Penny Update, December 20, 2011

Man. Last update on Penny was back in October. I am REALLY bad!

That said. Let me get this out of the way....

Yep. I knew it the first time I laid eyes on Penny when Randall and I went to pick her up to start fostering her. Matter of fact, those were the first words out of my mouth. Self-fulfilling prophecy. :)

It will be sometime early next year before we make it official, but I figure I might as well put it out there now.

So this is where I get mushy gushy.

Penny is an absolute doll. And she knows it. Pretty, cute, personality plus...and OH SO manipulative. This is the pretty girl who plays up her looks to get what she wants. She has Randall wrapped around her little paw, and while I'm not quite that bad, she can work me over pretty good, too.

Frankly, I cannot believe she was a) in a shelter and b) her people didn't come for her. Of course, she had been at a vet's office for awhile before she hit the shelter, so it's possible there was an attempt but it never went anywhere.

And before someone says, "Love is blind." I'll be the first to admit she has some faults.

Her bathroom habits leave a lot to be desired. Where Padre is very housebroken, and Aggie isn't quite as good as him, but definitely on the plus side of the line, Penny is only marginal. She will potty in the house unless we're diligent in getting her outside. The main problem is she loves to be comfortable and doesn't like to leave her basket/pillow/blanket or whatever the comfort provider of the moment is. And there are a lot of times when her preferred potty spot outside is the patio or the gravel path leading to the yard. These habits don't endear her. They're manageable, but I don't like them and with physical disabilities, I can't get out the door in time to correct her.

The second is rather related to the first, because she seeks comfort and doesn't want to be outside, she has a bad habit of going out the door, turning right around and barking to come back in. I keep a spray bottle handy, and that does help, but I suspect this will be a lifelong thing.

She is quite excitable, and when excited, uses her voice. Which isn't too bad, and isn't something that bugs me like it does with Skeeter, my husband's Chihuahua, but she gets wound up and barks to express her feelings. We're not too consistent on this problem, which means it's something that will probably always happen.

One of Penny's great loves (besides comfort and being with her people) is peanut butter. Got to REALLY watch her waistline because she gets peanut butter to hide pills she gets daily. She's definitely a Peanut Butter Princess.

Overall, she's about where I thought she'd be with us. Spoiled rotten (and getting more so every day) and cute as a button. No surprising the failure here. We've fostered several dogs, and though we're sad/happy to see them find new homes, Penny is our first foster failure...there is just no way we could see her leave.

Like the other updates, this one suffers from camera absence but here are a couple I've taken over the last month or so.

The comfort seeking mini-long bunks next to the comfort seeking Chi-Chi

Persistence...don't need teeth to clean a bowl

 

Penny Update, October 25, 2011

Real quick update on Penny.

She started her heartworm treatment last week with the biweekly heartworm preventative coupled with the two weeks on doxycycline and two weeks off doxycycline.

And, well, no can do. She can't tolerate the doxy.She has either spells of vomiting, frantic scratching or the runs.

So as much as we'd love to do that treatment, there's just no way. She'll simply stay on the monthly preventative and the adult heartworms should be dead in two years. If immiticide ever becomes available again, we may rethink that protocol, but as Linne said, the chances of Penny actually leaving here are slim, so we'll just go the long, slow route.

When I call Friday to set up Padre's dental, I'll have Melody make a note in her file that she's allergic to doxy.

HW treatment starting today (Penny)

Penny is starting her heartworm treatment today.

Since immiticide is no where to be found, her treatment will consist of a heartworm preventative every two weeks, and a round of doxycycline for two weeks on and two weeks off. This will go on for some time, but she doesn't have a heavy infestation, and I've got Pred here in case she starts coughing.

Aggie will also need the same course of treatment, but I'm not going to start it until I see how well Penny is handling hers. I'd prefer not to have to problem children at the same time. I suspect I'll start Aggie's treatment in early December.

 I'll post updates on how this is going for Penny in here most likely weekly or bi-weekly unless there is some problem.

(Also, stay tuned for a special announcement on Saturday.)

Penny Update, September 22, 2011

Quick update on Princess Penny.

