I was going to tell you all about how my December was but I have to tell you about my latest health problem. 

Sunday morning I went for a walk with my people and everything was fine.  I marked all the good sniffs like normal.   I was still marking all the sniffs even though there wasn't much pee left in me.  Then my people saw blood on my legs.  I wasn't acting like I had an infection but my woman called several emergency vets to see how long I would be waiting.  We ended up at one that wasn't very far from the Washington border because the ones closest to us were either full or up to a 12-hour wait once we were in the parking lot.

These people took me away from my people and said it would be a couple of hours before the vet saw me and put me in a cage!  I was really, really upset and so were my people because they knew it would make me have really bad health problems for a while.  One of the vets was talking to my man about giving me an injection to try to calm me down when I peed in the cage.  So my people said to test that even though it wasn't the best way to test for an infection.   So I was back in my car within 20 minutes of being taken!  I was having really bad breathing problems when I came out because of the stress of being caged.  My woman decided to back out of the vet's parking lot and park in the one next door.  My people thought I might need my rescue inhaler but my breathing got a lot better when we left the vet.

It took about 45 minutes to get the results, talk to the vet on the phone, and check out.  I spent the whole time eating treats and the Stella and Chewy's patty that my people brought.  If my man wasn't fast enough with the treats, I'd whack him a good one with my paw.

The Sunday vet didn't think it was an infection so Tuesday I went to my regular vet for an ultrasound of my bladder.   I was still having blood but still only when my bladder was empty and I was trying to mark things.  Because of this, my vet only did my bladder because I was able to be on my side instead of my back which is better for my trachea and esophagus.  If she checked my kidneys and stuff, I'd have to be on my back for a long time.  And both people got to come in with me to give me love while they did it!  My man carried me into the exam room because I wasn't supposed to pee before she did the scan and they knew I would probably pee on the sidewalk but I wouldn't want to pee in the building.  I shook a ton but my breathing never got bad the entire time!

My vet didn't see anything bad but said she saw stuff that could be crystals or bacteria so she stuck a needle in my bladder and stole my pee.  I also got weighed while I was there and I gained 0.4 lbs. since January 3 when I had my last x-rays.  Everyone was very happy.  I got to go out and pee and wait on my car while the vet looked at my pee under a microscope and they ran something called an "in-house urinalysis."  She said they couldn't tell if I had a urinary tract infection or not.  I didn't have any crystals and they couldn't tell if they saw any bacteria or not.  So the pee that she stole was sent to a place that will see if anything grows in it.  We all decided to give me antibiotics until the test results come back because there was a chance that I have a super mild infection that is causing me to pee blood sometimes but no other symptoms.

I took my 1st antibiotic after we got home Tuesday night and the 2nd one Wednesday morning before my walk.  I didn't have any blood when I peed on Wednesday.  I also didn't have any blood today!

We should know next week if I have a urinary tract infection.  If I don't, then I I have something called sterile or interstitial cystitis.  This is inflammation in the bladder but without any infection.  An infection is easier to treat.

December 19, I went to bed and was completely normal.  When I got up early on the 20th, I wasn’t myself.  I still wasn’t normal by the time I would want to go for a walk so my people called my vet.  I wasn’t interested in anything and my breathing wasn’t right.  The vet people said to bring me in by 9 when my vet came in.

I got checked in and they came out to get me.  My vet was waiting for me inside the door.  When she brought me out 20 minutes later she said I had aspiration pneumonia again.  My people expected that was going to be what was wrong.  The good news was my collapsing trachea hasn’t gotten any worse than it was when I had aspiration pneumonia 25 months before.  

I got 2 kinds of antibiotics, 1 that I had to take once a day and the other that I had to take twice a day, and I got to come home.  I wasn’t interested in my regular raw food so my woman got out a can of dog food that they had for me to take my medications in and I ate some of that.  I had to go into the hall bathroom later that day after the shower had been on for a while so I could breathe in the steam. 

The 21st, I woke my woman up to go for a short walk and I was able walk around without panting or having rattly lungs.  I was super interested in my cat food that had antibiotics hidden in it and ate most of my regular breakfast.  Since I was showing interest in canned food, my woman went to the local pet store and got me a bunch of canned food.  My vet said I was too thin which my people already knew and shouldn’t lose any more weight, and should gain weight if possible, so my people wanted to have canned food in case I stopped eating my regular food again. 

As I got better, I did a couple more steams and my woman figured out what to set my cold laser to to help my lungs clear up.

I stopped wanting to eat my breakfasts again and my people realized it was because the raw chicken was too sticky and I didn’t like how it felt with my megaesophagus.  Before I got sick, my woman had picked up some freeze dried Stella and Chewy’s raw patties to have for emergency food.  So they started giving me some of those patties plus my regular raw dinners and canned dog food.  The canned dog food gets pureed using a stick blender so it doesn't cause problems, even the ones that are pates.

For a week, I ate 4 Stella and Chewy's patties, a can of dog food, my full dinner, and all my normal snacks.  Then I stopped eating it all so my people gave me fewer patties and less of my regular food.

I had my 2-week follow up x-rays on January 3 and my lungs were completely clear of pneumonia.  My vet kept me on the antibiotics for 3 more weeks to make sure there wasn’t anything left.   

My people have kept adjusting what I eat, how much I eat, and how often I eat.  Now I’m eating 4 Stella and Chewy’s patties, ¾ of a can of dog food, half my normal raw dinner, plus my normal snacks and extra treats.  And my people say I’m starting to very slowly gain some weight.

I got sick in December and my people have been helping me get better so they haven't been helping me with updating my website lately.  They've had to change how I eat, what I eat, and how much I eat.  We seem to have everything under control now and I'll be making a lot of updates soon and sharing lots of pictures!