Hacking coughs – Day 10

May 10th 2021

– On May 6th 2021 –
Steve’s cough had gotten much better, but he was still coughing. He’s been taking both cough medicine 7.5mg (3 times a day) and Doxycycline antibiotics 50mg (2 times a day) on schedule. However, we will be running out of antibiotics today.

Since he started to take antibiotics, his appetite is gone. He won’t eat nor drink. Sometimes, he looks nauseous and he couldn’t support his body. But sometimes he is pacing around the room and doesn’t look lethargic.

I contacted to his vet to see if we need to get more antibiotics since it’s running out and he is still coughing.
I was told that “let’s stop antibiotics at this point and see if his condition settles.

In order for Big Steve to increase his appetite, I have been giving some baked beef. He takes beef but not his regular food. We also bought some electrolyte water and beef broth and chicken

Since he won’t eat or drink, he won’t pee or poop. He also looked week a bit. My husband searched and calculated how many water he supposed to drink a day. It seems like he need to deink 20oz water a day. However he is not drinking liquid on his own, so we had to use syringe to shoot liquid in his mouth. 20oz is like 120tsp. Our syringe can contain 2 tsp. That means we need to give him 60 times a day. …Well, this is very unrealistic, so we tried at least 30 times a day.

– On May 7th 2021 –

I found him tangled with code this morning. Based on the internet information, this is one of the dementia dog’s behavior. He is circling around and got tangled. I shouldn’t laugh, but it kinda cute.

He was still coughing but he pooped finally! He still did not eat his regular food, but he was eating chickens and taking beef broth and electrolyte water. He looked week. We patiently took care of him and giving him liquid as much as possible. At this point he is mostly coughing when we shoot liquid in his mouth.

– On May 8th 2021 –

Big Steve got his appetite back!! He seems super thirsty and he is eating his regular food without us forcing him!
We felt so relieved.

– On May 9th 2021 –

He is still coughing but doesn’t sound so bad like goose honk. He has his appetite and drinking fine. He also pooped!

He is not peeing as much anymore but he is getting better.

I read the article about : Doxycycline is a medicine used to treat or prevent a variety of infections caused by bacteria, including: Pneumonia or other respiratory tract infections. Infections of the skin or eye. Infections of the lymphatic, intestinal, genital, or urinary systems.

I wonder if he actually had Urinary Tract Infection for a long time and we just did not know…. and this Doxycycline antibiotics helped his Urinary Tract Infection .

– On May 10th 2021 –

He is doing great! He is eating his food and dinking a lot and pooping fine as well! 🙂
We still need to be careful with his condition but I feel like he is gonna be fine!!

Hacking coughs – Day 5

– May 2nd 2021

– April 30th 2021
The day after we gave him Hydrocodone(cough medicine) and Doxycycline Monohydrate(antibiotic), he really wouldn’t eat and he wouldn’t pee or poop at all. He usually poops everyday and it’s just not normal. Also he was coughing more than before. It’s not like he looks lethargic or breathes heavily. He is still pacing around and moving around the house. However, the vet directed us to give him antibiotic with food. If he does not eat his food, what should we do?

I called the vet to ask what we should do. I was asked if he is breathing heavily. I told them that the room temperature is just fine for him and he is not breathing heavily.

The vet suggested us to withhold the antibiotic since it could cause him not to eat.

After we finished talking on the phone, I noticed that he is sneezing and yellow mucus is coming from his nose. According to the internet, this is usually caused by bacterial infections. That means we really have to give him the antibiotic. We decided to keep giving him the antibiotic.

We really cannot tell if the medication is working or not since he is still coughing and it sounds like a goose honk…

I usually trust my hunch. But at this point, It’s about Big Steve and I’m not 100% sure if we are on the right path…..

Since I’m into astrology and tarot and oracle card reading, I asked the cards how he is doing now and asked for advice.
I got a very special Tarot card from England and Moonlight Oracle card from Russia.

These are the cards I got.