She's doing just fine. Got a bath and blow dry today, so she looks MUCH better. I pretty much like to bath her every week while she's getting so dusty when she goes outside, but I had to hold off a bit until the sutures from her spay could take it.

She is still looking sideways at Aggie since their words late yesterday, but I suspect all will go back to normal in a day or two. There wasn't much to the spat, but Penny is very "soft" so I'm not surprised she's still a bit out of sorts.

I'm still waiting a bit before doing anything with the heartworm situation. What with immiticide being so short, chances are she'll get treated the slow way for awhile. Nothing can happen for another couple of weeks anyway, so I'll have plenty of time to talk to Linne about how to handle this.

I also added some new photos out on Photobucket. They're all similar to ones that got posted, but there are more of them. Once Aggie settles in, I'm hoping to hook up with Alissa to get some good pictures of both of them.

That's it for today. :)

Spit Spat

Just a quick update today.

Late this afternoon, Aggie and Penny had a bit of a spat. Not sure what kicked it off, but I suspect either Penny was trying to play and Aggie misread it or Aggie turned around and stepped on her.

Anyway, there's were some words exchanged between the two of them. And, since it happened at the file cabinet right where I sit, my reaction was immediate. Much chastisement and finger wagging, and even Aggie, who couldn't hear what I was saying, got the message pronto.

Penny bounced back pretty fast, and I really suspect she didn't really start it. I know she was on the bottom and with no teeth, it's no contest. She came running to me for protection, so I really think Aggie was the prime mover.

She knows, though, that that sort of behavior is completely unacceptable, and she spent most of the evening being very meek and insignificant. It wasn't until about 30 minutes ago that she figured out she was out of hot water.

Also, the Basset that was being transported with Aggie broke with canine influenza on Monday and is very sick. I believe there was little to no contact between the two dogs. IIRC, Sue said she drove up and picked the Basset up and then turned around and delivered it to Ft. Worth and then came down to Hillsboro to meet us. **fingers crossed** If nothing turns up by Saturday, I think Aggie will be safe from that. I'm still expecting a URI, but I might just be worrying for nothing, and there's nothing that says it has to be major. Still I'll watch for it.

That's about it for this update. I'm feeling really icky, so it's hard to stay focused enough to write up how the day has gone.

Three new photos

I was hoping to have a friend of mine come over this weekend to take some photos of Penny. Alissa is quite good, so I was counting on getting some good pictures. I've had to postpone it for two or three weeks because Dr. Walthall had to shave a bit more of her coat in order to do the spay. It's not terribly noticeable in these photos, but if she's not sitting at an angle looking up, it is. The coat won't have to be completely grown back before the photo session, but it does need to look at bit less freshly shaven.

Anyway, these are a poor substitute, but they're pretty decent for indoor shots. Randall got them while all eyes were on me chopping up chicken. :)

Spay scheduled

Things have been on hold while my vet got set up with the ATDR system, but that's no happened, so Penny is scheduled for her spay on Monday, September 12.

She's doing really well. Keeping the weight at 9 lbs. Happy as a clam, and just an absolute doll.

I'll give an update next week once her spay is done.

Update, August 23, 2011

Just a quick update. We're still waiting for medical stuff to happen...HW treatment, spay...

Meanwhile, Penny the Princess has turned into Penny the Hussy. Yep. She's coming in season. Pestering the male chihuahua unmercifully. Fortunately, Skeeter is neutered, so he couldn't pee a drop if he had to. Doesn't stop him from trying. Doesn't stop Penny from flirting. So getting her spayed is pretty high on my list of priorities.

She finished up her antibiotics yesterday. I'm happy to report that there's no vestige of the nasty infection she had when we brought her home. The coughing cleared up about four days ago, so that's no longer bothering her.

Her weight is holding at 9 pounds. Currently, she's on 1/3 cup in the morning and at night - and she is on kibble; I just soak it for a few minutes in hot water and then drain the water. Once some of the medical issues are dealt with, I'll reevaluate that amount. For now, it's keeping her at a good weight, but it may be too much once she's completely healthy.

