the thirteen report

So besides being a pain in my ass on car rides, how is Thirteen doing? Well, she's okay. Better than bad, worse than good. The vet was concerned about her itchy skin (which truth be told, I'm concerned about too) and prescribed a steroid. A couple of years ago when Thirteen had that bad cough, her other vet made a pretty strong case to stay away from steroids. But this vet assured me that we would start with a low dose and keep a close eye on Thirteen's reaction. There's also an antibiotic for the inflammation. Poor dog is on so many pills now that we got one of those little plastic pill trays with a compartment for each day. We got it for the pet sitter and I think we'll probably find it useful for ourselves too.

One thing I noticed Monday night during Thirteen's bath: somehow her right rear foot got turned under and she didn't even notice. I had to hold her leg and turn it back up for her. Imagine turning your foot forward so the tops of your toes are on the ground. Now imagine standing there with your weight resting on your foot like that, and not noticing. Her vet told me a while ago that's a sign of neurological impairment, when they can't tell where their feet are. So that's not good. Then again, it happened during a bath which is a high-stress experience and probably not a good test of her cognitive abilities. And it was the bad leg which has been somewhat lame for awhile. If it happened with one of her good legs, I'd be more concerned.

Thirteen's weight has been stable at 38 pounds for the past month. It's a relief that she's not losing anymore, but still I was hoping for a gradual increase in weight to get her back up around 40 pounds. And she's become finicky about her food in the morning, which is not so great. Not only because it could be a symptom of something bad, but for the practical reason that we have to sit there and coax her to eat and keep Jane out of her dish for longer and longer each morning. It has begun to interfere with getting ready for work on time.

The weird thing is that Thirteen is only finicky about food in the morning. In the evening she eats it all up without hesitation. The only difference in the food between morning and evening is that we open a fresh can for the evening meal, and then keep it in the fridge overnight for the morning meal. Yesterday the vet suggested that maybe if she didn't like the cold food, we could heat it up. Being careful of course not to make it too hot for her to eat comfortably. This morning I tried heating her food for 20 seconds in the microwave, and stirred it up to mix in any hot spots. That seemed to help; she ate almost the whole portion right away, then came back on her own and finished it off. We're also shifting gradually to a larger meal in the evening and a smaller meal in the morning, so that even if we can't get her to eat in the morning, she still gets the full portion through the day.

It feels kind of ridiculous to go through these lengths to feed her, but I guess that's how it is with an old dog. Someday that'll be me eating meatloaf and creamed corn because I can't handle anything crunchy, and complaining if it's a bit too hot or cold.

Okay, so I'm making the situation sound awful, and it isn't really that bad. Thirteen still seems alert, aware of her surroundings, and happy. The cognitive problems are pretty minor.