Today he seemed to feel well enough to try them and they were a success! He loved them AND he reacted when we said the word treats! Can you imagine how excited we were?
He went with Russ on an errand just riding in the truck today (and hanging his head out the window)...
It's so neat to see him get a little more strength and interest in things around him each day. Tonight I put him in the chair in the den with Kada-Joy and Russ went out the front door to turn off the water after we had watered the garden. I heard this "splat" and went to find Kirby had JUMPED out of the chair and walked to the front door where Russ had gone. This is HUGE!
He is eating and drinking water. He is sleeping most of the day but so do the girls! LOL He's also using his paw to tell us to rub him which we absolutely love. Kirby is very weak and we know that the best thing for him is to keep things as calm as possible. Lots of rest. Lots of rubs and hugs. Trying to keep the routine as normal as possible.
Tonight when Russ laid Kirby on the bed and went into the next room to get his medicine, Kirby barked at him. That's always been his routine that he usually barked when it was bedtime. Our personal alarm clock for activities. LOL Then although Russ is only out of the room for a minute or two, Kirby always barked (just to let him know he was on the clock, so to speak). Tonight, he did it! It was kind of a quiet bark and I thought I heard him bark but I wasn't sure. I looked at Russ and said "Was that Kirby barking?" and it was! We went and told him what a wonderful boy he was. He seemed to agree.
This has been a good day where we have seen just little glimpses that Kirby is mending. He's getting lots of supplements and a phosphorus binder to help the kidneys flush out excessive phosphorus since his kidneys can't filter it out effectively on their own. He gets extra B vitamins in his Kidney Diet dog food and extra fish oil and vitamin E as supplements. Then he also takes prilosec to avoid ulcers from the kidney disease. Luckily he just gobbles them up in his food.
We are sure praying that his levels will be a little better so that we don't have to move to the next step which is a medication to lower the protein in his blood. It's great to have that option and the results are usually longevity for the dog but it would be such a blessing if his body could heal enough on it's own to avoid another medication at this time.
Next week we are going to speak with vets at Ohio State per our MSU vet to learn how to make our own dog food for Kirby from organic ingredients without the added preservatives. We have to be sure we are adhering to the exact amount of protein daily and the other nutrients needed. The cost of the canned Hill's prescription food is quite high and it is a large part water. We batch cook for ourselves and can surely do it for Kirby, too. We have learned that vegetables need to be cooked and drained to get rid of phosphorous. We probably will just feed this to all three dogs when we get the hang of it. It won't prevent kidney disease but we didn't know that Kirby even had kidney disease so there is a good chance that the other two have the beginning stages and this will help take some stress off their kidneys and livers. It will just make it easier than having two kinds of food and one of which Kirby can't have but he's likely to steal when he feels better.
Can't wait to see what tomorrow brings. We are thankful for tiny little steps toward a stronger Kirby. We don't expect him to return to the previous activity level even if he gets stronger because he is blind but we are enjoying watching him want to be held and loved on. In the nine and a half years we have had Kirby, we have gotten to hold him more in the past month than all of the previous years together. Not only are WE loving it...HE is loving it, too.
Thank you God for your blessings and for answering our prayers for Kirby to not be in pain and to have a happy life. We will treasure every day we are given.
No comments:
Post a Comment