I'm still seeing allergies. They apparently are related to something in our yard (just how that could be when nearly everything is dead from the drought, I have no idea) that aggravates her. A good bath with a deep conditioner helped last week, and her daily brushing is helping. If it gets too bad, she's got Benadryl to help her out. I really want to get a hot oil treatment in the next week and put that on her. Her coat and skin are in ever so much better shape, but I used to use it on one of my standards who had wonky skin at times, and it helped her.

Speaking of coat, our little Penny is beginning to put some on. She'll never be dripping in coat, but I'm seeing the feathering fill out and get longer. She's got some pretty skimpy britches, so I'll be happy if those fill in a bit. The coat on her body is also thickening up a bit. Doubt there will be too much added in the extreme heat of August, but it will be interesting to see what daily brushing and good food do for her by December.

I've been trying to get photos, too. It's still WAY too hot to try for outside shots, but she's not been very cooperative in the house. By the time my digicam is ready to go, she's shifted positions, so what would have been a good photo of her pretty head turns into a less than inspiring shot of her ear. **sigh** I can only hope I can get some decent shots soon.

So that's where the little doll is. She's getting healthy, she's still EVER so happy. Oh, and she's learned to manage her tongue about 95% of the time and just LOVES to give Penny Kisses. A sweeter, happier little girl you couldn't ask for.

This is the only photo I've been able to get in the last several days. You can see she's become Flirty Gerty. :)

9 lbs and holding....

For several days now. I think we've found the sweet spot. Now we just wait on muscle mass to show up. :)

Update, August 14, 2011

Penny is now hovering around the 9 lb mark, and she looks good. It appears her ideal weight is going to run between 8 1/2 and 9 pounds. She fluctuates some, but I think as long as she stays in that range, she's going to be at her ideal weight.

Just a huge improvement over the way she came to us. Hard to believe that in 16 days, she's put on a pound and a half, but she has, and it's in the right places.

One thing I have found out it is she really dislikes canned pumpkin. Something of a surprise to me because I've never had a dog that didn't like it, but she really dislikes it...to the point she won't eat at all if there's any in her food (and we're talking 1/2 teaspoon, so it's not much). I found that out after she ate around it for two or three meals and this morning she just flat went on a hunger strike. So canned pumpkin is no longer on the menu.

It's something that I actually only add to the meals of dogs that have to have pureed food because of mouth problems or lack of teeth. I had to do this with Elvis for two years, and when we brought in Penny, she'd just recently had her teeth extracted, and wasn't interested in eating anything but very soft food. So the pumpkin went in.

Fortunately, there's been a positive discovery here. She can actual eat her food in kibble form. Provided I dish it up and let it soak in hot water for a few minutes before I put it in her crate, she appears to be able to handle it. Now, I've only done this once (tonight), but she managed to eat it with not much of a delay, so I'm encouraged enough to try again tomorrow.

She's been eating 1/3 cup twice a day while I've been trying to get her weight up. I suspect that's getting ready to be cut back to 1/4 cup twice a day at least until I can see what her weight does. I don't really get married to a measuring cup amount. I really use it as a general guideline and adjust it daily depending on how the dog looks. So we'll see how it goes with our girl.

The other really good news is that nagging cough she's had is almost gone. There was some fear it might be the heartworms, but it's looking like it was caused by that nasty infection. She's on her second course of Clindy, and the cough really began to disappear Friday. So I'm very hopeful that once she's done with this 10 day set, she'll be good to go there.

We're still working out the heartworm treatment. Things here are a bit delayed because Dr. Walthall is out of the clinic this week until Friday. Melody is going to talk with her when she gets back to find out the exact process and cost. Penny also needs to be spayed, and I'm hoping that she doesn't have to wait for the HW treatment. 

One negative about Penny. She is WAY too fascinated with the garage and doors that lead outside. I want to speak with ATDR about chipping her. I have a funny feeling that her curiousity for the great outdoors may have led to her being on the streets. You really have to watch her. I told Randall we're going to have to work on this, but having her microchipped would be peace of mind.

She is also still itching. Benadryl takes care of it, and I'm hoping that the combination of fish oil and daily brushing will make a difference. Her coat feels dry still, and her skin flakes, but that's all improving, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed it will eventually stop.

