crestie_rsq
02-04-2006, 02:02 AM
Hello everyone. Thought I'd take a minute to introduce myself. I'm the proud mom/foster mom to 4 Chinese Cresteds. We have three of our own: Pixie, Bandit & Lil Ricky-Roo; and one foster boy, Harry Dawg. I'm also a rep. for a national Chinese Crested rescue group, as well as volunteering with several all breed rescue transport organizations whenever time allows.
Pixie, Bandit & Harry are all the coated varieties of Chinese Cresteds (called powderpuffs) and Lil Ricky is a hairy hairless (which just means they have varying degrees of body hair). Pixie was my first. My best friend rescued her (she also breeds & shows CCs) and we adopted her. Just a few short months later I wanted a friend for her so we purchased Bandit from my friend.
Lil Ricky is our special little boy. He came into rescue in January 2005 and I took him in for fostering. We immediately knew there was something "just not quite right" about it him. We first believed he had some vision deficits so off we went to an ophthalmologist for testing. Tests were rather inconclusive as they did show some definite vision issues, but Doc was not convinced it was a problem with the eyes and thought it may have more to do with the way his little brain interpreted what he was seeing. Then, in June Ricky had a horrific grand mal seizure and was subsequently diagnosed with idiopathic epilepsy. After doing research on epilepsy, I came to realize that many of the odd behaviors Ricky had exhibited from day one were actually focal seizures which also explained his "vision deficits". We've been struggling with meds over the last 6 months in an effort to control Roo-Roo's seizures. He is now on Phenobarbital (128 mg) and Potassium Bromide (300 mg) daily. While both meds have taken their toll on him with weight gain (we now call him Chubba-Wubba Roo Roo) and ataxia, after adding the Pbromide more than 3 months ago, we've been successful in getting his seizures down from 3 grand mal seizures per week (and those were cluster seizures with as many as 6 in one day) to one petite mal every 3 weeks. If this is as good as it gets…we'll take it.
Harry has been with us just over 3 months now and we still have some socialization issues that we're working. Harry is a former puppymill boy and it was obvious from day one that he'd never experienced any kind of positive human interactions. While he trusts me implicitly, he still has issues with men and even after 3 months, he will not let my hubby anywhere near him unless I am in the room. He's also still very frightened and unsure of himself outside of our home. He literally stands up on his hind legs, wraps his front paws around my leg & hides his face just like a scared toddler. Just breaks my heart. We will be enrolling him in some obedience classes in an effort to help build his confidence and for socialization.
So, that's me in a nutshull.
Pixie, Bandit & Harry are all the coated varieties of Chinese Cresteds (called powderpuffs) and Lil Ricky is a hairy hairless (which just means they have varying degrees of body hair). Pixie was my first. My best friend rescued her (she also breeds & shows CCs) and we adopted her. Just a few short months later I wanted a friend for her so we purchased Bandit from my friend.
Lil Ricky is our special little boy. He came into rescue in January 2005 and I took him in for fostering. We immediately knew there was something "just not quite right" about it him. We first believed he had some vision deficits so off we went to an ophthalmologist for testing. Tests were rather inconclusive as they did show some definite vision issues, but Doc was not convinced it was a problem with the eyes and thought it may have more to do with the way his little brain interpreted what he was seeing. Then, in June Ricky had a horrific grand mal seizure and was subsequently diagnosed with idiopathic epilepsy. After doing research on epilepsy, I came to realize that many of the odd behaviors Ricky had exhibited from day one were actually focal seizures which also explained his "vision deficits". We've been struggling with meds over the last 6 months in an effort to control Roo-Roo's seizures. He is now on Phenobarbital (128 mg) and Potassium Bromide (300 mg) daily. While both meds have taken their toll on him with weight gain (we now call him Chubba-Wubba Roo Roo) and ataxia, after adding the Pbromide more than 3 months ago, we've been successful in getting his seizures down from 3 grand mal seizures per week (and those were cluster seizures with as many as 6 in one day) to one petite mal every 3 weeks. If this is as good as it gets…we'll take it.
Harry has been with us just over 3 months now and we still have some socialization issues that we're working. Harry is a former puppymill boy and it was obvious from day one that he'd never experienced any kind of positive human interactions. While he trusts me implicitly, he still has issues with men and even after 3 months, he will not let my hubby anywhere near him unless I am in the room. He's also still very frightened and unsure of himself outside of our home. He literally stands up on his hind legs, wraps his front paws around my leg & hides his face just like a scared toddler. Just breaks my heart. We will be enrolling him in some obedience classes in an effort to help build his confidence and for socialization.
So, that's me in a nutshull.