About Ember |
- Status: Adopted!
- Species: Dog
- General Color: Black
- Eye Color: Brown
- Ear Type: Natural/Uncropped
- Tail Type: Long
- Current Size: 62 Pounds
- Current Age: 14 Years 1 Month (best estimate)
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- Fence Required: No
- Declawed: No
- Housetrained: Yes
- Obedience Training Needed: Has Basic Training
- Exercise Needs: Moderate
- Grooming Needs: Low
- Shedding Amount: Moderate
- Owner Experience Needed: Species
- Reaction to New People: Friendly
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Ember is on Hold…
7/7/15 Last Tuesday, Ember had her first hydrotherapy. The trainer/therapist/guy who gets on the water person said that Ember seems to never had been in the water before due to her not being able to get her back end up while swimming. The trainer was very instructive to me as to where to go around the pool so Ember would swim to me. She kept wanting to climb out of the pool from the side, and not the stairs. She was given 2-3 minute breaks before getting back in. He really pushed Ember hard to see what she could take. The session was only a half hour, and Ember was ready to leave. She acted as if she could go for a long walk afterwards, but we wanted her to stay quiet. The rest of the day she started to tighten up, and on Wednesday she was hurting. She could hardly get up and when she was up, she favored her back legs by holding a leg up at a time. We gave her pain meds to help with her comfort until she felt better. On Thursday, she was improving by the hour and by Thursday night, she was back to her old self and wanting to chase bunnies in the back yard.
This is what happens when atrophy sets in, and this is the reason we are having her swim, to get those back leg muscles strengthened to 100%.
Thank you to Chris for letting us know about the facility: Sit, Stay, Swim in Roscoe, IL. Ember will go every Tuesday until her nine week checkup in August. More updates to follow.
Here are some photos of her first swim therapy.
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6/12/15 We took Ember in for her 6 week checkup at WVRC-Racine in WI. They took X-rays of her legs to see if anything changed with the metal plates in her knees. The surgeon said that everything looked great and that she is ready for phase 1 of physical therapy, which includes walks around a block. If she does well after a few days, then we can double the length of her walks, and so on until we get to week 4, which is longer leash walks and climbing exercises. Stay tuned for further updates on Ember's progress of physical therapy. She goes back in August for her 9 week checkup.
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5/4/15 I wanted to give everyone an update on Ember. She went to the Vet on Thursday, April 30th to have TPLO surgery on both knees (for the lay person, TPLO surgery is the same as knee surgery) She was moved to our home shortly after surgery. She was very curious about being in a new home. She was antsy, pacing around the house, and restless. Being in a new home, she wanted to sniff around and find the new smells. It was very difficult to keep her calm and relaxed. Getting her to lie down was nearly impossible, and with the surgery it did not help.
Her previous foster home didn't need to kennel Ember. So we didn't know if Ember had any kennel training, but we were up for the challenge if she needed help getting comfortable being kenneled. We knew she needed to be quiet for the next six weeks while she rehabilitated her new knees. For those of you who have/had Labrador Retrievers, this is a huge undertaking to keep a ball crazy dog calm. Turns out, Ember took to the kennel great! She barked for 10 minutes, then settled down for the night and was quiet until everyone was out of bed the next morning.
During rehab, Ember has to be on a leash while outside until her recheck in six weeks, so she does not take off and chase a small furry creature. While in the house, she can be limited to a small space (outside of her kennel) if under direct supervision. She is putting weight on her back legs more and more, but still has some trouble going to the bathroom. After running some errands, we took Ember outside for a potty break, and when she came in, she went right to the kennel to lie down. Ember has used the kennel on her own for the entire weekend.
For those who do not know, LEARN takes care of the cost of needed surgery. We rely on the generous sponsorships and donations from kind-hearted individuals to help with our Vet bills. If you would like to help offset the cost of Ember's surgery, please click on the link. http://www.labadoption.org/animals/sponsor_this_pet?AnimalID=8389481 Any small donation helps LEARN save more Labs, giving a once unwanted dog the home he/she desperately needs.
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5/2/15 Wanted to let everyone know that Ember's surgery went well, and she was able to go home yesterday. When we got to the clinic to pick her up, I expected her to be a sad soul and pretty much out of it...Boy was I wrong! She was a happy dog and raring to go. I believe that keeping her quiet for the next 8 weeks is going to be a challenge, to say the least...That task is now in the hands of another long time foster family for L.E.A.R.N., who have offered to rehab her...She is a sweetheart and a really easy foster. I'm going to miss her, but I do know she is in GREAT hands!
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4/30/15 Ember is out of surgery. (Don't quote me on the following terminology, I was writing really fast)..... Complete tear to the right CCL with some damage to the medial meniscus and a partial tear to the left CCL. On an epidural and IV fluids right now. The plan is to get her on oral meds tomorrow. They will call me in the morning and again around noon to confirm that she can go home tomorrow. She is doing well, and the Vet doesn't foresee any issues.
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4/23/15 Ember saw the orthopedic surgeon Tues., and it turns out that both of her knees are bad. She will need to have surgery to correct them, and then 8 weeks of quiet recovery time. The surgery is scheduled for Thursday, April 30th, and she is having a bilateral TPLO done...basically that's both knees at the same time. It will be a long recovery, but once she's all healed up, she will have much needed pain relief and will be able to be the beautiful, carefree, playful dog that she so deserves to be.
