BayWing

Dr. Groff said that before he left Tues night at midnight, Ritka was feeling better, sitting up and climbing in the laps of the techs. On Wed 16 August I had a dentist appointment at 9:30 am and then went into sit with Ritka at the emergency clinic. Because they had a meeting, they set us up in the waiting room area. Ritka was more subdued than she had been at midnight. She rested her head in my lab. and relaxed as I read. Eventually I had to leave. The tech and I took her out for a pee and then back to her cage. She seemed to know her cage and was ready to be back.

Dr. Schawel called later on the 16th to say he wanted to transfer Ritka to UC Davis. Her platelets were very low from the DIC. And her blood pressure was up to 270 over 240,
probably from a compromised kidney.

We rushed down to get to the clinic in Concord. After we got there, we found out that UC Davis was not accepting critical care patients and that they did not have any concentrated platelets. The vets called around and found a clinic in Walnut Creek that had the concentrated platelets. Wesley drove to get the platelets – twice. The first time they said they only had one bag (enough for a 20 lbs dog and Ritka is 44 lbs). Later they found another bag and Wesley drove back to get it.

We stayed with Ritka till about 8:30 pm. She was in abdominal pain and her eyes seemed to hurt – they were bright red from the bleeding in the iris (probably from the high blood pressure). I think the light hurt them as she kept them closed even with her head was up. They gave her plasma, a diuretic, pepcid, another anti-vomiting med and a pain med. The diuretic was a pill – she vomited up the first one so they give her another which she kept down. She did want her head in my lap. Once when she was sleeping I got up to get a towel – just 20 ft away. When I got back her head was up looking for me. The pain meds seemed to help – she was sleeping when we left.

We had to leave when they started the IV of concentrated platelets due to the DMSO involved.

Disseminated Intravascular Coagulation – DIC – is a complex acute condition that can arise from a variety of situations including some surgical procedures, septic shock, poisonous snake bites, liver disease, and postpartum (after the delivery of a baby). With DIC, clotting factors are activated and then used up throughout the body. This creates numerous blood clots and at the same time leaves the patient vulnerable to excessive bleeding. The nick name for DIC was Dead in Cage a few years ago. The vet says treatment is much better now – but please send good karma to Ritka. They also said I got her to the clinic in the earliest phase DIC that they have seen.

The DIC was triggered by the Heat Stroke and refers specifically to the clotting syndrome.
Heat stroke often does NOT lead to DIC.

Diane

Ritka has DIC (Disseminated Intravascular Coagulation), probably triggered by heat stress from coursing jack rabbits at the Yolo Wildlife area near Davis on Tuesday 15 August. I’ve tried to tell her that she is supposed to point them – but she had too much fun playing with the whippets last year. She disappeared for about 90 minutes at the wildlife area and when I found her she was dehydrated and exhausted. I found her laying in the shade and she did not even get up when she saw me. Diarrhea, vomit on they way home – she was barely able to walk when I stopped to clean up the mess. I called Greta and she got me the vet’s phone number – went straight to the Animal Emergency Center in Concord. Temp was about 104 and the vet was worried about the petechiae (bleeding under the skin).

More details at Yolo Wildlife area:
I took the trailer to Sacramento to get an estimate for repair on Tuesday 15 August 2006. On the way back, I stopped at the Yolo Wildlife area to take Ritka on a short outing about 12:45. I was planning to walk for about 30 min. We were walking on dirt roads between fields of weeds over my head. Ritka ran ahead and into the weeds to hunt. About 1pm, at about the far end of the loop we were walking, Ritka disappeared. I hung out waiting for her to come back. Then I started calling her. I walked a bit in each direction of a 3 way intersection. No Ritka. She was still wearing her Flyball collar and I began to worry that might have caught it on something. I did see a Jack Rabbit go by that made me think she had coursed/chased a jack rabbit.
Still worried, I climbed up on the railroad embankment so I could see over the sea of weeds. Still no Rikta. I walked first toward Sacramento then toward Davis. I decided to walk the whole way to the edge of the wildlife area on the RR embankment so I could look over the sea of weeds. Then I went back to the van to see if she had gone back there. Once there, I made some lost dogs signs and put them on the message board. I had seen two folk walking and had no way to tell them that if they saw a Vizsla it was mine – they were too far away. I also called DFG to see if there was anyone that would be around that might see her. I knew they closed the gates at dusk.
Just as I was about to walk back with more water, etc, a DFG truck came by. I explained about my lost dog and he volunteered to drive me back to where I had last seen her. We found Ritka in the shade of a eucalyptus tree. I noticed that her hair was up on her back and that it looked dull compared to normal. Also my first thought was that she looked like she’d been lost more than an hour or two. Her ribs, hips and tuck up were more obvious. I figured that she was somewhat dehydrated. The other really strange thing was that she just lay there and did not bounce up. I got out of the truck and picked her up and put her in. I know Farli has run herself ragged in the past and thought it odd, but was not worried.
When the truck let us out back at the gate, I went over to the van to get ready to go and Ritka walked slowly over. She did not jump in the van so I picked her up and put her in. Farli has needed to be picked up to get in the van after hard hunting even in her younger days so I did not think too much of it. Ritka lay down in the van and drank some water. She did not seem to be drinking too fast so I left the water with her. I also put a little water on her ears and head thinking she should be hot. Her ears were not red and hot which I thought odd, but I did not know how long she had been resting and waiting for me.
About half way home a truck went by and there was a big stink. At first I though it was the truck. Then I realized Ritka had had diarrhea. I pulled off as soon as I could and cleaned it up – and also found some foamy bile vomit. I let Ritka out in case she needed to go again and got two quilts out of the trailer to both protect the van and give her a soft spot. The dirty sheets went in a crate so the van was still stinky. Ritka still had the runs and looked wobbly on her feet. I picked her up and put her on the quilts. Skin tented, but gums were red and her capillary refill time was good. The gums did feel tacky – consistent with dehydration.
I called Greta on the cell phone and she go the phone number of my vet. My vet said that I should take her to the emergency vet as it was about 3pm and the emergency clinic had better in house lab equipment. I called the emergency vet and said I was coming and gave some basic history over the phone. The clinic receptionist came out to the parking lot and had me carry Ritka in the back door for treatment.
The first new thing we noticed was red spots where she had bled under her skin (petechiae). They put her on IVs, and did a series of blood work and urine tests. It looks like there is something wrong with her clotting mechanism. The vet suggested low platelets – which could have several causes. Initially, he did not think it was heat stroke as it was not really that hot that day (The high was 86 F at the Sacramento Airport that day). Once I explained that she coursed jack rabbits with the determination of a whippet the vet was more inclined to think it was heat stroke.