Tarrot Card and Oracle Cards

Current : I got Nine of wands for his current condition. The card usually indicates “Don’t let your guard down and be prepared for any battle to come, prepare flexibly.”

I got reversals for Four of Wands for advice. It’s a good card and it indicates peace and happiness, but since this card is reversed, I took it as – it’s not bad but don’t be too comfortable. There might be a little conflict about him also.

The last card is a oracle card. I picked this card for some more advice. This JADE card is a good sign. It indicates good fortune and luck and healing. But do not expect quick results since it will take some time. You are on the right path. Time will heal it.

I think the cards are telling me that we are on the right path for giving him these medications and how we take care of him now. However, since Steve is 17 years old, anything could happen. So be alert for anything to happen. Also we need to be patient since this will take time for him to heal.

I’ve been playing soothing music for Big Steve whenever I notice he is coughing a lot and looks stressed out. He usually seems like he can relax and go to sleep.

We also hold his body to support his weight when he eats his food. I noticed that he lean forward when he eats and it is so heavy to support his body. No wonder why he breath heavily after he eats his meal. It must be like muscle training just to support his body while he is eating his food.

– On May 1st 2021
Big Steve was not eating as much. He is still coughing. Here is a video of him coughing. At least he does not sneeze and I don’t see yellow mucus anymore.

We hope he gets better soon. We need to be patient.

Hacking coughs

– April 29th 2021

Big Steve has had a hacking cough for 2 days. He has been coughing every hour or so. However, this is not a normal cough ….. this cough sounds like a goose honk. We were not sure what to do and were worried about him. If we check his symptom online, it could be anything… it could be simple or serious. However, beside his hacking coughs, he seems like doing okay to me.

He won’t be eating as much since he is coughing, but I think he has an appetite. Although he was not eating, we gave him honey since it seems like honey soothes his throat. We weren’t sure if we should take him to vet at this point, and we called 4 vets yesterday, but they were all booked up. So we made an appointment for the next available time, which was today. So today, we took him to the vet.

The Vet told us that his heart sounds okay and his throat is not bothering him. She couldn’t figured out what is the cause for this. However, she suggested that we can still give him some medicine to treat the symptom.

“Hydrocodone/Homa (gen) 5” (1.5mg) 1/2 to 1 Tablet every 8 – 12 hours for coughing

and

“Doxycycline Monohydrate (gen)” (100mg) 1/2 Tablet every 17 hours. This is an antibiotic drug that can treat and prevent infections. 

She said if the medicine works he will get better within a week. If his cough does not get better, an X-ray might be our next option.

If I remember correctly, he started to cough after he finished his dinner that night. Did the food go to the wrong place and he tried to cough it out? Did that cough trigger his bronchitis?

Anyway, he is 17 years old and we really don’t want him to suffer. I hope these medications work for him.

Happy Birthday Big Steve – 17 years old！

On April 22nd, 2021, Big Steve turned 17 years old!! He sure is a miracle dog!! 🙂

Since the last time I posted about him, he is doing so great. Just about 5 days ago, we went to Pet Food Express near our apartment. A person working at Pet Food Express thought Big Steve was 12 years old! 🙂

Although his hind leg is bothering him, he is still walking outside (very slowly). He is still having his appetite and we are happy that he is surviving! 🙂

However, he is getting old… He can’t control his toilet, so we put him in pet diapers. We still take him out for toilet every 2.5 to 3 hours. We carry him from the 3rd floor to the dog area. We have also noticed that he sometimes aimlessly wanders, pacing around, circling the same area. He is staring at walls, trying to go in narrow places and getting stuck behind furniture, not sleeping at night…. I was so worried about this strange behavior he does and searched online to find out what is going on with him.

It seems like he is having dementia now.

I’ve read some of the website to see what we can do to treat Big Steve for dementia. Here is what we are trying to do.

1. Have Patience : We need to know that all of what he does is not his fault. We just accept what he does.

2. Exercise : He cannot walk long distances, but I always take a walk to make sure he have some exercise.

3. Talk to him and don’t leave him all day : We know that he doesn’t understand what we are saying, but just show we love him and we care about him.

