Mallery's Senior Years Part 3

                                                             February 2015

After our breathing scare and need for predinsone, after a month or so Mallery was back to herself. We were able to continue life with biking the bike trails in Gulf Shores.

And shopping at Lowe's to pick out stuff to tell our contractor what to use for our bathroom renovations.

Before we left Gulf Shores AL. for Michigan, I was having a lot of problems with Mallery eating. I didn't know if she was just being her picky self or she didn't have an appetite.

More bike rides in a Bike trailer that I purchased for my granddaughter Madalena and Mallery.

We left Gulf Shores, AL. April 10 and drove to our home in Michigan. After unloading our Nest, we drove to Flint, MI. and delivered our Nest to her new owners, than headed to Iowa. At Joe's mom's, I made an appointment to have Mallery seen by her veterinary. Her lose of appetite continued and I was told after a call to my veterinary in Gulf Shores, she should be seen when we arrive in Iowa.

Mallery watching TV. Not sure what she was seeing, excepts maybe some light?

Test confirmed Mallery was in Kidney Failure. She had always been 7 lbs, and now was 5lbs. (Lack of appetite is a symptom of kidney disease).

We were sent to the Eastern Iowa Veterinary Specialty Center, and given the choice to put Mallery to sleep or to put her into the clinic for 1 to 3 nights. (April 2015 Cedar Rapids, Iowa).

She stayed in the clinic for 3 nights, and was evaluated on her kidney failure degree. We were trained how to deliver daily subcutaneous fluids at her regular veterinary.

On May 2, 2015 Mallery turned 14 years old while we were still in Iowa. What a Blessing she got to live much longer than I thought she might.

I stayed at my mom's a few nights. Because her building doesn't allow dogs, we had to sneak Mallery in, in a bag with a blanket over it. I would tell her to be quiet while I climbed the 3 floors to my mom's. She always knew the memo to be quiet!

The kidney disease was causing Mallery to have incontinence, so we started putting diapers on her.

While in Iowa Mallery enjoyed backseat drives with the moon roof open. Her nose was enjoying all the fast food smells.

We headed back to Michigan after loading up a moving van full of our stuff that had been stored in Iowa for the 6 years, while we had traveled the USA. Mallery's booster seat fit between us in the truck front seat. ( May 2015)

Mallery's kidney levels greatly improved after taking Pet Wellbeing Kidney Support Gold (which has excellent reviews) and her daily fluid treatments. (June2015)

She was eating better but her weight maintained at 5 lbs

Once we got back to our Michigan home, Mallery enjoyed many good days enjoying her front yard. (May 2015- Boyne City, MI.)

She took many naps in and out of the sun.

And more naps.

June had a few cool days where I would put a blanket on her after she would crawl into her kennel. She has no fat or muscle and is very boney, so she gets cold very easy. Many times she would come out of her kennel, blanket and all.

We bought a new SUV, and Mallery didn't like it for the first day, but she adjusted pretty fast in a few day.

We took boat rides, but Mallery was very nervous. She didn't like it when we left her, so we had no choice but to bring her. (June 2015 Michigan)

Most of the time I had to hold her real tight and tell her, she was OK and I would protect her. Rides only lasted for an hour and it was time to head home. (She had to go to the bathroom, and didn't feel comfortable wetting her diaper in the boat).
In June Mallery started new symptoms which ended up being seizures. They started out with her front leg going up and or her head down as seen in video below. (June 2015)

After that she had a couple full blown seizures I put her on Vet Select Nuroplex Formula which completely eliminated the seizures. Mallery really enjoyed her 2 to 5 times a day, walk up and down her alley. It was her favorite thing to do each day. It is something that didn't change unlike the inside of our house. With the construction of the bathrooms, at first the bedroom was in the living room. Then we moved to the bedroom and the dining room became the living room again. So confusing to a half blind dog who also has some confusion already. (July 2015)

Company came for the summer and we picked them up at the airport.

At a outside restaurant with guest, and Mallery was parked just on the other side of the cable next to our table. (It was a really breezy and cooler day so she didn't get hot).

Mallery was doing really well and we had stretched her fluid treatments out to every 5 days.

After we finally got our furniture in the living room, she very seldom sat with me in the there. This was a rare occassion when she fell asleep with Joe on the couch. She liked to be in the kennel in the dinning room when napping.

Once the fence was up Mallery really enjoyed her freedom wondering around without her leash.

After wondering for a while, she would find a shady spot and took a nap.

When we went shopping in stores that she was not suppose to be in, she was really quiet, but would poke her face out every once in a while.(August 2015)

 Mallery was almost blind from cataracts, so she fell out of bed a few times because of her limitations, hence the bed rails. She was a morning sleeper, so she sleeps way past Joe and I getting out of bed in the AM. I had to keep an eye on her, to make sure she didn't fall off the bottom of the bed, so I attach her leash to our two pillows.

She usually barked to let us know when she had woke up and wanted someone to come get her. Here, she still has her blanket on top of her!

Another morning view of our "Sleeping Beauty" Not a morning girl at all!

