Re: Meet Grace!
Grace goes to see Doc B at 2:30 this afternoon for a GHS and Xrays. I hope the Xrays give us a better idea about the breathing/coughing issue. The Clavamox and Temeril P don't seem to have helped much but then I don't really know how bad she was in the shelter....I only know she hasn't improved in that area since being here. And I may well be spreading this if it is KC by letting her out in the yard even tho she's out there without the rest of the gang - just me and her. The field out back is belly deep to her in leaves with grass taller than she is along with millions of gum balls, and my front yard has rose bushes and other "sticks" planted that could injure her eyes so the back yard it is. I want her to have fresh air and sunshine and want her to start acclimating to her space, learning that she is safe there. I clean her poop as soon as she's through.
But in other areas, she is coming along nicely! She still sleeps quite a bit but is up and roaming the bathroom some every day. She seems to recognize my voice now but can't tell where it's coming from. Her hearing is no where near as good as Brick's or Trink's. Neither is her sense of smell...and I'm still trying to determine her tactile functioning for finding her way around. She is trying to enjoy herself a little more and sat in the sun just a bit ago with her head raised, soaking up the rays. She looked so content and sweet!
She can't handle hard treats or kibble - I'm not sure she has any back teeth at all - none I have been able to feel or see. But she is really enjoying the food she gets and it makes me feel so good to see her excited to eat. She still won't drink on her on, tho. I haven't seen her take a drink from the bowl once and the level doesn't change. I continue to syringe water and include quite a bit in her meals. By the tent test, she isn't dehydrated.
This morning I got her a baby brush, soft, to brush her with and she LOVED it. Her skin is so thin and dry, flaking all over. I started her on salmon oil yesterday and may rub some coconut oil on her back, which is the worst area. And I got some FreshPet feed that is salmon and whitefish hoping that will help as well.
Grace has the weirdest rectum I've ever seen! When she first came home and tried to poop, she couldn't seem to do so without me massaging her rectum. AND that area became VERY large with round balls protruding from each side where the anal glands are as she strained. It looked as if her insides were trying to come out it would stick out so far and get so big! The round areas are smaller and the rectum, if that is what I'm seeing, doesn't protrude quite as far now and she doesn't always need help anymore. I am wondering if her anal glands are impacted or if she has tumors in the rectum/intestines too. So Doc will check that out as well.
I'll let ya'll know what we learn when we get back.
OH! There has been NO CALL so far and as far as anyone at the shelter knows, no one claimed her so she is HERE TO STAY!!
"May you know that absence is full of tender presence and that nothing is ever lost or forgotten." John O'Donahue, "Eternal Echoes"
Death is not a changing of worlds as most imagine, as much as the walls of this world infinitely expanding.