4. Try to keep him awake during the day time : He will sleep at night, if he is tired, so we try to keep him awake during the day time.

There is a good day and bad day for Big Steve, and we are scared and worried each time. But he is probably being old and we shouldn’t stress out too much. We just accept what he is going through right now and take care of him.

We are so lucky to have this amazing dog! 🙂

I collected some of his video and put them together! Look how amazing he is doing!

Happy Birthday Big Steve! – 14 year’s old

May 1, 2018

On April 22nd, 2018, Big Steve turned 14 years old! Considering that he had many health issue in a past, he actually has good gene! Amazing, miracle dog! We are so happy for him!!

We wanted to treat him on his special day, so we went to pet food express and got some treat!

They just happened to promoting KIWI Kitchens brand, so we got to talk to the staff about the product.  KIWI Kitchens are from New Zealand and they have freeze dried and wet food, contains good natural ingredients, you can read all about from their web site. Anyway. Big Steve loves it!! I didn’t doubt he wouldn’t like it, but I’m happy to see him enjoy these food! 🙂

We also got him sweet potato cookies.:) Happy Birthday Big Steve!

Big Steve and his Birth day cookie!

As you can see it’s quite big!

He struggled to break it, so I broke into 5 or 6 pieces and gave him one piece a day.

Happy Birthday Big Steve!!!!

Big Steve and iguana

2015. Feb. 10th

Recently, my dog, Big Steve, seems not enjoy walking so much. Last time I saw him like this was when he had a hip joint problem. It’s not that bad though, but my husband and I can see he walk very slow than usual. We give him glucosamine for his join everyday, but we need to keep an eye on him. Big Steve is 10 years old, so it can’t be too careful.

I took this photo on Feb. 7th. He is so cute.:)
He still have his appetite. That’s great!

Today, some lady talked to me on the street asking about Big Steve. They loved Big Steve, and one of the lady happened to have a pet igiana with her!!

Probiotics and Fish oil

2015. Feb 4th

This is about last summer. I’ve been wanting to write this, but I was too busy. I’m glad that I finally am able to post this.

Last year, Big Steve had a lot of skin problems. Whenever he gets hives, we give him Benadryl which is an antihistamine, and it works every time for his skin rash.  You can read more about his skin rash here.

As you can see on the photo above, he had some rumps and bumps under his armpit and around his hind leg (inner thighs).

My husband and I went to Pet Food Express and talked to some of the staff there. The staff at Pet Food Express is pretty informative and always helpful.

We were trying to find why Big Steve gets skin problems now. Come to think about it, he didn’t have so much skin problems like hives before we lived in California. We can’t say for sure, but it might be something to do with the environment. Big Steve might have some kind of allergy.  He’s been going through many medical issues since we moved to California, and he also had to change his diet. His stool has gotten softer than before.  His hives broke out around that time he had to change his diet due to his pancreatitis.

Probiotics

The staff had some recommendation for Big Steve. She recommended us to give Big Steve “Probiotics.”  He may have some digestive problems, and probiotics might help with his allergy and may solve his skin problem also. We can’t say what is causing him the skin problems, but we could at least try. There are some choices, but I chose “Microflora” because it is made of herbs. (Microflora : $22.99)

I’m not sure if this is helping his skin problems, but since then he is not getting hives.  (Just a little note: One day, he was taking antibiotics when he had inflammation in his mouth.  He had soft stool at that time, but didn’t get hives. )

Fish oil

That day, we also got fish oil for his coat treatment at the Pet Food Express. We immediately found big differences since we gave him fish oil. Big Steve’s coat became so very soft, and on top of that, he is more energetic than ever!! 🙂  When we took Big Steve to the dog park, someone who knows Big Steve was surprised to see how energetic he was! I also met some veterinary nurse at the same park and she was also very impressed considering that Big Steve is 10 years old and yet he is very energetic!! I really believe that this is because of this fish oil we gave to him. Big Steve loves the taste of fish oil!! 🙂 (Salmon oil : $17.99~$24.99)

 

Flora_probiotics

Flora_probiotics

Fish oil

 

The canned dog food caused my dog to have diarrhea?

