Recovered Retriever
Miraculous Mutt
Healed Hound
Glorious Golden
Dazzling Dog
Conquering Canine
Do you get the idea? Somehow, Rush has rallied. (Okay, who else was praying???) In considering why he may have taken that terrible turn a few days ago, the best thing I can come up with is he had a major drop in blood sugar.
Hey, Clay? Can dogs be hypoglycemic?
During that horrible night, Rush did not want to eat anything, but he would take in water. After trying to tempt him with all manner of doggie-goodies, Rush finally accepted a small bite of donut. Thirty minutes later, we were able to entice him with 1/2 strip of bacon.
That's when Rush started feeling better. He stayed weak the rest of the night but did eventually eat his regular supper. The next morning, he went down (and up) the stairs on his own - and even walked all the way to the fence in the daily search for his backyard buddies, "the airedales."
He's been almost normal since. 2 days have gone by and his legs no longer shake when he walks or stands. I still have to stay in the kitchen with him to encourage him to eat all of his supper, but I've been doing that for a couple of months, now.
Rush no longer possesses the ability to bark. He tries when he has to - like when the pizza delivery guy pulls in - but it comes out as a raspy, breathy, "hrrrf". And his eyes are still tired-looking. I guess what I'm trying to force myself to say is....I'm going to watch my friend very carefully. If I think for one moment he's having more bad days than good, we're going to let him rest.
For now, I plan to enjoy his presence while I've got it. I was firmly reminded the other night just how much I care for him. It is important he knows that.
posted by Lady Constance at 7:02:00 PM
3 Comments:
hey...dogs can get pretty much any kinda disorder humans can..."Older dogs do have problems with
insulin producing tumors of the pancreas sometimes, though. This is
probably the most common cause of hypoglycemia in older dogs. A temporary
fix is to feed several small meals a day rather than one or two large ones." See: http://www.vetinfo.com/dhypogly.html
I'm certainly no dog doc, but that was pretty easy to find. - Clay
my best friend had a wonderful cat who in her later years became diabetic. the vet put her on insulin and she lived several extra comfortable love filled years. my best friend used "pee sticks" to check the cat's blood sugar.
darn, i don't know why i didn't think of this earlier. my sweetie just reminded me that our dog J, an australian cattle dog, had an episode years ago when he was younger. He was rather puppyish at the time and regularly "wolfed" his food which we feed him twice a day. one evening about two hours after a large meal he had a "seizure" while out for his walk. he started acting kinda spacey then progressed rapidly to borderline unconcisousness. i carried him to the house, he was BAD. I cried, thought it might be heat stroke, and tried to get him to drink. after much trying he drank if i poured it into his mouth. then very gradually he got better. next day the vet said he had an intestinal torsion. the pain caused his "episode". it was VERY traumatic and took about a week for him to fully recover. we have fed him four small meals ever since as a precaution because the vet said large meals could have been the cause. sorry such a long post, but i truly sympathize. we love our sweet old boy and our two crazy kitties more than anything. hope ALL your family stays in fine health!
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