A Few Days After Stopping the Antibiotics

We're trying our best to figure out what's going on with Cassie's health. And, we don't believe that going to the vet would give any more of an indicator. The data just isn't there, it isn't clear enough, the causality of medical treatment with pets isn't as well understood, and finally, she can't say what's bothering her. She has good days and bad days. The very day we stopped with the antibiotics we thought we could see an improvement in her. Her schedule was to receive it once daily at 7:30pm with her second phenobarbital dose. That afternoon she was seeming better. It didn't really make sense. She didn't know she wasn't getting the antibiotic that night. But we thought we saw improvement. We did. And, even more of an improvement the next day. For a couple days it seemed pretty conclusive. She was getting better. The antibiotics were what dragged her down, what was keeping her from eating. Yeah, we thought we had it all figured out... Sunday various members of Maxine's family were visiting. Cassie even got some comments about how she was acting more like a normal dog than usual (more on this in the next blog). We were pleased. But, as the day went on she seemed tireder. She resisted eating. Monday (all 4 of them left by noon that day) she was tired. And, back to the reluctance to eat. We'd attributed it to the antibiotics, but she'd been several days without them and thus we didn't have an excuse. We didn't know (and still don't) what the problem is. We kept bribing her with better and better foods. Earlier on, she'd eaten her normal food, TD. But, we'd moved from there to hi-palatability. And then to cottage cheese, and rice, and chicken. These were all options that in her earlier days would have been absolute treats. But now, not so much. Tuesday morning she was listless. Maxine bribed her with some rice and chicken for breakfast and she at the chicken but little of the rice or hi-pal. After Maxine left, she was making gurgling noises. Then she threw up. Not an enormous amount, but in volume probably 2/3rd of her dog food bowl worth of stuff. Undigested chicken, rice, the hi-pal. As she started to throw up, I went over to her and pet her and kept murmering "It's OK". I felt bad enough that she was feeling so poorly, I didn't want her to feel guilty for throwing up or messing up. She seemed perkier after the barfing. But, now it's Wednesday, and she's pretty slow. Maxine is out and what I'd expect would be her in my office, and following me around whenever I'd leave the room. What she's done is some following, then going to sleep in other parts of the house. But, when I went outside to work on the sprinklers I brought her with me. And, it was so incredibly cute when I looked up once, from working down the hillside, to see her at the edge of the slope watching me. That's what I'm going to miss the most about her, her companionship...