Finally Something Funny To Report...

KIRBY UPDATE: So this is FUNNY, for once! He wasn't eating the Hill's Kidney Chicken Stew Canned food he has always loved! I cooked him a chicken breast with coconut oil and cooked carrots and he ate it all and took his medicine! LOL
Tried the canned food off and on all day and he would just turn his nose up. I'd give him one of his special diet doggie treats and he'd eat it and I could slip his pills in. Who knows why all of a sudden he decided he'd had enough of the canned food that he had scarfed down previously but today July 2, 2015 was THE day. Heck, I'd rather have my mama's cooking than canned food, too. LOL So, I'm researching exactly how much of everything I should be giving him tonight on the Ohio State Vet page. Just thankful that this boy is eating and it was just a preference problem not a health issue. Gave him the medicine we thought was causing the problem, too.

I give God the glory for answering our prayers!

Kirby Isn't Wanting to Eat...

Two doses of the ace inhibitor benezebril which was the drug to lower Kirby's high, high protein levels in is blood and he has the associated anorexia. He ate a doggie treat and we were able to drop in the medication for nausea/vomiting and the sodium bicarbonate for excessive stomach acid which is a blessing. Where he has always eagerly eaten his new kidney diet dog food, now he just sniffs and leaves.

We have a call in to our vet at MSU and are anticipating her saying to drop the benezebril. I've read where often you can drop it and begin it at a lower dosage and build up. We'll see. This obviously is NOT going to work.

We talked to Jennifer, our vet student and she took all of our information to talk to Dr. Sullivant, our vet.  

About an hour or so ago he ate a piece of plain chicken and was very interested in it as opposed to his dog food.  He ate the binder chew, too.  Mostly he's been sleeping next to me.  Not doing the drooling and mouth breathing like he was earlier.

Our bodies, whether human or canine are so complex.  God designed everything to work so intricately and one or two things out of sync just throws the whole system off.  Poor little Kirby's kidneys are so sick and as is true of so many medications--right now even the medications to make him better are harsh on his kidneys.  We feel that we are so close to getting him help by means of medications that actually can help reverse some of the symptoms that are driving his kidney scores off the charts.

Jennifer just called and had talked with Dr. Sullivant about Kirby's condition.  She advised us to not give him the benezebril for a couple of days and if he gets better we will pretty much know that was the culprit and then try to reintroduce it at a lower dosage.  In the meanwhile, we are going to feed him a chicken and rice diet that we cook ourselves.  I asked her to find out how much he could eat a day and based on his weight, he needs 500 calories a day.  Theoretically he could have up to five chicken breasts a day.  That seems like way too much protein and of course, we would never give him that much but they say that's how much he could have.  I've got to get on the Ohio State website where they can help us develop a home diet for him.  In the meanwhile for supper, I've got some chicken breasts thawing and he can have white rice.  Funny that we eat brown rice because it's healthier but for him...white rice has less phosphorus.

Dr. Sullivant didn't really think that the benezebril was what was making him not want to eat but did agree that it was quite a coincidence that the two happened and there's no way to really know without trying him without it.  I know on so many occasions throughout my life I would have sworn that something was the cause of a particular response had I used a medication that day.  You just never know.  With a chronically ill person or pet there are more things that can go wrong than you can count.

Taking just one crisis at a time.  Trusting God to direct our paths.  Knowing that all things work together for good for those who love God and are called according to his purposes.  Romans 8:28

Kirby Has Been Home From ICC For A Week...

Today marks a week since we brought Kirby home from the ICC unit at the Mississippi State Vet Hospital.  It has been a long and hard week for all of us...especially our white doggie.  I can't imagine how hard it's been for him as weak as he's been but he has been a trooper.  Yesterday was not a good day for him.  He had very little energy and about four hours after he ate, he vomited.  We learned from that experience that the prilosec he was taking for acid suppression due to the kidney failure was not dissolving because I saw two days' pills.  So, this was good to know.  Apparently with the time release version there are little granules and a tablet within the capsule.  With the delayed release, there is just granules.  My daughter-in-law Brenda takes the delayed release version and she opened one and showed it to me this afternoon.  THIS is what we thought we were getting so tomorrow we will be buying the delayed release version that will actually help his problem.

Today, however he began the day with a lot more energy.  When Russ went out of the bedroom to get breakfast, there were three little puppy heads at the end of the bed waiting for him to come back in the room.  We took Kirby outside and Russ turned around and there was Kirby already up the steps at the top one waiting to come back in the den!  All day he has walked around...down the hall and into the bedroom door without bumping into anything.  Outside, he still has bumped into boundary objects but has gotten around with a lot more energy and purpose.  When we came back from church, he was at the door with the other two dogs waiting as usual.  In fact, the second time we came home Kirby just about slipped out the door which would have been a real disaster since he's not wearing a collar or tags due to the healing jugular catheter spot.

Yesterday, we didn't get the needle into the right depth of the subcutaneous spot in the nap of his neck and the fluid went in but just a little bit.  We tried and tried and it just dripped a slow drip even though we squeezed the bag.  We searched the internet.  We appeared to be doing everything right and up until yesterday, it had worked.  Kirby had begun to express some discomfort when we stuck him so we were worried.  Then on the way to church I remembered the vet student telling us that if we didn't go deep enough the fluid would just barely go in.  When we got home from church we tried it again and sure enough that was the problem.  The fluid went in quickly and effortlessly and Kirby napped while we did it.  Thank you God for answering our prayers.

Tonight while we were finishing watching the news in the den, Kirby barked for us to go back to the bedroom.  Anytime he is barking orders, we know he's feeling better and are thrilled that he is.  If we can just get out of this one bad day, one good day routine and have several good days in a row...things will begin to look up significantly.  Of course, it has only been seven days out of ICC so he's doing very well.

Tomorrow the weather is supposed to be cool again so we can spend more time outside.  We take him back to the vet at MSU on Tuesday to do repeat blood work to see how his kidney values (BUN and creatinine) are doing.  We are sure praying that they have decreased and that we might be able to decrease the amount of ringers lactate we are giving daily.  It's hard to stick needles in him multiple times a day in the same spot without the area getting tender and the cost of the bag of ringer's lactate is about $15 a day.  If his kidneys can keep his toxins flushed out more efficiently, we will be able to reduce the amount over time.  With the cost of the prescription dog food and the frequent blood tests and vet visits, we could use a little break.  We are going to begin making his special food just as soon as we get a consultation with the Ohio State Vet School referred by MSU to learn exactly how much protein to use for his body weight and all the vitamins and other ingredients we need.  That will be both less expensive and we will use organic foods without preservatives.  His kidneys need as few things to filter as possible.

If you are working with a dog with kidney failure, we will be sure to post what we learn about creating a special diet.  We hope that our blog will help others going through a similar experience.  We have been blessed by our facebook friends praying for Kirby's recovery.  I think most everyone who reads Kirby's blog is an animal lover and understands why he is so important to our family.  Before we had Kirby nine and a half years ago we had no idea how much we could love a pet.  We had no idea why people would refuse to leave their pets during Katrina.  We just had no idea.  Period.  Now we've become those people.

We have experienced that bond that is pretty indescribable with mere words.  I totally agree with Charlie Brown.  Happiness IS a warm puppy!!!!