Beautiful Bella

[Emily_Babbelhund]

Her face! "I own this mountain!"

 

[Emily_Babbelhund]

I'm not sure how I missed this reply back in early December, but Bella is infinitely grateful that I did

There's always Valentine's coming up. Red + glitter. Dare ya.

 

[snowbunny]

Bella has been acting a bit weird for a couple of weeks. At first I thought she may have an upset tummy (she's been a bit windy from eating too many olive stones) and then I thought she may have tweaked something. She perked up with a bit of meloxicam for a couple of days, but when I stopped, she was back to being weird. Subdued on walks, or refusing to go on walks, hesitant about walking up steps or jumping on the sofa etc.

I took her to the vet, and of course she was her normal self, spinning in circles and being ridiculous. But we had X-rays done and they showed up that she has spondylosis. It's only minor at this stage and the vet didn't think it should be even causing the symptomsI described, but it's there nonetheless.
So she's having a course of cold laser therapy. After the first session, she was back to her normal happy and lively self, but I think she overdid it a little from feeling so good, and the following day she'd regressed a bit. We've had three sessions out of eight with her now, and it's definitely making a big difference. Once we've finished with this course and we can reassess, I'll likely take her to a physio for a more thorough assessment and some specialised knowledge to see what I need to do to protect it and prevent it getting worse. Within the parameters of her being a mad cocker spaniel...

 

[snowbunny]

 

[HAH]

Darling Bella, that’s not great news but hopefully it’ll stay mild and manageable for many, many moons. Her doggles are phenomenal! She looks like she knows how excellent she looks

 

[Cath]

Poor little Bella

She is such a cool cat with her sun glasses

 

[Emily_Babbelhund]

I'm sorry to hear she's going through this but is it wrong to be absolutely delighted to see her in her Doggles. We need more Bella in ANY situation.

 

[Candy]

She looks totally like a film star! Hope she'll be OK, little sweetheart.

 

[M.F.]

Poor Bella. So pleased the laser worked so well.

 

[Loraseal]

Poor Bella but so pleased the laser therapy is helping.
Her colouring is just so beautiful and she is such a sweetheart.

 

[MellowYellow]

My old Billy (who was part spaniel, part Labrador) had spondylosis, and lived a long, happy and healthy life until he was nearly 16. So hopefully with the right treatment Bella will be just fine too. He did have one episode where his back legs were partially paralyzed, but he recovered from this and lived another happy three years. Big hugs to you and Bella.

 

[Stacia]

One of my GSPs had spondylosis and lived happily with it, so fingers crossed for dear little Bella x

 

[snowbunny]

Bella is going for surgery on Wednesday. After trying to manage her sore bottom for ages now, we (two vets and me) have decided that there's no other option than to try to fix it with surgery. The problem is that she has a prolapse: some of the tissue that should be inside her bottom is outside. This gets very sore and weepy, bleeds and becomes inflamed. Even with all the creams and potions we have, there's a significant risk of infection, even more so with summer coming and the flies it will bring. And there's a real chance that the tissue will start to die, too. So, surgery it is. The vet says it's a very complicated procedure, so we'll be needing all the positive thoughts you can muster come Wednesday! Poor little Nugget

 

[snowbunny]

Oh, the update on the laser was that it worked phenomenally, and she's back to her normal crazy self again!
Every now and again she gets the crazies on a walk, and for no reason starts chasing absolutely nothing, squeaking in excitement as she zips back and forth. It's not zoomies like I've seen them in the Labs, but she's clearly quite delighted with herself when she's doing it

We will keep up with laser treatment once a month just for management.

 

[HAH]

Bella is going for surgery on Wednesday. After trying to manage her sore bottom for ages now, we (two vets and me) have decided that there's no other option than to try to fix it with surgery. The problem is that she has a prolapse: some of the tissue that should be inside her bottom is outside. This gets very sore and weepy, bleeds and becomes inflamed. Even with all the creams and potions we have, there's a significant risk of infection, even more so with summer coming and the flies it will bring. And there's a real chance that the tissue will start to die, too. So, surgery it is. The vet says it's a very complicated procedure, so we'll be needing all the positive thoughts you can muster come Wednesday! Poor little Nugget

I’m glad there’s an option of a surgical fix - do you know, if successful, how much of the problem this will address? Or is it a bit exploratory? I hope all goes as well as it can, and hopefully it’ll make a big difference to her and your quality of life as far as pooing goes

 

[Loraseal]

Sending huge lugs of positive thoughts and vibes for our beloved Nugget.

So sorry she has to have surgery but it is the best option for quality of her future life. She is very lucky to have you. Xx

 

[MellowYellow]

Fingers crossed for Bella!!!

 

[edzbird]

Fingers crossed here too for a successful op. Lambies for her too.

 

[Atemas]

for Bella

 

[SteffiS]

Hoping the surgery will be successful for Bella .

It's not zoomies like I've seen them in the Labs, but she's clearly quite delighted with herself when she's doing it

She sounds as if she is really enjoying life with you, and deserves every chance.