Sasha update

Sasha's anemia continues to improve.  However, with her last blood draw, the vet thought it looked like she had an ongoing infection, despite the antibiotics that she's been taking. So just to make sure we weren't missing an intra-abdominal source of infection, Sasha had an ultrasound.

poor pug had her belly shaved for the ultrasound

The ultrasound came back clean -- no areas of infection, and no tumors.  Such a relief.  But she weighed in at half a pound less than last week -- quel horror!  She needs calories, stat!

In the meantime, we're just watching and waiting.  Sasha now gets a ridiculous amount of medication at mealtime, which she of course hates and tries to spit out.  Ungrateful pug.  She's also continuing to be really weird about what she will and will not eat.  We think her tastebuds are being affected by all the meds she's taking.

i need u to guess at what i'm thinking for lunch

Cleo and Deedee continue to respect the elder pug's space.  They seem to recognize that she's not as sturdy as she was.

we are certainly happy to eat whatever sasha won't eat, mama

Sasha is pinking up

At one point, Sasha was so anemic that her gums and lips were snow-white.  Thank goodness her system is making more blood cells, little by little, and her gums no longer have that terrible bloodless look.

Lacking a sophisticated home-lab in which to monitor Sasha's daily blood levels, I've been employing the ghetto blood-level check technique -- flipping up her lip to take a look at the color.  I like to convince myself that it's pinker than it was 2 hours ago.

sasha is a patient pug

Turns out that I was not that far off with my sophisticated monitoring method.  Sasha had a followup vet appointment today, and her PCV (packed cell volume) is 31!  This is compared with last week, when it was 21. 

She's still under strict supervision.  She apparently managed to lose half a pound in a week, so the lucky pug gets more meals.  She doesn't seem to mind the extra attention, since she's been ridiculously clingy lately, not allowing me to leave her sight.

mama don't leave me

At least we're getting our vitamin E

We've all been taking it pretty easy, because of the convalescing puglet.  She's not really up to a whole lot of exercise, so group 'walks' have been temporarily canceled.  

For Sasha's sunshine fix, she and Cleo and Deedee have been hanging out a lot in the yard. Lots of napping.  Interspersed with a bit of foraging within the garden.  A little bit of ferocious barking (Deedee) at the neighbor's dog.  

the girls, doing what they do best

And a lot of Sasha getting coddled within an inch of her life.

keep healing, little pug

This anemia thing is really taking its time

Sasha's blood counts are gradually going up, but of course not as quickly as I would like.  

look how pale her gums/lips were

She's still sleeping a lot, and breathes heavily.  

heal little pug, heal

This normally ravenous pug is still really choosy about her food.  Luckily she's still Miss Gluttony over bread-and-cream, so at least we're able to get some calories into her.

yes, that is a cream mustache you spy

Cleo and Deedee have been very solicitous pug sisters.  They're very careful around sleeping Sasha, and seem to know when she needs cuddling and where she needs more support.

seeing this truly makes my heart just burst

On the upswing

Sasha is a little more alert every day. Her last blood count showed that her system is making more blood cells, so even though she is still pretty weak, we are hopeful she is on the permanent road to recovery!

Sasha is so weak that she has a hard time keeping her eyes open

We have  been keeping her under very close surveillance.  I have her next to me almost every moment of the day, so that I can monitor every heavy breath, every head turn, every little paw twitch. 

my little pug is as snug as a bug

Her appetite is not the greatest, and she'll refuse foods that normally she likes.  We've discovered that she cannot turn down bread with cream, however.  Needless to say, she has been getting quite a bit of it.

Poor Sasha

Sasha was pretty lethargic over the weekend, and was breathing quite heavily.  Her little heart was going a-thumpa a-thumpa.  I knew it was something terrible when she refused her favorite -- tomato! Turned out she was profoundly anemic, probably because of a bleed somewhere in her intestines.  

Our lives have been revolving around my ol' girl for the past few days (interspersed with prolonged bouts of weeping -- by me).  We've been keeping her close at all times, mostly because she seems to get really anxious if we're not next to her or directly in her line of vision.  She's being treated like a little queen -- pretty much the only thing she'll eat is brioche dipped in milk or cream (hand-fed, of course).  

For now, we think the bleeding has stopped (wherever it is), and her blood counts have stabilized, and are actually starting to go back up.  Little puglet is still pretty weak, and breathes all the time like she's just run a marathon.  We're hopeful that she'll pull through on her own, and won't need invasive intervention like a transfusion.

I think Sasha's acupuncture is working....

Another day, another swipe of the credit card.  I MEAN, Sasha went to get another acupuncture treatment today.  She's had 3 treatments so far, and we think it's helped.  We couldn't tell at first because it was the absence of her previous behavior as opposed to her frolicking around like a puppy. We've noticed little things -- she no longer hobbles when she gets up first thing in the morning, she doesn't hold her leg off of the ground, and she will actually tackle a few stairs down when motivated.

i tolerate this only because of the treats involved. gimme one.

Today Sasha was far more chill about the procedure than previously.  No shaking in fear uncontrollably like the drama queen pug that she is. 

It's all fun and games until the needles go in around the elbow.

mama i've decided that we should leave

mama u suck

I know.  I have not been splashing the puglets's visages around as much as a doting mama ought to. I can blame nothing but my apparent attempt to win the Worst Pug Mama of the year award.

mama u suck

what's the point of being cute all the time if u refuse 2 show us off?

Sasha's 1st acupuncture visit

Poor Sasha has terrible arthritis in both of her elbows.  She's been OK on pains meds for years, but in the past several months she's limited her activity quite a bit.  No more stairs.  Walks are more like pug-carries.  And the final straw was when she started falling down because she couldn't control her legs.

We have a wonderful specialty vet clinic nearby, that luckily has a vet that does acupuncture.  Off Sasha went.

a pug should have to wait 4 no one

Sasha was much more interested in sniffing the place than in wondering what was in her immediate future.

as long as there're treats involved 

You can see how crooked her little legs are from all the arthritis.

Sasha was surprisingly chill during the first part of the treatment.  She tolerated the needles in her back and even her knees without so much as a bat of the eye.  She did keep hoping that one of the needles was a treat, tho, so she did try to taste each and every one of them.  I'm sure the vet thinks we don't feed her at all.

I tell ya what she did NOT like.  The needles in her painful elbows.  It was like combining the experiences of cutting her nails while giving her a bath and brushing her teeth, but with a wider audience.

the offending needles

Sasha immediately felt the sedative effects and snoozed in my lap.  Very unusual for the pug that typically prefers her dada.  She will usually only hang out in my lap if the only other option is a pit of burning lava.

i feel.... sleeepy

We have high hopes for this!  Hopefully she'll feel some positive effects as early as tomorrow!

Missing my girls

Trips without the pugs kind of stink.  On one hand, it's nice not to be woken in the pre-dawn hours by some pug(s) standing on one's chest, channeling stinky breath into one's nostrils, trying to get her early breakfast.  On the other hand, I kinda miss the feel of 4 sharp paws poking into my belly at 6am.

Luckily, the girls are in great hands with a loving auntie who likes to send us photo updates. 

mama save us we r being forced to model for ridiculous dignity-losing pictures

next time take me with u mama