Sadie's Christmas Eve Run

Sadie did a lot of nose exploration this morning but with perfect temps and no wind, she got in her morning run. With snow predicted for later this afternoon, that might mean another blog post and more photos later today.

Winston Is Much Better So Far Today

What a difference a day makes, not only the weather is drastically different but Winston so far is having a great day. Yesterdays heavy storms, strong winds and a lot of sideways rain turned into blue skies, white clouds with some sunshine.

No whining at all so far today. He slept from 910am - 1148am. Unlike yesterday hopped to his two front feet when I asked him if he needed to go outside. I propped open the door, went back and put the taped rolled t-shirt under his hips and he took off at a fast pace. Down the two steps and out to the driveway, where his nose caught something for him to stop and smell.

With the sunshine and temps near 50° I moved him to the backyard where he enjoyed the smells in the air and then wanted to walk more. When we came back in, just as I put the gate up he raised his right rear leg to attempt to scratch his ear.

"who says I'm injured"

I had brought out a little kibble in my hand to add to the prednisone to feed Winston. A couple of small pieces of kibble dropped from my hand and of course the bloodhounds were all over that small piece of food and were searching for more.

As I write this he is now whining to make me take the gate down from his gated area so he must be feeling much better than yesterday afternoon.

After my earlier post this morning, Stella and Sadie went outside. I thought they would have the chance to burn off some energy but that wasn't the case. They both locked into some new smells in their territory and off they went in search of who/what it was. At no time did they want to run nor want to play.

It has to be that stray cat

So we came back inside where Winston was still sleeping. Stella decided to take over for Sadie in watching over Winston ... but I caught her about to yawn on the job.

Sadie thinks about staying out longer, she can see it's nice outside today.

So where is Heidi on this beautiful day???? Where else ........ She has refused every offer to go outside and enjoy the sunshine. She has that "don't bother me" look this morning.

It's good to see a little improvement from him today, from the "tropics" of southern Indiana.

Day 6 - New Meds & Treatment

Sometime after lunch yesterday I had the feeling that Winston was not feeling good. He had whined most of the afternoon, slept very little like had the previous days and one thing that really started to worry me ... every time I had picked him up on Wednesday he cried a little. That told me something was injured or hurting inside him.

Of course with the heavy storm activity that was not a real help to getting him to dump his tanks outside. He is house trained too good to go inside. With the heavy storm winds and a very wet carport, he wouldn't go there either ... so he didn't go at all since his last around 1130am. Even into the night he would just sit there.

In previous days as soon as I would open and prop the door open before I would go back to pick him up, he would always take off dragging his legs and try to get out the door. Not yesterday afternoon nor last night.

He was restless ... couldn't find a place or a comfortable position for him to lay in to sleep. I also noticed he quit laying on his sides and when he did lay down he would move his front paws outward in short choppy steps one foot at a time. Then would lay down but only on his stomach.

All through the afternoon watching him and hearing him whine at different times, I thought we might not even make it to treatment and I might have to put him down. You could tell by his eyes that he wasn't feeling well, even though with basset hound eyes that is sometimes hard to tell any day, good or bad.

I called the vet office and was able to connect with my regular vet and who just saw Winston last week for annual rabies shot and annual check up. He passed with flying colors and has a very strong heart for his age.

He decided a different treatment than the 5 days of Rimadyl and see if he would come around. They gave me a 40 pill Pedrisone schedule, heavy at first and then tapered down in 5 day increments. Also the big news is, Winston will get his first K-Laser treatment on Saturday afternoon. Those will take place twice per week.

After reading about the laser treatment I am feeling pretty encouraged although I know there are no promises. The pednisone I have used on past basset hounds I've had and even at times Winston has used a small dose when tweaking his back.

So was we turned out the lights last night I was not sure what was in store for today .. Christmas Eve. I took his gate down, gave him a pillow and placed mine next to it. Opened the sleeping bag up and crawled in for what I expected to be about a 3 hour nap before I would hear him whining to go out.

The GREAT news is ... he slept through the night until the bloodhounds woke us up around 630am. I slowly picked him up with both arms under him ... no yelping!! About the time I get to the open door to go outside I see a shooting stream of pee, something I had not seen since the last time I changed the diapers of my friends little boy ... too many years ago. That shooting stream lasted at least to the driveway maybe longer.

Proof of the large projectile 

 Luckily the storms with tornado warnings yesterday afternoon had blown through there was a clear star studded sky with a full moon that was bright enough I could see what Winston was doing. Since he had dumped his tanks on the way, yes about the time we got to the driveway he dropped "firm bombs" from the drive into the yard as I carried him.

So as he sat still with his nose in the air sniffing the breeze. Stella and Sadie stayed nearby but found their spots to dump tanks, while I enjoyed the clear sky and full moon. We did the normal routine of piling back in bed before their breakfast and sleeping a few more hours. That bed mattress never felt so good. We also got about an hour of sleep longer than normal until 838am.

All the hounds had breakfast, water. Winston has figured out his new kingdom is the living room blankets gated and blocked. He seems fine with that today as he lays there sleeping since breakfast.

The bloodhounds??? Well they are playing quietly and almost like in slow motion ... my only guess is they don't want to wake up Winston. After I post this the Sadie, Stella and I are headed outside where they can blow off some cabin fever.

Stella did patrol the perimeter for the first time in a long time this morning.

Merry Christmas everyone ... with extremely warm weather today it doesn't have a "feel" of Christmas ... reminds me of the times I lived in southern California.

That's it for this morning from the "tropics" of southern Indiana.