I haven't had the chance yet to try her on the NSAID for her limping caused by her elbow injury. It's liquid, and I added some drops to her breakfast this morning...which she didn't eat because of the pumpkin. So I'll try again tomorrow.

She is also eating in her crate now. I leave the door cracked, but it's getting closer and closer to being shut, so I hope by the end of the week, I can put her in and shut the door. She's also kenneling on command when food is involved, so I'm seeing great progress there. She still whines at night some, but she will be quiet if you whack on the crate door. Penny really has a desire to please, and that's going to make a world of difference.

I hope to see just how leash broken she is soon. That really needs to be tested outside, and as long as this heat sticks around, we'll have to wait. She didn't fight it at the clinic, though, so I feel pretty good about this. Once we know about that, I'd like to get a few very basic commands worked out. With my limited mobility, there's not too much I can do, but she can learn sit, down, off and that sort of thing.

With any luck, too, I'll get some decent photos this week. I should have taken advantage of the break in the heat this weekend but I didn't. My bad. So hopefully next week I can improve on the shots we have here on the blog.

I suspect it will be towards the end of the week before I post another update. Penny is just doing so well, and she is an absolute joy to have around.

Update, August 9, 2011

Just got back from seeing Dr. Walthall, and it was a busy morning for Penny. A little confusing, too since Penny is a new foster with a new rescue group for both me and Dr. Walthall; we're navigating the waters together, but it's a tad uneven while we work things out.

First off the good news. Penny's weight is up from the original 7.3 lbs she weighed when we picked her up from the clinic on Friday, July 29. She's now at 8 1/2 pounds. So that's the really good news. Like I expected, the muscle mass issue will just have to increase over time with good food since there's no way to really exercise her in this heat. Nothing insurmountable here...just time consuming.

Also, there is definitely not a heart murmur which is good news, since it was possible her congestion and breathing could have been masking one. Since the antibiotics have helped clear her up, Dr. Walthall said she can hear junk in the lungs, but the heart sounds good.

Now the not so good news.

A look at Penny's limp indicates a problem with her left elbow. Lots of grinding upon manipulation, that makes Dr. W think there was an old injury/trauma that's caused it. The current treatment will be Phycox soft chews every other day with a dose of Metacam once a day for pain as needed. Since there seems to be little pain involved with this right now, I will probably wait a day or two and see what happens with the Phycox supplement (this is a Glucosamine supplement). Once we see how this works we'll know more of the direction to take. There is an injection (Adequan) that can be given, but first we'd need x-rays to see just what is going on there. This isn't an urgent problem, so we'll treat the symptoms right now.

Penny's infection is just about cleared up. I have another 10 days of Clindamycin here, so she'll have a total of 24 days. That should take care of any lingering infection that may be contributing to her cough.

Which brings us to what needs to be done first and foremost...heartworm treatment. We know Penny is Stage 2 HW+ (adults, no babies), and she received her first dose of preventative on Friday, July 5. Dr. Walthall has prescribed her heartworm preventative every week or two weeks for the next 2-6 weeks and at least one follow up injection of immiticide. I'll get with Linne and we'll figure out how to tackle this. Penny will have to test clear before any surgeries are scheduled.

Once that's accomplished, the oronasal fistula and spay can be considered. One interesting thing to note is that just because there's a hole in the gum, it doesn't necessarily follow that there will be an infection. It's possible that Penny started with a URI, but because of the fistula, the infection settled in good in the sinuses. 

Dr. W feels another vet could handle a flap surgery better than she could, but again, the heartworms have to be cleared up first. This makes sense, and Penny can always go back on Clindy for a while to clear up an infection if another one shows up before surgery is done.

I think this covers it for now. Once I get with Linne and we map out the heartworm treatment, I'll post another update. For now, everything else looks pretty good so we'll just keep on keeping on.

Update, August 6, 2011

Whew! What a week for Princess Penny. :)

She's gained a pound since we picked her up Friday before last (or most of a pound; she's fluctuating a bit which is fine), and she's now had just about 7 days of antibiotics.

