Another Solid Day For Winston

Last night as I glanced up, I saw I had been sleeping sitting up on the couch for an hour. All the hounds were sleeping with Sadie and Heidi snoring. It was only a little after 9pm. I didn't want to wake up Winston, thinking sleep was better than anything. So I turned off the light and headed to my bedroom. It was a chance I was taking since I had not slept in separate rooms with Winston since he was hurt.

I woke up at the "new normal" 3:09am. Not sure why but that seems to be the time lately. Darkness, really quiet, not a sound from the hounds. I wanted to see how Winston had done after his solid 8 hours of sleep by then. As I looked around the corner, Winston was still sleeping ... Heidi had moved into the confined area via under the end table and was sleeping next to him.

As I was moving around the house, Winston sat up, wagging his tail over the soft inside liner of his Coleman sleeping bag. I gave him a bowl of water, then slipped the t-shirt harness under him as we walked out the door ... his tail wagging.

Winston had been able to control his bladder for over 8 hours and slept most of those hours. That's not out of the ordinary for him, except for Sunday where the Prednisone may have played a part in a  couple of accidents by him. Of course when I turned the lights on the bloodhounds woke up ready to escort us outside and a chance for them to dump their tanks.

Back inside Winston went right back to sleep in his confined area. To me that was a great sign that he was feeling better. The last time I had seen him awake was a little after 7:30pm Tuesday night. According to my color coded spreadsheet tracking Winston's health, the last two days/nights have been solid and signs of improvement.

The rest of the morning was normal. I took Winston over to the vet's at 8am for his 2nd Laser Treatment. He loves riding in any vehicle, so traveling is not a problem. He rode over in back of the FJ on the dog bed from the bedroom.

The field flooding I showed here yesterday become worse overnight. Here is a new photo take this morning compared to yesterdays.

This Morning December 30

Yesterday Morning December 29

The hounds didn't do much in the morning ... went outside a couple of times. Pretty lazy.

I am not sure what the laser treatment does for Winston immediately. I know what the purpose is. Soon after he arrived back home after his 2nd laser treatment this morning he fell into a deep sleep. That's a good thing. I could only equate it to coming home after I get an 1-1/2 massage and sleeping the rest of the day due to the relaxed feeling.

Stella Stood Watch Over Winston

Sometime around 2pm I turned off my IU basketball game that was ugly for major college basket ball. Winston was still sleeping since his lunch. I left him there and headed for the bedroom for what i thought was a short siesta. An hour and a half later I found that out to be not true. I wake up hearing something ... yes you guessed it.

Winston had escaped from his makeshift jail and had walked dragging his rear legs from the corner of the living room, around the corner, down a short hallway and into the bedroom ... he was lying on the dog bed on the floor, whining to get up on my bed.

Yet with the new rules installed after reading the link last night on how to treat a disc problem for a dog, I carried him back to his living room confined bed, reinforced the side of it where he pushed out the box and heater to move between them. I went back to bed since I was that tired and slept until 5:07pm.

Winston was still asleep when I peeked around the corner. It was good to see him sleeping a lot today. So at that time it was the normal routine.

• Give Winston water behind the gated area
• While he is drinking put on my jacket, prop the storm door open
• Bloodhounds go out the open door immediately
• By this time Winston is finished drinking water - move him forward over the harness
• Lift his hips as he wags his tail walking towards the yard
• Dumps tanks - I carry him back inside because he likes to wander if we try the harness thing back to the house

Only this time, as I open the door, sitting on my step is a delivery from FedEx .. a gift from my college friends scattered throughout the USA. A box from Lou Malnati's Pizza Taste of Chicago ... 2 deep dish pizzas along with a deep dish apple pie.

Of course the hounds are all excited as I open the box...they ALWAYS assume food - even Heidi comes sprinting from her bed. Winston curbs his excitement and doesn't move a lot but his tail is wagging 90 mph.

So the first pizza went into the oven, the apple pie went in the oven after the pizza was done ... I should have used the two ovens I have not just the smaller one, I guess.

So we didn't do much at all today ... lots of rest for him and I.

Sometime around 6:07 pm, Winston has decided once again he has had enough "bed rest". Whining to get out. When the gate comes down he wants to walk dragging his feet as I stop him. Take him outside to only find out that he wants to walk forever in the front yard acting like he is looking for a place to pee or poop ... before I realize he is just wanting to walk!! LOL

He finally gives up hope of escaping around 6:34 pm.

