A veterinary technician named Ranee Baker notified BRAT volunteers a few years ago to use the follow anesthesia protocol for basenjis. One of our fosters nearly passed away after a neutering procedure because our vet used its own standard protocol. The problem with basenjis is that many of them have lower than normal fat tissues. As a result, the standard anesthetic procedures used by many vets actually overloads their systems. We've used Ranee Baker's anesthesia protocol every time since then and have found that our foster and resident basenjis recover FAR faster:
_
I premedicate with:

Buprenex (pain medicine) weight in pounds divided by 2.2 X 0.02 divided by 0.3 given intramuscularly
Ace Promazine (tranquilizer) weight in pounds X 0.05 divided by 20 given intramuscularly

EXAMPLE: a 20 pound dog will get 0.6ml of Buprenex and 0.05ml Ace Promazine.

I give this 15-20 minutes to work, the dog will get relaxed and may go to sleep.
I then place an IV cathter in the cephalic vein (in the forearm).

To induce anesthesia:

Ketamine/Valium (1:1 ratio) 1ml per 20 pounds given intravenously via the catheter.
This is given to effect, you may not need the entire dose. I generally give half the dose then see how sleepy the dog is. If the dog is not relaxed enough to intubate I continue to give in 0.1ml increments slowly.

Once relaxed, I intubate (place a tube down the dogs trachea) and maintain anesthesia by gas at 1 liter of oxygen and 2% Isoflurane. The Isoflurane is adjusted as needed to keep the dog at the required anesthetic plane throughout the procedure.

Monitoring of anesthesia is done by a registered veterinary technician. I use a pulse oximeter to measure heart rate and oxygen saturation and take a blood pressure reading every 3-5 minutes. Respirations are also monitored.

Once the dog has been shaved, scrubbed and moved to surgery, she is placed on a hot water heating pad to keep her warm and IV fluids are started to keep her blood pressure up. Surgical fluid rate is 5 X the patients weight in pounds. EXAMPLE: a 20 pound dog will receive fluids at 100ml per hour.
This rate is increased if the dog's blood pressure drops below 80.

Once the procedure is over, the Isoflurane is turned off and the dog is maintained on 1 liter of oxygen for 5 minutes. The dog is then disconnected from the anesthesia machine and moved to a recovery cage with a hot water heating pad. Once the dog is able to swallow, the endotracheal tube is removed.

We monitor the dog for a few hours before sending them home. The dog will get another injection of Buprenex (for pain) 6 hours after the first one and will go home on pain medication._

Does anyone have any point of contact information for Jenn and Cale, the owners of Cyrus, or even Jenn's last name? Jenn used "CyrusVirus" as her forum name, but she hasn't posted a message since June 2008 nor has she responded to my private message in her member page.

I am asking for help because I noticed that there was a Cyrus on the Zande Basenji pedigree website and he is supposed to be a littermate to my Tippy. I've tried getting Tippy's ACA pedigree from the ACA, but they refuse to provide that information because I do not have the ACA registration paperwork (I rescued and fostered Tippy on behalf of BRAT, and subsequently adopted him). Anyway, none of the families that owned Tippy previously would respond to my requests for them to provide ACA registration paperwork.

So, I am hoping that, if I can get in touch with Jenn, that Jenn will have Cyrus' ACA registration paperwork, which will effectively be the same thing for Tippy, as they were born to the same parents.

TIA,

Navyman

Owned by 4 B's

Our 4 B's love twin hoofers made by Merrick. Although they are about $3 or $4 a piece, they last a few days, and present a stimulating challenge for the dogs to pry out the ankle and toe bones.

They are certainly better than the smoked ham bones, which they shred in an hr or two then it starts splintering; not to mention the pooping marathon that ensues. The long beef bones are better in some ways but they strip those in the same amount of time and get bored with them quickly.

Rawhides of any kinds are prohibited in our household due to horror stories from others. So many people don't realize how bad those things are.

