Gone with the Dogs - Two Great Danes

More play with Camelot

2012-02-11T08:24:00.000-07:00

I'm very fortunate having such a gentle understanding adult Dane to help me raise little Odin.

Odin's first encounter with baloons

2012-02-11T08:20:00.002-07:00

Never seen this before, can't figure what the heck it is.

Odin and Camelot bonding with play

2012-02-11T08:18:00.000-07:00

Camelot has shown incredible patience with Odin and tolerate his constant desire for playing.

Odin is 5 months old

2012-01-21T09:00:00.000-07:00

Odin has reached the age of 5 months. He's growing up too fast! He's such a great puppy! Potty trained in 2 days, have not destroyed anything.... yet! Plays with my big Dane Camelot all day long. Eats his raw food with no issues.

Camelot and Odin

2012-01-18T06:45:00.000-07:00

My two current Danes Camelot (5 yrs) and Odin (5 mos) are developing a strong bond and friendship. It has been interesting to see how Camelot have changed. First he could not really figure out how to interact with little Odin when he wanted to play. Odin immediatley took to Camelot as his big brother and friend. Camelot not sure what this new guy was all about tried to avoid him. Slowly Camelot accepted Odin's presence and understood that all little Odin wanted was to play. Now Odin can lay on top of Camelot and they play tug of war, play bite and wrestle. Out on our walks when we meet other dogs Camelot will keep an eye on Odin and if other dogs play too rough with his little brother he will separate them with a short growl and use his big body to protect Odin.

Rex is gone

2012-01-08T07:41:00.001-07:00

October 18th 2011. I made the incredible difficult decision to send my dear Rex to his next life. He was no longer able to walk by himself. His difficult childhood finally caught up with him.

He was given a few more years to live at the age of 4 when I adopted him. Rex fought back and gave me 9 great years.

Rex's battle with a poisonous spider bite - July-19-2011

2011-07-21T18:43:00.002-06:00

June 19
It's now apparent that the wound his getting smaller. In all the years I have had dogs I have never experienced anything like this. It blows my mind that a tiny little spider can cause so much damage. I also have a black Great Dane and there is no way I could discover any colorization on him and catch this in an early stage, quite frightening.

Rex's battle with a poisonous spider bite - July-15-2011

2011-07-21T18:37:00.001-06:00

July 15th
The wound is getting a little smaller in size. The progress is painfully slow and Rex has a really hard time walking. Some days he can't walk at all. He's alert and eats all his meals and the wound does not seem to bother him. He leaves it alone.

Rex's battle with a poisonous spider bite - July-6-2011

2011-07-21T18:32:00.000-06:00

July 6th
It has now been a month since his surgery. It is hard to tell but things is improving. The flesh is is filling in and has more mass than a week ago. The wound itself is pretty much the same size.

Rex's battle with a poisonous spider bite - June-23-2011

2011-07-21T18:28:00.000-06:00

June 23rd
All the dead skin is gone and Rex is now left with a huge open exposed wound. I can see deep holes between the exposed flesh. It's horrifying to see my boy like this. But, I have to man up and keep it clean and make him as comfortable as possible, I sleep next to him and turn him over every 3-4 hours.

Rex's battle with a poisonous spider bite - June-16-2011

2011-07-21T18:23:00.000-06:00

June 16th
No improvement. I know realize he may lose all his skin and leave a 3 inch open wound.

Rex's battle with a poisonous spider bite - June-15-2011

2011-07-21T18:20:00.000-06:00

June 15th
Rex's wound is a mess of rotting flesh and skin. It's all coming apart.

Rex's battle with a poisonous spider bite - June-11-2011

2011-07-21T18:18:00.001-06:00

June 11
We're losing the battle to save the skin. The skin is coming lose and apart. I can also smell rotting flesh. I feel so bad for this guy.

Rex's battle with a poisonous spider bite - June-10-2011

2011-07-21T18:14:00.000-06:00

June 10th.
I'm applying hot towels 3-4 times a day in an attempt stop the flesh from dying. Rex is on 3000mg of Keflex plus 200mg Rimadyl.

Rex's battle with a poisonous spider bite - June-7-2011

2011-07-21T18:07:00.000-06:00

The day after the surgery. The stitches is holding the skin together. The vet suspected it not to and prepared me for the possibility for it all to fall off, leaving an open would.

Rex's battle with a poisonous spider bite - June-6-2011

2011-07-21T18:02:00.001-06:00

In mid May I discover some faint discolorations on Rex's right thigh. It first looked like dirt which made sense since he falls down quite a bit. I tried to wipe it clean but it did not come off. It was so faint and hardly noticeable that I did not make too much of it, something that turned out to be a huge mistake.

