12_12 morning update

Not a great night here.

Elvis' half pill of Torbutrol only held him until 4 am. He started back in coughing and hacking, so I got up and let him outside after giving him 1/4 of another pill plus some Guaifinisen. Since I knew he would also need fluid, I gave him a bit of food, Kaopectate and water. He gobbled that down.

Haley and I took benedryl, and even with that Haley wouldn't go back to sleep, so about 4:30, Randall went out and got her and stuck her in bed with us. I hated to "reward" her bad behavior, but in the middle of the night there is only so much whining and yipping we can stand. Not only that, but since her crate is right next to Elvis', she was disturbing him.

Randall got up and left me to sleep. Elvis got his Clavamox and heart pill. When he came to wake me up at 9:30, he said Elvis wasn't doing well. Lots of coughing going on...bad enough that he finally had put him in his crate.

I gave him breakfast, and he didn't clean the bowl. Not so much that he wasn't finished, but I think he was slow because he wasn't as hungry. Everyone has been outside, and I'll put Elvis back in his crate in a bit with the bowl. I suspect he'll polish it off then.

So here's where we are. Still a lot of coughing, hacking and wheezing. This isn't good. My fear is that either the Clavamox isn't working or, worse, this isn't an infection but a progression of his heart disease. If it's the latter, I suspect we're at the end for poor little Elvis.

I plan on calling Liz at the Humane Society in a bit and having a talk about how to handle things from here on out. Randall and I will do everything in our power to pull him through this, but I think Dr. Walthall suspects this problem is from his heart disease, but she's willing to go with an infection as a possibility. Ultimately while we'll do whatever we can, we also won't let him suffer. Right now he's a bit unhappy and uncomfortable, but his problems are controllable. If, however, there won't be any improvement, we'll have a decision to make.

I've got a lot of kitchen stuff to do this morning, but I'll post an update this afternoon.