Not a good update - Sofie could use some rays - update #5, 13, 18, 23, 25, 28

[alfina]

So far so good. Sofie is eating. We are going back tomorrow to recheck her labs. that it is ok.

[Rae]

Great news, Olga. Hope she's over the worst and headed for healthy!

[Alex's Mom]

This makes my heart happy.

[lotsadox]

Great news Olga

[Lisa]

Wonderful update!!

[alfina]

Yesterday I took her back for blood work. She acted perfectly normal. But her kidney function is not normal again. BUN is 50 and creatinine is 1.9. It is going up since she stopped getting IV fluids (a week ago it was 28 and 1.5).

She still has her appetite. She is probably not drinking as much.

My vet is out of town. I spoke to her partner. Because of Sofie's newly discovered murmur, they are concerned about overloading her with fluids. It was suggested that I increase her oral fluid intake by adding more fluid to her food. And I could give her subcutaneous fluids twice a week. They want to recheck her blood in 2 weeks if she is ok. Or sooner if she starts feeling worse.

It is not the news I was hoping to hear considering how normal she acts.

[Alex's Mom]

The one thing I learned with Alex (and a couple of dogs since then) is that they're only numbers...it's important to monitor them, but it's more important to watch behaviour etc. Alex's liver readings were insane. Her Alkphos was in the high 1300s (normal is like 400 or something) and her ALT was about 3 times the normal readings. We kept a very close eye on her, as you know, but accepted that that was just normal for her as she aged. Also re: the water...it's more important to flush out her organs. The heart murmur is not great, but having had multiple "balancing act" dogs, I learned to live with peeing LOL. and diuretics. Just my 2 cents. Always a worry when you see things like that, but so long as she's happy in herself, there's hope!!!

[lotsadox]

I have to agree with Paula. Sometimes you have to go with how they behave and be happy if they are. You might try giving some chicken broth or tuna juice on her food to help increase fluid intake. I did that with Bogart. It worked so well and the other dogs liked it so I'm still giving them broth

[alfina]

Sofie is doing ok. She is now on G/D kibble with a spoon of canned. She isn't loving the G/D kibble. I started adding water/broth to their food. Still not a fan of it. Sebastian hovers it, but he hasn't met a food he didn't like.

I gave her subq fluids on Wednesday and for some reason most leaked out. I haven't had this happen before.

[Lisa]

Is there a home-cooked diet that might be able to support her needs long term? It might be more palatable?