I had too much planned for this past weekend, 2006 May 20-21. There was a conformation show in Vallejo for Ritka with Rally on Saturday for Farli. Farli also wanted to play Flyball in Lodi and I had volunteered to help work the score table for Sacramento Flyball Club. So I thought I’d get a handler for Ritka for Sunday. I was not able to get the person I’d taken conformation lesson’s from to answer her phone – So on Monday, I asked another Vizsla person who they had handling their dog. I got her number and arranged for Cheryl Krajcar to handle Ritka on Sunday. I could even leave Ritka with her on Saturday and pick her up Sunday night so Farli and I could focus on flyball.

Ritka and I met Cheryl outside the Vizsla ring Saturday. She seemed nice. Cheryl mentioned taking Ritka in to winners – I said ok if she won her class. Right before her class, Cheryl said she wanted to take her in. I reluctantly agreed as I’ve been taking lessons so I could try and show her my self. Well, Ritka and Cheryl won Open Bitch and then took Winner’s Bitch and Best of Winners for a 3 point major.I guess I did right to let Cheryl take her in the ring!

Farli qualified in her Rally Novice with a score of 87 and then we were off to Flyball. Farli ran on a veterans team and had a great time. She had a bit of trouble slipping on the mats, but barked and roo-ed with pleasure at the joy of racing. I enjoyed working with the Sacramento folks with line judging and score table. We camped on site after eating with pot-luck with our team grilling by Diana & Dawn’s motorhome.

Cheryl and Ritka seem to be quite the team – they won Best of Winners again on Sunday for 2 more points! When I arrived at Cheryl’s house, it was clear that they were becoming best of friends. Ritka slept in Cheryl’s bed (under the cover’s of course) on Saturday night. I had a handling lesson – I haven’t giving up trying to show Ritka myself and learned some good techniques. We might try in Placerville, next week-end. Or perhaps I should go with what works and let Ritka show with Cheryl – I’ll let you know next week what I decide.
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Philadelphia Inquirer article

PINEDALE, Wyo. – Flying above the most prolific natural-gas field in the lower 48 states last summer, Linda Baker, an environmentalist, looked at the spider web of drill sites spread out like an ugly but lucrative quilt.

Nearby, another gas-rich field was just starting to be drilled, but this time, Baker hoped, it would have fewer drill pads to disturb dwindling wildlife. In an unusual move, environmentalists and industry here had forged a compromise to allow drilling while also protecting the environment. Ron Hogan, local general manager of Questar Exploration & Production Co., described it this way: “We win. The government wins. The country wins. The wildlife wins.”

The alliance excited Baker: “Here in the middle of the hottest gas field in the U.S., we have these two extremes juxtaposed right next to each other: Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.”

Not anymore.

This rare compromise has vanished in the seven months since Hurricane Katrina swept ashore in the Gulf of Mexico, 2,255 miles away.

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USAToday ran an article back in 2004, Battle brewing over sage grouse protection. It outlined the predicament of the sage grouse, a native upland game bird whose population is declining. Its range overlaps that of much of the energy development going on in the West, which means that conservationists are pitted against oil and gas development interests.

Diane’s research concerns how noise (including the anthropogenic noise of energy development) affects sage grouse biology. The most likely place for an affect to be seen is in the leks. A lek is a place where male sage grouse congregate and put on elaborate mating displays. Female sage grouse select males at the lek, mate, and then go off to build a nest, lay eggs, and raise the young. A significant part of the sage grouse mating display is the sound that each male makes. So the research going on now seeks to characterize the sound on the leks, the sound emitted by energy development, the effect of playback of noise from energy development on a few treatment leks, and characterization of sound propagation in the sage desert habitat.