2015. Feb. 3

My dog, Big Steve, got pancreatitis last year, due to some unknown cause. Since then, we had to give him prescribed canned dog food. I wrote about it here. We are still giving him the prescribed canned dog food (GI low fat), but since his pancreatitis seemed to have improved, we decided to try some new food. We started to give him Trader Joe’s canned food. I wrote about it here.  He loved it, so we’ve been giving him a combination of Trader Joe’s canned dog food and prescribed canned food since then.

One day I found the place that I can order GI low fat canned dog food online. Since GI low fat is prescribed canned dog food, we needed to send them a doctor’s note.  One day, I ordered GI low fat online, but after they took my order, they told me that they ran out of GI and they don’t even know when they will have it again. I didn’t know what that means, but we had to give him only Trader Joe’s canned food (chunky beef dinner) for a while.

We noticed that he’s been gassy since then and seemed like his stomach was bothering him.  His stool became really soft like diarrhea. One night, he even needed to go out to poop in the middle of the night. He had explosive diarrhea. Despite all of these conditions, he still had his usual appetite and acted normal. He barked at another dog on the street and sometimes ran around happily.

We weren’t sure what was the cause of these conditions at that time. Big Steve had been in this condition for weeks. Poor Big Steve…

One day, I suddenly realized that my dog’s fart smelled like the Trader Joe’s canned food(chunky beef dinner). We’ve been giving him Trader Joe’s canned food for months, and he never had any problems, but I decided to stop giving him Trader Joe’s canned food completely.

The next day, his stool became much better, and the day after that, he is completely recovered from all these bad conditions. No fart, no diarrhea anymore.

I wonder why this happened to my dog? Is this because of Trader Joe’s canned dog food? Or it’s just Trader Joe’s canned dog food are not going to work for my dog? But why suddenly? Or did Trader Joe’s changed how to produce the canned dog food? It’s a mystery to me…

inflammation around hip 8/11 – 23

August 11th 2014

Big Steve has been depressed since around July 31st, the day we picked him up at the dog sitter’s house. The symptom has gotten worse around last Friday. He doesn’t have an appetite and he doesn’t want to go walk. He seemed to having some discomfort in his lower back. His hind-legs are shaking as if he can’t support his body. He can’t even jump up to the sofa or car. Since he doesn’t eat well, he won’t pee and poop so much. He is not taking enough water since he is not eating his food.(We add water in his food so that he can take recommended amount of water every day.)

I wanted to take him to his vet, but I don’t have a car I could use anytime I want anymore. So I have to find a new vet somewhere I can go without driving.  Luckily I found one nearby and made an appointment today.

Dr examined his back and suspected something was wrong, so he took his back’s X-ray and explained what’s going on. There is a space between each spine that is stable except the last spine around his hip. It looks like something that connects those spine are narrowed around the last spine. Dr said, maybe he has some inflammation around that area that might be giving him a pain that causes him a less appetite. He gave injection (Rimadyl) to him for the inflammation, however Rimadyl won’t go well with prednisolone which is a medication he is taking once a week.  Big Steve needs to be on Rimadyl for a week (twice a day for the next 7 days), and it takes another week to rid of Rimadyl from the body. That means he can’t take prednisolone for 2 weeks.  Vet gave us Dr’s cell phone number and said we can text him if there is anything happened to him during that time.

Rimadyl (carprofen) is a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID)

 

I don’t know if this is what Big Steve has, but maybe he has osteoarthritis(骨関節炎).

Explanation about osteoarthritis. Really good. : http://www.osteoarthritisindogs.com/

Video about osteoarthritis: http://www.petmd.com/dog/conditions/musculoskeletal/c_multi_arthritis_osteoarthritis

Video about osteoarthritis(骨関節炎) in Japanese. Really good. :  http://movie.petful-life.jp/Jj45W

 

At first, my husband and I mentioned to the Dr that he might got pancreatitis back again. I think that is why Dr also took blood sample to make sure nothing is wrong. Result for his blood test will be informed tomorrow.

