Puppy Snuggles: The Roller Coaster

I don't think I can put into words how incredibly difficult this has been for our little family. Sampson has pretty much lost his play mate and is increasingly rambunctious since he hasn't had much attention or exercise. He was used to playing tug-of-war in the yard and running around like crazy with Bovver every day. I haven't taken him on any walks for fear of getting Bovver too excited when we leave and too anxious while we're gone. Bovver has always been a pretty jealous boy and he doesn't like when he is not included. Although Sam may not be playing much, he has been eating a lot! Bovver has rejected pretty much everything we have cooked for him so Sam reaps the benefits. Bovver won't eat boiled chicken, ground chicken, ground turkey, ground pork, dry food, wet food, dry food soaked in water and heated up, etc. We have settled him on a diet of beef burgers cooked on the grill and baby carrots, because that is all he wants to eat (and the occasional Three Dog Bakery treat from his grandma!).

Bovver's chemo really took a lot out of him. He was so tired on Friday and Saturday and was sleeping a lot. It also seemed to make his Myasthenia Gravis worse. He was having a really hard time getting around this weekend and we had to carry him almost everywhere. To the kitchen in the morning for pills and breakfast, then outside, then to his bed, then outside again, then to his chair, etc. On Saturday morning we woke up to him vomiting at the foot of the bed. Eric cleaned up and we tried to go back to sleep for a bit, but then Sampson got up and puked on the floor. No idea why Sampson was sick, he seemed fine immediately after and was fine for the rest of the day. Sympathy sickness?

On Saturday Bovver developed a pretty bad cough. It seemed to get worse as the day went on. He also started to have some strange muscle spasm like side effect where his neck and shoulders would hunch up, almost as if he was pulling his head into his body. We called his vet and prayed we didn't have to take him into the emergency room. They said it sounded like some kind of upper respiratory infection and to take him in on Monday unless things got worse. He looked so, so sad. He kept looking up at Eric like he was trying to give him some kind of message. We laid with him and pet him and cried. We started to think he was nearing the end. We thought maybe we made the wrong choice doing chemo. I fell asleep on his dog bed with him until Eric woke us up and moved us to bed. 

On Sunday I woke up early and gave Bovver his medication in bed. I came back to the kitchen to start getting the boy's breakfast ready and Bovver came prancing out of the bedroom. He ate all his breakfast (two hamburgers) and then started to PLAY with SAMPSON! Sampson ran up to me with his toy as I was sitting on the floor with Bovver and Bovv just grabbed it from him and started to play tug-of-war. I had the biggest smile on my face!!! I couldn't believe he went from where he was the night before to that. Totally amazed. Totally in awe of his perseverance. I can't tell you how reassuring that was. 

Anyways, I called the doctor this morning and explained his cough over the weekend and the other strange symptoms and she said to bring him in today for X-rays of his chest as they believe he may have aspiration pneumonia. Bring it on roller coaster.