Pinky is Home

Pinky came home last night and Chi-Chi was all over her the second she walked through the front door. Chi-Chi really missed her sister and was sniffing Pinky and licking her and trailed her all over the house. Pinky didn't even seem to mind. Pinky walked all through the house. I guess she just wanted to know that everything was the way she had left it. She immediately went to her water bowl and drank some water. She ran around a little with Chi-Chi and then curled up on my lap for the night.

This morning I attempted to give Pinky the new food. It definitely smelled different from the other food. Pinky ran to the bowl, but didn't like what was in there. I tried several times in the morning to get her to eat, but she wouldn't have any of it. One of her meds has to be given with food, so I had to get some food into her stomach. I poured her some Cheerios. She devoured them! At least I was able to get her to eat something. I left food for my dad to give her for dinner.

She refused the dog food for dinner. I called the vet, but had to leave a message. I decided to feed Pinky some egg beaters. I figured they were low in fat so it should be okay for her. I cooked them up and let them cool down a bit. Pinky gobbled up the eggs. She seemed fine and there was no vomiting. The vet called me back and I explained what had happened with the food.

She recommended boiled chicken with some rice for Pinky. In the meantime, she was putting together a bag of various dog foods for me to try on Pinky to see what she likes. Pinky is a fussy eater. I don't know how easy it will be to transition her to another new food. I think I will try here and there, but I will not make a real effort until she is done with her meds. The vet will work with the nutritionist to come up with a diet for Pinky that will meet all of her nutritional needs from her pancreatitis and her bladder stones.

Is Pinky Ever Coming Home?

I really miss my doggy! I spoke to the vet several times today. She called me at 10 am to let me know that Pinky's temperature was back to normal and they were attempting to feed her baby food. If she ate the food and held it down, I would be able to bring her home tonight.

I was on pins and needles all day. I left a message for Dr. Hall, but she didn't call me back. When I went home I spoke with Dr. Hall at 5:30. She said Pinky ate the baby food in the morning and they were trying to get her to eat dog food now. They wanted to see if she could eat it and hold it down without spiking a fever. Would I be willing to pick her up even if it was later at night? ABSOLUTELY! I told her it didn't matter what time it was because I just wanted Pinky home.

The call finally came at 8 pm. I was out the door by 8:02 headed over to the animal hospital. I was in the examination room waiting for Pinky. The vet came in and Pinky jumped out of her arms and into mine. She would not stop licking me! I think she was just as happy to see me as I was to see her. The vet gave me some dog food to feed Pinky. They said she ate the dog food, but not willingly. Dr. Hall would call me tomorrow to see how Pinky was doing.

They sent me home with a liquid antibiotoc that she needs for 10 days and an anti nasuea pill she nees twice a day for 5 days and she needs a 1/4 Pepcid daily.

They didn't have my bill ready, so they said they would mail it to me. I bet it is s doozy!

The Diet is Working

Chi-Chi's wacky rash showed up once again. It is definitely worse in the summer, but she gets it in the winter too. There doesn't seem to be any rhyme or reason to when it hits which is frustrating. The creams we had from the last time just weren't working, and since we were going to be on vacation for a week, I wanted to make sure I wasn't leaving my dad with a sickly dog to look after. Time for the HOUSE OF PAIN, also known as "the vet."

While waiting for the vet I plopped Chi-Chi on the cat scale because I think she looks like she lost weight and wanted to know before the doctor came in. The numbers were down! I waited for the vet to come in and I had her weigh chubsey-ubsey to get the official weight. Drumroll please......11.6 pounds. She lost 2 pounds in two months! The vet was thrilled and so was I. She wanted to know what I was doing and I told her that Chi-Chi was on a no-snack diet and was eating 1/4 cup of Purina Overweight Management dog food twice a day.

Chi-Chi was given a supply of two antibiotics. She was better by the time we left for Montral, but I had to make up a chart for my dad to follow. There are two different meds and each one had differing dosage that changed from twice a day to every other day to 1/2 a pill. It was confusing for me, so imagine a 72 year old trying to administer the meds.

Chi-Chi's pet insurance has a rider that won't cover any of her rash issues! Poor baby came to us with a rash and I guess the pet insurance company made a good decision for them because she has been to the vet many times over this freaking rash that comes and goes at will! I still have the vet send the bill to the pet insurance company. I noticed that they wrote down something else on the bill so I am wondering if they will pay or not.

Chi-Chi has moved from the obese to the overweight category. We have a ways to go, but her progress has been great and is very encouraging! Of course we were gone for a week and my dad was taking care of the dogs. I swear that Chi-Chi looked a little plumper than when we had left. My husband said I was crazy...He may be right.

All Righty, Chi-Chi is just Fat

Normally when you are waiting for blood test results, you are hoping for them to be negative, right? How come I was disappointed when the vet called me to say that Chi-Chi does not have a thyroid problem? I guess I was hoping that was the problem so we could just put her on meds and she would lose the excess pounds. Does that make me a bad surrogate mommy??

Crap. Well, now we just have some work ahead of us. We've been testing out the new food. She loved the wet stuff, but it did not love her. She got the runs from it. We won't be using that food. Just as well though because it was difficult setting up the dog food because they were both eating wet and they were both different formulas. Now if I were the one who fed them, this wouldn't be a problem. My 71 year old dad feeds them in the afternoon and I had to label which one was which. I already prep the food for him and put the correct amount in the bowls, but he could still give the dog the wrong food because once the label was off, they looked the same.

She likes the Purina OM (overwight management). I didn't try the wet OM because of the first attempt with another wet food. I went right for the dry. She ate it. Now we'll see how she does with diet food. I am hoping that it makes a differnce. I am also trying to exercise her more. The two have to have an effect, right? Stay tuned.