This is a long post but it’s been a long week . . .
Rocko, September 22, 2011
Saturday morning when Rocko woke up it was obvious he wasn’t feeling well. When he snapped at Phoebe I knew something was really wrong. I gave him some extra pain medicine (his vet has ok’d this for those times when it is obvious something is hurting him). Saturday afternoon he didn’t seem to be doing much better.
He takes his pain medicine in peanut butter and every now and then I find it where he didn’t swallow it. It’s a wicked cycle because once he starts hurting he has a pain reflex and you have to break it or he just keeps getting worse. I had just bought a can of Wellness 95% meat canned dog food, they email coupons every month and I thought it might come in handy. I thought it would be a good idea to give him his medicine in a spoonful of that to make sure he at it, and at the same time I mixed some with his food to keep him eating. Now I’ve backed myself into another corner when it comes to Rocko’s meals because he loves it. I can’t figure out if this is grain free and 95% meat, why does it still smell like dog food? To make matters worse, I am only giving him a big spoonful mixed with his dry food. That means keeping the rest of it in the refrigerator and heating it up at meal time. I thought I’d pushed the limit with cooking liver, now I’m microwaving dog food.
By Monday night he was feeling a little better although not quite up to his usual happy self. I sat down and very gently ran my fingers in small circles into his fur to see if any certain spot gave a twitch or any other indication of pain, but I couldn’t find anything. One thing has worried me for a while, I believe he either gets headaches or has a tooth ache. At his age he can’t have his teeth cleaned any more because he can’t be put under anesthetic, it’s just too risky. It doesn’t help that there is no way Rocko was ever going to let anyone look in his mouth. That’s akin to touching his feet, it just isn’t done.
This is where we get into the part about the relationship between Rocko and me. To say it isn’t normal would be an understatement. I talked to him about how I needed to look at his teeth to see if there was anything wrong. I told him if I could figure out what was wrong I would do my best to fix it. After about 10 minutes, he relaxed his jaw and started smiling. For the first time he let me look into his mouth, moving his lips and shining a little flashlight. Nothing jumped out but I didn’t want to stress him too much, I’ll do it a couple more times and look closer as he gets used to it. As only a dog lover would know, he does understand what I’m saying and he does understand that I love him.
Back to the medicine. Rocko is pretty good about making sure I remember. Monday night I gave him his bedtime pills in the dog food. Time to go to bed and he wouldn’t go, he stood in the kitchen looking at the island. I had to give him some peanut butter because he thinks that’s his medicine. I wonder how long I’m going to have to keep this up. Probably forever.
Tuesday night we had the standoff. I was fixing his 7:30 dinner (with the canned food mixed in), this is when he usually takes his anti-inflammatory and a Zuke’s Hip Action nutritional supplement. He came into the kitchen, tail wagging, and refused to take his medicine. Absolutely refused. When I made him take it he spit it out with a pfffttt attitude. OK, enough is enough and he was going to take his medicine before he got his food bowl. It took five minutes before I won but I wasn’t going to give in on this one. It is important to keep his medicine consistent and if I waited until he was done eating the odds that I would forget go up considerably. I do have my moments, that’s why I have one of those daily pill containers – so I’m not worrying an hour later that I forgot to give it to him.
By Wednesday Rocko still wasn’t feeling better. The extra pain medicine has its own side effects and I didn’t like it, plus while it made a difference it wasn’t fixing thing. I made an appointment to take Rocko to see Dr Habig over at Audubon Animal Hospital, the partner to Cherokee Animal Hospital. Don’t get me wrong, I love Dr Grace at Cherokee and he’s a great doctor, but Rocko likes Dr Habig more. When he’s already stressed every little thing counts. Dr Habig fills in at Cherokee on a regular basis but wasn’t scheduled to be back until October 1st.
Thursday MeMa came to give us a ride to our appointment. Update of the visit – Rocko has lost another two pounds which is great. That means his weight loss has stabilized and is only from the change in food. For the first time he let Dr Habig look at his mouth. Not up close, but he let me pull up his lips to show her. Dr Habig agreed that he might have some infection in his gums and he is now started on an antibiotic. If this works I can dose him one week a month and keep it at bay or maybe this will just knock it out.
Mom, step away from the camera please!
I’m going to give the antibiotic 48 hours and then try cutting back on Rocko’s pain medicine. If I start Saturday afternoon I will be with him continuously through Monday morning and can keep a close eye on him.
Next we’re going to check into acupuncture. That will be a whole different adventure.
I’ll have an update in Sunday’s newsletter (you can sign up by clicking on Rocko’s World above).
It’s been a tough week in the life of a senior dog.