Teddy Trends

Teddy topics are trending in our house as this week we started her on a new medicine.  She also had a grooming touch up (an improvement on the style she's sporting here).  She's back in the water and doing fine, and had only a minor skin issue.  I'd been worried about her weight, but she is at 62 pounds, which is two pounds over the rock-bottom we will tolerate.  She's energetic and loving life.   It's a bonus to her that her food service has increased.  How lucky is a girl that needs to eat more in order to stay in shape?

Teddy gets beet supplements in her veggie slop and we ran out last week.  This powder was on clearance at Rite Aid, so I decided to try it.  They were also clearing out greens, so I grabbed a couple of these too.  At nine bucks a can, they were a bit pricey but we can use green supplementation too.  The powders should last us months.  As an older dog, her liver enzymes have been elevated and we are nearing the end of the huge jar of milk thistle she's also getting.  It was nice to find that on sale too.

Spending $$ on her upkeep has been easier the past two months because the bathing and grooming regimen seems to be working -- so no huge $300+ monthly vet bills.  I had her on a three month round of the homeopathic remedy Graphites (200cc per day).  While we hadn't planned on giving her heart-worm preventive, we had Ivermectin, which is also an element in some Demodex Mange treatment plans.  She ran out so it was necessary to get another six chews (Iverheart).  In addition, we started her on a chewable flea preventive (Bravecto), which is also effective in killing mites, and lasts 12 weeks.  Our friend Buddy, over at Living Rich on the Cheap is on it, and a friend who formerly managed a vet hospital endorsed it too.  There were accounts of alarming side effects, but my friend said they'd never seen them at her hospital -- but had seen many negative reactions from the topical preventive we used on Teddy last year (that gave her hives).  We gave her the dose and waited for something to happen, and nothing did.  So thanks to Buddy for giving us the confidence to try.  The very expensive injections of Cytopoint we'd resigned ourselves to may not be needed at all.  That is a relief!  We are also not spending money on a professional groomer.

We did find a few bumps near her lady parts this past month, so we used a run of antibiotics we had on hand.  This seems to be clearing up -- or at least not getting worse.  She is ignoring them, so there have been no infectious hot spots that we could see.  One thing we've noticed recently is that she has lost weight and is not as tolerant of very hot or very cold temperatures.  These are things that are often seen in older dogs as well as those with cancer.  Part of the weight loss could also be the stay at home situation, as there has been more outdoor time for her.  We exercise her and my sister often stops by to take her too.  So, some days she's out twice or more.  It was particularly cold when we went back to swimming and she shivered more than I'd ever seen her before.  So it looks like this old lady will no longer swim 365 days per year.  However, it's warm now and she's doing fine in and out of the water.

It is likely I will swim her a little less frequently as each water adventure will require a bath and blow out afterwards -- it's a lot of work for me, and she hates the dryer.  Today it was around 90 degrees and she did get a round of tosses in a field, but nothing crazy in order to avoid heat issues.  Last year, she hit 70 pounds, which even her oncologist thought was a little high.  I don't want her below 60, so it was good to see she was just at 62.  But she sure does look skinny.  That might also be some muscle mass loss (also a benefit of cancer :-( ).  However, her energy level is great.  She is always up for play.  She sleeps hard and lounges around the house when she's not out playing, but she does hit a peak indoor period around 5:30 when daddy gets home and she's looking to get something going.

When I look at her, aside from the swollen lymph nodes, I can't tell she has cancer.  It is my most fervent hope that her body is waging as successful a defense internally.  She is a lot of work, but we get it back in the form of her love and enthusiasm.  But it has been helpful that we've been able to stabilize not only her health, but the cost of it too over the past couple of months.  I know her friends in Blogland are praying and sending out positive thoughts and I she'd like you to know that it all seems to be helping!