Oh, Ducky! Part 4 – The Progress Continues

And the progress continues…..

Since I “published” Part 3 (found here), Ducky has come a LONG way.

And hubby has been less grumpy with her (and even with me).

And my patience level – at least with Ducky and her daddy – has stabilized somewhat. In other areas not so much but I’m working on it.

But back to Ducky….


Since I started using the H-style harness, my little “demonbrat” has become easier to settle down. And my – and hubby’s – tone of voice has grown less harsh. And the tension has eased somewhat.

After re-reading the last paragraph of Part 3 -and really observing Ducky’s behavior patterns – I decided that the Trazodone wasn’t helping Ducky at all. So off to the vet we went. Again.

The vet suggested – and I agreed – to try Xanax instead of the Trazodone. The Xanax – I’m happy to report – started helping right away. Between it and the single daily dose of Fluoxetine, Ducky has been calming down much more easily. She hasn’t been as snarky with Shadow, which is good, but still needs improvement. These things take time, perseverance, and loads of patience. 

Plus, the UTI had come back – or never really went away – so, since we were already at the vet’s anyway, I brought up that fact. He said that the UTI is probably as much to blame for her tail tucks as our impatience. She was just plain hurting back there. And she’s much more forgiving of our failings than we are ourselves. He changed her antibiotic, and for the most part it helped. The wet leaves, dirt, and grass from all the rain we were having seemed to aggravate it a bit though. So I took to cleaning her after potty breaks, and that seems to have helped. We’ve had some pretty days again lately so the grass and leaves have dried out. That has helped, too.

As for the online course I was doing?  I had to put it aside for a little while. I haven’t stopped doing it altogether. I just had to slow down with it. After decades of “multitasking” at work, it’s hard to reset and focus on just one thing at a time. I have to make myself slow down and relax sometimes.  I can’t expect Ducky to relax if I’m hyped-up. 

9 thoughts on “Oh, Ducky! Part 4 – The Progress Continues”

  2. Jan K says:

    I’m so glad things are coming along! I can imagine that the UTI could have contributed to Ducky’s snarkiness. We all get that way when don’t feel well, don’t we? Hopefully now that it’s cleared up things will move forward even more.
    You are doing so great with observing her and figuring out things that might be needed, like a change in the meds. Keep up the good work!

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  4. Maggie says:

    UGH! That persistent UTI is just so awful. It probably does exacerbate everything else. Here’s hoping that clears up fast and for good!! As for the rest, congrats on your progress all around! I totally understand how frustrating it can be in the moment to feel like you’re making progress at a glacial pace, but looking back helps. I’m so happy you’re keeping a record of your progress here for us to follow, of course, and for you to see all your improvements!! Congrats!

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    • My Golden Life says:

      Thanks Maggie!! Luckily, that UTI seems to be gone now – as I said to Donna – so maybe we’ll start seeing more consistent progress with Ducky’s “bratitude”. She’s at daycare today, working off some of her excess energy. I hope. 🙂

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  5. Donna says:

    So glad that things are getting on track there and you found a med combo to help Ducky. As for the UTI, Leah kept getting recurring ones, so they did a urine culture to find out the type of bacteria causing it. When they discovered it was e-coli, my vet recommended cranberry pills. Apparently a study proved that, at least with e-coli, the cranberry (as long as it contained the d-mannose) helps to prevent the bacteria to adhering to the walls of the bladder. Anyway, Leah never got another one once we started using the cranberry pills, so I thought I would mention it. We used this product: http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?pcatid=33662

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    • My Golden Life says:

      I forget now what bacteria was causing Ducky’s UTI, but I know it was not e-coli. It’s actually gone now, and apparently, so is the irritation because I rarely see her licking herself now. But I’ll keep those cranberry pills in mind just in case. Thanks for letting me know about those!

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