Two weeks later I noticed a tiny hole in the middle of this area and a drop of blood came out. Again I thought he had fallen an punctured a small hole in his skin. I wiped the blood off and nothing else came out. A couple of days later I again saw blood dripping from this tiny hole. I called the vet and she told me to keep an eye on it for any changes.
A couple of days later I saw 3 more holes and small drops of blood. This was a Saturday afternoon and I called the vet again. She asked me to come in on Monday so she could take a closer look. That Sunday evening it got much worse. While cleaning the area the skin broke between the holes. It was tin as paper. I then realized this is not good something is eating his flesh!
Monday morning we went to the vets office. They stitched up the ripped skin as best they could, took a tissue sample and sent that of to the lab. They suspected an insect bit or cancer.
I was pretty sure it was not cancer since Rex has been on B-17 for many years and I don't know of any dog or human that have gotten cancer while taking B-17. It will be a first.


Here is Rex after his surgery. The wound is stitched up and he's knocked out.

Major changes!

2011-05-26T12:56:00.004-06:00

New life....
A business opportunity presented itself for me a few months ago and I'm going with it. In order to be able to make this move I had to rent a house. This means my travel plans is on hold for at least a year. This is also good for my buddy Rex. He had a hard time getting in and out of the RV. Now we have no steep stairs to deal with.
Rex's condition is about the same. He has good and not so good days but we take each day as it comes. He still seems more or less pain free, just stiff and slow. That's OK I have the patience to take care of him. I just want to give him a good life to the end whenever that is. This guy is not ready yet, that I know. Rex is still on one Remidyl a day plus 300mg of Cosequin DS.

Update on Rex

2011-03-28T06:43:00.002-06:00

I have been busy with work and not had much to report on. Rex is still with me and he is actually doing very well. He can now walk much longer without limping severely. The video below shows him walking at the end of a one mile walk.

He is currently on the following (per day): 100mg of Rimadyl, 4 tablets of Cosequin DS (will take this down to 2 this week to see how he reacts). Green Blend from B-Naturals and Daily blend form B-Naturals. 5000mg of Omega 3. 4 Apricot kernels. Plus lots of love and exercise.

Rex keeps surprising me

2011-01-09T05:55:00.003-07:00

Rex is showing some encouraging improvements, less limping and dragging. He can also walk 3-4 times longer than he was able to last week. I have also lower his weight with 3 lbs.

Great Dane Helps Stop Sexual Assault

2011-01-08T06:46:00.001-07:00

Good job!

http://www.nbcchicago.com/news/local-beat/Great-Dane-stops-sex-assult-113114484.html

Rex not giving up yet

2011-01-08T06:42:00.001-07:00

Rex has over the last few days shown some very impressive improvements. He has tripled the distance he can walk. He is lifting his leg noticeable more with less dragging. He has now been on Cosequin for over a month and I have a feeling this is what's starting to kick in. I have lowered the doze of Rimadyl to 100mg a day, down from 200.
He is also taking a break from his acupuncture treatments.

Rex hanging in there

2010-12-28T06:32:00.003-07:00

I have not posted in a few days. I've been super busy with a web design project. In this economy I have to take what I can and sometimes that's a little more than I can fit into a day's work.

Yesterday Rex looked better than he has in a long time. I have plowed a large circle in an open area where I walk him. It's a lot of snow here now and he can't walk through the deep snow. This circle is also a good measurement for how far he can walk. For the last week he could walk this circle one time before his limping became too severe. Yesterday he made this circle twice and still he was not limping as badly as he normally would have done after one lap. That's my boy!

Rex is still on:
Rimadyl 200mg a day
Cosequin DS 4 tablets a day
Acupuncture once a week

What's working or not is hard to tell. I think the combination of the above is all beneficial to him.

Rex a little better

2010-12-19T06:11:00.001-07:00

Rex is showing more energy and sometimes gets up off the couch by himself. He has not done this in a long time. He shows signs of walking better at the beginning of his walks. After 5 minutes, he's pretty much done and needs to go back in and lay down. I don't see any signs of pain. I have not heard him make any noises this past week. He has now had 3 acupuncture sessions. I'm still not sure what have caused the improvement, the Rimadyl or the acupuncture. Tomorrow he has been on Rimadyl for 2 weeks. I have not noticed any side effects so far.

Rex not improving

2010-12-14T06:46:00.005-07:00

Resting after 2nd acupuncture session

This is so frustrating. We can't seem to get Rex's leg to improve. He has now been on Rimadyl for one week and completed two acupuncture sessions. It pains me to see him limping so severely and not being able to walk for more than a few minutes. In all other areas he is perfect. Very alert, energetic and have so much willpower to keep going. I'm torn between keep trying and to put him down. I don't see any pain and the vet and the acupuncturist agrees. This is the only reason I keep going. The moment pain enters the picture I know what to do. I will try two more sessions and if that does not show any improvements I will have to make a decision.

More energy, still limping badly

2010-12-11T10:09:00.002-07:00

Rex seem more alert, and energetic this morning. He walked out of the RV with more determination that he has had for the last few weeks. He also wanted to walk faster this morning despite his limping. It does not seem to bother him much. It's looks awful to me, but if he can handle it I guess I have to go with it. When he was sick with a kidney infection last year he did not want to get up from the couch and go out. He's nothing like that at this time.