
couldn't even sleep. His pain forced him to get up constantly (which was so
painful for him, he needed help from me to do it) and almost frantically
look for a place that he could lie down that just *might* not hurt him so
much. He didn't understand that the pain was *in* him, not in the spots he
was trying to settle into. After one long sleepless night (for both of us,
but more importantly for him) he nearly collapsed against the wall-
exhausted and still in pain. The look he gave me was one of "Please help
me. I don't understand what's happening to me". But there was nothing more
medically that could be done for him. We'd done everything possible. He was
on the highest possible dose of pain killers at this point. Any more, and he
would have died a different kind of painful death from the toxic side
effects of those.

I chose not to make him endure another 24 hours of constant pain and anguish
(that was never going to end until his death anyway....so it was going to be
any number of 24 hours and increasing torture for him if I let "nature take
its course"). I chose to take on that burden-with its accompanying guilt and
pain- in order to alleviate his burden and his obviously intense suffering.
I owed him at least that much. He gave me everything he had. All of his joy,
and all of his life. It was my profound obligation of love to release him
from unending pain.

The day Finn died, he was able to walk a little. We went to his favorite
park. He chased his last stick (slowly and gingerly), and almost caught a
smart assed squirrel who was too cheeky to get out of his way (which made
Finn's whole day). We had such a great time, that I had nearly forgotten the
fact that when I came home to get him, he was hiding in the bathroom,
shaking. I had almost forgotten that he had been peeing on himself and
having almost constant diarreah (not an issue for me. He couldn't help it,
and I loved him enough to clean it....but it was clearly frightening to him
to not be able to control it). I almost called the vet to cancel....after
all, he had just been able to play in the park a little. That must mean I
was making a mistake....right?

Just as I was thinking about telling the vet not to come over, he dropped on
the floor and his rear legs started siezing up. He convulsed for about 5
minutes. He looked at me and cried, not understanding what was happening to
him. And then I remembered why I was doing what I was about to do. He wasn't
strong enough to be able to do the things that brought him any joy. All he
had left in front of him was pain.

I could have chosen differently. I could have chosen to let "nature take its
course" (of course, he probably wouldn't have survived puppyhood if I took
that seriously and applied it to other aspects of his life) However, instead
of dying after weeks or months of non stop, exhausting and unrelenting
agony, instead of potentially dying alone in a corner without the comforting
presence of the only presence he'd truly ever known (me), instead of lying
there, hurting and scared, I released him. All of his best human friends
came over. They each brought one of his favorite snacks. He ate hot dogs,
cheese, and turkey pastrami. He got to taste chocolate! He was held and
loved. He could no longer walk at this point (he'd rallied for the park, but
I think that was the last he was ever going to be able to do), but he smiled
and kissed his entourage. He felt loved and comforted. And that's how he
left this world. He died in my arms, while I whispered his favorite love
names in his ear. And I still cry (even right now) every time I think of
those last few moments with him.

I should be so lucky when its my time.

Common sense would tell you to pray for the sin of murdering one of
GODS creatures.

I've heard it said that, as long as its done with a lot of thought, and done
with an unselfish love, that when we euthanize a pet, we release them from
their constant pain and we make it our own. This is so true, and one of the
most somber aspects (and responsibilities) of sharing my world with my
companion animals.

You may choose to release yourself of responsibility for your dog's
suffering by letting nature run its course, but please don't kid yourself
about whether or not its the kindest choice. It often isn't.

Tara

"Curious Owner" wrote in message
...
Some people should not say anything if they don't really have good
insight.
Common sense would tell you to let death do its job, and not to murder
your animals and friends, that is the same as pulling the plug on a
little sister.
Common sense would tell you to pray for the sin of murdering one of
GODS creatures.

............Since we all get the lessons we need, you're liable to find
yourself in the midst of a event that will help you discover the difference
between compassion and arrogance.

buglady
take out the dog before replying

"TaraG" wrote in newsGOxg.4013$S_1.3299
@trndny05:

And I still cry (even right now) every time I think of
those last few moments with him.

As am I Tara, aas am I.

What a beautiful, touching story of his last day. Thank you for sharing it.

--
Marcel and Moogli
http://mudbunny.blogspot.com/