Whilst there was great interest in the pictures of our new homestead in Boise, Idaho, there's still a near constant clamoring for the red meat of the Deaf Dogs and Benevolent Gnomes blog, updates on Tito.
Our recent stories about his 17th Birthday and looking scraggly while losing his winter coat were among our better received posts of late. Tito is still doing well, incredibly well in fact for a 17 year old dog. We've had to work through his medications to get the right dosage, enough so that his rate of his congestive heart failure is slowed (it's not going to get better) as much as possible, while giving him a good quality of life.
For Tito, a good quality of life means food. Initially one of his meds killed his appetite and after conferring with his awesome vet, we decided to cut back the dosage and accept slightly less efficacy for improved quality of life. His appetite returned, though he now gets ground beef and rice mixed in with his kibble. For the record, John doesn't get ground beef and rice with his kibble. Ever.
Our warm weather broke last week and we enjoyed cool temperatures and rain showers for almost the entire week. It was glorious. We celebrated the return of cool weather by breaking back out the warming bed inserts for the pups. More info from previous posts about the warming beds here. If you have older pups that have trouble getting up, suffer from arthritis, or would just appreciate a warming bed insert, we highly recommend these. It wouldn't be Fall (or Winter and Spring) without a plethora of heated dog beds.
For Tito, a good quality of life means food. Initially one of his meds killed his appetite and after conferring with his awesome vet, we decided to cut back the dosage and accept slightly less efficacy for improved quality of life. His appetite returned, though he now gets ground beef and rice mixed in with his kibble. For the record, John doesn't get ground beef and rice with his kibble. Ever.
2 comments:
Hurray for this Tito Update! Seventeen is an incredibly long life, he's amazing. (And it is obvious you've been giving him fantastic care.) I remember having problems with our dogs losing their usual enthusiasm for eating while on CHF meds, too. I'm glad the new hamburger and rice addition helped him regain his appetite. Cooler weather is finally rolling in here tonight and the thought of a cozy dog bed sounds great! Sending a hearty round of pats to all your lovely canines (except for Tito, since I know he's not into PDA's.)
Karen - There are many adjectives that I could use to describe Tito, but I'm not sure I would start with amazing. He is pretty impressive though in his determination to stay alive and have his next meal.
It's always a sad day when you have to decide what's more important, aggressive medication or quality of life. Luckily Alycia accepts that Tito has had a very long and very full life with her and anything from this point forward is truly playing with house money. Sigh....Tito.
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