Reality Check

 Now begins the actual process of dealing with all this. All the meds, and more importantly - what they do to Nicki. She's on 2 heart meds, plus a diuretic for blood pressure. That apparently tipped her body into incontinence. She became completely unaware of leaking urine - and it was not good.

So back to the vet we went, to get meds to fight the incontinence. Within hours after giving her second dose, she began to vomit repeatedly. Then she developed diarrhea. I looked up the side effects of the medication, which were not good. The dosing also seemed too strong for her little body. We stopped that medication immediately. Now I'm fasting her to give her body a chance to purge the medication that caused the reaction. In the meantime, I'm washing a lot of towels, rugs, and dog butt. It's been pretty hectic.

So hectic that it took a while to register: this is not a passing illness. I'm not nursing her back to health. That cannot happen. At best, this could be called palliative care. I'm trying to manage her symptoms to preserve some quality of life for her. I want her to be comfortable and happy.

And that's an end game.

I've been through this. It's hard to stop yourself from becoming hopeful when they perk up and seem to feel better. It's hard to accept that they won't continue to improve. It's hard to be so powerless for someone you love so much.

Ordinary tasks become fraught. The size of the bag of kibble becomes a question mark. How much longer? How long?

For now, I have boiled chicken and rice ready for when her system quiets down, The main priority is to get her heart meds into her. Since she's not getting incontinence meds now, we'll have to go back to taking up her water in the evening, extra walks and trips outside, and fingers crossed for a dry morning. Again. 

The worst of it is that she's such a lady, and all this upsets her. She seems downright insulted to be asked to go out every 1 1/2 - 2 hours. No Lasix for now - not till we speak to the vet again tomorrow to try to get a different incontinence medication.

We're just juggling symptoms, and trying to push against the door to keep the monster from breaking in and stealing her.

Update (following day): I suggested that we try halving the dosage of the incontinence meds (Prion). The vet agrees. So last night, when we were awakened at 3:00 am by a slightly damp pupper jumping up onto the bed, after letting her out and cleaning her up, I gave that 1/4 pill. She was dry this morning, but spent the day just not herself. So far no vomiting or diarrhea (fingers crossed, but that didn't start until the 2nd dose last time), but my girl just ain't right. At one point I saw her sitting and staring at a blank wall. When let out, she circles and paces, comes back, goes back out, lather rinse repeat. It's as though she can't quite figure out how to do her business. I did call the vet again to tell her the final verdict on Prion is that it does help Miss Nicki, but the cost to her is too high. Spent the day waiting for a call back. Maybe tomorrow. 2nd dose of the day at 7:00 pm. Keep us in your thoughts.

My Old Dog is Teaching Me New Tricks

 Many times, rescued dogs appreciate familiarity and predictability. Truly *rescued* dogs haven't just been rehomed; they've been saved from bad circumstances. Abusive homes are notoriously unpredictable and volatile. Neglectful situations leave their own, different scars. Both of those are soothed by the predictability of a loving home. Regular meal times with familiar foods. Predictable reactions within the family. No sudden blows, no raised voices, no punishments just for being a dog. 

Last night, Nicki and I went out for our evening walk. It's a small town, and our walking opportunities are limited by the geography of a one-stoplight-town with very few discernible "blocks". I've been letting Nicki choose our course lately in the hope that makes it more enjoyable for her. Last night I wanted to start in a slightly different direction. Basically one of our usual routes, but with a slight variation. That slight variation took us toward an area where we ordinarily finish the walk and head for home. To my surprise, Miss Nicki got to that point and began to follow our usual route - in reverse! She went the way we're used to walking, but - leading the entire way - she walked the route in reverse, then simply headed home. 

Well! She knows the walking routes so well that she can take the initiative to change it up a little! Great! Three cheers for predictability!

Then she did something relatively new. If we come home with a little bag of poo, she now walks directly to the trash can in the yard, pauses in front of it, looks up at me, and waits for me to dispose of the bag. Then she leads the way into the house. HER house. Because she's home, and she loves home.

With all this toileting trouble and the diuretic meds, she's doing something else that is completely new to me. I never had a dog try to drink from the toilet bowl before! Luckily, I believe strongly in sanitation but - sheesh!! That is a new trick I could do without!

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.

I'm A Unicorn!

 Well! It has been quite a week.

For quite a while now, Momma hasn't been keeping up with my blog - and that's actually wonderful. My life has been filled with trips to Bones Dog Bakery (where Momma can get a people version of a puppacino), shopping trips, walks, playing, baths (YUCK!), sometimes visits with friends (people friends, not other dogs), more walks, naps, treats, frozen Kongs, yummy dinners - life! Things have been pretty ordinary. After the way the first few years of my life went, ordinary was just perfect for me. I like my routine. I like the predictability. I like the safety and comfort. I love feeling loved.

But most of that isn't really fun to talk about or read about. It's like trying to write a Christmas letter (don't ever do that!) when you've had a really ordinary year. "Waited at the top of the basement stairs to be sure Momma was still alive after doing laundry. A dangerous job! Basements are evil! Why does she go down there willingly??" We could have written that every week. 

This week was different. I've been to the vet twice within a week, and the first time the vet tech brought me back out to Momma and said the doctor called me a Unicorn!! She said I was a unicorn because for my size, age and breed, I was the perfect weight, had a nice pink tongue and gums, bright eyes, a shiny coat and a sweet temperament!  (Good thing I'm modest!)  That happened after getting back from boarding with my Aunt Holly and Uncle Craig. I started coughing really hard. The vet thought it was a bacterial or viral thing that I caught at boarding. They gave me medicine that included a steroid to reduce inflammation and a cough suppressant. It made the cough go away instantly, and I felt a lot better. I finished the cough suppressant but still had more antibiotics to go through. The next morning I suddenly woke up coughing harder than ever! I couldn't stop. I couldn't catch my breath. It looked like I was panting - but that was my breathing. Momma got really worried and took me right back to the vet. This time they took an X-ray and figured out that my heart murmur wasn't just a murmur. I have an enlarged heart, and congestive heart failure. 

