Knit and the City

Old Dog Update

Old Sarah headed back to the vet today for a check up.  The meds she's on to lower her blood pressure seem to be doing their job well.  Her heart rate is down and beating with a much more regular beat.  The vet has scheduled her for a dental even though she is a higher risk with her heart issues.  He feels that her teeth might be the cause of her poor overall health.  I trust his judgement and expertise.  So 3 weeks from now we will have a very long day of worrying and hopefully a happier, healthier dog at the end of it.

Happy Birthday Sarah!

Today is Sarah's 13th birthday!

I cannot believe it's been a little less than 11 years since she came home with us.  She has been a wonderful, loving, obedient, perfect pet.  I wish she could be with us forever but I know that's not possible.  We are taking extra special care of her now, which I'm not sure how that's any different than before.  We love every moment with our Poopinarah!

No Rest for Old Pets

Having a houseful of elderly pets can be a challenge.  Old Ellers has made a remarkable recovery and is puttering around like her old self.  Occassionally she gets frisky and that usually ends up in a spectacular sliding Bambi type crash to the floor.  Thank goodness, no injuries yet.  Just very happy she's feeling better.

Now our Sarah is having troubles.  She's a year younger than Ella.  Just turning 13.  She's just been punky for a while.  Mopey, coat dull, having some issues getting up the stairs, poor balance, bad teeth, just out of sorts.  We took her to the vet and in addition to a geriatric blood panel they decided to put her on some antibiotics for her teeth and to prepare her for a dental cleaning and extractions.  They took x-rays of the rest of her and everything looked good.  We set an appointment for 2 weeks later to follow up for the dental.

Two weeks later she's back getting checked up and her heart rate is up to 160 and arrythmic.  Her blood test results are all out of sorts.  Uh, that's not good.  She can't have anaesthesia or her dental work done if her heart is out of sorts.  He asks us to keep her on the antibiotics and to bring her back a week later.

Last week she gets checked over again.  Her heart rate is down and beating more regularly.  He suggests another blood test to determine what's going on with her heart.

Test results back and her results are >3000 pmol/L.  According to the test '>1800 pmol/L (means) The likelihood that clinical signs are due to heart failure is high.'

He's put her on Fortekor to reduce her blood pressure and says she will have to stay on it for the rest of her life.  According to a little internet research that's, at most, a year.  Six months or less is more likely.  It's depressing.

Back to the vet next week for a follow up that the Fortekor is working and not damaging any other organs.

Will keep you updated.