Over the weekend we got some good news from our west coast friends Staci and Jeff Sirois and Keena. They both took Keena in and got her Therapy Dog Certification and their Therapy Dog Handler certifications!

From Staci:

Hi all, I hope everyone is doing great! I don't post often, but I love reading about everybody's antics! I am so proud of Keena right now, though, that I just had to post. :) She just passed her Therapy Dog test this afternoon with flying colors! Both Jeff and I tested with her (two separate tests so we could both be registered handlers) and she was awesome! She is just so outgoing and friendly, her tail speeds up when anyone so much as looks at her. The evaluator commented on her "coffee-table sweeper" when it was pounding back and forth during the physical exam portion of the test. Keena is now a registered therapy dog with The Delta Society Pet Partners Program. Yippee!

We plan to participate in the Reading with Rover program for children with learning disabilities. Keena is great with kids and they just love her. Once we get some experience under our belts, I hope that we can add animal-assisted physical therapy to our efforts. However it works out, I think it will be super fun and rewarding.

Hope everyone is doing well!
Staci and Morrigan's Muirne Keena, Therapy Dog :)

AND...

Yes, we had planned to have Keena tested last spring, but then she had her medical issues, and by the time we figured out that it would be okay for her to take the prep class over the summer, all the spots were filled. So, we signed up for the fall class, which we finished last week, and then scheduled her test for right when she finished. But better late than never! Besides, she was the second youngest dog in our class of 8. The Delta Society doesn't require a class before testing, but I wanted to take one just for practice.

And about the initials after her name... I know the other Delta Society folks use TD or TD-AAA/T (Animal Assisted Activities/Therapy) after their dog's names, but I know TD is also an AKC tracking title. AKC doesn't recognize therapy dog titles, and on the websites I've found, TD is listed as Tracking Dog and Therapy Dog, with the distincition that TD for tracking is an AKC title and TD for therapy is a working title. However, I don't have much experience with the initials and titles, so I don't know what I'd actually use. I think her badge and vest will have it all spelled out: "Keena - Delta Society Pet Partners Therapy Dog AAA/T". Does that clear anything up? Probably not. :)

Take care!
Staci and a very tired Keena... (hey, she had a long day yesterday!)

For those who may be new, Keena developed Pyometra this last winter. I asked Staci if she could write up what happened and post a 'report' to the group so that others would know what happened. She did a great job, but I didn't. I never cross posted it here on the blog. So here it is. Staci posted it February 25. I'm a little tardy but this is what happens to a mastiff with pyometra.

If you have an unspayed female Mastiff, READ THIS, please.

Once upon a time, there was a wonderfully sweet mastiff puppy named Keena. She flew to Seattle to live with her new family, including a slightly neurotic "dog-mom" who thought she might want to get into dog showing (Hey, it sounded like fun!). After numerous obedience, conformation, and even therapy dog prep classes, things were going well and Summer '06 was going to be Keena's year to take the Washington dog show world by storm... Until today.

Okay, guys, just wanted to post my experience with one of the dreaded mastiff-prevalent problems--here's the play by play, see if you would recognize signs/symptoms, what would you have done in this situation, and see if you would have done anything differently (trust me, I'm already kicking myself).

Tuesday evening: Keena is a little lethargic, doesn't finish dinner. Not unusual for her, she's a picky eater and frequently leaves a little left over for breakfast. First warning light goes off in my head, I determine to start watching her closely.

Wednesday: Still a little lethargic, but active when I get home from class, seems happy, eats a few bites of breakfast, but not much. Still not unusual for her, she has frequenly stopped eating for a day or two at a time, especially after we let her outside to play hard and then keep her inside for a few days--she turns into Miss Depressed Puppy (there's been too much snow/ice this week to let her outside much). Eats maybe a quarter of her dinner, drinks some water, flops on her bed and snores the night away.

Thursday: Won't touch breakfast, didn't go downstairs with Jeff when he got up in the morning--he feeds her in the morning, so she normally tears down the stairs when he goes down. She just stayed curled on her bed, watching me get ready in the morning. Followed me downstairs when I went, acted happy, but still not eating. Red flags are now waving in my head, but I worked as a vet tech for three years, so I feel comfortable monitoring her at home, waiting for more definitive symptoms to appear. Checked her temp, normal at 101.5. Heart rate and respirations normal, urine and bowel movements normal, no pain on abdominal palpation, no discharge from the vulva. Checked range of motion of all joints, no pain response. Checked teeth (very good reason for not eating if her teeth hurt), teeth and gums fine. She ate a little dinner when it was mixed with treats.

Friday: Ate no breakfast, even with treats. Vital signs all normal, still no pain on palpation anywhere. Urine normal, bowel movements slowing down (she hadn't been eating that much!), but still normal. No vomiting, no diarrhea, no temp, no real basis for a diagnosis. Still lethargic, but moderate activity when I took her outside for a brief walk. I determine to bring her in to my vet (previous employer) Monday morning (he doesn't work weekends).

Saturday:
6am: Keena doesn't want to get out of bed. Rechecked all vitals, everything still normal. Started to worry, decided that Monday wouldn't cut it. Called vet's cell phone and begged (benefits of working there three years). Meet vet at clinic at 8am.