We were still worried about him not eating food much. Dr told us that he will probably get his appetite back even tonight. After the visit, Big Steve looks better a bit and ate his food. 🙂 We just hope he gets well soon.

 

 August 12th 2014

So, Dr. called us and let us know that Big Steve’s blood test came out really good. There is nothing wrong. So we are relieved that he didn’t get pancreatitis again.

 

August 16th 2014

During the time we gave him Rimadyl, he sometimes lost his appetite, but I was clearly able to see that his condition has gotten better.

We always carried him and never let him jump on to the sofa or stairs. I also brought a dog stroller whenever I took him for walk so that I can put him in the stroller when he seems tired. One day, a guy saw me walking with Steve in a stroller and he laughed at Big Steve so hard. I explained why Steve was in a stroller, but he totally ignored what I was saying and just laughed at him forever. His friend came and asked him what he was laughing about. He was like, “pug in a stroller!” I somehow I felt offended and left there. But those guys kept laughing for a while even after we left.

I don’t mind when people just gave him a smile and ask why he is in a stroller. But that guy was so rude. I hope he gets laughed at just because he looked ridiculous. 😛 Too bad some people doesn’t know dog is a living creature, like humans. 

 

August 18th 2014

Big Steve’s re-exam.

Dr. asked me how Steve was doing. So I told him that Steve is definitely getting better. I can say that just by looking at him. Dr. palpated his hip area and told me that he can say Steve is better just by touching the area. Dr. didn’t want to take medicine off at this point, so recommended another week of Rimadyl. Steve needs to go through another week of Rimadyl again.

 

August 23rd 2014

Steve can walk like the way he used to and is looking a lot more energetic, so we took him to the dog park. We still worried about his hip, so I just kept him with leash. There were many dogs at the park, Steve was so excited to see them and chasing after a bigger dog. 🙂 I just kept my eyes on him, so whenever he start getting on another dog to hump, I can stop him.  He had a good time at the park. 🙂

 

Depression? New Canned food

2014 Aug. 4th

Big Steve seems depressed lately.  I see him licking his paw and chewing. He also refuses to eat sometimes.

My husband and I are on summer vacation and there were times we needed to board him to dog sitters. It works well with some cases, but there are cases it won’t work. The day before we leave home, Big Steve already knows we are going somewhere, but he just doesn’t know if we are taking him with us. So he must be so stressed out.

This summer, we visited my family in Japan for the first time in 6 or 7 years. We needed to board Big Steve to one of our dog sitters during the trip. It worked pretty good! He loved being there. She, the sitter, always has many dogs boarding at her house, so Big Steve can play with them. He was a happy dog when we came back from Japan.

Now there are other times we needed to board him with other sitters. When we pick Big Steve up from these sitters, he doesn’t seem so happy. Even the day we took him to one of my sitter’s house, he throw up.

So we try to take him to dog park often so that he can social with other dogs. He seems like having a good time at the dog park, but he seems not so happy after returning home.

As his owners, we think what we can do to make him happy. I realized how he is probably bored of his prescribed canned food. Vet told us only give him that prescribed canned food, GI Low fat, but I asked vet if we could give him other food. Usually, vet seems like not so sure what’s okay and what’s not. Well, I can understand why that is so because every dog is different, and we just don’t want to take any risk. However we know about Big Steve better than vet, and there are some time we, owner, need to decide what to give to make our dog happy.

Today, I found this new canned food called “Chopped Lamb & Rice Dinner – Premium dog food with vegetables” at Trader Joe’s.  Ingredients are good and contains only 4% min of crude fat. It’s kind of difficult to find a good low fat canned food, but I though this may be good for Big Steve, so we bought it.

We added some of this canned food to his prescribed canned food, and he loved it so much! He seems happier!! 🙂 We need to keep an eye on his diet, but I hope this helps his stress.

The following picture is the new canned food we are giving to Big Steve. It’s good!