Puppy Malaise, Part 4

A dog thinks, "Hey, these people I live with feed me, love me, 

provide me with a nice warm, dry house, pet me, and take good care of me. They must be Gods."

A cat thinks, "Hey, these people I live with feed me, love me, 

provide me with a nice warm, dry house, pet me, and take good care of me. I must be a God!"

- Unknown

Kaiser continues on the roller coaster of health he's been riding for the last six weeks or so. He hasn't had a fever in over a week now, and even his hind leg seems to be getting much better. He can walk fairly normally on it, and once again jump up on the couches and beds (yes, we spoil the animals rotten...) without too much trouble. You can still tell the leg is weak when he climbs the stairs. The new problem (will this ever end?) seems to be gastro-intestinal. He's been throwing up daily, and what comes out of the other end is, well, let's just say it's the consistency of soft-serve ice cream, at best. We've tried going to a strict diet of white rice and boiled chicken, with little results. Now, per vet instruction, we're attempting to medicate with Pepcid. The saga continues...

I'm not sure I've mentioned the fifth member of the family, the crotchety, old cat "Mick Jagger." He's of indeterminate age, but we're guessing near 18 or 19 years. He's now quite skinny, bitchy, and constantly goes outside, eats grass, comes in and throws up on the carpet. So it's a joyous time in the house, with the cat and dog competing for most spectacular, or appropriately-placed vomit. 

The wonders of 'parenthood'...

KJT - Seattle (2008) Kaiser & Mick Jagger

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Puppy Malaise, Part 3 (Some Good News)

"Can I see another's woe, and not be in sorrow, too?

Can I see another's grief, and not seek for kind relief?"

- William Blake, English poet/painter (1757-1827)

Finally a little good news to report, although it began with high anxiety. On Thursday Stacie had to rush Kaiser to the hospital in the morning. He had a fever over 105° and he couldn't stand up. He hadn't eaten much in three days. On arrival at the hospital he weighed 32lbs. In mid-June he had weighed 43lbs. The hospital put him on intraveneous fluids, and started him on a new drug, Prednisone. I was terrified all day that they were going to call us to come in and put him down. 

Within a few hours his fever was down to 103°, and by the time we picked up him at 7:00pm his fever was right around 101°, which is in the normal range for dogs. He seemed to have some pep and was limping around, but moving under his own power. When we got home he ate a huge bowl of food and a couple cups of whole milk. An hour or so later he ate another big bowl of food, to which we added cottage cheese and roast beef. He also downed another cup of milk. Before we went to bed we took his temperature again and it was still hovering right around 101°.

He slept quite well that night, getting up a couple times to go to the bathroom. The next morning he had two breakfasts (very Hobbit-like, that) and some more milk. His hind leg is still limp and he hobbles on it, but he definitely seems to be responding to the Prednisone. That evening his temp was 100.8°. He doesn't seem to be in distress like he had been.

It's quite a relief to have his fever down and to see him eat again. They think that if it had been cancer, the Prednisone would not have had such an immediate impact - but they still won't rule it out. Now the consensus seems to be some kind of joint inflammation combined with possible auto-immune issues. We'll keep him on the Prednisone for another week and a half, and if his fever stays down and he regains some weight we might be able to finally figure out what really is going on with his leg/joint.

It seems strange to look back on the post from June 14 (Friday Farmer's Market) when we walked down the hill with him, and there were no real red flags.

Happy for small miracles. It was a stressful week.

KJT - Seattle (2008) Photo by Stacie

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Puppy Malaise, continued

"They fancied themselves free, and no one will ever be free 

so long as there are pestilences."

- Albert Camus, "The Plague" (1947)

Still a mystery as to what ails poor Kaiser. We've taken him in for acupuncture treatments and chiropractic treatments. They seem to make him feel better, but only for a while. He's had several rounds of x-rays and physicals and he's been on one antibiotic or another for over a month and still has a fever. He's even taking pills to help 

his Qi ("Chee") — I shit you not. He can hardly use his left hind leg at all now, it just hangs limp. He doesn't have much interest in eating and he's lost quite a bit of weight. He hobbles around and mostly lies under the coffee table and sighs occasionally. Our doctor is going to consult with a specialist and we will probably then take him to one here in Seattle, or one in Pullman in eastern Washington. Although nothing has shown up so far on the x-rays, we're beginning to worry about cancer. So far the doctors are as baffled as we are.

KJT - Seattle (2008) Kaiser getting acupuncture, notice needles in lower picture

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Puppy Malaise

"To sit with a dog on a hillside on a glorious afternoon is to be back in Eden, where doing nothing was not boring - it was peace."

- Milan Kundera, Czech writer/philosopher (1929—)

Under the weather. Kaiser, our 17-month-old Springer Spaniel is not well. We can't seem to figure out what is wrong with him. We just got word back from the vet that all the tests we had run are negative, which is good, except that we still don't know what the problem is. 

We are hoping he doesn't have canine hip dysplasia, which is a hereditery disease that can cause lameness and arthritis. It seems more common in Spaniels than some dogs, and usually shows up before they are 18 months.

Kaiser seems very lethargic, and he is having trouble going up and down the stairs. He is also very tentative getting on and off the couches and beds, and doesn't seem to want to go for walks - which is a complete 180 degree reversal from his personality even a couple months ago.

We're thinking we may try acupuncture next...

KJT - Seattle (2008)

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