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Pearl was born in Raleigh NC at the end of the ice
storm of the century. It began on Dec 3, and for 4 frigid days without power, there
was the constant sound of falling trees, and transformers blowing up with sparks
flying. It looked and sounded like a war zone. Roads were impassable because of ice
and fallen trees. Pearl's mother was overdue to have her puppies but she seemed to
be holding off until the heat came back on. My daughter's family was all living in
one room with a fire in the fireplace and blankets hung across the doorways. In the
evening of the 7th of December, Pearl Harbor Day, the power came back on and the
dog went into labor.
Click here: Durham, NC's December 2002 Ice Storm
There were only 3 puppies in the litter, a pale fawn, a flashy brindle male, and
a plain brindle female. My daughter was planning on keeping the male since he was
just what they wanted to replace his beloved grandfather. I decided to keep the brindle
female, to breed and continue a very good bloodline.
For three weeks the puppies seemed to do well in spite of the fact that Mama Dog
developed mastitis and they were all put on antibiotic. But on Day 21, disaster struck.
Without warning, and for no reason that veterinary medicine could determine, the
flashy male was found dead in his bed during a brief time of leisure. A thorough
necropsy at NC State Vet Hospital could find no cause. It seems now, in hindsight,
that it was a case of sudden neonatal death from JRD. It would be 16 months before
the diagnosis would fall on Pearl, and 7 years before we would know that some JRD
puppies can die suddenly, as neonates.
In May 2004, in anticipation of breeding Pearl on her 2nd heat, I took her to Veterinary
Referral and Critical Care for an ultrasound of her heart, to be sure that there
was no cardiomyopathy developing. Her heart was fine, but we were given the devastating
news that she had Renal Dysplasia, and was in chronic kidney failure. The next 5
years would be a roller coaster of ups and downs of hope and fear, dread and grief.
Symptoms began in June 2004 after we drove to NJ for a family funeral. We boarded
Pearl with a local NJ Vet for the funeral service, but after a family dinner following
the burial, and all the way home to VA, she panted, shook and shivered for the entire
5 hour drive. When we arrived home she would not eat for 24 hours. That was the on-again
off-again pattern for her life for the next 5 years. Most of the time she seemed
fine. She played hard and ran laps in the yard when she went out. She barked furiously
at every intruder, and ate her meals most of the time. It didn't seem realistic that
she would not live out her normal years.
The following is taken from my day by day account of life with my beloved Pearl.
"Pearl is so smart. She is in the habit of going everywhere I go. She rides
in the back seat of the truck to Ukrops, Southern States, the PO, the dump, WalMart,
and out to the end of the driveway while I take my walk; everyplace except Church,
and the Library. She rides with me at least 5 times a week. Today we got the Navigator's
oil changed. She hopped right into the back seat of the Navigator and off we went.
I also went to Ukrops and Southern States. When we got home and I opened the door,
she looked around like "What are we doing back here?!" She wouldn't get
out. Absolutely wouldn't get out. Her face is so expressive and she was saying, "I
thought we were going someplace!" She either thought we were going to see Phoebe
or to see John. She was not happy at all at being back here. I had to pull her by
the dog blanket to get her out. Feb 2007
I have the most wonderful dog in the world. She is the cutest, smartest, most beautiful
dog ever born. She watches TV. She growled last night at an ugly evil looking man
on the screen. Later, when they said "What is it?" on the program, she
ran barking to the window. When the doorbell rings on the TV she acts like it is
our doorbell. When I tell John to put her in with Dodo, she goes running over to
Dodo's gate ahead of us. She understands everything we say. She has the most expressive
face. She talks with her eyes. You know exactly what she is thinking by the look
on her face. She sleeps in bed with me every night. But when John gets out of bed
in the night to go to the bathroom, she jumps in his bed. He has to throw her out
when he comes back to the bed. She's fast and she always plops down right in the
middle of the bed. I fell out of bed the other night because she only gave me the
edge of the bed. I fell out and landed in her bed on the floor. But she is too cute
to scold. Never yell at that sweetheart. The only thing she ever did that made me
mad at her was when she ran and knocked Hannah down in the driveway. 6/21/07
Pearl had 3 legged lameness on Thanksgiving night 2 years ago, and we had to take
her to NC State Vet hospital She has had it again, suddenly, without any cause that
I can tell. She was holding her right rear leg up off the floor, and won't put her
weight on it. Next day she was a little better. It is her left rear leg now, and
she stands on it but won't put full weight on it when she walks. She has an appt.
on Wed in Mechanicsville. She is going to have Xrays and an exam.
