Cruising with a Dog
Sum It Up Sunday
Sum It Up Sunday: Caring for a Geriatric Dog
Sunday, February 02, 2014TheCambrians |
| Sally walking along West Beach, Calvert Island. |
Having a dog aboard can be challenging. Having a 17 year-old dog, even more so. And this has been our most challenging
season.
It started back in August while we were cruising
the West Coast of Vancouver Island.
Sally got really sick one night and we weren’t able to put her back on regular dog food without a similar
effect. She was fine as long as we fed
her chicken and rice, so we waited until we got back to Washington
Sally’s on a medication called Novox and has to have her blood drawn every six months to check her liver enzymes
before the prescription can be refilled.
She was running low on medication, so we decided to kill two birds with
one stone and have her blood work done with the new vet (to be known hereafter
as the WA vet).
That was our first
mistake.
Her test results came back with a low T4 number
(thyroid) and elevated liver enzymes, so the WA vet wanted to put her on
medication to treat hypothyroidism.
GREAT! It seemed to be the answer
to all our problems (poor digestion and diarrhea can be symptoms of a low
thyroid in dogs), so we started her on a course of 0.4 mg twice daily. Normally we fax the test results to Sally’s
vet in Kansas (the one we’ve been seeing off and on since she was five and
prescribed her the medication in the first place), but this time we didn’t.
That was our second
mistake.
I consulted with the WA vet’s office during Sally’s
new treatment and felt something was wrong; but they advised me to
continue with the medication, and I did.
We went back in for further testing six weeks later and her T4 numbers
were high, so the WA vet decreased her dosage.
Sally was still sick but getting slightly better and we talked ourselves
into trusting the WA vet – after all, we were in uncharted territory and she
had been to school for this.
That was our third (and
final) mistake.
After a stressful drive to Kansas
We made an appointment with her vet in Wichita Washington
From there, things have
improved. But we still have a long way
to go.
Since this all started, Sally has lost 15% of her
body weight and dropped down to a shocking 35.2 pounds from an average of 42. We’ve been working hard to change that and
with a lot of time and effort, she gained 1.5 pounds back in four weeks. There’s no question that it’s a difficult process
and that we still have a long way to go, but we feel like we’re finally winning
the battle . . . or at least that we’re not being beaten so badly. But before we left Wichita
We felt we needed to get her home, back in her own
environment, to see what’s really going on.
She did well on the drive but, sadly, her late night pacing continues,
which means we’re down to two possibilities:
She’s in pain. Or she has
Cognitive Dysfunction Syndrome. We re-introduced Tramadol to her regimen to see if that helps and will wait a few more days to give her
time to settle back in – there’s still a chance that Sally (in all her
stubbornness) is just being Sally and has acquired some bad habits over the last
two months. But if not, it’s time to start treatment for CDS, something we
discussed with Dr. Bogue before we left Wichita,
So how do you care for a
geriatric dog on or off a boat?
We have absolutely no idea. I wish we did, but we don’t. All I can honestly tell you is that it’s a
difficult time for us and for Sally. We
feel completely overwhelmed, frustrated and helpless. But we’re doing everything we can to help her
feel better – some things have worked, while other have been a complete
failure. Still, we’re optimistic. Sally has just been through the worst four
months of her life and the fact that she’s still with us says a lot about her
resolve.
1 comments
Oh sally...you and your bad habits. I love my dogs so much but sometimes they just don't know what is best for them. I hope that all is well with her! :)
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