Speaking of that pain in my gut

So it's closing in on 7pm and Watson has not eaten since breakfast this morning. I tried to leave him alone for most of the day, but as of a few hours ago, I decided to try and feed him. No luck. The good news is that he is still drinking water so dehydration is not an issue. But since he is not eating, I tried to syringe feed his Reglan to him with only 50% luck. I ended up wearing at least as much went down his throat. I'm waiting for Rich to get home from work so we can wrestle him long enough to get the pill into him. In the meantime, my fridge is piling up with Tupperware containers of ground turkey, beef, boiled chicken, and various bits of fish.... oh, and hot dogs.

I'm still trying not to panic. The good folks on the Canine Cancer Yahoo group are telling me to wait a few days to see if he perks up. A few days? I know what they mean, but like I said before: it seems like there are good seconds and bad eternities. For anyone who is reading this, please say a prayer or light a candle or send a positive thought out in the universe for Watson. Everyone in the Frembes household needs as much positive energy as we can get.

P.S. A hello to Graham's mum/Prince's grandmum who has started reading this blog. I thank you for your interest and Watson did get his extra kisses. It's good to know that Watson has friends across the pond!

Can't party like we used to

So, we had Rich's co-worker over for dinner last night. He's visiting the office from his home base in Vegas so we thought it would be good to treat him to a home-cooked meal. With all the activity of a guest, Watson is completely tuckered out today. Mind you, Watson basically spent alot of time standing and staring but that is alot of activity for him.

As a result of the tiredness, he didn't drink enough water overnight and actually slept all night and woke up dry. While I should be happy about the dryness, it may mean that he's dehydrated. He's back to being lethargic and not eating this morning. I try not to panic when this happens, but I always get a pain in my gut when he turns his nose up at any food. So far, I've offered chicken and salmon with no success and beef with limited success. Then again, I also forget that he's allowed to be picky and his disinterest could be nothing. However now that I look at his actions through a cancer lens, it changes how I (over)react to everything.

Today is the first day that he is off prednisone for good. The pred was good at propping up his appetite so I may have more these days ahead of me. Better stock up on my meats now....

I just posted a cute video of Watson from Wednesday. He had stolen Waldo's bone and was searching the house for a place to hide it. Click here to see the video of Watson "burying" his bone. (FYI - the file is an 18mb AVI file.) Enjoy!

Made it to the mailbox, part 2

So, I took Watson for a drag down the driveway to the mailbox. Again he had to stop a few times to catch his breath, but he soldiered on. Unlike last week, I don't think it's the humidity or the prednisone that was interfering; more so, I think he's just tired. I guess if you had strong poison (or as we humans call it - chemo drugs) coursing through your veins, then going for a walk may not be your first choice of activity. He's back to sleeping like a log on my office floor, so at least he was able to get out and get some sun and fresh air.......

As I may have mentioned several posts back, Rich was in Michigan visiting his parents over the weekend. My sister-in-law just sent some photos, one of which is posted here. Apparently my brother-in-law (her husband - driving the Ural in this photo) traded vehicles with a friend. The friend got their pickup truck and they got a Ural, described on their site as "a unique classic sidecar motorcycle for family recreational and off-road riding". Off-roading? But seriously though, isn't that the funniest thing you've ever seen? And here I was stuck at home cleaning up poo!!!

My two boys

I love this look on Watson's face. He will often look at Waldo this way since the baby sometimes doesn't pay attention to personal space. Classic.

Yummy chicken

So we made the decision to let the Old Man sleep through the night rather than waking him up for a bathroom break. I lined his bed and the surrounding floor with piddle pads "just in case" and it's a good thing that I did. The poor guy sleeps so soundly that there are...shall we say... leaks. But the pads did their job and he still woke up fairly dry. The bed was dry as a bone too. He was finally able to sleep through the night and get some good rest. I don't think he barely budged from the time we went to sleep to the time I woke him up!

He ate a good breakfast of boiled chicken, Canidae dry food and pumpkin (for GI health). I'm glad to have found the Canidae brand as it is so much better for dogs, better even than top brands like Iams or Nutro. The dry formula uses four human-grade meats (chicken, turkey, lamb and fish) and also has probiotics and digestive enzymes added. Of course, you pay for all that goodness too but I think it's worth every cent. I've learned so much about canine nutrition in the past month; Waldo's diet has changed for the better too.

On another note, I grew up as a carnivore but since meeting Veggie Rich I am slowly becoming an herbivore. So now it's weird to roll out of bed and put on some meat for Watson. I don't make a habit of cooking meat at home (but I will order it when eating out) so I am not used to touching/cutting/smelling/cooking it at home. I can say though that the smell of boiled beef in the morning truly makes me ill. But Watson seems to love it, so I should just stop whining.

Speaking of whining, I have also been asked by the oncologist to take his temp twice a day. "Hmmm, how do I do that?," I wondered. "Rectally," he answered. Oh.... This is my life, people, this is my life.