<----Atlas and his kitty, Sebastian. They have been buds since day 1!Well, it is 3/10/06 at 11:30 p.m. on the East coast. This time last week Jaime and I were in the ER with Atlas. I remember the doctor looking very concerned as she told us she was admitting him for evaluation of his heart and lab work. 7 days later here we are at The Varn Estate (little inside joke).
We all came to my mom's house yesterday evening and are staying the weekend while her and my bonus dad are in Key West. We usually come over here when they go out of town and take care of the animals. Melkey is a diabetic cat that requires insulin and Synthroid twice daily, Winter is a completely healthy cat that just needs loving, and then there is Chaz, the small mixed breed dog, whom requires nothing but walks belly rubs!
My boys love it over here. The house is on a marsh and has a pond with a bird sanctuary behind it. They love their off leash walks! I am sure the smells are just wonderful to their big ole puppy noses.
Atlas' mood and energy were much improved today. He still seems to be peeing and drinking more, unable to make it through the night without having to go out to pee, having loose stools, and panting more than he normally does. I discussed these symptoms with his vet today (the conventional one) and they said to cut his Hydrocortisone from 15mg twice daily to 7.5 mg twice daily. He had already received his 15 mg this morning, however. I watched him the rest of the day to see if I was just being impatient and he was still clearing all that Dex and the day of Prednisone or if he was truly getting too much drug. He did seem to pee less and drink less, inspite of the 15mg he received, but he still is doing it more than he normally would as compared to what he used to do. I can tell when the drugs are decreasing in his system b/c he doesn't go to the water bowl as often or drink as long. I also really noticed the panting today. He would just be standing looking out the window or get up to see what I was doing and just be panting away, not a fast one, but clearly an open mouth pant that he usually never does unless he is excited, in pain, or just finished playing.
I don't know what to quite make of his appetite. Is it increased b/c of the drugs or b/c he is truly hungry and feeling better and wanting to eat? Or is it all because when he gets food there is a little something exciting in it..like real salmon...hmm..curious. When he gets his food, he doesn't devour it like he is ravenously hungry. He eats at a normal pace and if we are eating he will hold out like we are going to give him something off of our plate (an old Atlas behavior). After our dinner is over, he goes back to his bowl and eats his food. Smart boy! Another thing that was different tonight as opposed to last night, before the AD he would be very curious about what was going on in the kitchen when we were cooking. I mean, sometimes it's like he is trying to help us cook, head all up in the way..and that's a big head! Tonight, that behavior returned and it was kinda cool to see him interested and perked up by what we were cooking and eating. I fed him his kibble, rice, and salmon before we ate, and he ate a bit, but then saw us sitting down to eat and stopped and waited to make sure we didn't have anything better. After we finished, he went back to his bowl and ate his food. I told Jaime..there's an old Atlas behavior. It's exciting to see.
I didn't start the new Hydrocortisone dose yet. I want to make sure I'm not jumping the gun on changing it even though I know the vet said it would be ok and from what I've been told by my support groups, Danes usually don't require much in the way of gluc replacement. But, I don't want to change things too quickly, do I? I am not in the animal medical field so I am really having to trust the doctors and trust those that have been through this before me. Anyway, I gave him 10 mg tonight. I am still making sure he gets out to pee at least every 4 hours during the day, which was our schedule before all this. I, of course, take him out if he is acting restless or standing at the door looking longingly at a patch of grass. The real test will be tonight. Last night, he needed to go out in the middle of the night, so we'll see what tonight brings.
We went on two short walks around the pond today. He was perky and interested in all the smells. He even became interested in my feet when we came to a dirt patch that I could kick..remember the kicking sand story (My Modeling Days)? Yeah, if he hears your shoes scuffing, he is ready to chase whatever you can kick up! What did I start that day on the beach?
We also took a ride to our house to check on the kitties and get the mail. He was interested in watching what was going on and when he got bored, he put his head on the center console to get his nose rubbed. That was something he didn't do last week. Last week, he stuck to the back of the truck and Cole got the view of where we were going instead of where we had been.
I have been very encouraged by what I have been seeing. Thank you to all those who have been checking on him through the site, email, or phone! It means alot to us to know that we have such a great support system that understands what our animals mean to us and just how much we love them! Thanks also to my new family at Yahoo Groups for Addison's dogs! I appreciate your help and your stories of experience!
Atlas and Cole have a picture on www.danesonline.com in their Pics of the week section. By next week it will be in the Archived Photo Section (it'll be week 336). Atlas also has pics in the Archived photos in weeks 185, 199, and 265.
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