I know some are wondering how things are going with Ginger ( 15 1/2 year old Pekinese mix, diagnosed a week ago with stage 3 heart problems).

It's been a rough week, but she has improved quite a bit.

Ginger has been on her medication for a week now. She still coughs once in a while, particularly after being outdoors in the cold to go potty. But it's not nearly so bad as it was. We did get puppy pads for her, and have newspapers down with the pads on top, basically carpeting a nice sized area (2 1/2 x about 7 feet in the area behind her bed at the top of the basement stairs) for her to use as a potty area, but she just seems to feel better about the whole thing if she goes outdoors. So I carry her out, to the bottom of the back steps, twice a day. I set her down, and within 30 seconds or so, she squats, pees, and I pick her up and carry her back to her bed. I have to be fairly quick, or she will head for the steps. She is a fiesty girl, even when not feeling well, and wants to head up those steps and back inside, but there is no way I want her doing steps any more.

The last seizure (for lack of a better word) was, I believe, Wednesday night. She had two of them that night, two hours apart. I have not seen her have once since. I have only left the house for a couple of hours at a time, on two or three different occasions, so would most likely have been aware if any had occurred. The last several ones were during the night and she woke me crying/howling each time. The seizures do/did seem to occur after activity and she has not been very active, but she does occasionally get out of her bed, and move to a different spot for a little while. Early last week, even climbing out of her bed would bring one on, so this is much improved.

She is drinking. That's good. Her tongue is still pink. According to the vet, that is very good. Her poor little nose is dry and scratchy though. Maybe a side effect of being on the diuretics. Sometimes she is not anxious to drink, but if I dip my finger in water and then touch it to her tongue/lips, she will lick at it, and after doing this several times will usually put her nose to her dish and take a nice drink.

Ginger is definitely stronger. She does not seem to be in pain at this point, so we are very happy about that. When she is awake, she seems alert and content.

Right now, eating is the big problem, but has improved with the method that I've been using the last two days. Ginger will not eat. She has no interest in eating. She turns her head and pulls away. I tried everything I could to entice her. Dry dog food is totally out. Canned dog food won't tempt her. I've tried little bits of roasted beef and pork along with a little of the juice. The beef worked once and she ate maybe 1/2 teaspoon. Not much, even for a little dog. I've tried canned chicken and canned tuna. I was able to get her to take tiny bits by putting a piece, maybe 1/8 inch by 1/4 inch on my finger, putting my finger in her mouth (much against her will) and pushing it way back on her tongue then massaging her throat (the same method I use to get her to take the pills that I have to give her twice a day). She wouldn't even lap up a little milk. I was getting terribly worried. She is thin now, and was weak, and obviously couldn't live forever on the 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon I was managing to get down in a day's time.

So, yesterday after reading the idea of meat baby food online somewhere, we went and bought a couple of jars of that. I took maybe a teaspoon of baby food beef and warmed it slightly. Then (my own idea because of the extra calories), I beat up an egg and added maybe a half teaspoon of that to the warmed baby food to cool it and to make it thinner. Then, using one of those syringes that are made for giving medicine to babies, I started giving it to her by pushing out maybe a half teaspoon at a time far back in her mouth. She objects to me doing this, but to my surprise, she licks and licks and down it goes. None gets pushed back out of her mouth, like the tiny pieces of tuna and chicken did. The first feeding like this yesterday, I gave her about a teaspoon and a half. I didn't want to give too much on a stomach that had virtually nothing in it for the past 5-6 days. Then, before bed last night, I gave hear about another tablespoon and a half. This morning, about the same. I will increase the size of the feedings today, until I am giving her maybe 2 - 2 1/2 Tablespoons at a time, 3-4 times a day. Since this is a high calorie mix, it should be about right. Typically (when healthy) she eats about 2/3 c of dry dog food a day.

I will run this past the vet when I talk with him later today, and will (of course) take his advice, whatever that might be.

The vet is to call today and check up on her, and she is to go back in for another checkup within the next couple of days.

I know we haven't 'cured' the problem, and that we can't cure it. But she seems stronger, and contented, and I think we've pulled her through this time, if we can just get past this not wanting to eat problem. Pooping will be the next thing. She has only pooped once (a tiny smear) during the week, since the first night on the meds a week ago when she had diarrhea during the night. I'm sure that's just 'nothing in' - 'nothing out' but hope that she doesn't have problems with that too, once she's been eating a bit.

I don't know that we'll be any better prepared, a few weeks, or a few months down the road, when it gets worse, but we will enjoy the time that we do still have with her, and do our very best to take care of her and love her enough that she enjoys this extra time too.