Change is Hard

So sleepy. So, so sleepy.

 If you plan to follow this blog (and thank you, if you do), you should be prepared for something; it won't have a happy ending, but it will have an ending. Nicki has a progressive, terminal disease (congestive heart failure). That doesn't magically go away. A lot of what will appear here now will be how we got to this point, and how we're dealing with it now. Hopefully there will be more happy Nicki stories, too. For that to happen, we have to help her manage life with this disease. If we share that process with you, you may have information that you find helpful at some point. That's what this whole blog was started for; to share the journey of a rescued and adopted dog in order to help others.

Nicki has been placed on 3 medications; Enalapril, Vetmedin, and Furosemide. During the first week, they seemed to be helping her, but she was almost always sound asleep. I did some research on side effects, and noticed that two of the meds induce tiredness and/or lethargy. That corresponds to what I've been seeing. I'd been giving her all 3 medications in the morning, then Vetmedin and Furosemide again in the evening. Since Enalapril is one of the meds with tiredness/lethargy as a side effect (Vetmedin is the other), and she only has to get it once daily, I'm shifting that to evening dosing. Hopefully that will allow her to be more present during the daytime. Update: I did do so, but now we have a big problem with incontinence. Nicki had always been a VERY light sleeper. The slightest thing disturbed her. No longer. Now she sleeps VERY soundly through the night, unaware of a need to urinate, and wakes up not knowing that she's soaked. The vet cut her dose of Furosemide by 75%, and I shifted the timing to 2x during the day, but none near night time. Even so, we have accidents. She doesn't go off to pee in the house; she just doesn't realize that urine is coming out. This began *before* I shifted her Enalapril to evening dosing, so I don't think that's the problem. We have a follow up appointment tomorrow. I expect the vet will want to start her on meds for the incontinence. We went through this with our border collie, Daisy, near the end of her life, and the meds helped tremendously.

Since she has heart disease, some of you may be wondering about her diet. Having come to upstate New York from Kentucky, her first 3 years here produced allergies that worsened with each spring. Eventually we switched her kibble to grain free, and supplemented with unflavored, non-chewable biotin caplets coated in peanut butter, a dollop of coconut oil, 500 mg of fish oil (those 3 daily) and - during allergy season - 25 mg of dipehnhydramine, twice daily. For those saying "AHA! Grain free! That causes heart disease!" you need more information. Nicki also gets raw venison, raw fish, raw, frozen chicken wings, vegetables, yogurts, and other variety, including Dinovite powder, at my husband's suggestion. Honestly, I've stopped giving her diphenhydramine since the addition of Dinovite, and her allergies are not bothering her this year. So yes, she gets grain-free kibble, but she doesn't just get kibble. As a matter of fact, we did a post about her food variety here .

So - everything we knew has changed. Nicki is tremendously annoyed by my constant urging to go out to potty (about every 2 - 3 hours). She doesn't get morning cuddles on the bed with me unless I check her first and find dry fur down there. She gets plopped into the bathtub and rinsed off every other day, it seems. She gets more treats - but they all kinda taste funny (because I hide the meds inside them). She can't drink water after 8:00 when Momma and Daddy take the bowls away. And Momma has become paranoid - thinking everything smells like pee.

Mostly I miss the cuddles.