Momma's been crying a lot.

I have a lot of new medicine, Momma says, but the only thing I've been getting is yummy sardine balls and little peanut butter knots. This is pretty cool!

Momma says I'm not supposed to go up and down stairs or play much. Today I just felt like sleeping all day. After all that napping, I guess the sardines and peanut butter worked their magic and I started to feel better! Momma says she's going to carry me up and down the stairs when she can, but lots of times I beat her to it! She says she'd rather have a happy dog for a shorter time than a sad dog just waiting to die. Geez! She sure gets morbid!

So we finally had something to write about. We're writing about a big change in our lives. A new phase. Maybe I'll get to go on a new adventure someday. I wonder what kind of adventures Unicorns have?

 

National Rescue Dog Day

 

Miss Nicki wishes you a happy National Rescue Dog day!! 

The past few weeks have been pretty tough on our girl. Last month we found out she has developed a heart murmur, which can be exacerbated by stress. Two weeks ago, the project to redo our front and back porches, which was originally supposed to have been started last year, finally began. Strange people hammering, sawing, and making a ruckus all over our house! Then a happy disruption of her routine; her favorite Girl and Girl's Husband came to visit for a few days! But even though that was happy - it was still A LOT! And construction continued! Then, while Girl and Husband were visiting, momma and daddy's dear friend passed away, so they had to go to Florida for several days. Nicki got to visit her Auntie Holly, but it was more disruption! Now, with everyone back home, there's also construction going on at the school right behind us. When they drop the empty dumpsters it sounds like an explosion! Today, besides 80+ degree temps and porch and school construction, people came to replace the power poles right in front of our house!! It's more than a little pup with a funky heart can take! Nicki has been coughing hard and feeling tired. We wanted to pupdate our friends about Miss Nicki's situation - but also take a moment to wish you all a HAPPY RESCUE DOG day! Because Nicki the Rescue Pup, in spite of these ruff days, is still happy! XO

 

Santa Paws!!

Miss Nicki got to meet Santa Paws at PetSaver in Victor! She had a wonderful time. Santa even treated her to some of Bones Dog Bakery's goat milk pup nog!!

That was a lot of excitement, but she wasn't done yet! This year our intrepid girl opened her own Christmas gifts, and she really enjoyed it. She got a bunch of Christmas cookies from Bones Bakery, two boxes of Greenies for her pearly whites, and a Christmas Lamb Chop! Yessiree, Christmas after rescue is pretty sweet for our girl, and she sure deserves it!

Opening the prezzies:

  

Success!

Life is Delicious!

Every now and then I see folks asking for ideas for stuffing Kongs. I first started thinking about this when I noticed that stuffed Kongs offered by a local boarding facility were large Kongs filled completely with peanut butter or spray cheese. Nicki's fairly small - and that's a lot of sugar, salt, & fat! So I started thinking about what else I could use. Frozen Kongs not only provide fun and entertainment for our pups, they can actually be used as meals to slow down pups that wolf their food! Over the years I came up with a number of variations, all of which are much healthier. Admittedly, these require more effort than pumping spray cheese, but Nicki thinks it's worth it!

A few suggestions: a small piece of waxed paper, folded in half to strengthen it, then curled into a funnel can make filling Kongs easier. Consider using 2 small sized Kongs instead of one large one. That way your pup can stretch out the enjoyment. (Of course, that means you don't hand 'em all over at once.) Puppy sized Kongs hold about 1/4 cup of small-sized kibble, plus a few tablespoons of "base". Medium sized Kongs hold more than 1/2 cup of kibble + stuff. Large? Don't know! Never had a large enough dog! Keep those measurements in mind to help you avoid over-feeding.

The Bases (use these to bind other ingredients together for freezing):

Any yogurt that doesn't use artificial sweeteners
pumpkin purée
unsweetened apple sauce
mashed or puréed bananas
wet food (use the amount you'd ordinarily feed) 
Yes, soft cheese and peanut butter work - just don't use them for the entire thing. Maybe a bit at the base of the Kong as a big reward. Like the Tootsie Roll center of a Tootsie pop! Flavored yogurt, even though it contains sugar, is ok, because you're only using a few tablespoons.

The Mix-Ins (all should be plain, unflavored, no sauces, etc):

peas
diced butternut squash
diced sweet potatoes
diced carrots
chopped green and yellow beans
chopped pineapple (just a bit as an accent)
chopped peaches (just a bit as an accent)
raspberries (less than a cup per day)
strawberries
blueberries
kibble

The basic formula: if you're using actual dog food for a meal, measure out your pup's usual serving, and proceed from there. If you're feeding wet food, add in low-cal but rewarding taste treats like peas, squash, berries, then fill the Kong and freeze. If you're feeding kibble, pick one of the bases to hold it all together. Feel free to add in other goodies from the fruit and veggie list. Just making a treat? Combine a base with a mix-in or two (or three!) and fill 'er up!

I use frozen fruits and veggies for this because they're high-quality, cheaper, and easier to handle and keep on hand. There are other fruits and veggies that are safe for dogs, but they're not listed here simply because they don't freeze as well. According to an online calculator I found (I can't math) there are 8008 possible combinations here to keep your pups happy & fed!