About 15 minutes after Pearl was back to normal, she stood up on 3 legs again, and
couldn't walk on all 4, but 15 minutes later she was fine and has been fine and very
active ever since. There is no trace of whatever was wrong so I am going to cancel
her appt tomorrow. I just don't see that they can find what WAS wrong when all the
symptoms have disappeared. 1/1/08
Pearl has the wiggliest stub (tail) I have ever seen. In fact, she wiggles her whole
back end when she wiggles her stub. All I have to do is say to her "Do you have
a wiggly stub?", and the whole rear end wiggles as fast as she can do it. Pearl
does something that is so cute. She will be lying on the floor, or sometimes standing,
with her head turned slightly to the side. In that position, when I say something
to her and she wiggles her tail in response, she can see it out of the corner of
her eye. It is so funny to see her turn and look at her stub like "what is that
thing?". She does the same thing when she has gas. She looks at her rear end
like "what was that?" But the cutest is when she comes in cold and jumps
into my lap. She does the same thing when she is scared.
2/06/08
Pearl is in bad shape. She acts like she is in kidney failure. I am going to take
her to Veterinary Referral and Critical Care tonight. April 21 2008
They couldn't find what is wrong with her. She shakes and shivers and pants. She
walks around like she is confused and doesn't know what she wants. She won't lie
down, and her symptoms say she is in pain but she is eating OK and not throwing up.
Her chronic kidney problem doesn't seem to be the cause of this crisis. The Vet said
the only place she could find a source of pain is along her mid-spine. They wanted
to run blood work on her kidney function etc and I said I didn't want to know. I
can tell from the pale color of her urine that her kidney function is just barely
adequate for survival. Since there is nothing they can do for that they didn't insist
and that saved me about $350 in lab fees. They did a urinalysis to see if there was
any sign of a kidney infection and there was not. So they put her on a mild muscle
relaxant to help with back pain and told me she cannot run, jump, or even get into
my bed. I honestly think there was a change in her from the time we left here at
10 PM and when they examined her at 10:30. Before we left she would not get in her
bed, and just stood or sat near John. When he went out of the room, I coaxed her
into my bed and she just sat there upright, and panted and shivered and shook. Strange.
4/22/08
I don't know how Pearl is. She is on medication, Robaxin V, a muscle relaxant. She
is alert and active. She was eating well until this AM. She didn't want to eat this
AM but it could be the meds killed her appetite. She has trouble climbing up on the
couch, but she is not supposed to climb up on anything because the vet thinks she
hurt her back. She will lie down on the couch or in her bed, but she won't lie down
on the floor. She sits and looks around at her rear. She is going to Mechanicsville
Animal Hospital at 2:30 Thurs to see her regular Vet. She certainly needs Xrays if
there is something wrong with her back. I am hoping for a better diagnosis from Jeff
Kilgore. Whatever it was, it came on her rather suddenly and intensely, so I don't
think arthritis is the answer. Her shaking and shivering and panting has greatly
subsided. Don't know if it is due to the pills or not. She just finished her breakfast
now, at noon. 4/23/08
Pearl hasn't eaten all day. 4/24/08
The Vet yesterday determined that there is nothing wrong with Pearl's back. It is
her kidneys. He found blood in her urine and he put her on antibiotic, but she is
not eating and she threw up her morning dose of it. I repeated the dose and am watching
to make sure she keeps it down. He also gave her a new med that is supposed to improve
kidney function. I suspect it acts like a chelator to help remove toxins from the
blood. She definitely feels terrible. 4/25/08
Pearl is better. Although she would not eat her dog food after we got home last night,
we took her with us to Ashland today while we went to Ukrops and I got her a box
of small milkbones and a couple of small cans of Mighty Dog chicken and rice dinner.
She ate 4 bones on the way home and when we got home I gave her one of the cans of
Mighty Dog. She opened her Boxer mouth and gulped the Mighty Dog in one bite and
swallow. She took it like a pill. Now she is sitting in front of John while he eats
his sandwich. She is watching and hoping for a handout. She is a starving dog. Now
that she has something in her stomach I will give her her meds. 4/29/08
Pearl is a puzzle. She is much better but we still don't know what was going on.
We think she was in pain but we don't know why. The several blood tests that were
done showed that her kidney function is bad but not bad enough to be the cause of
her recent condition. There was no pancreatitis. The enzymes in the blood were from
stomach irritation, not pancreatitis. When she was released she took a huge drink
of water and threw it up. There was blood in it. She is now eating again, but her
weight went from 65 to 50 in the last couple of months. She went from 61 to 50 in
the last week. She is eating but the food is not good for kidney care, so I have
to get her started on a good kidney diet. I'm supposed to cook for her; boiled turkey
and boiled brown rice, half in half. I don't even cook for us but I'm going to cook
for Pearl. 4/29/08
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