Thanks for your thoughts everyone!
I haven't noticed a lot of improvement, but when we took her to our regular vet today, boy was she impressed! I think it's because we're with Layla all day every day, it's hard to notice the little changes. We went in today because she has been biting at a paw, but the vet did a whole assessment of her progress too. She noticed that Layla seems to be using her core muscles and she has a lot more tone and holds her back straighter than she did before. She tried getting Layla to stand by shifting her center of gravity. She wouldn't eat treats (that's weird!) but she was interested by all the new smells. So, the vet pulled out a cat pillow that was filled with some kind of herb (I don't remember what) that is supposed to be really good for nerves... Anyways, Layla kept trying to get close to it and started lifting her back end up an inch or so. The vet kept saying "This is HUGE!" and told us to use these new smells as part of rehab. She threw the pillow in Layla's crate because she liked it so much
She was also looking for a toy she might like, but Layla hasn't been into toys at all since she went down
Anyways, I'm more than happy with how thoughtful she is! She really restored a lot of faith and told us that she's going to keep praying and that we're doing great things for Layla!
Tomorrow and Friday she will be at rehab, then we're going away for a friend's wedding for the weekend, and next week we'll be back in our new regular routine... Monday, Wednesday, Friday rehab... Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday laser therapy.... I am really excited to see if the laser helps at all because the studies I've read are so promising, and the real life stories with dogs are inspirational too. I just want to keep everything going for another month or two at least and do what I can to give her every opportunity to get her functions back!
Expressing her has become a lot easier on us, especially after the rehab vet told us we are getting it completely empty. She hasn't shown any signs of another bladder infection, so we must be doing something right. Her poop is still sometimes coming out little by little on a car ride or when we get to work, but I read up on how to express that too to avoid accidents. I got it my first try, but haven't been successful since! Usually though, she just goes when she pees. I don't know if she can control it, or if I'm putting pressure on something while I express the bladder. Either way, it's not too hard to deal with. I would much rather be cleaning up firm poop every once in awhile than puddles of pee, so we do have it pretty good!
Scott is so cute... he was playing really really old Nintendo (NES) on the weekend, and Layla was in her crate beside him. I went up after a couple of hours and he was playing Final Fantasy where he gets 4 characters and he named them "Bean, Beaner, Beans, and Butts"... ALL nicknames for Layla! Lol she was slaying dragons all over the place. That's my girl!
This is getting long so I'm going to go find something to eat! I just thought I'd find a spare minute and update everyone. We still have ups and downs but it's getting easier every day. And Layla is so worth every second.
