Wow, it’s been a while since our last Eddie update! Sorry everyone! First thing’s first… a new picture! Here’s Eddie enjoying the sand pile at the farm:

Eddie and sister Scarlet had their first birthday on June 26th! There was a round of celebratory pig ears 🙂 Eddie also got a new bed, since he outgrew the other one:

He really seems to enjoy it…

Other than having a birthday, there’s not too much else to report.   We had noticed that he had been scratching a lot, and that his skin was really red and inflamed, so when it didn’t improve we took a trip to see Dr. B.   Turns out that Eddie basically has seasonal allergies.  We learned that dogs don’t respond the same way that humans do to inhaled allergens, so instead of sneezing and discharge they get itchy.   He responded well to a steroid shot, so we’re hoping that can get him through the rest of allergy season comfortably 🙂

His new favorite activity this summer at the farm has been playing in the ditch full of muddy water – after which he usually goes straight to the sand pile, coming out resembling a sugar coated doughnut. Needless to say, we’ve had to give a lot of baths prior to the car ride home!

^ That’s Eddie on the left and Scarlet on the right. She also enjoys the ditch, but not quite to the extent that her brother does!

Hope you all enjoy the pictures!   Stay tuned for more updates, as we will soon be tackling the task of neutering! We’ll leave you with one more picture for now – Eddie on his birthday!

Hello all! Sarah here with an Eddie update! We are 5 weeks post-surgery now, and aside from a small hiccup a couple weeks ago we are nearly done with the healing process. I had to take Eddie back in 2 weeks ago to get a few stitches put back in. Despite wearing the cone o’ shame, he managed to figure out how to scratch his little stump on the couch and worked a few of them loose. The Doc was able to take many of the other stitches out when he did it though, so hopefully this weekend we will be getting the last few out!

Other from that, Eddie is doing great!  He is allowed to go on normal walks now, so we’ve been trying to do that a lot in order to burn off all of the extra energy he’s built up from being on restriction. Oh, and he is in desperate need of a real bath 🙂 So all in all, everyone is ready for the rest of his stitches to come out and the cone to be put away for good!  He is ready to get back to his normal life, taking trips to the farm and playing with his BFF and sister, Scarlet.

On a side note, we went to pick up his food on Sunday only to find that the pet store we get it from has gone out of business! And of course they were the only local store that carried his food. Fortunately, there is a really awesome holistic pet store just down the road that was able to order some. Unfortunately they can’t get it for the same price that the first store did. So, we are yet again in the process of changing foods, which we are a bit bummed about because he has been doing really well on his current food, and we haven’t had any more tummy troubles since we switched to it. But, the lady at the holistic store did the research for me and found that they carry a food that is extremely similar, and less expensive than ordering his current food from the manufacturer.   So, we’ll be giving Fromm a try … here’s hoping he does well on it too!

And here’s a new picture for everyone to enjoy 🙂

Hey everyone, it’s Ryan again.  I just wanted to give everyone a quick update because we’ve had an interesting week.  It started on Monday with the amputation being done without any complications and Eddie was able to come home that same night.  Tuesday, Eddie was doing as expected, he lounged around most of the day and seemed to be sore, but we expected that from the beginning because, let’s face it, it was a big event and procedure.  I had to work my shift (24 hours) on Wednesday, but Sarah did tell me that she noticed some swelling around the surgical site and extending to his underside, but again, this was something that was expected.

And then I came home Thursday morning to find what appeared to be blood all over Eddie’s bedding, the carpet, wood floors and so on.  I took a look at Eddie’s site and found the swelling that Sarah told me about.  I also noticed some drainage coming from the site, but to me, it didn’t look like much.  I monitored Eddie for the day and when Sarah got home from work, we decided that he needed to be seen as soon as possible.  Because the DVM that did the amputation is closed on Thursdays (he teaches at the local Military college) we ended up going to the local emergency vet clinic.  The emergency clinic gave Eddie a thorough check and decided that the surgical site was infected.  The clinic gave us some antibiotics and gave us the option of either having the site opened, drained and re-stitched at their facility on Thursday night or, at the suggestion of the clinic vet, go see the vet that did the amputation as soon as possible and have him decide on a course of action.  We decided to return to the original vet and have him take a look.

