UPDATE ON KATIE

Katie was sent home soon after the diagnosis yesterday from the veterinary cardiologist and put on a heart medicine called Pimobendan to help it do its job better and to hopefully prolong her life. She is also on Lasix to get rid of the fluid in her heart and lungs that made her breathe so heavy. And there is a blood pressure medicine to keep her pressure normal and keep her heart from working too hard. Her activities are being monitored closely and she is not allowed to run, jump, or play too much for a week. She cannot be stressed for any reason nor can she overly exert herself until these meds show they are doing their job.

Here is the hard part: She is so little and depends so much on me to take care of her that it is killing me when she just sits and stares at me and I have no idea what she wants. I run through the gambit of maybes, does she want a drink, is she hungry, does she need to go out, does she want a treat? If I hit the right question, she responds. Not this time.  She just stares at me and it is killing me inside.

Here is the mystery. For the damage she has and the fact that she was in congestive heart failure, no one can explain why she has had NO symptoms up until the very moment when she began to breath heavily after running up the steps. In her condition, she would have been losing a lot of weight, not eating, vomiting, diarrhea, and so lethargic I would have known something was off. But there was nothing. Her appetite has been great, she runs and plays as always. No warnings whatsoever.

And today she is breathing better. She is eating her food and carrying around her talkie ball as usual and snacking on her favorite turkey treats. She is napping as usual throughout the day and drinking more water and going out to pee a lot because of the lasix. She gets carried down in her own special bag that she gets in herself when she has to go out so she lets me know it is time. She is walking around as if nothing is wrong other than Mom won't let her do much of anything and my Mom cries a lot.

If anyone has any information or experience on this condition that you can share please do. I need to find hope and while I know that prayer and a miracle is the answer right now, I still need to hear there is hope. Have any of you had experience with this illness and a happier outcome?

You can comment here. Or if you like, you can also email me at welcomehomefriendsLLC@gmail.com and I will answer.