No nasal discharge. No eye discharge. Still a cough, but much, MUCH less than it was. It seems to happen mainly after she eats/drinks which makes us wonder if stuff isn't going through that hole in her gum and causing problems. Hard to say, but I wouldn't be surprised.

Tuesday she goes in to see Dr. Walthall. Ideally, the gum surgery can be done by her, and she can spay Penny at the same time. I also want her to look at the limp Penny has. This is really bugging me. It's her left front leg, and it's sporadic. It doesn't seem to hurt, but it's obviously screwing up her gait, and would be the biggest barrier, I think, to someone adopting her. If it's the result of an old injury, I think it would cause less of a problem, but we'll have to see.

Another thing I've noticed about Penny is her lack of muscle mass. That may change now that she's eating a goodly amount and putting on weight. It's possible that she went some time without being able to eat properly, so there's less muscle than there should be. I'd love for Randall to be able to walk her, but with the heat that's going on, there's just no way. I'll just have to settle for keeping an eye on this for now.

I will say that it's pretty obvious this girl had access to a doggie door, but she's settling into our routine, and the lack of one here doesn't seem to be an issue. The only accident she's had in the house was the first day we brought her in when she got pulled out of the crate and plopped into the sink for a bath. So I think we can check off "housebroken" on her list of attributes.

I've gotten all her toenails clipped and most of the hair around her feet and in between her toes trimmed up. It needs more work, but it tickles her and she gets impatient if I fiddle too long. She does love to be brushed, though, and she gets that once a day. She's also on fish oil which should help her skin/coat and possibly even the limp.

She has also moved over to eating her breakfast/dinner from a saucer to a stainless bowl. In the next week, I want to try transitioning her to eating in her crate. She's sleeping through the night in one, now, and we've seen her go in and out a couple of times in the last day or so. Tomorrow night, I may try moving her food dish in front of her crate and have her eat there for a day or two. Maybe on Wednesday or Thursday, I can pull out her bedding and try her in the crate with the door open. It will be so much easier if I can get her to eat in there.

My only other concern is she seems to have some allergies going on. She gets 1/2 a Benadryl two to three times a day, and that takes care of it. I wish she didn't have them, but she isn't the first of our dogs to have problems like this. There's apparently something in our yard that's causing her to itch. And with no teeth to "chew" that itch, she gets pretty frustrated.

Penny is still the happiest little dog I've ever met. Absolutely a joy to be around. Hopefully that happiness will translate into welcoming other animals since we're definitely scheduled to bring in that senior mini smooth dapple bitch in a couple of weeks. I suspect Penny will be just fine with her.

So for her first week here with us, we're very happy with how she's progressing. I'll probably not post another update until Tuesday when we get back from seeing Dr. Walthall. I doubt I'll have much luck with photos, but you never know. If I get any, I'll put them up.

Trash dog...

Taking the term "trash dog" to a whole new level....

And just so you know. Not five feet away is a clean, comfortable blanket and pillow for her to curl up on. But oh no. She prefers the trash bag I was using while cleaning out my closet. :)

New photos

These aren't as good as I had hoped to get, but I snapped them when she went outside a bit earlier. It's just too hot to get much out of her. She wants to lay down in the shade, and I can't blame her.

I did get a couple of new pictures that I loaded over on the right hand side. The top picture is a tad blurry, but again, it's what I could get this afternoon. Hopefully this heat will break soon, and I can get some shots of her in the sun.

(And she's up to 8.2 pounds. Woot!)

Update, August 3, 2011 and Penny Kisses

Honestly, Penny is just about the happiest dog I have ever laid eyes on. Her eyes are always bright, her tail always wags. The only negative is she's never been able to manage kisses since she couldn't figure out just how to make her tongue work right since she has no teeth...

Until today.

This afternoon, she figured out how to get her tongue to do what she wanted it to do, and instead of rubbing her nose up and down on my face and "chuffing", she got her tongue to cooperate and give me the first real Penny kisses I've gotten.

She was so proud of herself, I didn't think she'd stop!

