Our Ruth Girl: Day 7

Friday, January 16, 2009

Day 7

Last night, we had a slight progress/change... Bud lifted her head and she was positioned to rest on her elbows. She had relaxed her legs (sometimes they are stiff, straight out, and this is a trait of hers since she was young). After leaning on him for a few minutes, she did take over and was on her own, keeping her head up nicely, if only for a minute.

The night went by without too much fretting, either by Ruth, or us!

This morning, we have not received any kisses from her at all. She's rarely yelped for attention. She does track us, mainly with her ears. She accepted her peanut butter covered meds, but refused anything to do with a pancake or bread or chicken broth... We have managed to get a small amount of water in her. Basically just enough to "wet her gizzard".

Bud just went to town ... Ruth is not fretting like she would have yesterday and the preceding days when he would leave the room, much less the house... actually, she's not doing much. Her eyes are not perky like they've always been. Her ears are alert and tracks me and Beth by sound, rarely does she move her head. She is sleeping more. She's just not our normal alert girl today that, has so far, carried through this ordeal and brought us hope.

11:10 - I JUST GOT A KISS!

11:50 - She pottied!

At 1:00, when Bud got back from town, I called out "Daddy's Home" as normal. She perked up tremendously, stretched her legs, and pottied!!!!

About 1:15, we moved her up on the couch and placed her on her other side.
It's 2:01 and I just did passive range of motion exercises to her front and back legs. I "tickled" the hairs on the bottom of her back pad and her muscle twitched!

While Bud was in town he stopped by the vet's and picked up some Prednisone 20 mg. We start that tonight. The original meds have one more day left ...

She refused any noodles from the chicken noodle soup Bud tried to share ...

Fortunately, she is still eating the peanut butter scoops, so we can get her meds in her, but she refuses any other food substance. She tries to bark/yelp, but nothing is coming out... I can see her make the motions and hear her teeth hitting. It is only when we lift her head higher to accept the peanut butter that we get any sound.

She constantly moves her head up and down against the pillow. I was able to get about 1 cup worth of water in her periodically throughout the day/evening.

.

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 16, 2009

Day 7

This is our baby girl, Beth

A song for Ruth...

Ruth began feeling poorly...

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