April 2013
I have spent the past 2 weeks running to appointments. It started with
my Dad's dog who was sporadically vomiting for a few weeks. While he
was being examined that Friday, the doctor found a pretty profound heart
murmur that he didn't have in August when we were in. Hmm. The dog,
Puffy, is an almost 7 year old Shih Tzu. Pretty young for all this. He
also has a cataract in one eye, is developing one in the other eye and
has lost more than a pound since Christmas. So they took blood to check
for diabetes, and I made an appointment for him to have a heart echo
test the next week. The doctor told me to put him on a bland diet -
white rice, cottage cheese or chicken.
By Sunday afternoon, he
hadn't kept anything down that I could tell. So I bought baby food
chicken. That seemed to stay down. I then made my own baby food for him
- it is a bit thicker and a bit grainier due to the quality of blender I
have compared to Gerber. This did not stay in him, either. So,
Wednesday, we went back to the vet. They did a barium swallow to look
for blockages. There were none. Also no diabetes. But in the meantime,
Dad had a couple of dentist appointments I needed to get him to.
Thursday,
Puffy went in to the radiologist for his heart echo and an abdomen
ultrasound. He has a pretty severe heart murmur on both sides of his
heart, and still no idea why he is vomiting. Luckily, he is not in
heart failure and the murmur is recent enough that his heart has not
enlarged. Next stop, bring him back into the vet for a blood pressure
check.
So, Friday we are back at the vet. By this time, just
seeing his carrier makes the dog shake from fear. And, alas, he has
high blood pressure.
At this point, he is taking Pepcid, an
anti puke pill, blood pressure medicine and is still on a bland diet,
although is eating solid chicken now. He seems to be keeping it all
down (thank you medicine - I'm tired of cleaning up after him). And,
from the ultrasounds, he has a really stylish hair cut - his belly and
chest are shaved.
He was supposed to go into the groomers today,
but he is so over the carrier by now that I cancelled this one. The
last thing I need to do is have to administer doggie CPR on the way to
the groomers!
He is still able to go for walks and all. But
when the vet starts using words like "extending the useful life of his
heart", I get a little worried. This is my Dad's buddy, his anxiety
reducer. I would go to any lengths for that alone. And I do sort of
like the little guy.
The upside of all this? Dad is being forced
to stop feeding him from the table, letting him lick his plate, leaving
ice cream in his dish for the dog, sneaking him bites under the table,
etc. I was never able to get Dad to stop this by telling him that this
was the reason Puffy was an unbearable nuisance at meal time and the
reason the rest of the family calls him the Rat ***. But the idea of
keeping Puffy around as long as possible is now finally making an
impact. And Dad is cooperating. He is even remembering to do it. Thank
you Lord for blessing in disguise!W
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