Our Ruth Girl: Day 14

Friday, January 23, 2009

Day 14

Everyone slept well last night! I changed Ruth's padding about 2:00, then when I got up at 6:00. She's thirsty this morning! I gave her bunches of water swallows before her peanut butter/meds (PBM) "treat" and then bunches afterwards! At first she wasn't all that excited, about the PBM, but then she licked my finger clean!!!

It promises to be a great day!

We put Ruth in the Sphinx position about 7:25 and she held it for another 5 minutes, pushing against one of her hind legs to reposition herself! But, then she was too pooped to eat. I tried smushing food (her normal dry food soaked in the water/oil mixture made from hamburger meat sprinkled with garlic powder - one of her favorite spices!) in between her teeth, only to have her spit it out. Even after a water chaser! I will try again about 9:00, after she's rested some.

More squirts of the "tasty" ... basically that's all she'll eat, and even cleans my finger! Her daddy is going to town today and will get other goodies for us to try... cottage cheese ... more supplement ... can food for our senior girl ... low sodium beef broth ... as long as she doesn't stop swallowing (a trick she's learn that will make me stop trying to feed her), I'll keep putting it in her mouth!

I just sat Ruth up on her elbows. She held it for a few minutes while I scratched all the places I could reach! She did sniff my nose, but didn't offer a kiss. We haven't gotten kisses in a couple of days now. But, we have perky eyes and ears!

It's almost 11:00... Ruth has had almost 2 cups of water today, numerous squirts of "tasty", a finger full of plain (no meds) creamy peanut butter, and several failed attempts at dry yet moist girl food w/olive oil on the side.

Ruth sat up (with my help, of course) for about 15 minutes... the majority of the time, she balanced on her own!

Just a note: I've been using a type of baby wipe that is alcohol free and is non-flushable (since we are on a septic tank system, not a good thing!) Anyhoo, they wash/dry up beautifully, so I use them instead of paper towels when needing to wipe up my mess when feeding Ruth or water drippings off her pillow!

A little after noon, I was propping Ruth up on her elbow and got a KISS! She balanced on her own for a little while... baby steps!

It's been a busy afternoon! Bud got home with Ruth's goodies and she got about 1/4 cup worth of can food... I had to smush it in, then chase with water, but I got it down her! She had some "tasty" for dessert, along with bunches more water.

We also took her outside for a few minutes... got her in the Sphinx position again and she held her back legs tight against her sides. Bud had one more step before reentering the house and she started pottying like a waterfall! Fortunately, I've learned to walk along with them carrying a towel underneath the critical area. Once we had her settled back down on her pad, she got more water... refilling that bladder!

Throughout the afternoon she received more water, a couple of changes in bedding, placed in the sphinx position, then, Bud and I took a nap in our respective recliners!

For dinner, Ruth had another 1/4 cup of can food... a couple of times she even licked it off my finger or cleaned up the spilled chunks off the towel underneath her head! But, for the most part, it got smushed in that faithful open space, then chased with water. Again, she got some "tasty" for dessert and licked my finger clean!

I'm hoping, by decreasing the Prednisone to one time a day, her appetite will return. Sometimes, it's like she forgets she can lick/lap her food. And, she seems to fall asleep, or maybe her way of trying to ignore me.... I may not give tomorrow morning's dosage, and wait until tomorrow night... start giving her at night may also help her appetite for the day.

We put Ruth on her back a couple of times tonight and gave her lots of scratches and exercised her legs by stretching and bicycling. Then she got another 1/4 cup of can food... this time she licked the food off my fingers!!!! Although Pednisone can cause excessive appetite, it apparently has worked the opposite in Ruth. I believe, after a full week of taking Prednisone, we would not be experiencing such a loss of appetite as we've seen in Ruth.

Well, we "Sphinxed" her one more time for the day. She started out with outstretched forearms, but then relaxed and rested on her elbows. After she made a minor adjustment of her hind right leg, she held her own for over 5 minutes! Now she is resting, seemingly comfortably, after getting several more swallows of water after such a great workout.

I am blessed to have had another day with Ruth. I continually pray that God helps me/us help Our Ruth Girl.

.

Ruth began feeling poorly...

01/09/09 - Friday night, around supper time, Ruth started acting fretful, pacing, and walking around... not able to get settled. We gave her an aspirin (81 mg.).

