Mallery's Senior Years Part 2

                                               
                                                       September 2014

Our new home had no ceiling light in the living, and we didn't have any lamps or furniture. Solution. eat in living room when it is light out.

And making our night living space in the dining room where we did have ceiling light. We bought two loungers from the previous owners, which went into the dining room.

Mallery adjusted really fast to the new house, especially the lazy boy chairs, as I am sure it reminds her of our lazy boy in the Nest (motor home).

Mallery showed some very different symptoms that we had never seen before, after we moved into our new home. She acted like she couldn't see me, even though she jump up into the lazy boy and never ran into anything. I would call her name, and she would run going in the opposite direction looking for me. A couple of times she ran right past me while I was calling her name. My daughter said she thought since we didn't have any furniture, our voice's were bouncing off the walls, confusing her where we were. (Unfortunately it started to happen outside soon also).

Then the next day she acted just fine.This happened several times. We wondered if maybe she wasn't getting enough oxygen to the brain. Mallery slept a lot at our new house.  I covered her with her blanket because the weather had turned cold and she couldn't seem to keep warm like she use to. At night, I would wake up and find her laying up against me whimpering. I would find her blanket and cover her up. Unfortunately she moved a lot during the night and I would wake up to her whimpering once again. So I would find her blanket and cover her up once again. My smart daughter said, "Why don't you put a sweater on her at night". Duh, Why didn't I think of that. We did just that, her coat in fact, and that took care of the problem.

We found ourselves running back and forth from the house to the RV, because half our stuff was in the RV and half was in the house. It was a real headache.  I would take Mallery out to the RV sometimes when I went. (Because when I left she would stand by the door and bark constantly until I came back. Barking causes trachea collapse at night). When we got in the RV she didn't want to be there. She kept going to the door and then bark, as saying, "Lets go" Joe and I were concerned how she was going to be when we hit the road again to head south for the winter.

 Mallery enjoyed it best when I was in the recliner with her. Mallery had got her Mojo back. We had been able to get 3 meals a day down her without any digestive issues. It was good to see her more active again and not so weak. She was enjoying the eggs and broccoli added to her Dr recommended dog food. The trick was to get nutrition in her so her immune system could improved. I just hated how she felt so bony when I pet her. I just didn't understand how I didn't figure this out and knew she was really sick. Joe and I just thought she was getting bony because she was getting older. Old people get bony, so I thought dogs got bony also. The clue is when your dog gets bony in just 3 to 4 months, something is wrong. Think maybe cancer?

One more walk down the alley before we hit the road that day, heading south. (Boyne City, MI. 10/14)

We stopped and set up camp in a RV park in Lansing, MI. The next day we had an appointment at MSU Small Animal Clinic. We had to leave her for the day for test, but once we got back for the evaluation, the news was not good.

It had been a long day for Mallery, being away from us and having test, and I am sure the sober mood she was feeling from Joe and I was not helping.

She had been diagnosed with a mass in or pushing against her trachea. A biopsy could be done, but because of her pre-existing collapsing trachea, she had a good chance she wouldn't make it through just the biopsy. All this was just too much too fast, and I could not bare thinking of her dying on the table. We chose to try other avenues. I would never know if it was cancer, or even something catch in her trachea.

We hit the road and headed south the next day. (10/14)

Back in Gulf Shores, AL for  the winter, Mallery seems to be doing better. (12/2014)

During December we took Mallery to the beach and she was her old self and took off running on the beach.

We were concerned she would over do it so I carried her for a while, until she insisted to let her down again. Fortunately she also had a great night also.

We had started her on 4 new supplements to help her different health concerns.

I took lots of picture, knowing I didn't know how long she was going to be with us.

She had such a precious soul.

Christmas 2014 Gulf Shores, AL.

Mallery and her Dad.( Dec 2014). 
On 12/30/2014 
 Mallery had woke up to an extreme breathing and cough that require her  being put on predinsone. It was a real scary time, as I though we were  losing her. The Dr. determined that she was having a allergic reaction to pollen from high humidity during the night which cause pollen to be dispersed. Below is a video of that morning scare before we could get her in to see the veterinary.

 

 

These next pictures were of her after a week of giving her predinsone every 4 hours, day and night.

After a week, we were able to decrease the predinsone amounts and stretching them further apart.

After being on the predinsone for a week we notice she was licking us a lot. I believe now it was because her kidney's were shutting down.

We were able to resume her tricks for treats, something she loved to do. We had taken her ball away from her, the summer of 2014 because of the over exercise it caused, and breathing trouble at night.

Mallery's cataracts were still pretty small, but causing night vision problems.

Because of her cataracts and night vision in spring of 2014 we had changed our sleep arrangements to prevent her falling out of bed. Here is a excerpt of the blog of 4/10/2014, explaining the situation:  Joe and I sleep in a playpen at night now. We had to come up with a new plan for Mallery. The other plans of action were not working. For all you who have not read past blogs, Mallery is our Yorkshire Terrier who is almost 13 years old with cataracts. She has always slept with us, but has fallen out of bed 5 to 6 times, because she does not see the edge of the bed at night. First we put her kennel next to and level to our bed. She would get too hot because she didn't have room to  stretch out in it. Next I put her harness and 5 ft leash on her and tied the leash to a cupboard handle that is above the bed and between Joe and I. I was not sleeping well, because I always worried about her getting tangled in the leash or Joe or I  rolling over onto her. One night I woke up and couldn't get back to sleep, so I put her in the kennel, only to wake up hearing her snorting snot out her nostrils. Her trachea had collapsed ( it always happens at night) and she was in panic mode. She could not bark to let me know she needed help. She couldn't get to me by tromping on top of me. I threw open the kennel door and spent over an hour reassuring her she was OK. When she calms down, her trachea relaxes and she could breath.What if I had not heard her!

 

She was sleeping all night again. Here is a picture of me asking her if she was going to sleep all morning, and she finally woke up,  looked up at me. "Oh did I over sleep and miss something" (1/2015 Gulf Shores, AL.)