@TuckerVA:

I am going to Belgium for a week late in February (16th - 24th) and haven't boarded Tucker for more than a couple days to date. Is there any reason why I should be worried about leaving him for that long? The kennel I used at that time seemed to do a very good job with Tucker and he came home seemingly happy. I guess I'm just a concerned 'parent' and am a bit apprehensive for leaving him for so long… (almost 10 days)

Anyone want to host my dog for 10 days? I'll pay! I'm in Virginia if anyone actually gives this some thought... Hee hee.

My wife and I B-sit for several B owners in No. VA and MD. In fact, we are petsitting 2 B's and a B-mix for a couple that's on vacation for a week. My wife is the MD & DE coordinator for BRAT, and we live in Southern MD. We have 4 of our own B's. We will not travel unless one of our B-owning friends is able to watch our 4 B's because kenneling is not something we care for.

We tend to charge $20/day for each B. If given specific instructions for meds, sleeping patterns, behavior patterns, etc, we will do everything possible to accommodate.

If interested, send me a PM, and I'll see if it can be worked out.

What we tend to do is get a new toilet paper roll, light a candle placed into the top of it, and sing happy birthday to the B on his/her special day. Then, all enjoy pieces of muffin-sized cake-like dog biscuit after they tear the TP roll into a zillion pieces together. The pups get a kick out of the strange routine.

@tanza:

And why Carrier to Carrier breedings should never happen….. The fact that you can produce an affected should stop anyone from doing a Carrier to Carrier....

That's absolutely right…I cannot fathom why anyone would even risk a form of genetic "Russian roulette" when it comes to the future health of our beloved breed?

Now that there's the linked DNA test, NO ONE has ANY excuse for breeding ANY basenji without first getting them tested, any more than one having a valid excuse to put a 1-bullet loaded revolver to their head.

@Tiva:

I know litter were both parents are carriers. Two of pups are clear, the other two are not tested yet.

Theoretically, a litter from two carriers could end up with all clear or all carrier, or all affected…however, the odds are against that. The laws of probability lean, on average, towards the 25/25/50 percentage mix.

FWIW, we had a recent similar experience with our tri male, Buddy. A few weeks ago, while my family and I were sitting on the family room floor conversing, we noticed a white worm-like creature wriggling out of Buddy's anus. It was quite shocking as we've never seen that happen before.

I gently pulled it out and put it in a small jar with water for the vet, along with a stool that we later collected for the vet to examine. The next morning, it was still wriggling in the water-filled jar!

It turned out to be tapeworm, which is usually caused by the ingestion of an infected flea. One of our fosters was flea-infested prior to coming into our home and Buddy probably ingested a flea while nipping at it in his fur.

The vet dispensed a 1-time tapeworm medication that starts with a "D", which was a lot nicer than the standard 10-day antibiotic regimen that we are used to for treating the occassional results of a foster or resident B tussle.

@Quercus:

http://www.pedigrees.zandebasenjis.com/

Did you try here, above?

Can you put the sire and dam's numbers into the ACA website? Or is there a number to actually talk to someone, maybe they could help you more?

I would think that since you have the litter number, the ACA could help you, if you could talk to a human….

I contacted the ACA last Friday and was told I had to prove that Tippy was a rescue by faxing such documentation. I sent that information in, similar to the info shown in the original post above, including BRAT documentation accordingly.

Then, yesterday, I followed up with ACA and was told that a supervisor made the determination that they could'nt help me unless BRAT issued an ACA registration application to me. Then I contacted a few BRAT board members and one answered saying they've never had seen nor heard of such a thing.

I'm beginning to feel like the ACA is trying to hide something, something to the effect that they are really a "false marketing front" for the profit-making pet industry. A couple of very nice basenji-loving folks have stepped forward to try to help track down potential puppy mill/pedigree information, but if they are not successful, I wonder how I can convince the ACA that my interest in Tippy's pedigree is purely medical and to support the Fanconi research efforts? Does anyone think it would help if I told the ACA that Tippy is already neutered (as BRAT requires for all their rescues)? I don't necessarily want to register him at all, but if that's what it takes to get his pedigree, I will do it.

@YodelDogs:

I sent you a private message navyman.

Hi Robyn,

Please see my two subsequent PMs.

Thanks,

Kent