October 20, evening

OK. Had a good talk with Elvis' vet, Dr. Walthall, and what we've decided to do is keep him on the 1cc of Lasix twice a day and give him 1/2 a cough tablet twice a day. This new cough medicine is working like a suppressant, even though it's actually an expectorant.

Pretty much as long as this works for him, it's what I will do. I have his new heart medicine here, Enalapril, and while the dosage would be low, it's got some nasty side effects that can crop up. So what I'll do is keep the Lasix and cough medicine going, and when it stops working, I'll add this new medicine into the rotation. When that happens, Dr. Walthall will need to run a panel to check is kidneys and liver and then do follow-up panels occasionally.

I'm hoping that this won't be necessary, but we'll have to play it by ear. I've got a bit of wiggle room with the two medicines he's currently on, so I'm hoping I can tweak them as necessary for quite some time. I've also promised to update them every 10 days to two weeks.

When Randall went to pick up the meds, Dr. Walthall mentioned that I should keep an eye on his body mass. If he begins to lose it, she thinks she can treat the hatching heartworms which are the cause. This is another nasty treatment and something I would prefer not doing until the holidays are over since there is a considerable number of side effects to the treatment. I'll want her to see Elvis in early December, and she and I can go over the options then. If he needs it sooner, then it's what needs to be done, but I'm keeping my fingers crossed that we can wait some for it.

All in all, though, he's doing very well. My mother is still here and won't leave until Friday, so he's getting some socialization and handling it well. He doesn't handle routine changes very well, but he's actually coping better than I thought he would.

I will probably move to updating the blog every three to four days unless something changes. I do hope to get more pictures of him later this week after the yard is mowed and he's had a bath.