01/10/09 - (I'm calling this Day 1) - Saturday morning she began walking like she was dizzy, or drunk, wobbly like. When she walked, she crossed over her front feet and was unstable while standing. As she came up the five steps to the porch, she stepped flatfooted like, slamming the foot down... actually, whenever she walked, that is what it seemed like, slamming her front feet down. In the afternoon, she did, however, managed to trot out to the barn with Beth & Bud, but showed signs of being unstable. Both morning and night we gave her 81 mg aspirin.

Of course, we immediately got on the Internet, trying to figure out what was happening to Our Ruth Girl. I came across something about Coonhound Disease, but, since it's been over a month since our last episode with a raccoon, we ruled it out (and so did the vet on Monday).

01/11/09 - (Day 2) - Sunday morning Ruth slowly jumped off of the bed and, although still acting dizzy and walking with a wobble, we went outside (4:45 a.m.) with Beth. Daddy was able to stretch out and stayed in bed a few minutes longer.

She pooped and pottied without too much problem (even though her balance was off), then, as she came back up on the porch, her right front foot started folding up under (knuckling like) and she fell forward until I caught her.

A very short time later her left foot started acting the same way. Then the back legs wouldn't cooperate. She was perky and alert. Bud and I "walked" her (positioning her front pads out properly) over to her food bowl for breakfast and she ate it all while he held on to her (she was wobbly). She wouldn't, however, drink any water. We then helped her back over to the couch and helped her back up. At that time, she could/would get up on her elbows and looked around from her position. Once, she totally sat up, to look out the window but her right leg/foot kept slipping off the couch and she couldn't bring it back up underneath her for support.

After the church time period was over, Bud called the vet and he told us to increase the aspirin dosage until we could get in to see him Monday morning.

That evening, I went in to take a bath and when I came back out, Bud was sitting on the floor next to Ruth who was standing on all fours by the couch. He had been at his desk and heard something and saw her standing alone... she had gotten off the couch by herself. Rather than get her back on the couch for the night, we made beds on the floor using 4" padding we already had for others when sleeping over.

She's Alert, Aware, yet Anxious. We can tell her mind wants to do all the things she's always done, but her body won't cooperate.

01/12/09 - (Day 3) - Monday morning Ruth wouldn't/couldn't lift her head on her own. She can slide it against the pillow, like stretching her neck, then putting her chin down. Her appointment with the vet is at 8:45. Beth went with us, all in the van. Bud positioned Ruth on the van's floor and I cradled her in my arms. She managed to poop on the way into town, and scooting away from the poop caused me to notice her success! (Still no potty).

Bud took her inside, and I stayed out in the van with Beth and prepared my heart for losing Ruth. Imagine my surprise when Bud carried her back to the van and she was coming back home with us!

She weighed about 60 lbs and had a temp of 102 when we got to the vet's. He said it was a good thing we had been giving her aspirin because of the fever - it's either come down, or the aspirin prevented it from going up higher. He gave her three injections of various things (steroids is the only thing I can remember) and sent us home with two different meds (Novox 75mg and Zeniquin 200 mg) to begin in the evening. He said we may not see any improvement for 48 hours. He also drew blood and will run some tests.

Blood work turned out to be normal.

01/13/09 - (Day 4) - Tuesday morning - we all had a fretful night. About 11:00 p.m., Ruth started having something like a panic attack. I know she must be confused as to what's happening and she looks to us for help.

No physical change ... it doesn't appear any further decline in her condition. She is pooping and pottying now... not regularly, but at least, her internal workings are still functioning.

01/14/09 - (Day 5) - Wednesday - She actually lifted her back left leg so she could potty!!!! We are getting the system down so it's not such a traumatic occurrence in cleaning her and her bedding up! We are also figuring out a better way to give her water!!!! We know the importance of keeping her hydrated.

I didn't post this earlier, but we do move her around and change sides several times a day. We also try to keep her leaning up a little, trying to keep down the chance of getting pneumonia. We are trying....

When Bud was on the phone to Papo with their 11:30 daily conversation, I decided to do one more search on the Internet. The second site I went to was a person's blog, detailing their experience with Coonhound Disease. Oh, My, Goodness! It was so much like what has happened to Ruth! We now have hope.... From that blog post we found a journey another is taking, Lexi.

01/15/09 - (Day 6) - Thursday - another fretful night... but, we made it through and it doesn't appear that Ruth has declined any further. She twitched her back feet a little when I was inadvertently leaning on them! In fact, a little while later she lifted her right rear leg and pottied! We were prepared, so it wasn't a traumatic event to take care of either for her or for us.

Our Ruth Girl

Our Ruth Girl

Friday, January 23, 2009

Day 14

This is our baby girl, Beth

A song for Ruth...

Ruth began feeling poorly...

Followers

Blog Archive

About Me