Sunday, and no dog park, but Dannii's eating!!

It rained all last night, and the friend that I usually meet up with at the dog park, emailed me last night, saying that she wasn't going to go today.  It turned out to be a nice day with no rain, but that was ok.  I had some things to do, so it was nice staying home for a change. Well, not exactly, has some errands I had to do.

For breakfast, first off I mixed Dannii's appetite pills, his pills for vomiting and a pepcid and his Phenobarbital pills all together, and put them in the baby food (he seems to love the Ham and Cheese by Gerber). I put some on a small teaspoon and he ate it.  He didn't get the whole jar as the pepcid and the other two pills are suppose to be on an empty tummy for a half hour before they can eat.  So, now I mixed a Fresh Factor pill (crushed) and mixed it in the rest of the baby food.   He will not eat the Fresh Factor pill at all, not even as a treat. Which says on the bottle to just drop in the food bowl and they will eat it.  Not my guys!  Even Jenna wouldn't eat, but you know who........yep Fatboy will eat anything!  Can always depend on Zak to eat something when no one else will.  So now I take the Presnisone pills and crush them up also.  Mixed it in with the baby food and Fresh Factor, he ate it.  In the meantime, he's getting several pieces of cooked liver and he eats those up.  Also gave him a few spoonfulls of Call of the Wild, but he only ate a bit of that.  He's looking like he still wants something else to eat.........or maybe he wants all the liver, right now?  I take a SammE pill, crush it up in some baby food, took a raw egg  and some Flaxseed oil, mixed it all together with a immersible beater, so now its like a smoothie.  I pour it into his bowl, and drink he all up!  I am impressed! A few more pieces of liver, and we are set for this morning.  He's got all his pills down and then some, except for the Selenium.  The smell of those are so awful, I just don't know what I can mix it in.  Maybe I will try another smoothie, and add a crushed Selenium to that.

Its about 3pm.  I bought a new bag of Innova Turkey and Chicken small bits. No grains and very, very low carbs.  I opened the bag, and just gave Dannii a small handful, walked away.  Ok, wait now.  I ran some hot water into the bowl, and let the kibbles soak up some of the water.  Viola!  We have lift off.  He ate them!  Hopefully, I won't have to take the bag back.  But am hanging onto the receipt just in case.

I have DirecTv, and my receiver went out on Friday.  I called them, and they are shipping out a new receiver, but won't have it until Tuesday........hopefully!  I am going nuts with No tv.  Granted I don't watch much tv, but I do like it on for background noise.  Guess I have to resort to watching movies now.  What really irks me is that I have some shows that I had recorded, and haven't watched yet, now I won't be able to watch them at all now.   That's what I get for putting things off.

I just went in the kitchen to check on the turkey legs, looks like they are done.  So turned the stove off and Dannii is hanging out by his bowl.  So, I take some of the new food I bought and poured more that what I thought he would eat in, and poured in some hot water, let it soak a bit. He ate it up.  I gave the rest that I had taken out of the bag, and wet it with hot water, and he ate all of that.  Its not even dinner time yet!

Well, for dinner I gave Dannii 1 cup of the Innova Turkey and Chicken, but I soaked it in the warm left over water from what I cooked the turkey legs in.  He ate all of it, except for a very small amount.  I am surprised that he ate that much too.  So the little bit left over, was ok.  His phenobarbital pills went into a hot dog, and of course he ate that too.  He does take the hot dog, takes a bite and then drops it, just to make sure no pills are inside.  Cleaver pup to be sure.  He's got me well trained in trying to find out how hard I can hide those pills from him!!

All pills done for today, so it was a good day, as far as I am concerned.  Hope we have more days like this where he will eat.

You all come back again, now hear?

Friday 11-4-2011 AND 11-5-2011 Saturday

So frustrating.  I did get Dannii to eat 2  2.5oz jars of baby food, and a piece of liver.  Still had problems with his pills tho.  For some reason, he hates taking pills, hmmmmmmmmm.  I wonder why?  I did shove a selenium tablet down his throat though.  I just wanted to get some into him.

