Haven't updated in a long time and since that time I adopted a Shih Tzu (Prapso) puppy that I named Sophie. That totals 9 little dogs under one roof. Crazy and yet, fun. Sophie is sweet, sassy, bossy, aggressive, and loves to play with everyone. She jumped right into the pack and if my observations are correct, she is becoming the new pack leader.
My two senior girls, both 13 years old, are dealing with terminal diseases....
Taffy, chihuahua, was diagnosed with stage 4 kidney disease late last year. With a change in diet to Royal Canin Renal Support LP Modified and half tablet daily of Enalapril Maleate. Her 4 month recheck showed that her improved slightly and also stayed steady in other values. However, she developed conjunctivitis and has been depressed lately. The vet wants to see her again tomorrow to rule out an eye ulcer.
Mocha was diagnosed with heart failure about 3 weeks ago after I woke up one Sunday to her pacing and panting. This is not Mocha. Mocha has arthritis in her hips and she doesn't stand up for a long time. I waited a few hours, thought maybe she was just being weird, and then after she didn't stop, I google pacing and panting. I took her to my vet who told me right off she had a heart murmur and after x-ray she has an enlarged heart. Mocha gets stressed really easily and will turn blood when handled the wrong way. Thought this was because of the collapsed trachea but after reading more, maybe it was early signs of heart failure that went undiagnosed for years. I don't know. Anyway, my vet told me to take her to the emergency vet right away because they could keep her in an oxygen cage and also run tests my vet did not have. So we went. I thought I was going to lose her that night but she is hanging in there. The emergency vet kept her overnight, did another xray, but referred me to a cardiologist. I was lucky enough to get an appointment the next day and that's is when I learned that she has "Chronic degenerative valve disease causing moderate mitral regurgitation. Suspect ruptured chordae tendinae. Mild pulmonary arterial hypertension." She gets Lasix twice daily and Pemobendin twice daily. I noticed she was sort of back to normal two days later.She's been doing good since beginning of treatment but seems a bit less interested in food.... even tempting her with chicken doesn't always do it. She doesn't turn away treats though so I am not sure what is going on. All day today she has had runny diarrhea. I am going to make some rice and see if I can get her to eat that and some more chicken.
Last year, all of my dogs got sick... either bad bag of dog food or a bacteria or viral infection that went through them all. One day I came home from work and there was vomit, diarrhea, pee, blood everywhere! I didn't know who was sick! As I was cleaning up, I saw that Lucy was pooping blood and I brought her to my vet. She had a 105 fever and they told me to take her to the emergency vet because they needed to get that fever down. Lucy was diagnosed with pancreatitis and changed the food over to Royal Canin Gastro Intestinal Low Fat. Everyone (except Taffy) eats that now and really like it. Some of the dogs have shed some weight too. Lucy has not had another flare-up since then.
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