Saturday 1-23-10

3:00 am – Pain noises and started licking at knee.  Found a pain pill on her bed – not sure if this was missed in the last dose or before.  Major quandary…if I assume she only had one, I can give her another.  If I assume she had two this would be her third…or did I give her three last night.  That would make this #4 and I’m not ok with that.  It is amazing how scrambled my brain is on lack of sleep!  THAT’s why I made a care chart – to track what meds I gave and when…staggering out to the kitchen to check.  Looks like I gave her 2, maybe she missed one.  Gave her 2 at 4 a.m…  She settles down about 4:30.

Forget the Bite Not Collar. I should have checked her neck measurements before I ordered - I knew she needed the girth but being a girl, I'm not so good on length...

Once the Tramadol kicked in we all got a bit more sleep.  Gigi's getting fussy about being left in her bed so we're rearranging carpeting so she can get into her usual place beside my desk.  That is her daytime routine, with bed only after 9 pm or when mom's gone.  So I think the change in routine is part of the issue during the daytime.

We did another walkabout and couldn't quite achieve "good things", but she was interested in walking and we went 2x the distance of yesterday (mind you, that means we walked from the side door to the place in the yard where "good things sometimes happen".  I think I will go find some "good things" to spike the place where she can get to easily.

Wound is oozing a bit, and ice is appreciated after her walk.  I'm basically doing what the PT people did to me - warm before exercise and ice after.  She does NOT like the warming so I make that pretty minimal and try massage.

Not eating her usual foods today - and despite the "guaranteed result, always works for rescue folks" of butter-fried egg on kibble she wouldn't touch the egg. It was the MOST perfect egg I have ever fried, bar none.   Of course it contaminated the kibble.  So Pirate "did the manly thing" and ate it for her.  Pirate is being quite the nurse - sitting beside Gigi's gated community, coming to get us when she needs something (which has a high likelihood of being edible and he then gets his commission).

Gigi's tastes are more toward fruit and veggies today.  I should get her some corn today - on the cob is her preference but we'll take what we can get!

These guys are a hoot.

3 pm – Back from the vet and the 3rd laser treatment.  Gigi was rarin’ to go for a ride and emerged from the back of the Subaru with all the stature of the Princess she is…one step at a time, acknowledging accolades by sticking her nose higher in the air.  Absolutely regal.   Insisted on walking over to “Potty Park” but not very productive.  Then back to the office building – not a hint of anxiety about entering.  I suspect it is because I told her this was not a hard visit – just a check up and laser treatment and no pain involved.   She was totally calm.  I was amazed.

Once home, I fed her the newly recommended diet – canned corn, canned dogfood.  She’s all in favor of this.

Lesson #2.  Don’t feed lickables on a flat dish – the tongue will pop them out ALL over the place… She loved it and settled down for a long, long sleep.  I'm cleaning the 5' radius from her tongue.

8pm – I offered a walk and Gigi’s eyes lit up.  My objective was to get her outside to potty.  Her objective was to get to her “usual” place for the evening – next to my desk.  So here we sit – me, logging in the events of the day, and Gigi sleeping on her “good side” now, snoring gently.

She never did agree to go out.