Sigh... Cheyenne has been getting old, well showing her age that is, quite a bit in the last year or so. She's been deaf for a while, but lately, her arthritis (lower back and hips) has gotten worse and she's lost most of her muscle tone. A couple of months ago, her appetite started to taper off, but by doing various things (soaking her kibble, changing her type of kibble, etc) I was able to get her to eat. But, last Sunday, she flat out started refusing to eat at all. If I put mush on the back of her tongue, she'd mostly swallow it but not because she wanted to. She'd push a food bowl away, and this is the dog that has always loved to eat...
We went to the vet on Thursday, I was hoping it was a tooth abscess but was worried it was kidney failure. It was neither. Blood work showed that it was her liver that was unhappy...the liver values were off the charts. According to the vet, that would be enough for her to not want to eat.
The most likely cause of the liver damage is cancer, based on how she presented. In order to know for certain, we would need to do an ultrasound. She is now on a med to help her liver function better and one to stimulate her appetite.
I'm not sure if I'll go ahead with the ultrasound or not...I don't know that it will change my course of treatment for her. I will not do chemo on her, or surgery to remove part of the liver. I don't think she'd survive either. So, I'm not sure it's worth the high cost (for me at least) of the ultrasound to know for sure that she does have cancer. The vet really seemed to think that's what it was, but didn't want to say for certain without proof. But, he was treating me like someone who'd just been given a terminal diagnosis on their pet.
For the most part, Cheyenne is not acting like a sick dog. She enjoys her time in the yard and getting her butt scratched as I'm sitting at my computer chair. When I get home, she "runs" down the hall to the back door with the other girls. This is another reason I'm reluctant to do anything extreme with her. I'd rather have a month with her this way, than 3-4 of her being miserable recovering from surgery. As of right now, I do not think she's in any pain at all.
I'm hoping the meds help kick in her appetite, but so far, they haven't. I am force feeding her twice a day, I'm making her up some gruel and putting in the blender until it's smooth enough to be put in a syringe. Today, she actually seemed to be cooperating a little bit when I fed her. But, nothing I offer her to eat on her own gets a reaction...
I'm handling all of this pretty well, considering. I am sad, there's no doubt about that. But, Cheyenne has lived a good, long, healthy life and I've known that her time has been coming to an end. Cheyenne is at least 14, but could be 2-3 years older than that, there's no way of knowing. She had her adult teeth when I found her, that was about our only judge of age.
I just want her final days to be as pain free as possible, and I want us both to enjoy them as much as we can.
But it still sucks to get old....
No comments:
Post a Comment