She's currently sitting at 8 pounds. I still want to see more weight on her, but I had opened a can of Canidae chicken and rice dog food, and she doesn't seem to care much for it. She also seems to have some sensitivity to the ingredients. Since having some last night and this morning, she's been itching, sneezing and licking her paws. So she won't have any of that this evening for dinner.

Penny's eyes and nasal discharge have cleared up. She's still got a slight cough, but it is much less than before. She's got antibiotics through August 13, so I'm hoping that even that bit will be gone.

Next Tuesday she goes in to see Dr. Walthall for the first time. I want her to take a good look at her and see what she wants to do about the oronasal fistula. I'm hoping to get Penny spayed at the same time as the surgery, and I'd like to do that soon so the infection doesn't come back before it can be scheduled.

Once the surgeries are complete, we'll decide how to tackle the heartworm positive problem. 

Meanwhile, I may just be forced to take more photos here in the house. It's 112 outside, and there's no real end in sight to this heat. I won't stand around out there to get photos, and I sure won't ask Penny too, either. So maybe I can get a few in the house now that she's feeling better.

Since she's doing so well, I suspect  I won't make another update until Saturday sometime...unless I can get photos.

Weight update

Nothing else to add, but Penny is now at 8 lbs. She's gained 2/10 of a pound every day she's been here. I want to see her up to 8.5 before I decide what weight she should ideally be at...plus the weight will probably need to shift around some. But this is good news for her.

Update, August 1, 2011

Oink. Oink. Oink.

Miss Penny is a pig. :)

And I don't mind at all. She's gained 2/10 of a pound since Saturday, and if she's comfortable with three meals a day, that's fine with me. She can eat all she wants right now. My only fear is she's going to decide that all meals should begin with a soup course...specifically the mock Southwestern Chicken Soup I started her out on. Not sure what I'll do if that's the case.

Her eye drainage is pretty well gone. Ditto the nasal drainage. I'll probably cut back on her eye drops to twice a day when I give her her antibiotic. I want to continue the drops through at least mid-week; better would be to go through to Saturday. They've definitely helped her eyes feel more comfortable.

Her cough is still present, though no where near as bad. I suspect this will be the last thing to go (if it isn't caused by either heartworms or an undetected heart murmur).

I've emailed Linne to let her know that once Penny is done with her antibiotics, she'll need the flap over dental surgery to close the oronasal fistula and she'll need to be spayed. I'm hoping that by the time she's done with the antibiotics (it's a 14 day course), she'll have the weight on her I want her to have. I want to give her every opportunity for the surgery to be as easy as possible. A decision will have to be made on the heartworm treatment, too. I suspect a visit to Dr. Walthall for a good check over and talk about options.

I can't stress enough what an absolute joy this little girl is to have around the house. I cannot fathom her being picked up and never claimed. She was obviously loved and pampered. She is so happy and wants to please her people. It just amazes me that she didn't get returned to her owner.

Penny is going to make someone an absolutely wonderful pet. I'd say no small children, but her intake at the shelter said she was good with kids, so I imagine older children would suit her down to the bone.

Since she's responding so well to the antibiotics, I'm going to take a couple of days off updating her blog.I'll probably post again on Wednesday. Not sure when I can get good photos because I'd like to do some outside in the sun, but I don't need sun and 108 degrees. Right now, I can get LOTS of photos of her sleeping because she adores doing that, but I'd like to see about getting a decent shot for her profile photo here, along with some that show her personality. We'll just have to try some picture taking and see what we get.

What Penny Does...

(I'll post an update on her tonight, but meanwhile, this is a selection of Penny doing what seems to be her favorite thing. *g*)

Evening Update, July 31, 2011

Whhhhhhhhheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee...............better living through chemistry. :)

Penny is feeling much, much better. She's had three meals today, and when she finished up, she was looking for more. This is really good news. Right now, she weighs 7.6 pounds, and I'd like to see her with another pound or pound and a half on her. Since she's being a downright pig, I'm hoping we'll reach that weight soon.

She's still eating the soup I made yesterday coupled with some Pedigree chicken and rice. This morning, the soup was pureed, but at dinner (5:30), it wasn't, and she had no problem with it. Everything was chopped pretty fine when I fixed it, but still, I wasn't sure if it would give her problems or not. Nope. Ate it without a second glance.

