We have lost our beloved Cayenne
Posted: Sat May 09, 2009 10:08 am
It is with an incredibly heavy heart that I am posting this message. Our beloved Cayenne had to be put to sleep yesterday. I still can't believe it. We all love her so much and there is a huge hole in our hearts. This is going to be really long but I thought some of you who knew us would want to know what happened:
About 3 months ago or so, we noticed that Cay Cay was shaking her head a bit and pawing at her ear. This was on a Thursday. We made an appt at the vet for monday. On Sunday, we got up in the morning and noticed that her head was REALLY tilted to one side and it seemed like her face had drooped down on the left side. I looked up some information on the internet (I thought she had a stroke) and thought that it seemed like she had a middle ear infection. I called my vet (he lets us call him at home) and he said that we should bring her in first thing in the morning. We brought her in and he did an X-ray of her head and tried to look in her ear. They couldn't see into her ear canal (it was too small and too impacted with stuff) and after looking at the X-ray and not seeing anything they felt that they should go into her ear to flush out anything that was in there. They were hoping for infection as the alternative was some kind of tumor or something like that. We had her in the next day and he said they flushed out a LOT of pus and thick infection. He said that she no longer had an ear drum and would not be able to hear out of that ear but that they cleaned out all of the infection. He started her on pain killers and antibiotics (both in her ear and oral) and after about a week she seemed MUCH better! She was happy again, running around and holding her head up a little better. Our vet was still a bit concerned and puzzled as Cay had never had an ear infection before and was not the type of dog that normally had them. He couldn't figure out a cause and that bothered him. He wanted to see her every week for the first month. Every check up seemed to go well - no infection when he swabbed her ear. Her face was still mostly paralyzed on the left side and she had complete muscle atrophy in the top of her head on that side. He felt that the infection may have caused permanent nerve damage but still wasn't sure of the cause. About a month ago, she started shaking her head again, we brought her back in that day and doc saw a lot of wax build up in her ear. He gave us an ear wash and wanted us to come back in a week. We did that, she seemed a little better and we made another appt for a week later. I received a call from another vet in the office that performs acupuncture and she offered to work on Cayenne for free to try to help with her comfort level and see if they could do anything about the paralysis. Then in the course of 3 days over last weekend weekend, Cay went downhill. She started tripping over her left foot, she seemed to loose a little depth perception, she was eating very slowly (didn't seem to be able to use the left side of her mouth), and there was some kind of discharge coming from her nose but she was still eating, still wanted to give Kennedy kisses, still wanted scrachies, still wanted to sit outside so I was worried there was a infection back but wasn't freaking out. I brought her in on monday morning, nervous but still okay and met with three different vets. The swabbed her ear and found nothing. Our vet said we could go in to scope her ear again and if that didn't show anything we could do another X-ray and if that didn't show anything we could do a CAT scan. At this point he said he felt that it was as he had feared a while back that there was probably some sort of tumor at the base of her brain or on her nerve center and that there may not be much we could do. I asked if it was a tumor of some sort what he thought the prognosis might be and he said he couldn't say without seeing a CAT scan or MRI but that based on her behavior, she could still have some life ahead of her and it might just be us deciding when it was time. He did say that if it WAS a tumor, that it probably wasn't operable. I left her that day to get acupuncture and picked her up after work. We gave her pain medicine all week and made an appt for Friday for the ear flush. I took her that morning and dropped her off with Dr. James (our vet) and he said he would give me a call later. I got the call at 2:30, really not expecting to hear anything except she is doing fine but they couldn't find anything and it was probably a tumor. But that is not what he said. I asked how she was doing and he said "not good." Apparently they went in and started by doing the flush. None of the fluid came back. Some of the fluid came out her mouth and nose and some just never came back. He put a scope deep into her ear and found nothing. Meaning NO INNER EAR. No bones, no nothing. Just pus and infection way deep inside. Then she stopped breathing on the table. They were able to stabilize her but her breathing was erratic. The brought her back to X-ray and found that something had completely eaten away the inside of her ear. He felt that the only thing that could do that sort of damage in such a short period of time was a VERY aggressive tumor at the base of her brain. He said that if we brought her out of anesthesia, that she may not be able to walk and even if she could, she would be in a great deal of pain and it would only probably be a matter of days. He said that if it was his doggy, he would let her go without waking her. I couldn't believe it. I knew something might be coming but I thought I still would have months if not a year with her. I am still in shock. I called drew and he met me at the vet. We both hugged and kissed her and stayed with her while they put her to sleep. I told her how much everyone loved her and how she was the sweetest chow girl ever. Two of the vet techs came in to give her kisses (she was well loved at our vet) and we said our goodbyes. I am still in shock and I'm so sorry to have to share this with you. I know this was a ton of detail but since many of you were on here when we got her, I thought you would want to know.
Here are some pics of Cayenne. She was SUCH a beautiful girl.
Here is a link if you want to see how she was with our daughter Kennedy:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fiufww0XLKM
We will be spending all the time we can helping Chewie get through this as he has been with Cayenne for most of his life. Any suggestions any of you with two pups have for what do to help chewie would be greatly appreciated. Cayenne was a part of our family and we will miss her so much. She was the light of our lives and we did everything we could to make her happy here. We loved her so much and will remember her always.