8am: Physical exam yielded very slight abdominal discomfort, but not anything near enough for a diagnosis. Decided to shoot x-rays. Attemping to hold a mastiff on her back for a ventral-dorsal shot is an exercise in futility. Decided 20 minutes later to shoot dorsal- ventral instead. Still difficult for two people to hold squirming mastiff, mastiff falls off of table, owner's heart briefly stops as images of broken legs and ribs float through her head. Keena is fine, or as fine as she was before hitting the floor. Repeat attempt at x-ray, this one is successful. X-ray indicates possible pyometra, not conclusive, we drag out the ultrasound machine. Ultrasound conclusively shows two horns of uterus filled with fluid. Vet recommends emergency spay.

9am: Called in vet tech friend (who still works there) to help with surgery. Vet and I try to get an IV catheter into Keena, but she is too dehydrated--difficult to find vein, once catheter is in and flushed, we hook up IV fluids and watch as the leg swells around the blown catheter. Attempt #2 on other leg, repeat of attempt 1. Attempt #3 on original leg, different vein. Finally successful, we start her on maintenance fluids and premedicate her with atropine, morphine, and cephazolin. Other tech and I set up surgery suite while medication kicks in. The three of us induce anesthesia on Keena using Propofol, a high quality anesthetic recommended for high- risk dogs. Normal amount doesn't work on Keena. Vet goes to get 3rd bottle (Keena took 2) and finds out that there are no more (clinic manager responsible for ordering supplies is on vacation this week, tried to order enough of everything to last two weeks, but obviously came up a little short). Vet is pissed and asks for a half'n'half of ketamine and diazapam (valium) to complete the induction (I've never seen a dog induced with Propofol AND ket/val, I was worried for possible interactions, but it worked out fine). Keena FINALLY goes down and vet intubates her and hooks her up to iso gas anesthesia. Tech and I hook up all monitors for vital signs, up fluid level to surgery rate, and shave and prep Keena for surgery. When finished, all three of us carry the very limp Keena into the surgery suite and re-hook up the anesthesia gas and the monitoring equipment.

10am: Surgery begins. I monitor/record all vital signs, my friend the other tech scrubs in and hands equipment to the vet as needed. After the incision into the abdominal cavity is made, the uterus makes a bid for freedom. (HOW did this dog show so little pain response?!?) Picture a FOUR FOOT long tube about 4 to 5 INCHES in diameter, anchored in the middle so that it forms a "Y". "Gross" doesn't even begin to cover it, the entire thing looks like a water balloon wrapped in string (blood vessels) that is about to burst. Expressions of amazement and/or disgust fill the room as the vet informs me that my dog is lucky to be alive. It was probably anywhere from minutes to hours from rupturing and probably killing her. The vet ties off the horns and base of the uterus in preparation for cutting it out. As the first incision is made into the uterus, the "balloon" ruptures. We had a tub prepared for this, but apparently the fluid was under more pressure than anticipated. There was pus on the table, the floor, the walls, and all three of us. When the vet finally got the uterus drained into the basin, the total fluid volume (after losing some in the initial outburst) was about 3 liters. 3 LITERS. Ouch. We all change gloves, resume surgery. Abdominal cavity is flushed with 250cc of warm sterile saline, suctioned, repeat that about 3 times. Finally, the entire cavity is rinsed with penicillin, then the incision is closed. All that remains of the ordeal is a neat, small incision and a little row of stiches. We scrub the outer abdonimal area to remove any remainig fluid and begin the process of waking Keena up. After being on oxygen only (no anesthetic gas) for about 10 minutes, we moved her to a recovery kennel in the ICU area and waited for her to wake up. My friend extubated Keena when she was awake while I shaved her to apply a fentenyl pain patch, lowered her fluid rate, and gave her yet another whopping dose of morphine and a dose of baytril. During surgery, she also had her second dose of cephazolin.

1pm: Surgery is over, Keena is awake but certainly not alert. She has a level 8 pain on the animal pain evaluation scale, and doesn't really respond to my touch or voice. We alternated watching her while cleaning up after the surgery and my friend and my vet got ready to leave (vet was supposed to be leaving town at 3pm).

2pm: Third dose of cephazolin, third dose of morphine, pain has decreased to a 7. Keena is laying on a heating pad, piled with blankets, and being babied by yours truly since I am now the only one in the clinic. I have orders to report every 3 hours (or as needed) to my vet on his cell phone, and I send my husband for books, a sleeping bag, and food.

5pm: Husband gets to clinic, I check in with vet, Keena is doing fine, she came through the (very major) surgery amazingly well. Still at around a 7 on the pain scale, but she has had more than her quota of morphine, so vet advises me to wait a bit before giving her more. Temp normal, incision looks good. We have a pizza party in the ICU.

6pm: I write up this post for the benefit of all mastiff owners who might ever in there lives have a female that presents an asymptomatic closed pyometra. Please, please catch it early.

Thanks for reading, and wish us lots of luck as Keena recovers from this massive surgery this week. I've got my feet kicked up with my laptop in my lap, nibbling on pizza, looking forward to a very uncomfortable night sleeping on the floor, and thanking each and every one of my lucky stars that Keena is still alive.

Keena has recovered quite well indeed! Mastiffs are amazing creatures with tremendous constitutions. Their ability to cope with pain is nearly mythical. As Staci does, watch them closely.

Congratualtions, Staci, Jeff and Keena!

Staci has promised pictures soon... :)