Sick puppy update (good news)

[jgraz]

Followup to this post:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=105&topic_id=6875909&mesg_id=6875909

Chiaro is finally eating some mild solid food and so far, so good. She's got some pills to calm down her digestive tract (which she LOVES taking :sarcasm:), and she doesn't seem to be in pain.

We even saw a tail wag this morning, which she hasn't managed for a few days. She's playing with a chew toy now under my chair, so I hope this means the worst has passed. :bounce:

[ThomCat]

1. Yay!

How are you managing to feed her the pills?

[jgraz]

5. Heh, I'll show you the tooth marks on my hand

I gently pry her mouth open and then stick the pill down the center of her throat, way at the back of her tongue. Then I hold her mouth shut with her nose in the air and gently stroke her throat until she swallows. Good times for everyone involved.

[Maine-ah]

11. eh, put it in a piece of cheese.

if the cheese bungs her up, put it in a slice of turkey. I have to do that for our dog every other day for her prednisone (sp?).

[jgraz]

12. See below re: no fat

Her pancreas currently can't handle any fat. Plus, she's barely nibbling food, let alone bolting down a pill-laden chunk of anything. I guess we're stuck with the manual method for now.

[zanne]

2. I'm so glad.

What's her diagnosis? I hope she gets well soon. Kudos to you for taking such good care of her.

[jgraz]

4. She has pancreatitis

Nasty, painful and potentially fatal. She's 13 1/2 years old, so this was kind of a scary one for us.

[Bunny]

3. That's great - glad to see things working out!

:thumbsup:

[China_cat]

6. Pill advice for dogs

stick it in a piece of hot dog
a piece of liverwurst
coat it in cream cheese.

I haven't had a problem with any of them since I started doing this years ago. Hot dogs and liverwurst work best (and they don't need to be a big piece, either) but I had one dog that would only take cream cheese.

[jgraz]

7. Except -- she can't have any food with fat in it

She's barely handling plain rice at the moment. A piece of liverwurst might kill her (seriously).

[China_cat]

8. Then you could do tofu

I know how hard it is to get needed meds into them. There should be something she loves and can have that would make life better for her and easier for you.

[jgraz]

13. I'm getting pretty good at jamming it in there

No method of pill administration could be worse than the pain she's been in. I'm taking no chances until she's well past this nasty episode.

[China_cat]

14. Ask your vet about a pill shooter.

They work great for cats, might be a help to you, too.

[jgraz]

15. OK, that looks very useful

My chewed fingers thank you . :hi:

[Bjornsdotter]

9. I'm so happy

...for you both. It's a tough road, but every day you are one step closer to recovery.

:hug:

[The Straight Story]

10. I love their video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vr3x_RRJdd4

And hope they are doing better ;)