Day 2680

It's time to begin saying goodbye. Dot may have a day or she may have a week, but she doesn't have long. It's so sad. The new pain pills we started giving Dot really do work. She woke up with more energy than I've seen in weeks. She actually got up by herself several times today and began walking around the house on her own. The problem is that she can't swallow. The paralysis that has been affecting her legs for months seems to have spread to her neck. If Dot can't swallow, she can't eat. The swallowing difficulty didn't happen overnight, but within the past several days it has become quite alarming.

I spent most of the day trying to get Dot to eat. I was able to hand feed her a small amount of boiled chicken breast this morning, but she wasn't interested in her kibble and can no longer swallow cheese or peanut butter. Dot is still hungry. She definitely hasn't lost her appetite. She will chew things but they just fall out of her mouth. Getting her to take her meds is almost impossible. She doesn't want you anywhere near her mouth and tries to bite you if you attempt to open the mouth and put a pill down her throat. Even the vet wasn't able to pill her yesterday.

This leaves us with very few options. After spending over an hour trying to get her to eat a tiny amount of boiled chicken breast, I gave up and let her sleep. Less than two hours later she threw up everything she had eaten in the past twelve hours. I couldn't figure out how she had thrown up so much, because she is still having normal bowel movements. Food is still passing through her digestive system. After several calls to her oncologist and her regular vet, we decided to give her an injection of Cerenia in an attempt to stabilize her and stop the vomiting.

Everyone agreed that if Dot continued to reject food and vomited up what she did eat, she wouldn't last very long. She couldn't take the Cerenia in pill form, so we drove her to the vet for a shot. The nurse was very nice. She came out to the car when we arrived and gave her the shot. We didn't even have to take Dot out of the car.

As the day progressed, Dot got a little better. She hasn't thrown up anymore and although I wasn't able to get her to take her afternoon meds, we did have a little success at dinner. The thing that saved the day was a leftover cheeseburger that Janet brought home from an office lunch. We had more success hiding her pills in the juicy cheese burger than anything else we've tried so far. After dinner tonight I went to the store and bought some ground beef to make hamburgers with and some American cheese slices in an attempt to duplicate the burger that Janet brought home from work.

Dot was able to take her evening meds with our hastily made cheeseburgers, but this is not a long term solution. Despite spending most of the day trying to feed her, she only held down less than half of what she usually eats. Dot has some of the best vets on the planet and none of them could offer me a solution. We may have run out of options. If Dot's throat is becoming paralyzed, we will need to make a decision quickly.

Dot is calm and resting peacefully now. She made it through the day. We'll see how she does in the morning.

Brady is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day