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4/18/15 Wanted to give an update on Ember...
She was at the Vet on Tuesday for her hip x-rays. Her hips are bad...the left actually looks worse than the right, but the doc seems to think that the right causes her more pain than the left. He believes the real issue stems from her back hocks, which are in terrible condition and can actually be hyper extended. Because the hocks seem to be causing the hip problem he would not recommend surgery on the hips, as he thinks it would happen to new hips, unless the hocks can be corrected and he is not sure if that is possible or practical.
He has recommended starting her on supplements: Glucosomine, Rimadyl for inflammation, and pain meds (Tramadol) when the time comes. If/when she starts Rimadyl and Tramadol she will need to have her blood levels monitored regularly. As of right now, we have only started her on Glucosomine. He also recommended having an ortho-surgeon look at her to see if there is possibly anything that can be done. She has an appointment Tues. the 21st with the ortho doc.
Her kennel cough is all cleared up and she's eating good now also. We still mix a REALLY small amount of canned food with her kibble, but I'm sure that won't be needed much longer.
As for her personality… She's an absolute sweetheart! She knows all the basic commands, and comes when she is called, even outside. In the last few days, she's started engaging in play with my two. She hasn't had any accidents, and we haven't had to crate her. She sleeps quietly at the side of my bed at night and doesn't harass me to get up in the morning, unlike my two who have me up at the crack of dawn. She is a freak about a tennis ball. If she is in any pain right now, I have not seen it, and it certainly doesn't slow her down. During my discussion with the Vet, I asked him if we should limit her exercise, and he said, "No. Don't overdo it, but let her be a dog, and manage the situation."
We have discovered that she can be pretty vocal if she wants you to throw the ball and in a car. She LOVES to ride in the car but tends to bark out the window. We are working on that.
You can get a glimpse of her personality from the attached video. The goof couldn't find a tennis ball in the yard, so she grabbed a rock out of the culvert...and not a small one either. :)
Please keep her in your thoughts for her appointment on Tues.
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4/3/15 Hello Everyone ~
I'd like to introduce Ember, approx. 5 y.o. female. She came to L.E.A.R.N. (and our house) this past Sunday, from Chicago Animal Control. She was brought in as a stray.
When she arrived at our house, she had kennel cough and was pretty shut down. Not afraid of any of us, but just very quiet and kept to herself. She had no interest in food or treats. That has actually continued all week. I haven't been able to get her to eat ANYTHING. I’ve tried softened kibble, boiled hamburger and rice, bought canned food, tried Johnsonville sausage and cheese. She turned her nose to all of it. So today, I got to thinking about everything and decided to do some research. Combined with all the change in her life the last few weeks that probably has her very stressed, it turns out that kennel cough can cause irritation to the throat. The medicine she is on can cause nausea, vomiting and loss of appetite. They recommend giving it with food, which obviously I haven't been able to do because she hasn't been eating. I was giving her the pills first thing in the morning (4am), and when I got home from work (4pm). My husband feeds the animals at 6am. And they get dinner at 6pm. She has been getting the pills on an empty stomach!! ((facepalm)) I'm guessing that was contributing to her not eating. Her stomach was probably upset, along with a sore throat and the stress. Tonight I decided to change things up and not give her the pills until I TRIED to get food in her. The kennel cough is improving, so I'm sure her throat is probably feeling better. Tonight when it was feeding time. I mixed a small amount of kibble, couple of scoops of hamburger and rice, some canned food and some water and SHE ATE!!! I'm starting to think that she has never had hard kibble before, but I got her to eat! It's a start and I'm thrilled! I will continue to try to introduce more kibble little by little.
On Monday, I took her to the Vet. Here is where the hard part comes – good news is that she is heartworm negative. All of her blood work looks good. Her teeth, previously thought to be pretty bad are actually ok as their color isn’t due to having a lot of tarter build up, but rather they are only stained, probably from having lived on soft food. The Vet believes she is spayed because she has no mammary development… We didn't want to stress her out anymore by looking for a scar. He's pretty confident she's been spayed. She is 62 lbs.
Now the bad news…there seems to be hip issues. She will be having her hips xrayed on the 14th of April, so until then, we won't really know the extent of what is going on. After we get the results, we can put together a plan of treatment and get this beautiful girl on the road to a happy, healthy life.
Now more GOOD news – Ember is completely potty trained, and we haven't had to crate her at all! None of the issues with her hips seem to slow her down; if she's in pain, she doesn't show it. She's a sweet, loving, easy going beauty. She's starting to open up and becoming playful – loves tennis balls. We are letting her play fetch everyday for a short amount of time. She will bring the ball back to you and flip it at you, or paw at it and pounce on it. Every time you let her out she goes right to the tennis ball.
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Ember isn't up for adoption yet
as she is still going through her rehab and Vet care, but stay tuned for updates. If you think you might be interested in meeting/adopting Ember please fill out an adoption application and have a home visit first. – If you have already done these things then you can email L.E.A.R.N. and let them know you would like to be on her potential family list.
