poka bean

the foxtail and the hound

I am a grieved dog mother. Lucy has been in the saddest state since Saturday morning. At first we thought she had some kind of eye infection because her eyes were cloudy and red and swollen. But then we noticed her becoming incredibly lethargic. She moped around the house as though she were drugged all weekend. And then she began twitching her head. My God, the twitching! It was unbearable to watch. By Monday morning, she hadn't eaten anything or had a single sip to drink since the Friday before.

So I took her to the vet. The entire staff puzzled over her for almost an hour. After poking and prodding her all over, the vet took a second glance in her ears and found foxtails in both of them. Ah ha! At last! She yelped when he pulled them out but they sent us on our merry way with antibotics and ear/eye drops and said to come back in 24 hours if she wasn't better. I fretted all night about what a terrible dog mother I am. How could I let this happen?

Well, 24 hours later, she was no better so we went back to the vet. I'm telling you she was the saddest, most heartbreaking dog you have ever seen in your life. She didn't want to walk or move, she just wanted to lie still in one position. Her eyes were swollen and droopy and her posture and the expression on her face made it look as though we had put her under heavy sedation. And the twitching continued. So upon another long, laborious examination and a blood test, it turns out foxtails weren't the problem. Lucy has a sad condition. Masticular Muscle Myositis. It's some kind of auto-immune disease. Apparently the muscles in dog's jaws are made up of different muscle protiens than the rest of their bodies so for whatever reason, her own immune system has begun attacking her jaw muscles! No wonder she doesn't want to eat. And their jaw muscles wrap pretty much all the way around their heads and behind the eyes so that explains the swelling and irritation. Poor baby! It was all I could do to keep from bursting into tears right there in the vet's office. When I have real, human babies, I am going to be A. TOTAL. DISASTER.

So Lucy's on antibotics and prednisone for 20 days now and the vet thinks we caught it early enough to help her but some dogs never fully recover and have to be on some form of steroids for the rest of their lives. I cannot bear the thought of this. I am grieved, I tell you. GRIEVED.

Posted by Poka Bean at 4:52 PM