The constant stress of weeks of visitors was not easy on Mallery. Her subcutaneous fluid administration treatments quickly returned to every other day or daily with all the confusion, starting with Joe's family through my family. She seems to be doing a little better after a month of normalcy.

On a boating day, Joe drove slowly, as we enjoyed the beautiful weather, which also made it much better for Mallery.

Because Mallery had a digestive episode the prior day the vet  wanted us to give Mallery her fluid treatment daily for 2 weeks and then back to every other day. We just finished up the 2 weeks of daily treatments and started back to the every other day. Luckily Mallery has seemed to mellow out with the treatments. I must have got better at it, because Mallery hardly flinches when sticking the needle under her skin. This of course makes it much easier for all of us.

When we got home Mallery got real excited  to be on land again! She always did this after boat rides.

"Good morning sunshine"  We still had nice weather mid September, so we took the boat out and got half way to the town of Charlevoix. The whole day we took it slow, and enjoyed the weather. It was too hot, so Mallery didn't have her life jacket on during our slow ride. As we headed back, the day cooled down and I put Mallery's life jacket on. Joe put his "foot to the pedal" so to speak, to get home faster. The video below is of Mallery swimming, either because we were going fast or because she had a life jacket on. She had never done this before, so either it was instincts or she remembers being put in water when she was younger with a life jacket on. Anyway it was way cute! (Sept 2015)

Mallery under the dash to cool down from the sun when it came out.

We took our last boat ride on October 11th.. This is a selfie of Mallery enjoying the sun and smells during our ride.(Oct 2015)

I try to get pictures of just her, but it is not easy, with a dog who is constantly moving and smelling all the different smells in the air. If Joe goes nice and slow, she really enjoys her rides now.The next video was back home. It shows how blind she had got in the last 9 months.

I have started Mallery on 2 new supplements that I heard about on a chat room for dogs with cancer. I started her on the Artemix first, but then read that most started their dogs on the Artemisinin first, as it is suppose to have less side effects. I found the exact opposite. When I gave Mallery the Artemisinin, she was very hyper and whined and wouldn't relax to go to sleep. (You must give it at night, 3 to 4 hours after her last meal). Where as when I gave her the Artemix, it conks her out and she sleeps most the night. So currently I am only giving Mallery the Artemix. The theory is that this supplement is like chemo that kills cancer cells without killing healthy cells. Because it kills cancer cells, her blood stream is over loaded with dead cancer cells creating an over load of toxic waste or what is called die off. Because of the need to eliminate the toxic waste, you need to be able to detox it from the body. The daily or every other day fluid treatments really help the flushing out of the toxins.Thankfully Mallery seems to be doing extremely well with the fluid treatments. There is talk that this might some day be a treatment for people with cancer, but it needs years of testing first.

Mallery was still enjoying her yard, even though she seemed to have more confusion. At least she was in a familiar place, which worried us about our upcoming time in Gulf Shores, AL., in another new place! (November 2015)

 

 

I started giving Mallery massages 2 times a day with essential oils, as I was using them also.

She liked the massages, but not the strong smells.

As colder weather approached, Mallery didn't enjoyed it much. (November 2015)

Every time we came home from our hour of exercise on walks, Mallery seemed out of sorts, because we had left her behind. I told Joe I was going to try taking her on our next walk. I got her kangaroo pouch out, and put her in, with two coats on.

Then I wrapped her blanket around on the outside. I was concerned she would want to get down after 10 minutes and want to walk, which ends up being circle walks, or very slow walks. To our surprise she loved it and never wanted to get down the whole time. She was snug as a bug in a rug and enjoyed all the smells from the pouch.

At this point Mallery had decided she didn't like sleeping with us anymore at night. She seemed much happier in her kennel in our bedroom. I tried many times to get her to stay with us, but she just kept whining and pulling on her leash which was attached to me, until I had to put her down to her kennel. I was the one who didn't want to let her go. While she is in bed with me, I can keep an ear out for her better during the night. I can feel her shiver and pull up a blanket on her. If she starts to pant, I can uncover her. You get the picture. Once a mother, always a mother!  This was really good though, because we could finally sleep without bed rails, and we wouldn't have to bring them with us on our trip to Gulf Shores. (which we really didn't have room for anyway. Funny how things just work out). It took me a while, but I got use to her sleeping in her own bed.

This picture was taken of Mallery just a few days before we left Northern Michigan. It was a miracle that she was still with us. Joe and I never thought we would be leaving with her. She was very happy at our new cottage cabin on the lake. It was a good summer for all of us.

My daughter sent a Facebook picture of how you could take a man's sock and cut it up and make a hat and sweater for a dog. I cut the hat too short, and the sweater, well lets just say, it was not going over Mallery's head and shoulders, and she wanted nothing of it. How little does the dog have to be, to fit this sock sweater. After all, Mallery is only 5 lbs!

One last walk up the alley before we hit the road.

The Beast was filled to overflow, with a tunnel view out the back window. Next stop, warmer weather!