The Abby Drama Continues

The other day I was cuddling with Abby and I noticed that her breath smelled "different". Yeah, it's a little weird to notice that, but breath can you a lot about what is going on with your pet's health. And while I don't regularly stick my nose in my kid's mouths, do spend plenty of time getting kisses and cuddles to notice a change.

The first thing I did was look for more rotting teeth. Abby only has about 8 total teeth, and I figure that by the time she is 10, we will probably be down to 4; rotting teeth is a very common problem with this breed. But to my shock and horror, it wasn't her teeth - it was a tumor on her gums. Yep, this little dog has another growth; and unlike the rest, this one isn't going to be easy to remove.

I seriously thought about leaving it in for a while. I hate sedating her because of her seizures and her kidneys. But after thinking it over for a few days, I knew that I would have to remove it eventually - and it's going to be just as risky in 6 months as it is tomorrow. The only problem with waiting is that it might get bigger and eventually abscess. Not so fun.

We have an appointment with the vet on Wednesday to have it removed, so keep your paws crossed that she makes it through surgery and that the tumor can be removed with out much trauma to her gums.

Seizure Detector

Sure, she looks all innocent and sweet, but this dog sure causes me a lot of trouble! One thing that we have to deal with is Abby's seizures. I noticed them around the time when she came back from her adventure; and although they can be frightening as a mom to watch, they don't generally bother Abby too much. Well, not until recently. . .

Abby's seizures are "under control" for the most part. I don't medicate her for them, but they are quite infrequent and only occur during really stressful periods. Because I put moderate levels of stress on Abby frequently, she seems to be able to tolerate more and more stress as time goes on. But I think that I pushed her past her breaking point this past weekend. Due to many events that I couldn't control and a few that I could, Abby was out and about for the entire day on Sunday. In the back of my mind I was thinking that she might have a seizure that night; but aside from the vomit that comes with it they aren't a problem for us, so I didn't really give it much thought.

Most of Sunday was spent driving around with few stops in between. Abby is an angel in the car - it's really the only place I don't have to worry about her. She lays down in the back and sleeps (proof in the above photo!) But this past Sunday, on the way to our last stop before going home, Abby tried desperately to get in the front seat with me. And, if you know Abby, you know how dangerous her paw can be, so rather than try to fight her off, I let her sit in my lap. Eventually I got to my last stop, moved Abby into the back seat, and got out. When I got back in the car two minutes later, Abby HAD to get back in my lap. Less than a minute after she was there, she started having a seizure.

Since Abby has never before - or since (yet...) - tried to crawl in my lap while driving it made me wonder if Abby knew that she was going to have a seizure and wanted to be comforted. There are some dogs that can detect human seizures, but I wonder if dogs can detect other dog's seizures???? And if they can detect dog seizures, what's not to say that they can detect their own???

Ok, I don't really think that Abby knew she was going to have a seizure, but she must have felt something strange otherwise she would have stayed sleeping in the back of the car like always. It's kind of weird to think about. . .