I hope you are feeling better. You have so much going on, you have to take care of yourself too. It is hard when you are the only caregiver. I had a similar situation myself. Praying for you, your Dad, Cassie and Muffin.

I think gallbladder is on the right and you can feel it in your back. You should get checked even though the pain passed so you can avoid another emergency type of situation.

Can you get the medicine at a regular pharmacy such as Walmart? Vets charge a lot more for meds. I got what turned out to amoxicillin when Maggie was a puppy and it was $15 for a tiny amount of it. It is a $4 generic at target!

As far as eating you may have broken her....what I mean is that when Maggie was a puppy we had to give her chicken and rice for a while.,we transitioned back to her regular food, but since then she won't eat it without chicken breast(or ground beef--lean and rinsed) mixed in. Perhaps she just doesn't want to eat her old food!

Thanks so much for your concern. As for my gallbladder, I had it out about 15 to 20 years ago. I think it is my colitis, but it is possibly my kidney, either a stone or infection or something else. I see my doctor Thurs, so I will know a little more after Thurs.

As for getting Meds at a regular Pharmacy, that's a good question. I'm just not sure. It is Viagra, but it is in a tiny dose 0.25 ml. 2X a day. It's a conversion Pharmacy-I'm not totally sure what that is, I think they convert from pills to liquids or visa versa, and also convert from people to animal doses, etc, and can give very tiny doses. I'll have to check that out.

As for "breaking" :-) her, yup, you're probably right, I probably did, and now she eats Costco white meat chicken like the devil, but is refusing her regular food, or will only take a few licks of the baby food. You're right, she probably doesn't want to eat her regular food now! So now I have to find a new regular food or what??????:confused:

That would be done at a compounding pharmacy. I think one in AZ does mail order and has the best prices.

For feeding, you'll have to start mixing in a tiny bit of her regular food (ground to dust and mixed real well so she can't separate it out) then very gradually add more each day until she's eating more of the dog food than chicken....

That's what we do. We don't quite going it, but shred it very tiny and then (hubby does it best) get in there with your whole hands and sort of try to grind it into the kibble, pretty much like the poster above said. You can start with just a 1/4 of kibble or so and hopefully raise it up. Maggie gets about 1/2 cup royal canine and about a table spoon of chicken...maybe more. She doesn't always finis that half cup either (per day). Daddy has spoiled her so that after she eats a little more than half she backs up and looks at him, and he mixes in more chicken. Sometimes we add a little bit of American cheese, just a tiny bit.

The problem with all this is getting a caregiver to do the same thing. I have prepped the mixture ahead of time and left it in the fridge. A few seconds in the micro seems to do it. I wonder if people with big dogs ever have to deal,with this, or do they just eat whatever isn't tied down?

You could always go with home cooking...as well. Many here do it and their pups thrive on it. Just a thought. Praying, for Cassie, you, your dad and can't forget Muffin.

Oh my God, you're right LOL, I'm so :eek: embarrassed! Yes of course, compounding pharmacy, not conversion pharmacy. I feel really dumb! :(

Yes, it seems that is what I have to do. Her food is RAW, and it is wet, so it's going to be a little difficult, but I think I can do it. Heres to pulverizing RAW chicken and veggies. I'll Give it a try.

Thanks!!!!

That is another option I was considering. Can you tell me what you do? I did a home cooking diet with my wonderful Merlin, when he was suffering from End Stage Kidney Disease, but it would be different for Cassie and also, I forgot how to do it entirely. What do you do?

Do you happen to know the name of the mail order pharmacy in Arizona or how to contact them? I would be most grateful.

The AZ pharmacy is Diamondback Drugs. I've used them and have had mixed experience with it.

Checking out balanceit.com and petdiets.com would be good places for cooking info.

hi fellow yorkie lovers i have not been on here in awhile,and for very good reason .Do you all remember when i joined this group in janurary i think so scared for my lil 3 years old yorkie Layla,who was very sick and i had took her to vet and she was still sick then didn;t eat for 5 days just what i forced in her with seringe,then she came around and she just every few weeks kept getting a little sick,and coming back around had her to vet too many times to count .well the first of june i came home on a saturday after being gone about 4 hours and noticed she was sick again but bad quick ,so i called vet er line they said she would be fine to take foos and water for 24 hours ,i said no i don;t think she will make it this time they assured me she would ,so i knew better and went to work forcing egg whites and stuff in her,she just threw it back up and past away that night,i have been in such grief loosing her ,just thought you all might like an update ,just wish it would have ended different,i said i would never get another dog ,but i grieved so bad i bought me another yorkie pup in august,bella,and she is a hand ful right now ,and i keeep accidently keep calling her layla ,,so sad still

Thank you so much. I appreciate this. Could you tell me a little about why the experience was mixed? Did they send you the correct meds with the correct dosage? Was that the problem? For some reason balance it.com sounds familiar, maybe that's where I got Merlin's home cooking recipies, it just sounds like I know this place. Is it by a pet nutritionist? But I don't think I'm familiar with pet diets.com. Will research them both.

Thanks a bunch!

I am so sorry for your loss. I have loved and lost one of my babies several years ago, his name was Merlin. He was the love of my life. He was almost 17 when he passed, and I never thought I could get over it, but to lose one so young, it must just be unbearable for you. i'm sure you did everything you could to save her. She is at peace now and you will meet again. I know she is with you, and now I hope you are enjoying Bella's love. Much good wishes to you and your little Bella. I will send prayers for healing your broken heart.
Namaste,
Shellie

Thank you so much,but i do still miss her soo!!

You always will