The Saga Continues

Last Friday, I dropped off Tildy at the kennel for a weekend stay.  I updated Kay, the owner of the kennel, about Tildy's frequent accidents.  She told me that her little dog went through the same thing and it turned out to be renal failure.  Sufficiently scared out of my mind, I called the vet and got an appointment for first thing Monday morning.

When I picked up Tildy on Sunday, Kay told me that they hadn't noticed anything like the bladder emptying episodes that I had described.  Hmmm....

Sunday night, I was not awakened by a wet spot or a request to go outside.  Something in my gut told me to cancel the appointment, but I ignored that feeling and we went to the vet anyway.

Monday night, no accidents and no requests to go outside. 

The vet called with the lab results on Tuesday evening.  A series of tests and $300 later, I'm told that there is nothing wrong with her.  The vet increased her dosage of Proin and told me to keep watch on her.

Tuesday night, no accidents and no requests to go outside.

Last night, the day after receiving the news from the vet, she had an accident and didn't request to go outside.

I'm thoroughly exhausted, frustrated, and confused.

Pee pads and diapers aren't working for us.

I named this blog "The Tildy Spot" for a number of reasons.  First, I thought of it as the spot that you could find out about Tildy...kinda like "the jazz spot around the corner" or "the burger joint down the street".  I also found myself saying it a lot when I first got her, especially when we were outside.  "C'mon, Tildy.  Find your spot so we can go home."  She also has spots in the house that she's identified as hers and of course I refer to them as the Tildy spots.

Over the past few weeks, she's been leaving spots on the couch and the bed; large urine stained spots.

I tried putting training pads all over the place, but inevitably, she would either move them before she laid down or she would find the one place that wasn't covered with a pad.

Yesterday, I broke down and bought doggie diapers.

Getting her in one was somewhat of a challenge.  She didn't appreciate me putting her tail through the hole.  She didn't like the way they sounded.  She didn't like the way they constricted her movement.  Here she is after I finally got one on her.  She was not happy with me.

Once we got upstairs for the evening, I had a sense of relief.  I really thought I'd be able to sleep through the night without encountering a puddle and maybe, just maybe, she wouldn't wake me up at zero dark thirty to take her outside.

Those diapers gave me a false sense of security.

Around 2:00 this morning, I caught a whiff of urine and rolled over to find a huge wet spot on my favorite quilt.  I turned my head to find Matilda pawing at me, which is her way of asking to go outside.  As I got up to get dressed, I found a dry, completely intact diaper at the foot of the bed.  She must be some sort of Houdini.

Pee pads and diapers aren't working for us.

We're Joining Facebook!

I post sporadic updates about Matilda on my personal Facebook page a lot.  So much so that I'm sure some of my friends are sick of hearing about my dog.  So today I am announcing The Tildy Spot's Facebook page.  I'm excited to have a place to talk about Matilda when I just don't have enough to write a whole blog post.  So join me and Tildy on Facebook at www.facebook.com/thetildyspot.  Hope to see you there!

My Partner

Matilda and I are a lot a like. 

She likes to sleep in and so do I.

She does not tolerate the sun and heat very well.  Neither do I.

We both have chronic diseases.  She has Addison's Disease.  I have lupus.

She loves sweet potato pie.  So do I.

She loves to lounge on the couch and watch television or stare out of the window.  So do I.

She's my partner and I love her dearly.  I'm glad we found each other.

"This is so you won't pee on me. One, two, three!"

Matilda is getting old.  The best estimates have her between 77 and 84 dog years old. (That's between 11 and 12 people years.)  In the past couple of years, we have started to battle incontinence.  It started with little dribble drops on the sofa while watching television.  Then we started have minor "oops" moments while settling in for the evening.  That's when the vet prescribed Proin drops to help her with bladder control.  At first it was a struggle getting her to take the drops.  Eventually we got into a good habit of taking the drops after going for a walk.  But the only way she would open her mouth for the drops is if I sing-songingly said, "This is so you won't pee on me.  One, two, three!"

Every now and again, I would go stretches without giving her the medicine and she would do well without it.  But then the dribbles would start again, so we would start back up with, "This is so you won't pee on me.  One, two, three!".

When the pharmaceutical company stopped manufacturing the drops we had a slight problem.  Matilda refused to take the tablets for quite awhile.  Once I figured out that she would eat anything that was covered in peanut butter, we were back on track.

We recently went through a very long successful stretch without the medicine, but incontinence came back with a vengeance.  This time, there were no dribbles or "oops".  This time, she emptied her bladder three times in one night, while she was sleeping...on my bed.  What's worse is that right before going to bed that night, I had decided to change my sheets.  After the third accident, I was praying that there would be no more because I had no more clean sheets.  During that same night, she woke me up three separate times and asked to go outside.  Two of the three times, she squatted for almost a minute.  The third time, we smelled the presence of a skunk, so she decided that she wouldn't handle her business at that time...which was 4:30 a.m.  But at 5:50 a.m., five minutes before my alarm clock sounded, I rolled over to find a guilty face staring back at me.  Yes, another wet spot in the bed.

We're back to medicinal peanut butter treats, but we're still having small incidents.

Matilda is getting old.  Sigh...

Dog Teeth are Worth a Vacation?!

I have had Matilda's teeth cleaned three times in the past 6 years that I've had her.  When I first adopted her, she had the worst doggie breath you've every smelled and her teeth were green.  Two years later, during her cleaning the vet discovered a few problems and had to surgically extract four teeth.  This latest cleaning turned my vacation into a stay-cation.

I had been putting off setting an appointment for this cleaning because I knew it was going to be a huge financial hit, but after noticing her favoring one side of her mouth more than the other when she crunched on a Milk-Bone, I decided I couldn't put it off any longer.  I dropped her off that morning and headed to court.  After leaving court, I noticed that I had missed back-to-back phone calls from the vet.  I knew that meant trouble.  When I returned the call, I learned that Matilda needed SIX teeth removed.  My stomach dropped.  I felt like a horrible dog mom for putting off the cleaning for so long and I felt sick because I had no idea how I would pay for this bill.  The vet was still talking, explaining what she saw and what she did, but all I heard was "Blah, blah, blah, guilt.  Blah, blah, blah, bad mom.  Blah, blah, blah, way more than you can afford.".  Thankfully, she summarized her actual words in a document for me.
"Matilda had moderate tartar and periodontal disease.  There were multiple loose teeth which were elevated and the gum sutured closed.  Tooth 207 had a cavity and distal root resorption and was surgically extracted." 

This cleaning/extraction didn't cost as much as the last time, but it definitely cost me my vacation that was scheduled for the following week.