Louise is down with a really bad bout of pancreatitis again. It started mysteriously a few weeks ago when she would occasionally refuse to eat in the morning. I asked the vet and he really didn’t think much of it. Then she went for her Rabies shot. The following week she was pretty sick. I am wondering if it could have exacerbated her condition? (Your thoughts?) He took lots of blood work, and thought maybe Addison’s disease (which I did not) and sent us home with a probiotic and Flagyl (an antibiotic). Blood work was negative (they check Cortisol levels).

She got worse. She vomited in her sleep Thursday (she never does that). But the next morning (Friday) Sofie vomited too, so I thought maybe they both had a bug. I made my usual sick dog food for her. But that night she vomited 6 times in her sleep. Every time a changed the bed, she went again. Ok, now I was very concerned. I rushed to the vet in the morning (Saturday) (but of course my usual vet was on holiday) so I saw this nice stand-in guy. He took more blood ($$$$). He gave us more Flagyl and an anti-nausea drug called Cerenia.

By Monday she was worse. She wouldn’t eat (which meant I could not give her pills) and was lethargic. When I called the Vet they said to take her to the Emergency Vet. Thank goodness for Veterinary Emergency Clinics, they are just such a wonderful addition to pet care. They took X-rays and did a sonogram and gave her a shot of that Cerenia drug since I could not give it to her orally. While I was at Emergency the stand-in vet called with her blood work and said her pancreatic enzymes were elevated (no kidding, like I didn’t know that already). The Emergency doctor said her sonogram looked ok but things looked ‘thick.’ He and I decided to stop the Flagyl (if it hadn’t worked already it wasn’t going to).

She appeared to perk up on Tuesday but on Wednesday evening she went down hill again. I made some special boiled turkey cutlets for her for Thanksgiving and that perked her up again. I was able to get a Cerenia down her and I think that helps. I also read that probiotics may actually not be good for animals with pancreatitis. So I stopped those too.

I have started making large batches of dog food (and I am thinking I may move her and maybe all of them to my own mix). Each day is touch and go. Somedays she’s ok, others she is not. I have her wrapped in a nice warm sweater all the time (it’s 20 degrees out). She does want to go for walks most days and then I put a coat on top of her sweater. I want to keep those organs warm. When she is not sleeping she is following me around and giving me that look that says “Please help me feel better, Mom.”

One day at a time.

What kind of mischief did you get into today?

Just another DogDaz morning at the zoo ❤