My dog has hives

My dear sensitive dog is covered in hives. The poor little guy. He was up all night scratching.

I have no idea what he got into, but I suspect it happened during our walk last night (as he was fine before that).

This morning I gave him Benadryl, coated him in 1% Cortisone cream & spritzed him in Benadryl spray. I'm holding off on oral steroids, mostly because I am stretched to pay for another vet visit (all three of them have needed treatment in the past month) unless I'm sure I can't control the hives myself.

This afternoon we are going to try an oatmeal bath.

I'm open to any suggestions if my dog-owning friends want to chime in.

Update:  His hives were worse today, so I ended up taking him to the vet. He was given a shot of steroids and is now resting comfortably. Still no idea what triggered this allergy attack.

equal time for my cat

Since yesterday's post was dedicated to my little snow bugs, today I thought I would give equal time to my beautiful Ms Kitty.

Ms Kitty has not been feeling her best lately. Actually, while BH and I were on vacation two weeks ago, she took quite ill and required a visit to the emergency veterinarian. She was diagnosed with a bladder infection and given 21 days of antibiotics.

(21 days, twice a day....have you ever tried giving a cat a pill?)

Besides that, she is feeling the hands of time, with arthritis slowly taking over her hip joints. We have relocated her litterbox to the main floor, as the stairs have recently become too much for her little body to manage. We have also installed a staircase to our bed so that she won't need to jump up and down anymore.

(Tramadol, twice a day...forever)

With her pain under control and her bladder infection treated, she is beginning to look like her old self again. Which is good, because I can't imagine life without my cat.

Did my dog have a seizure?

Yesterday, my puppy (ok, he's 3 years old, but he'll always be my 'puppy') was acting a little bit off. Something about his usual peppy step was just a little slower than usual.

While taking a short break from tug-of-war with his brother, he did something very odd:

Puppy started to shake. His eyes rolled up into his head and moved about in a flickering sort of motion. It lasted only seconds and afterwards he seemed back to normal.

We lost our senior dog, Elliott, three years ago to a brain tumour (somewhat common in Boston Terriers), so this development has Brilliant Hubby and I both a little freaked out and worried about Puppy's life span.

From everything I've read online, it seems that there isn't much a vet can do about a single seizure, so many recommend watchful waiting to see if it happens again.

Today Puppy seems to be his playful, happy, boisterous self. 

Has anyone had this happen with their dog? What did you do?

sick puppy

My sweet puppy wasn't feeling so hot last night. No matter how hard he tried, he just couldn't get himself comfortable. Then he vomited. More squirming. Still uncomfortable. This went on for hours.

After a lengthy consult with 'Dr. Google, DVM', I decided to keep him in our bed overnight so I could monitor any changes in his status.

This morning he seemed to be feeling better. He went outside to do his business and I noticed a strange whitish object in his poop. I took the hose to wash it off so I could see what he had eaten. As the water hit the object, white foam emerged like a bubble bath. SOAP. He had eaten a bar of soap.

I didn't know whether to laugh or cry. He's trouble, but darn he's cute :)

you kneaded me!

With my recent spat of headaches, I've found that all of my family and friends have been very kind and helpful...this morning, my cat joined in too!

I woke up today with kitty on my pillow, 'kneading' my head. It was just like a massage - with claws!

dog park

It was a good morning. My puppies curled up next to me on the couch as I sipped my coffee. My husband was still sleeping soundly in bed next to the cat. And there was no headache. No headache at all.

With the sun streaming through the window, I felt alive for the first time in weeks. I actually wanted to go outside. How long has it been since I took the dogs for a walk? Months?

When all of us were up and about, my husband and I put on our coats and boots, filled our pockets up with plastic bags, and headed to one of my favourite places - the dog park.

The puppies ran and tumbled, bowed and growled and chased. They looked so happy to be in the sunshine, running freely. I'm holding hands with my love, and feeling absolute joy. This is my family, this is my life. This is what a good life feels like.

it's good to be home

vacations are great, but some of the best things in my life were just waiting for me to come home.

could it be possible?

What if the depression I've been struggling with isn't depression at all?

Here's what happened: I shouldn't have worried about being "too well" for Friday's appointment with my psychiatrist. As it turns out, I crashed that morning and was barely able to drag my carcass across the city to see him.

He listened to my story of how things have been for me since Christmas, and seemed very perplexed. Thankfully, My Husband was able to attend this appointment with me, and was able to give some additional insight about my moods.

My doctor is concerned that I have not responded to any of the multiple treatments I've had over the past few years and that my physical health is worsening along with my moods shifting more rapidly.

I could care less about my moods; what I can't stand is the fatigue. The overwhelming energy it takes to get out of bed and make a pot of tea. The fact that I avoid showering day after day and have been wearing the same pajamas now since Friday morning. This is not me! After three good days, I feel like I have crashed. Sometimes I wonder if I have chronic fatigue (and depression?)

After my brief reprieve earlier this week from brain fog, it has set in again and made focusing on anything next to impossible. All I want to do is sleep.

Interestingly, my doctor is now wondering if there is something physical going on with my body that he hasn't picked up on.

So here are his recommendations:

1. Consultation with another psychiatry specialist - (thought I was already seeing a specialist? how much more specialized can you get in mental health?)
   
2. Testing for Lupus, Celiac, hormone levels, and a whole host of "outlier" illnesses.
3. Tapering off two of my medications over the next ten days to see if any of them are causing the fog & fatigue.

I am very frightened of coming off medication. I've done it before and things got much worse without it. But I am grateful that he is still trying to solve the mystery of my downward spiral of health.

It is such a crazy thought after all I have been through that it's possible that none of this has been depression, but rather some strange autoimmune disorder. If you've been here, you can probably understand if I share with you that I would be grateful for a diagnosis that is physical in nature. Something objective that I could show to people and that they would be nice about.

I guess I will just have to wait and see what happens. Today was my first day of tapering off of Cipralex and Wellbutrin. I feel dizzy, sleepy, teary. I think this is normal, so I am going to find my sweet little furry friends and bring them to bed with me now. Everything always feels better when there is a soft, warm, fluffy ball purring next to me.