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10/23/08 - Tessa is doing so wonderful! She has a new lease on life, and you can tell! She loves to run around and go for short walks. Her only problem now is the other knee. She will limp on her bad leg now, but thankfully she will have that one fixed next week. Since getting her one knee fixed, her separation anxiety has gotten better. She used to hate being in a crate, but after having to be in there for 6 weeks, she has gotten much better. She doesn't like to be left alone in one, but settles in quite nicely when she has a companion to cuddle with. She is now the first one to go in the crate when we have to leave the house and she will lay down and curl up with the other pups with her in the crate and doesn't bark, which is a HUGE improvement. Previously, Tessa would cry and bark even when in a crate with other pups. Her house training has even improved since having her knee fixed. She has only had one accident in the house since having her knee fixed and lets you know when she has to go outside. She still does a lot of spinning, which I am sure became a habit, but now she walks in circles instead of spinning on her little behind. She is like a new dog now that she can walk, it really is amazing and such a joy to see. Tessa would be best suited in a home that has another pup for her to snuggle with and be with since she doesn't like to be alone. She still needs her lap time too, but does well when she can snuggle in next to someone or another pup. Tessa is a very sweet happy little girl that is really enjoying her new found freedom!
9/16/2008 - Tessa had surgery on her back left leg, which was the worst of the two, on September 5th. She is doing FANTASTIC!!! She is standing and walking now! The vet is just thrilled of her progress and did not expect it to turn out so well given how bad it was. She was under for 2.5 hours while they worked to repair her torn ligament and repair her knee. It was a major surgery for her. She seems so thrilled to be able to stand and walk around now! After seeing her scoot along and now to be able to walk, it brings tears to your eyes, and you can just tell she is thrilled too. She isn't liking having to stay in the crate so much, but it is the best for her recovery. She does real well with the leg exercises she has to do three times a day day and doesn't mind the ice pack either. We are so happy for little Tessa!!
8/18/08 - Tessa is doing very well. She will be going in to have her knee surgery in the next couple weeks. We are going to talk to the vet about her eye as well. It has been getting smaller and has started having stuff come out of it. It might be time to have it removed. Our vet did tell us we needed to watch it and that at some point it might need to come out. Other than that, Tessa is doing great! She gets herself around well and LOVES everyone and everything. She is the happiest little girl if she can be held all day long. She does have pretty bad separation anxiety, so she would be best suited in a home where someone would be home a majority of the time. If you want a little lap dog that spends most of their time on your lap and you love to get little kisses from a special little pup, then Tessa is for you!
4/9/08 - On Monday we met with an orthopedic surgeon to discuss Tessa's back legs and determine what can be done to help her walk again. On Tuesday the doctor took x-rays of both legs. In looking at them, it has been determined that Tessa's problems walking are due to her Grade 4 luxating patellas and she has a torn cranial cruciate ligament in her right leg, which is why she doesn't try and use that leg at all. A Grade 4 patella luxation is described as the patella being permanently luxated and cannot be manually repositioned. What also occurs in some or most Grade 4 patella luxations is the bones begin to curve and the quadriceps muscle is displaced to accommodate the luxation. Tessa has severe bone curvatures, which leads us to believe she has had this Grade 4 patella luxation for quite a long time. The torn cranial cruciate ligament is very painful and explains why Tessa holds that leg under her and does not use it. Her right leg, the one with the torn ligament, is actually straighter than her left leg. The orthopedic surgeon has recommended starting with fixing the torn ligament and fixing the luxating patellas. It isn't guaranteed to help her walk again, but there is a possibility it will. Another problem that occurs when pups have had this condition for a long time is when you fix it other issues can arise, such as problems with the hips. This is because the body has become accustomed to how it currently functions and the bone structure has changed over time and you are then trying to change it back. The surgery to fix both Tessa's luxating patellas at the same time and repair the torn ligament is estimated at $1500 to $1800, so any assistance you can provide to help Tessa hopefully walk again would be greatly appreciated. Tessa sends lots of yorkie kisses your way!
3/20/08 - The vet had sent Tessa's liver biospy results along with all other findings to two or three internal medicine doctors to determine what was wrong with her liver. It was conclusive that she has MVD. She does not present symptoms of MVD right now, but we will need to watch for symptoms to start. There are many dogs that go their entire life without presenting symptoms of MVD that have it. Since they were able to determine what was wrong with her liver, she was now able to have her teeth cleaned so we can proceed with her knees. She went in for her dental today and had 5 or 6 teeth removed and only has 4 teeth remaining! The vet was also able to get to the tumor in her belly today, so he removed it and will be sending it into the lab for further testing. Now that all the bacteria and bad teeth have been removed, we will set up an appointment with an orthopedic surgeon to discuss her knees. Our vet decided this would be best, eventhough he does knee surgeries all the time, because her knees are so bad. He had an idea of what he would do, but felt it was best to consult with an orthopedic surgeon. We will update everyone once we speak with the orthopedic surgeon and decide on how we will be able to help Tessa walk and not scoot anymore.
2/28/08 - Tessa was spayed today and had a biopsy of her liver done. She is doing very well and is wide awake. The doctor did not remove the tumor in her belly because it is shrinking and in order for him to get to it now he would have to open her up pretty wide to get it all and she is a tiny little girl. He thought that since it was shrinking, it would be best to leave it alone at this point, but we will continue to watch it to make sure it doesn't grow again. The biopsy of her liver went well too. Her temperature started to drop so they were unable to work on her teeth like she needs. They did scrape some of the calculus off to try and help. Before we proceed with anything else for little Miss Tessa, we will wait to see what the biopsy of the liver comes back with. If all is well, we will proceed with a dental and then work to fix her poor back knees so she hopefully won't have to scoot along the floor anymore.
