The other day I shared with all of you all of the struggles our three-year-old minpin is going through. It’s been hard for us to watch. It’s hard to see something you love fight so hard. It makes you feel horrible to know you can’t wave a magic wand and make her better. We’ve been praying every day for her to gain weight….to see improvements. Well, I’m pleased to share that while she isn’t gaining weight…yet…she has definitely improved some, and we are starting to see some of our old Zoe coming back to us.
First, her bowel movements, which were light, fluffy and cow patty like before treatment, are now solid and normal looking. I think the improvement there can be attributed to the Science Diet r/d food, as well as the predinsone she’s on.
Second, she’s more alert than she was. Before she slept a lot and didn’t really show interest in anything but food. Since starting the new treatments, she is back to showing interest in many things. When we take her outside for a potty break, she looks around her now and seems more inquisitive. She is also showing interest in taking short walks now, which she didn’t do for awhile.
And she stays awake when we go for rides and stares out the window, taking in everything. Before she fell asleep or just sat there, looking out of it.
Third, she’s starting to play with her fursister more. It’s not full out playing yet but she barks at her and will chase her every now and then for a couple seconds, so that’s a positive sign too.
Four, she’s drinking water again!
While to some these improvements may seem minor, we know (the vets included) that these are huge gains and something to be excited over. Her vets told us the weight gain can take awhile because it can take 2-4 weeks for the B12 to kick in.
Because Zoe has lost so much weight, she gets colder easier than she used to, so we are now putting sweaters and hoodies on her to keep her warm. We actually found some cute ones at Big Lots for $8 each, which is a huge difference from the dog clothes at major pet stores.
Also, as you can see in this photo, Zoe doesn’t really have any muscle tone left. We are hoping the walks we take her on help her build muscle again. For now the walks are short because she can’t handle more than a couple hundred feet. But it’s a start, and as the saying goes, slow and steady wins the race.
