Sheba

[ninhar]

Sheba is not doing well. I woke up at 5:30 this morning to her whining downstairs. Over the last year, when I go to bed she is usually asleep on her bed in the family room, and she willl wake up sometime during the night and come upstairs. This morning she was at the bottom of the stairs just whining. She had urinated on the rug. She has been pooping in the house occasionally over the last few months, I don't think that she is aware that she is doing it, sometimes its been right after she came in from the yard.

I managed to get her outside and get the rug cleaned up. She can barely walk, I had to carry her up the deck stairs. She is staggering around the house this morning, and for the first time ever she refused breakfast. She is drinking water. I finally got her back to her bed and she is resting. I have to go work today, we have 2 people out so there is no option. She has been going downhill steadily over the last year, but this is the sharpest decline.

[darga19]

Sorry to hear.

How old is she?

[VALIUM]

I'm so sorry Nina.

[acurajane]

I am sorry. You will do what is best. I am praying for you

[LadyHawk]

My Timer has been like this for awhile- not to the extent of not getting into the house (only two steps) but he's starting to lose his bladder here and there- I wish there were something that we could do about it......

I am equally sorry to hear that Sheba is slacking too.....I know it's hard. I wish they could be with us forever... and a day....

[ninhar]

Thanks. She will be 12 in June, if she makes it that long. I'm trying to get her into my vet tonight or tomorrow morning. If not, then I'll take her to the ER vet. I'm dreading what I might find when I go home at lunchtime to let her out.

She did eat a couple of dog buscuits before I left this morning. Hope thats a good sign.

[ninhar]

It turns out that she has Vestibular syndrome, which we just need to wait out. I'm giving her some pepsid and dramamine to help her balance issues. This is supposed to clear up on its own over a few weeks.

[LJsMom]

That is really good news Nina.

[BowWowMeow]

Hi Nina,

So sorry to hear that Sheba's having a hard time. The people who own the store where I buy my dog/cat supplies have a senior lab who recently had al bout of vestibular disease. I know she (Maggie, the dog) did recover from it after a little while but it did seem to affect her appetite for a while after that and she hasn't been quite the same since.

I wonder if there's a homeopathic remedy you could give? Do you want me to find out?

I hope Sheba recovers quickly!

[ninhar]

Ruth, thank you. I would appricate it if you can find anything homeopathic that can also help.

Sheba seemed a little better this afternoon and I managed to get her to eat 1/2 cup of food with some canned Wellness Venison. Tonight she took a couple of sniffs of the same food and turned her head away.

The vet also ran her yearly senior wellness tests, so I'll find out on Monday or Tuesday if there is anything else going on. When she checked if Sheba would correct her rear paws from knuckling, she didn't. While I've had my suspision for a few months, I hadn't tested that. I doubt I can blame that on the Vestibular syndrome. <sigh>