Fortunately, Sarah was able to take Eddie to be seen this morning and the vet was very positive.  He said that he had given Eddie a long acting antibiotic at the time of the surgery which should last about 7 days, which will be Monday.  He looked the site over and said that, even though the site is draining, everything looks OK (because the stitches are intact, there’s no gapping at the incision and a couple other reasons).  He told us that the extra antibiotics would help and to keep giving them as prescribed and to keep an eye on the site.  He said to come back if we noticed any gapping at the incision or if the stitches get damaged, come back, but other than that, come back as originally scheduled.

Thanks again for keeping track of our story and we’ll keep everyone updated on Eddie’s status and condition.

Hey everyone, it’s Ryan (Eddie’s Dad) and like the title says, this is Eddie’s post-op update.  Bare with me, this will be long and I must make the disclaimer that I have attached a photo of the amputation site and, while there is no blood/exposed tissue/etc., the surgery was yesterday (3Mar2014) so it is fresh and may be gross, depending on your personal tolerance.  I only include the photo to document the before and after of Eddie’s story, so if you have a soft stomach, please don’t wander below the GRAPHIC IMAGE spacer that will be above the photo.

Anyways, if you’ve been following our story, you’ll be familiar with what we’ve been through so far.  For those that haven’t been following or are new to the site, allow me to recap.  Eddie is a pure-bred Blue Great Dane that was born on June 26, 2013 to a friend of ours (who missed her female Dane coming into heat, but her male Dane didn’t. . .).  Our friend is not a breeder, and wasn’t planning on breeding, but ended up with a litter of 12 puppies anyways.  Eddie is the runt and from birth, everyone could tell something wasn’t right.  At birth his right hind leg was twisted with his pad pointing up and after some discussion with a vet and a simple attempt to correct a “misdiagnosis” (not really but no one had any idea how complex an issue it really was), Eddie was taken to have X-rays where it was discovered he had Tibial Agenesis, which basically means his right tibia never formed.  For anyone that doesn’t know, the tibia is the main supporting bone in the lower leg.  We received Eddie at 7 wks old, under the conditions that he have a loving home and all the care that he needs for his leg.

Fast forward a few months, normal vet appointments for shots and checkups, and a couple surgical consults, we were still searching for the right vet/surgeon for Eddie.  Most of the problems we had were not with surgical experience or capabilities of any particular vet, but we were looking for a capable surgeon with the right equipment for a reasonable price.  We had spoken with 8-10 vets/surgeons at 8 different facilities and received estimates that ranged anywhere from $1000 to $4000.  We were referred to and finally decided on a general practice vet that had 30 yrs experience, including being a Great Dane owner, and uses a cold laser for all surgeries.  We chose this because after some research into the laser, we found that there are many advantages to using this and that most lasers are used by surgical specialists, not the “everyday” vet.  Aside from this, he only spoke of what was best for Eddie and never once mentioned that it would be easier for the people if . . ., which we liked.  The vet did care about our input and our concerns about what Eddie needed, but when we discussed the procedure, he constantly went back to what’s best for Eddie, no matter how hard it may be for Sarah and I.  We set an appointment and the nervousness began (mostly me, the “big, bad, tough firefighter” that I am).

Yesterday, Sarah was working, so I had the task of taking Eddie for the appointment.  After a loooong shift, I left work and hurried home to pick up Eddie and was able to get to the office a little sooner than planned, so I got to hang out while Eddie was adjusting to the office.  I brought Eddie’s bed and some toys to (hopefully) make his stay a little better.  After filling out the paperwork and all the other necessities, I left Eddie with the vet to head home and hopefully get some sleep.  The vet told me that they would call as soon as the procedure was completed and let me know how everything went.  Unfortunately, when I got home, I found out my phone wasn’t working, so I had to contact the vets office to have them contact Sarah instead.  The phone issue wasn’t really a big deal, except for now I was so nervous that I couldn’t nap, even though I had been up for almost 36 hours straight.  Around 3pm, Sarah got a hold of me and let me know that everything was done and went better than the vet expected, so naptime commence!!!

