Ciara Update

Ciara is now available for adoption! Contact the Champaign County Humane Society for more information.

Ciara continues to get more comfortable around the house and is acting like she’s lived here forever. She is reliably house broken and will go into the crate when we get ready to leave the house.

Ciara no longer has to be crated at night, though when it’s cold she wants to sleep on our bed. That’s a bit of a problem because of her size and the fact that she insists on lying crosswise or snuggling very close. We working on getting her to sleep on one of the many dog beds on the floor in our room.

All-in-all, she’s a wonderful, friendly dog.

We’re slowly working through Ciara’s medical issues trying to get firm diagnoses and treatment plans. Here’s where we stand:

Stomach Surgery:
The incision is completely healed and she has returned to full, normal activity.

Regurgitation:
Up until a few days ago Ciara was regurgitating food and water a couple of times each day. There was a concern that the problem may have been a complication of her stomach surgery. Ciara had a barium x-ray last week that showed she had esophagitis (inflammation of her esophagus), a condition unrelated to the surgery. We have started giving her an acid-reducer twice a day and it seems to be working. More time is needed to know if that’s the solution.

Lower Back Pain:
Ciara has a pinched nerve in her lower back that’s causing some neurologic difficulties. It was difficult and painful for her to stand up and sit or lay down. She had a seven-day treatment of a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug which caused an immediate improvement. We’ll be watching her carefully for the next few days to see if the pain comes back to determine if another course of medication will be necessary.

Hair Loss:
Ciara has some skin and hair issues on her belly and tail. Yesterday we took her to CCHS where they drew blood in order to test her thyroid function. Turns out she’s hypothyroid and we’ll be starting her on medication soon. It’s possible that this condition caused her to lick herself so much she ingested enough hair to create a hairball that had to be surgically removed.

Taken separately, these problems are not very serious, but whoever adopts Ciara will have to be aware that they have to deal with these problems. The hypothyroidism is relatively inexpensive to treat, but it’s something that may have to be done for the rest of her life. Same with the lower back pain and regurgitation issues. Ciara will have to take some pills every day to stay healthy, but she’s a wonderful dog and deserves the extra care.