After *our* dinner, she went outside with Haley and Skeeter, and when they came in and had their plate of goodies to clean, she had another tablespoon of canned dog food. I wasn't sure she'd be hungry, but she polished it off.

What I have learned is she has utterly no clue that she should eat in her crate. When I put her in it this evening during feeding time, she dumped her bowl. So for now, I'm going to feed her loose. I don't like doing that, but she eats when she's out of the crate, and right now that's the most important thing. I can transition her to crate feeding later.

Tomorrow, I'll plan on at two meals and an after dinner "snack." With any luck, the weight should come on pretty easily.

You can tell she's also feeling MUCH better. She's been quite active today. Tail wagging any time you say her name (and she's pretty well picked up on the fact that she's "Penny") and she goes from me to Randall and back depending on what room she wants to be in (we have our computers in separate rooms). Right now she's in here with me, but I think where she REALLY would like to be is on the sofa in the living room. You have to watch her like a hawk because if she can get in there, that's where she's going to be. I told Randall we're going to have to start correcting that behavior now. It's not the getting up I worry about so much as the getting down.

She's had no accidents today, and when you ask her if she wants to go outside, she heads for the back door. The way she acts makes me think she may have had a dog door, but I don't use them, so she's got to rely on us to let her out. Since we're around all day, and we were used to very frequent bathroom breaks for Elvis, there's no problem dealing with that for her.

All in all, I couldn't be more pleased with the response I'm seeing from her. I clipped her front nails, but she's still exhibiting a bit of stiffness in her left front leg. Nothing bad, but I'm hoping that now that she's eating, I can add fish oil and it will help. If not, we'll go another route. And I'll tackle her back nails and clean up her feet when she's feeling a bit better, since she'll have to be upside down for some of that, and her breathing isn't quite ready for that.

I've got to play catchup here at home tomorrow, so I may only get one update done unless something significant happens.

Morning Update, July 31, 2011

What a difference 24 hours and some antibiotics make. :)

Little Henny Penny is definitely feeling better. She was apparently feeling the need to pee, though, at about 3:30 this morning, when she woke us up barking in her crate. Randall got up and let her out, and she trotted right down the gravel path and out into the yard. When he looked out a few minutes later, she was up on the patio exploring. So while we didn't appreciate the middle of the night wake up, we did appreciate the fact she felt like looking around her environment.

Randall said when he let everyone out at the regular time this morning, she was way out in the back of the yard exploring with Skeeter (my husband's Chihuahua).

She also ate a bit of breakfast this morning. Granted, it was some leftover soup I made up for her yesterday morning, and it was pureed, but she had a tablespoon or so of canned Pedigree (which she was eating a bit of before I got her). All in all, it was somewhere between 1/4 and 1/3 cup of food. So that's a definite improvement. It was also on a saucer, in the kitchen rather than in a bowl in her crate, but I've gotten the impression she's not really crate trained, but was just happy to go into one to rest. Once we get past this critical stage, her meals will be in the crate. For right now, though, I'm just happy she's eating.

Rena Bonem, the nice lady who did our home visit yesterday, was kind enough to bring over some cans of better quality dog food. I hope to try some on Penny tomorrow since it looks like she's feeling well enough to sample food. This little girl is skinny, skinny, so getting her to eat anything right now is a priority.

Her coughing is improving, and while her eyes are still goopy, I can tell the eye drops are helping. There's less goop there and it's pretty obvious her eyes are more comfortable. There's also less nasal drainage, and the color has turned to clear - or at least that's what I saw when I cleaned her up before her morning pill.  She's had her third antibiotic, and it's definitely started to reverse the problems. Long way to go yet, but I told her this morning if she kept getting better, I'd be clipping her toenails and cleaning up her feet in no time. Fortunately, she didn't understand a word of that. :)

That's where we are today. I'll start getting weights on her this afternoon around 1 pm, so I'll see where she's at and where she needs to go.

I'll post another update this evening, too, but I feel more positive about her health now that it looks like she's on the mend.