Sarah got home from work around 430 and had to do some running around, but around 6 we got the best call from the vet that we could have gotten, saying that if we wanted to come pick him up, Eddie was ready to go home.  Sarah woke me up when she got home and to the vets office we went.  When we got to the office, I had a nervous tic because all I could think about was Eddie being mad at me for leaving him to deal with the evil people all by himself.  The vet told us that he performed a “Proximal Third” amputation, which means that the top 3rd of the femur was left intact, but everything else was taken.  The vet said it was the best option at our first meeting and was his basic game plan, but may have changed depending on how the leg appeared while doing the surgery.  This was best for Eddie because it means that nothing in the hips had to be touched, helping to prevent complications both now and in the future.  Eddie was brought from the back just as happy as could be, even having to be held back by the vet so that he wouldn’t run through the office and pop the stitches.  After loading up, the trip home became interesting because all Eddie wanted to do was cuddle Sarah and I, but from the back seat of a VW, it’s slightly impossible.  We made it home alright, Eddie made it into the house unassisted and we all proceeded to go to bed after the stress of the day.

This morning, Eddie seems to be doing GREAT.  He hasn’t had any issues getting around, but we didn’t expect any because he’s never been able to use his right leg, so no real adaptation/adjustment is necessary.  Other than taking the gross pills that have to be stuffed down his throat (we’ve tried everything we can think for pills and force is the only thing that works), not much is different from our day-to-day routine.  Eddie has slowly began to eat and drink again, after some coercion with broken up treats mixed into his food and a little bit of patience.  And other than being slightly mopey, he seems to be in good spirits and has even considered re-claiming his spot on the couch,but hasn’t quite worked up the energy to try, being as sore as he probably is.

So thanks for taking the time to read our update and follow our story.  I have included a before and after picture below so that everyone can see how much easier it will be for Eddie to get around post-surgery.  Thanks again!! – Ryan

Before – So this picture is old (I think Eddie’s about 3 months old) but it’s the best one I can find showing the ineffective right leg

AFTER – ***WARNING – GRAPHIC IMAGE***  (No Blood, No Exposed Tissue, Just a Picture of the Amputation Site with Stitches)

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Hey everyone.  Just wanted to give a really quick update.  It’s almost 9pm here and we just brought Eddie home from the vets office.  Eddie had his leg removed today, so he is officially a “Tripawd”.  The vet performed a proximal third amputation and said he did very well with minimal blood loss, no major complications and such a wonderful post-op recovery, Eddie wouldn’t need to stay the night.  In fact, we’ve been home for around 30 minutes and, except for needing help out of the car and being a little slow, Eddie is settling down nicely for the night.  Anyways, I’ve had a long day with work and the vet trips, so I’m going to continue this tomorrow.  Until then, thanks for the support and well wishes.

Hello everyone.  We’re sorry it’s been so long since 0ur last post, but things have been slightly hectic at the house with the holidays and planning a wedding . . . Anyways, we’ve had some MAJOR things fall into place since the last post and we wanted to update everyone.  Eddie is 7 months old now and weighs in around 75 lbs.  He is still significantly smaller than his sister, who weighs around 105 lbs and is about 6 inches longer that he is.  We’ve expected that he would stay smaller because he’s the runt, so we’re not really surprised and we’re still slightly relieved because we’ve been worried about Eddie getting too big too quickly and over-stressing his frame while he grows.  To give everyone an idea of how much Eddie’s grown, take a look below.  This picture is from when Eddie was about 7 weeks old and 7 months old for comparison.

