Vocal Voices

Haven't posted since the results because there hasn't been much to say. Little things we've noticed, but not really enough for anyone else to see and I wanted you to have good news.
Added together it's sounding good now

She's not going out into the garden every half hour or so. She was just going two steps and laying down, not looking at anything in particular, not even facing the garden, but steroids made me restless although exhausted, and I guessed she felt the same.
Now she comes out when we suggest it (she still needs reminding a bit to have a drink and a wee), and she's often sitting up, looking around, and looking at us as we talk, head cocked to try and catch words she knows.
She still spends quite a lot of time lying by the back door (inside) but not as much; it was hard to get her into the living room and she'd lie down for a few minutes then get up again. Now when she sleeps she's properly sleeping, and relaxed.

She's drooling less. This has been awful, presumably because she's been so hungry (she's not a drooler); the patch of kitchen floor by her mouth as she lies down has been wet all the time; now it's only some of the time, and less so.
And of course she's going out. Until today, she'd been going to the postbox and back, probably about 10 minutes total. And coming back was a bit more ploddy, tired.
Today she went all the way to the end of the road we're off, a really long way comparatively, and she was enthusiastic, even pulling a bit! She stumbled/fell just once, by the postbox on the way back, she tried to turn a bit too fast, other than that she was fine.
And at last, she's less hungry. In fact she's had nothing since 11.20 which is amazing, and she's asleep now so it will be a while longer yet.
She had her 10mg of steroids this morning; tomorrow she has none, then on Tuesday just 5mg. None on Wednesday and 5 mg Thursday. And if it goes well, no more.
Back to the vet on Saturday, when they will take more blood to check how it's going with the reduced/stopped steroids.
Still a long way to go, but she's getting there

You know, I've just been lying in the bath thinking about Minnie and came on to see how she was. Great minds eh!

That is such good news Di - she is definitely on the mend now. It is such a huge relief isn't it when they start getting better.

Today has been weigh day for Millie and frustratingly she has lost weight. She has gone from 13.5 kilos to 12.8. She is eating fine and is hardly ever sick so we know that it is the change in food that has done it. This has been her first full week on the trays of Wainwrights mixed with the small tins of AD. We looked into the calorific value and know that a tray of Wainwrights has the same amount of calories in as a tin of ID - but she was on two tins of ID a day, so in fact her calorific intake has halved (she sometimes has more than one tray of Wainwrights, but generally has one tray of that and two tins of the AD a day).

But the ID and AD diet just isn't sustainable financially - the ID is £2 a tin and the AD £1.50 a tin - and she was on two tins of each a day, so it was costing us £7 a day to feed her!!!

I see the weight loss as a blip really - if she were on a diet to lose weight then she would have lost loads on a crash diet but once her eating went onto a normal diet she would have gained some before she started losing again. And this is the same, only in reverse!

She is also much more active now than she was a few weeks ago. We are going to monitor it over the next couple of weeks and if she continues to lose weight then we will switch back to the ID diet.

She obviously isn't hungry as I have just put her food out and she hasn't bothered to come down for it - she is snoring away at the top of the stairs.

Whoops - sorry. I ended up hijacking your thread about Minnie!!!

Di, it's so lovely to come on here and read how well Minnie is doing

Debih, MIllie too

Thanks both
Debih only you and I know just how exhausting all this is for us, and it's so wonderful to be able to just ignore her for an hour or even two!

It's a real balancing act the food, isn't it. We're going to have it the other way around, hopefully her appetite will return to normal as the steroids wear off, but she may end up overweight. Maybe you could be adding eg chicken and rice, which would be a lot cheaper than the tins. When I cooked the hearts for Minnie, with added carrots and rice, once processed it was the texture of the tinned stuff.
No pork products, but anything like that would help wouldn't it? The fish I've been buying is tesco frozen pollock, only £1.75 for a big bagful. They're really handy as they cook in the same time as white rice so just go into the same pan then mix it all together.

Such brilliant news Di and Debih. Debih don't forget 13.5 to 12.8 is only 14gms, not even an ounce, so really nothing.

Did Minnie walk past Andy"s Di?

It's over a pound in imperial actually Shell xxx

She did MM, way past Andy's

And yes Kaz is right, 12.8 kg to 13.5 is 700g, and 1lb is 454g. It's not much but obviously shouldn't keep dropping.
Will you weigh her an extra time this week Debih?

Really enjoyed reading this about Minnie Di. xx

I was counting in gms not kilos sorry (I am old money really)

Diflower wrote:Thanks both
Debih only you and I know just how exhausting all this is for us, and it's so wonderful to be able to just ignore her for an hour or even two!

It's a real balancing act the food, isn't it. We're going to have it the other way around, hopefully her appetite will return to normal as the steroids wear off, but she may end up overweight. Maybe you could be adding eg chicken and rice, which would be a lot cheaper than the tins. When I cooked the hearts for Minnie, with added carrots and rice, once processed it was the texture of the tinned stuff.
No pork products, but anything like that would help wouldn't it? The fish I've been buying is tesco frozen pollock, only £1.75 for a big bagful. They're really handy as they cook in the same time as white rice so just go into the same pan then mix it all together.

I think I'll give the proper food a try Di. I think it will have to be quite low fat so the rice and fish would be fine. I wonder if she will manage the hearts - they might be a little rich for her but I will give them a go.