1/17/08 - Tessa will hopefully be getting better real soon. After the results of two cultures came back it has been determined that she likely has Mycoplasma. This is a bacteria that affects the white blood cells and does not show up in regular cultures. It can cause coughing, sneezing, fever, infertility, urinary problems, etc. It is contagious, but a healthy dog would not likely catch it. Tessa's immune system was weak from not having the proper care and was not strong enough to fight it off. She remains on her cough medicine and has been put on doxycycline to help cure it and a type of steroid to help with the imflamed trachea. Most antibiotics do not help with Mycoplasma because of the type of bacteria it is. The doxycycline has surely increased her appetite, which is one of the side effects. Hopefully she will be able to gain back some of the weight she lost and fight this off.
Tessa (previously known as Bonnie): 12/27/07 - Tessa is still sick. We have learned that she does NOT have Addisons disease, which is a very good thing. Now we just need to get her well again and we can have her teeth cleaned, spayed and the tumor in her belly removed. We are working hard to get her well and force feeding her right now. She has a terrible cough and sneezing and doesn't want to eat most of the time, but at least she isn't fevering. She has gone from 3.2 pounds down to 2.5, so we are syringe feeding for now.
PLEASE HELP BONNIE 12/19/07 - Bonnie had her ultra-sound today. She does not have a liver shunt or MVD, but she does have liver disease. They also found that her galbladder is enlarged and looks like it is full of sludge. One of her ovaries or possibly the pancreas is also enlarged. Her adrenal glands looked small and her corisol levels were high. So, they have taken a blood sample and are sending it in to check the cortisol in order to rule out Addison's disease. Her kidneys, bladder, uterus, lymph nodes and spleen all looked normal. With her being sick, she has dropped more weight and is below 3 pounds now, so she is not well enough to have any surgeries at this time. Once she is well enough and gains some weight, she will need to be spayed, have the tumor in her belly removed, have her teeth cleaned and bad ones removed, have her galbladder cleaned out and will need a biopsy of her liver, overy and pancreas taken to make sure everything is ok. Then after that we will consider the knees. We also think that Bonnie may have been mixed up at the shelter with the other pup that was surrendered at the same time she was. If the person or shelter mixed them up, then Bonnie is really 10 years old and her name is Contesa. Each vet that has checked her over has put her age to be at least 10, so this appears to have happened. Please keep sweet little Bonnie/Contesa in your thoughts and prayers as we try and make her better.
12/18/07 - The results are back from the biopsy of the lump in Bonnie's belly. From what they have tested, it has come back benign, but they want the whole mass to be sure. So, once she is well enough and we find out about her liver, we will schedule the removal of the lump, have her spayed and her teeth cleaned. We did find out at the vet yesterday that she has a sinus infection and kennel cough. We learned that sinus infections in dogs are contagious since they are caused from a virus. This is very different than how sinus infections work in people. Bonnie has her ultra-sound of her liver scheduled for Wednesday.
UPDATE 12/17/07 – Bonnie needs your help! We took her to our vet last week to discuss her knee surgeries and get some blood work done for her. In discussing her knees, they are the worst our vet has seen. He has determined what he is going to do and we are hoping for the best. She will likely end up with pins in either both or at least one knee.
Our vet is very gracious and has offered to fix one of her knees for free and therefore it will only cost around $700 to have her knees fixed. Before she can have them fixed, she needs to have her teeth cleaned and bad ones removed to get the infection out before touching the knees and she needs to be spayed, which will be around $400 for the two surgeries together.
Also, in checking her over we found a lump in her belly that our vet took a biopsy of. He is very concerned about it and worries it might be cancer based on the look of the cells he extracted. We should be receiving those results soon and will then determine if we can proceed or not. Also, in looking at her blood work, her liver and kidney levels were elevated and therefore he decided to do a bile acid test first because if there is something wrong with the liver, a surgery could kill her. So, in doing the bile acid test, he found that there is definitely something wrong. The level on an empty stomach for her was 34 and should have been 10 and then two hours after eating it was 55 and should have been 20. Therefore, we need to have an ultrasound of the liver done to find out what is going on and we need to find out the results of the biopsy of the lump in her belly before we can proceed with anything. We will need to go to the specialist to have the ultrasound performed.
We also think Bonnie is getting a cold or having upper respiratory problems. She is sneezing stuff out her nose and sometimes has a hard time breathing and just isn't acting her usual self, or at least the usual we know of her thus far.
Original Bio - 12/5/2007:
Hi everyone. My name is Bonnie and I am an adorable 3 1/2 lb. special little girl. I was surrendered by my owner to a shelter. My owner said I was 6 years old, but the doctor at the shelter thinks I am older though.
I am really sweet but have a few medical issues. My foster mom thinks I am blind in one eye, but I can see where I am going very well. I do have problems with my back legs, but I kind of scoot around using my front two paws. I can use one of my back legs some, but the other one is very crooked and hangs there. We should hopefully learn more about my legs when the doctor looks at me later this week.
I just love to be with people and hope to find a home of my own where someone will be home with me most of the day. I am a loving little girl and enjoy to go anywhere with you. My foster mom says that I need a home where I will be spoiled. Also I need a home without children because they could hurt me by accident because I am so tiny. Please check back on me, and I hope you can help with my medical care because the specialists are kind of expensive. Thank you for caring about me.