The other excitement recently is that we’ve found a vet that we feel is the right person to do the amputation that Eddie needs.  He’s been a vet for around 30 years, he has done multiple amputations, from both illness and trauma, and he takes care of the Bulldog mascots for the local military college.  He also came highly recommended from another Dane owner, who lives a couple houses down the road and who the vet adopted a Dane puppy from.  The vet also uses a cold laser for all surgeries, which he explained helps prevent bleeding complications because it cauterizes as it cuts.  He is very optimistic that the surgery will not be anything super complicated and hopefully Eddie will only have to spend 1 night.  We’re scheduled for the first week of March, so we’ll update everybody post-surgery and hopefully be able to keep a regular update schedule so everyone can keep track of Eddie’s post-op progress.  Thanks and everyone have a great month!

Hey everyone, Sarah here! Eddie is 4 months old today, so I figured it was time for an update!

Eddie took another trip to the vet a week or so ago for his last set of shots. Thankfully, he did not have the same reaction that he did the last time! He made it out with just a small bump and nothing else. Got his Rabies shot done as well, so he’s practically a grown up now! He’s still trailing his sister in weight by about 12 lbs, but again we’re okay with it. He has almost hit 40 lbs, which means he officially weighs more than the Corgi at the farm. It also means that if he is sitting  directly on the seat belt sensor in the truck seat, he sets it off…

We did hear back from UGA, but unfortunately they won’t really discuss anything with us unless we take him there for an evaluation. Which means that we won’t know if it would be better for us financially unless we go all the way there. There is another vet that comes to Eddie’s regular clinic from Auburn University once a month or so who may be interested in doing the surgery. So that is at least another option for us. We still have one more vet that we want to consult with before we make our final decision as to what we are going to do.

Other than that, things have been relatively low key here. Eddie enjoys his regular visits to the farm and spends most of his time playing with his sister, Scarlet. And the end result is usually him passing out when we get home… sometimes upside down…

Hey everyone, it’s Ryan and we’ve had an interesting time this week.  Eddie is 13 weeks old this week and had his 3rd set of shots which didn’t exactly go as planned.  He received his 3rd DHPP with Lepto, as well as the kennel cough vaccine and did wonderfully when he was given the shots, but by the time we got home, he wasn’t feeling well at all.  We scheduled the shots just after lunchtime and at snack time, around 4pm, I really started to notice how bad he was feeling.  First, he wouldn’t get up to go outside like we always do before eating, so I scooped him up and carried him outside.  Eddie pottied and then just laid back down.  I could not get him to stand up, so forget about walking inside.  I went to pick him up again to bring him back in and he started yelping like his whole body hurt.  I set him back down and found what I can only describe as a welt where the shot was given.  I know that there can be some swelling following the shot, but I’ve never seen one pop up that is the size of my thumb!  I figured out how to pick Eddie up without hurting him and carried him inside, where I set him directly in front of his food bowl so he could snack.  Again he just laid down, so I called the vet.  The vet said that it was possible that he was having a reaction to the vaccines, but she hasn’t seen a puppy develop such a large welt after the shot.  She advised to watch him tonight and if he didn’t get better, bring him back in the morning.  Luckily, after taking a nap with Mommy, Eddie ate supper at a relatively normal time, but didn’t eat quite as much as usual.  He was better the next morning, ready and waiting to go at 6am, just like every other day, which meant no trip to the vet.

We also talked to the vet about going to UGA Vet Teaching Hospital to have them look at Eddie.   Sarah and I are exploring this option because the first surgeon we saw said that she has never seen this type of deformity in the 20 years that she’s been a vet.  We know that the “fix” for Eddies condition is simple, but we’re hoping that UGA may be able to use Eddie as a research subject, shedding light into his condition and how something like this happens.  We understand that Eddie may not be able to gain much from anything that may be learned, but if something can be learned to help another puppy, it would be completely worth a 4 hour car ride to UGA.  We’ll keep everyone updated on how and what we’re doing, so keep checking back.  And just for fun, here’s a picture of Eddie and mom that was snuck by a professional photographer while they were hanging out at the farm (apparently someone didn’t want to leave).  Everyone have a good week!