About 3 months ago or so, we noticed that Cay Cay was shaking her head a bit and pawing at her ear. This was on a Thursday. We made an appt at the vet for monday. On Sunday, we got up in the morning and noticed that her head was REALLY tilted to one side and it seemed like her face had drooped down on the left side. I looked up some information on the internet (I thought she had a stroke) and thought that it seemed like she had a middle ear infection. I called my vet (he lets us call him at home) and he said that we should bring her in first thing in the morning. We brought her in and he did an X-ray of her head and tried to look in her ear. They couldn't see into her ear canal (it was too small and too impacted with stuff) and after looking at the X-ray and not seeing anything they felt that they should go into her ear to flush out anything that was in there. They were hoping for infection as the alternative was some kind of tumor or something like that. We had her in the next day and he said they flushed out a LOT of pus and thick infection. He said that she no longer had an ear drum and would not be able to hear out of that ear but that they cleaned out all of the infection. He started her on pain killers and antibiotics (both in her ear and oral) and after about a week she seemed MUCH better! She was happy again, running around and holding her head up a little better. Our vet was still a bit concerned and puzzled as Cay had never had an ear infection before and was not the type of dog that normally had them. He couldn't figure out a cause and that bothered him. He wanted to see her every week for the first month. Every check up seemed to go well - no infection when he swabbed her ear. Her face was still mostly paralyzed on the left side and she had complete muscle atrophy in the top of her head on that side. He felt that the infection may have caused permanent nerve damage but still wasn't sure of the cause. About a month ago, she started shaking her head again, we brought her back in that day and doc saw a lot of wax build up in her ear. He gave us an ear wash and wanted us to come back in a week. We did that, she seemed a little better and we made another appt for a week later. I received a call from another vet in the office that performs acupuncture and she offered to work on Cayenne for free to try to help with her comfort level and see if they could do anything about the paralysis. Then in the course of 3 days over last weekend weekend, Cay went downhill. She started tripping over her left foot, she seemed to loose a little depth perception, she was eating very slowly (didn't seem to be able to use the left side of her mouth), and there was some kind of discharge coming from her nose but she was still eating, still wanted to give Kennedy kisses, still wanted scrachies, still wanted to sit outside so I was worried there was a infection back but wasn't freaking out. I brought her in on monday morning, nervous but still okay and met with three different vets. The swabbed her ear and found nothing. Our vet said we could go in to scope her ear again and if that didn't show anything we could do another X-ray and if that didn't show anything we could do a CAT scan. At this point he said he felt that it was as he had feared a while back that there was probably some sort of tumor at the base of her brain or on her nerve center and that there may not be much we could do. I asked if it was a tumor of some sort what he thought the prognosis might be and he said he couldn't say without seeing a CAT scan or MRI but that based on her behavior, she could still have some life ahead of her and it might just be us deciding when it was time. He did say that if it WAS a tumor, that it probably wasn't operable. I left her that day to get acupuncture and picked her up after work. We gave her pain medicine all week and made an appt for Friday for the ear flush. I took her that morning and dropped her off with Dr. James (our vet) and he said he would give me a call later. I got the call at 2:30, really not expecting to hear anything except she is doing fine but they couldn't find anything and it was probably a tumor. But that is not what he said. I asked how she was doing and he said "not good." Apparently they went in and started by doing the flush. None of the fluid came back. Some of the fluid came out her mouth and nose and some just never came back. He put a scope deep into her ear and found nothing. Meaning NO INNER EAR. No bones, no nothing. Just pus and infection way deep inside. Then she stopped breathing on the table. They were able to stabilize her but her breathing was erratic. The brought her back to X-ray and found that something had completely eaten away the inside of her ear. He felt that the only thing that could do that sort of damage in such a short period of time was a VERY aggressive tumor at the base of her brain. He said that if we brought her out of anesthesia, that she may not be able to walk and even if she could, she would be in a great deal of pain and it would only probably be a matter of days. He said that if it was his doggy, he would let her go without waking her. I couldn't believe it. I knew something might be coming but I thought I still would have months if not a year with her. I am still in shock. I called drew and he met me at the vet. We both hugged and kissed her and stayed with her while they put her to sleep. I told her how much everyone loved her and how she was the sweetest chow girl ever. Two of the vet techs came in to give her kisses (she was well loved at our vet) and we said our goodbyes. I am still in shock and I'm so sorry to have to share this with you. I know this was a ton of detail but since many of you were on here when we got her, I thought you would want to know.
Here are some pics of Cayenne. She was SUCH a beautiful girl.
Here is a link if you want to see how she was with our daughter Kennedy:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fiufww0XLKM
We will be spending all the time we can helping Chewie get through this as he has been with Cayenne for most of his life. Any suggestions any of you with two pups have for what do to help chewie would be greatly appreciated. Cayenne was a part of our family and we will miss her so much. She was the light of our lives and we did everything we could to make her happy here. We loved her so much and will remember her always.
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