For the past few months, Alice hasn’t been eating well. We’ve had to hand feed her more and more often. Eventually she was refusing almost all food. So last week I had a phone call with the vet, who told me to feed her chicken and rice for a few days and see what she did.
Well, she ate OK the first day, but after that no dice. We had to hand feed her and she wasn’t even finishing all her food.
Also, Felix got a rash over the weekend.
So Monday morning, I called the vet and got Alice and Felix appointments that afternoon.
Felix was an easy case. He has a yeast infection and staph infection. So medicated shampoo and neosporin as well as oral antibiotics.
Alice is more complicated. She has a painful belly, the vet discovered. They took blood and tested her pancreas enzymes in house. They also took a bunch of blood for a full panel to be sent off. They were concerned about her painful tummy and not having pooped in a day and a half, so they also took an X-ray to see if she was just constipated and needed an enema.
Luckily her X-ray and pancreatic enzymes were normal. For now, she has an anti-nausea medication to take. We will wait and see what the blood work says. Since she tends to eat well on a new food for a day or two, we have a list of foods she can potentially eat that we can switch up so she gets something different every day or two for a bit.
I just made a new batch of dog food with chicken (Alice loves chicken– Hestia can’t have it, so Hestia will eat up the beef and turkey food I have already made) and omitted the spices. Hopefully Alice will eat it (though not looking good at the moment) and the nausea medicine will help.
The vet said that if Alice isn’t eating better by Wednesday, that I should call them back and get an appetite stimulant.
Hopefully we’re able to get it all figured out soon! Little Alice is so special, and we want her to feel good!
Tam came with me to the vet, and Hestia came along for the ride. Hestia stayed in the stroller, while Alice was held by Tam, and I held Felix. We got pictures of the setup, and they are below. Tam is wearing black, and I am wearing a blue dress. Alice and Felix are sable and white Japanese Chin, and Hestia is black and white.
I was so happy Tam came with me. It was a stressful vet visit, and I needed the support and chauffeur. Our new lives together are easier than ever before! I know that the three of us can handle whatever it is that Alice might be going through. She’s our baby!