Hello everyone, it’s Ryan.  We just wanted to make a small update about Eddie.  We were able to meet with a surgeon this past week to discuss options for Eddie and fortunately it was the surgeon that originally diagnosed Eddie at about 3 wks old.  We learned that Eddies official diagnosis is Tibial Agenesis, which is (probably) a genetic abnormality that did not allow his tibia to form.  As you can see below, I have posted copies of the X-rays that the surgeon provided us after our meeting.  Keep in mind that Eddie was only around 3 weeks old when these were taken, so there is still a lot of cartilage in the joints, which he has aged out of.  In the first picture, the leg that is pulled rearward is Eddies good leg, showing the tibia and fibula in the lower portion of his leg.  Looking at the other leg, you can see that the larger of the two bones is missing, and there is no evidence that it even began to form.  The second X-Ray is another view, showing Eddies good leg on the right and bad leg on the left.

He was also diagnosed as Cryptorchid, which isn’t really an issue because we planned on desexing anyways.  We spent roughly 90 minutes with the surgeon evaluating, discussing, and video-ing (because she’s never seen this before either).  Basically, it’s been confirmed that most appropriate option is a proximal femoral amputation, leaving approximately 1/3 to 1/2 of the femur post-amputation.  We discussed prosthetics, both traditional and implanted and because of cost, this is definitely not an option.  We also discussed simply leaving Eddie’s leg in place but she recommended having the leg removed between 4 and 6 months old because it makes the procedure much easier, due to the fact that he and all involved vessels, muscles, etc are simply smaller.  We also discussed appropriate timing for desexing and gastropexy, but that’s going to be after amputation.  Anyways, the prognosis is good, as we expected, and now we have more of a game plan for the next couple months.  Unfortunately, we don’t expect to use the surgeon we met with because she works at a specialty clinic and the estimate we received was quite a bit more than we expected.  The surgeon did recommend that we meet with an experienced “general practice” veterinarian because a proximal amputation is a “simple” surgical procedure that can be done by an experienced vet in the office.  We’re currently exploring a few options as our neighbor is a vet-tech at a local office that has done amputations before, and another neighbor recommended the vet who has treated all 3 of her Danes, as well as Boo and the General, the Bulldog mascots at our local military college.  Hopefully we’ll be able to find the best fit for Eddie and we’ll be able to get this definitively treated soon.  Other than that, everything else has been progressing nicely.   Eddie weighed in at a solid 20 lbs on Friday, still smaller than the rest of the litter but that’s great according to the surgeon.  He can also climb full size stairs now, although we’ve only attempted a set of 3 thus far.  Eddie has also been testing us, as all puppies do, having recently decided that clean laundry is the best place for a nap

Thanks for keeping up with our story and don’t forget to check back for more updates.

Today we took Eddie to the Lowcountry Paws and Claws Pet Expo. It’s an annual event that plays host to many rescue groups, pet product dealers, groomers and vets.  Although Eddie has met a few of the neighborhood dogs, and plays with his Dad, Sister and two “Uncles” – a Golden and a Corgi – at the farm, today was the first time he’s been exposed to more than one new dog at a time. So, we packed up our accessories and off we went.

In preparation, knowing that we’d be walking on a lot of concrete and asphalt all day and that Eddie’s bad leg bounces around a lot, we decided to attempt a sling for the first time. Managed to find some horsey vet wrap in the garage, so we wrapped it around his bad foot, and then around his middle to hold it up off of the rough ground. He actually took to it quite well, and really didn’t even chew on it.

Despite not having too much leash experience, and the crowded fairgrounds, Eddie was great! He was polite to everyone and didn’t even get scared once! We met TONS of dogs of all shapes and sizes… everything from a little Chihuahua puppy to a giant English Mastiff. We even bumped into his brother and Mom. Everyone was curious about his leg and we were happy to share his story. They all loved his personality, and of course how cute he is 🙂

We stopped and talked to one of the vets on the way out who is a surgeon at a specialty clinic.  He agreed that an amputation would be best, and said that if it were him he would do a proximal third amputation. As for a timeline he said the sooner the better, but not before 4 months old, that way he has all of his shots.

After all the excitement, it wasn’t but a few minutes after we got in the car to come home that he passed out… It was a big day!