 Update on Zuzi
My 14 year old little Yorkie, Zuzi, was diagnosed with congestive heart failure yesterday. She's been coughing a lot for the past several weeks and the vet and I thought it might be kennel cough.
She had a terrible kidney infection which slowed her down and we got that cured but her heart is enlarged 3 times bigger than it should on the right side and her liver isn't so good either. She has kidney stones but they aren't bothering her.
So off to the vet again making it 3 times in 3 weeks. The vet said she didn't think it was kennel cough because she wasn't getting better but it is her heart. Zuzi is now on 5 different meds.
2 for her heart, 1 for the congestive heart failure (a diuretic), cough medicine, and an antibiotic because they think she might have a mild case of pneumonia. She's also on a special diet now (which she LOVES). She has more medications than I do!
She did pretty well last night but woke up around 2:30AM coughing. I gave her some cough medicine and her dose of diuretic and she settled back down and slept great. I think the diuretic which pull the fluid away from her heart and lungs is going to really help with the coughing. I'll probably have to give it to her twice a day. The vet was hoping we could get away with one dose a day so she wouldn't have to drink too much and get up in the night to potty. I rather have her go out than cough.
The vet said if we didn't treat her she be gone in a month or two. We can hope that with meds we will have her for maybe a year. I think it will be somewhere between there. Her heart is pretty bad and her liver isn't much better.
If you could, please send good thoughts or prayers to little Zuzi. She's been with us for so long and through so many changes in our lives. I can't really imagine her not being around. So, we will just enjoy her as we can and hopefully we will know when the right time is for her.
Thanks,
Shelley |