Author: vibeke

Let’s start with the good news – Nora went in for her neurology follow up at AMC last Saturday. The month of crate/bed rest worked, and she has healed really well. She was cleared to start slowly building up to normal activities over the next month. She was REALLY happy to finally get to go for a walk, however short.

The new challenge though…..Over this last month of rest, pain meds and sedatives Nora has had a few incidents where she lost control of her bladder while asleep. We have taken turns sleeping with her on the couch (since she was restricted to our small living room), and on several occasions we would wake up in a pool of pee with Nora. Both the vets and we assumed this was just due to her being too sedated in her sleep.

Yesterday, after having been taken off all sedatives since Saturday – we found she had peed her bed again. She wasn’t even really deeply asleep, just snoozing and resting. Something was not right.

We took her in to our regular vet today to rule out a UTI, bladder stones or crystals. She didn’t show the classic signs of a UTI – no painful urination or frequent urination, but better safe than sorry. The ultrasound of her bladder didn’t show any stones or crystals, and we should have the results of the urinalysis tomorrow (urine culture takes a few more days). If this is not a UTI, we might be dealing with incontinence. Thankfully, there are meds to help Nora regain bladder control if that’s what is going on.

No matter what this is, we will get through it. Nora is still a happy girl, in spite of everything.

The last 72 hours have been rough….We were awakened early Friday morning by Nora screaming in pain. The screams were the same heartbreaking screams she made when she had her phantom limb pains, so we assumed the neuropathic pain had come back after almost 6 months of being pain free. She kept having episodes throughout Friday afternoon – 4 major (lasting more than a minute) and a couple of minor ones that only lasted a few seconds……but something was off. Back when her phantom limb pains were at their worst, she would NEVER have more than 2 episodes in a day – and within minutes of it being over, she was back to her normal happy self as if nothing had happened. Friday, however, she never snapped back to normal. She was hiding, tail tucked and not wanting to be touched. She did perk up for food and for going outside in the yard….

Early evening we couldn’t take it anymore, and rushed her to the ER at Animal Medical Center. She was assessed by their amazing ER staff who couldn’t say for sure if this was phantom limb or if there was cervical involvement. They send us home with Gabapentin and Codein and orders for strict crate rest.

We got home Friday night, but in spite of the pain meds she kept having agonizing moments of pain throughout the night. Saturday morning we made an emergency appointment to see neurology at AMC and brought her back in. The neurologist was able to find the source of her pain. Turns out she has a ruptured disc in her neck that is pressing on nerves and sending shooting pains through her body. She was given new pain meds, and orders to be on strict crate rest for the next month – with us carrying her out to poop and pee. The hope is that with proper rest, her disc will regenerate and we can avoid risky surgery. Being a tripawd in and of itself is a high impact activity…..

Nora is now finally resting comfortably in her crate. As of last night her pain meds finally kicked in and we could all get some much needed rest. We will do our very best to help Nora through this next month. She is going to hate having to be confined and restricted, but it’s worth it to make sure she never has to endure this kind of pain ever again. Lots of love, kisses and organic pumpkin filled Kongs……and her kitty brothers are watching over her as well.

A couple of weeks ago, Nora had major dental work done. She was pretty badly beaten during the assault where her leg was sawed off, and as a result she had some broken teeth. 2 of them really didn’t need fixing, as the break was superficial, but one of her lower canines had suffered a pretty complicated break with pulp exposure. She had to have a surgical root canal done on that tooth in order to save it.

There was a lot of puss and infection at the root of this tooth, so the poor girl must have been in pain. We never saw ANY signs of her having a painful mouth – proof of how important regular dental check ups is for any cat or dog.

The rescue group in Iran who initially rescued Nora (Mazandaran Rescue Team) and who connected with Beagle Freedom Project/ARME in the US to get her transported here for medical care and adoption – posted this video on Facebook today as a thank you to me and my husband today…

It was very emotional for us – she’s come so far!!!

Link to the video:

https://www.facebook.com/PnahgahHywanatBySrprstMazndranrwyana/videos/vb.275280585888301/1118865408196477/?type=2&theater&notif_t=comment_mention&notif_id=1470068024459350

https://www.facebook.com/PnahgahHywanatBySrprstMazndranrwyana/videos/vb.275280585888301/1118865408196477/?type=2&theater&notif_t=comment_mention&notif_id=1470068024459350

Yesterday, we went back to The Animal Medical Center (AMC), where Nora had her amputation done when she first arrived in the US. This time we went for a dental evaluation. Nora has a few chipped teeth that need to be repaired. According to both our regular vet and the dentist at AMC, all but one tooth only need minor enamel repair, but one might need a root canal. We won’t know for sure until the dental x-rays are taken before the procedure. She will also get her teeth cleaned. The dental is booked for September 14th.

She has shown no signs of discomfort or pain, but with dental pain animals often eat and play like normal in spite of pain…..so we can’t wait to have her mouth fixed.