Winston is still sleeping almost 2 hours after he smelled the pizza ... He has had 3 GREAT days in a row.  Wagging his tail a lot when he is awake. He is either confined or outside to pee ... no exceptions. I do make a point of sitting on the floor a lot, hanging out with him and discussing the plan, reassuring him that he's alright.

I have some wire panels on order from Amazon to help in containing him. Thank you to those that emailed me tonight asking if things were okay. All is okay, just a little late posting due to my nap and then enjoying that Chicago deep dish pizza .... then as I try to add photos, Blogger doesn't want to cooperate.

All is good in the "tropics" of Southern Indiana.

Winston Receives 1st K-Laser Treatment

I decided since there is really not a definite end date to Winston's situation, there was really no need to start the title of every day's post with "Day # -" anymore. I mean that counter could go into 3 or 4 digits long ... who knows?  If we were doing a 7 day diet ... that might make it different.

As you saw in the earlier post, Winston spent most of the night in my sleeping bag. A little after 8pm he decided he needed to go out for the end of the day tank dumping effort. He did and then came inside and went back to sleep for the night. I traded my sleeping bag for the hounds Coleman sleeping bag, the one they camp with.

Some time around that infamous "3:09 am", he woke me up someway and needed to go outside. Plus the Prednisone will make him more thirsty than normal so he had some water before I carried him outside. With the flashlight on, I could see him not wasting time doing what he needed to do.

He slept solid until the bloodhounds and Heidi woke up at their normal time, sometime a little after 7am.

If you didn't know he was having problems with this back legs you would have thought this morning was just a routine day for him. He looked great this morning. Being gate-less, he walked (dragging rear feet) over to the bloodhound water bowl to have some of their water. I sat and watched from my desk to see what his next move would be, plus make sure that the bloodhounds didn't accidentally step on him. He turned and went back to his blanket for more sleep.

He looked a lot more like himself this morning. Alert, responding to questions, good appetite and mobile. He walked with my help from the blanket to the yard non stop for the first time, as he usually stops to rest before getting to the yard. He seemed pretty strong today.

Everything went smooth today. There wasn't any kind of crisis to deal with. It's only be a week since his back went bonkers with no known reason. The other hounds seemed to have found a new routine as well as me. All the hounds were fed a little after 12:30 but Stella was laying her head on my arm at the computer desk at 10:30 am ... I told her "no way" and she started what I call a soft howl but I think that may be the way she barks.

After that Winston went outside and did what he had to do before the 11 mile trip to the vet for his first K-Laser treatment. He was excited when I asked him if he wanted to "go" and actually started a little hop on his front feet before I stopped him. I grabbed the rolled up t-shirt and we took off for the back of the FJ. I had put the dog bed in the back so he would have a softer ride.

The treatment lasted only about 7 minutes. She said they have seen a lot of very good results with this treatment but of course ever dog is different so there is no date when I might see some improvement. He was pretty happy, wagging his tail the whole time on the table. He wouldn't be feeling anything from the laser.

He basically came home laid down in his non gated blanket/sleeping bag combo and has been sleeping all day and tonight. He will get up on occasion for water and I only take him out if he shows me he wants to go outside when I ask him. He will let me know now that he wants to and will wait for that taped rolled t-shirt to be placed under him.

On two separate occasions this afternoon while outside, while holding his hips up, I turned his paws to the correct position and very slowly lowered him down to see what a little weight would do and if he would try to stand. He did NOT stand but his legs did not collapse under him like they did last Saturday ... that was very encouraging.

It started raining this afternoon pretty hard off and on. Luckily Winston has gone outside when the rain has let up but Sadie was looking for a place under the over hang near the house and Stella didn't care she was standing in rain.

There's to be a dry spot somewhere

Rain doesn't bother her

I almost forgot but remembered I had no photos today of Heidi. I gave her a 30 minute soak in Epsom Salts. I could tell later tonight it really helped her skin that has improved with the dog food change. I think I can start those soaks on a routine basis while Winston is sleeping.

So that's about all tonight in the tropics. It's feeling good to get back to some kind of normal routine.

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.