When I got home from work, he ate 1 2.5oz of baby food, and turned his nose up at everything else.  I cooked up 2 turkey legs, and after they had cooled off, I took the meat off of them, and gave him "some" of the meat, and of course, he ate that.

On Saturday, I got him to take some of his pills mixed in the baby food, but he wouldn't take his Prednisone pills.  I crushed them up, and mixed them in with some baby food, and used that as a spread on a piece of lunch meat.  Rolled the lunch meat up and he ate it.

I did the same thing with his Phenobarbital pills, mixed in with baby food, and spread it out on a piece of lunch meat. He ate that around dinner time.    Saturdays I have to leave the house by 8am and I just couldn't fight with him any longer, so decided to wait till the evening.

I also am giving him a half a pill (that is the help to increase his appetite), instead of a quarter of it. When you try and cut a half a pill again, they just crush up.  So, I asked my vet, if I could just give half, and after looking over Dannii's chart and everything, she said that that would be fine.  Eventually am going to have to try and wean him off of these two pills, increase appetite, and the one for vomiting.  But the vet told me to make sure that he is eating ok first before I start doing that.  If I notice his appetite go down after that, then he will have to stay on the pills for awhile longer.

Well, you all come back again, now hear?

Day 7 and the Oncologist

Dannii, taken at the vets office, today

Dinner time has become a nightmare.  Frustration and tears as Dannii turns his nose up at almost everything I try and give him.  He did take his Pepcid and his Phenobarbital pills as I put those in a Gerber Graduate hot dog. I ended up fixing him a scrambled egg which he ate.  Could not get his Prednisone pills down him, so I litterly had to shove them down his throat.  Still drinking a lot of water. This makes the 4th day that I know, that he got his Prednisone pills.

We went to see the oncologist today.  He is about 50 miles away (one way).  Dannii was in the back of the car, laying down.  Usually when I stop at a light, he is up and looking out the windows.  Not today.  He never moved,.  I truly thought he had died back there! 

Thankfully I was wrong.  As I parked the car in the clinic's parking lot and opened the door, he was up and at the door, waiting for me to open it.  I let him sniff and smell the grass and some bushes, hoping he would go pee, but no such luck.  But, I sure had to visit the little girls room, and quick!  As I was about to open the door to the bathroom, Dannii had stopped, and was peeing on a fake plant that was just around the corner.  It was like a small lake, so much pee, coming out of one little dog!

So the Oncologist explained to me what he would like to do, and what I would have to do, and so on and so forth, (to make it short).  He left the room to write up an estimate, and his nurse came in with it.  We were looking at $500 every 3 weeks, give or take $20-$40.  I was real close to tears, I can not afford that.  I live from paycheck to paycheck, and having a hard time as it is.  I told the nurse this, so said that she would go talk to the dr, and come back.  She came back with a new plan and estimate.  On the original (first) plan, the vet was going to give Dannii a chemo drug that he called CCNU, expensive, and can cause liver damage, which is why they would have to monitor his blood count and such.  The new plan was for a donated chemo drug (he told me who donated the drugs, but I forgot), so I wouldn't be charged for them.  Plus they would give him something to help with his appetite, and vomiting.  Even tho he hasn't been vomiting, it might be the reason why he wasn't eating. Queasy stomach.  They kept him for an hour, and they gave him 1 1/2 jars (small) of baby food, and he ate that.  He wanted more.  So, today's total was $198.00.  They gave me 2 can's of Hill's A/D and a couple of small jars of baby food, plus pills (always pills)!

So, I stopped and bought a pizza before I came home.  I gave Dannii a slice, but it was too hot.  By the time, we pulled up in front on the house, he was chowing it down.  I gave him a can of A/D and he wouldn't touch it!  I had planned on giving him some liver anyways, so I fried that up. Since it was a long piece, I cut into 4 piece, and I gave him one, and he ate it up.  Could not get him to take his Prednisone pills, so again, I had to shove them down his throat.  Am picking up a pill pusher tomorrow from my vet.

I was in the kitchen around 9:30 tonight, and Dannii come's and stands next to his food bowl.  I spoon some of the A/D into his bowl, and he eats it.  Spoon some more, he eats it, finishes off the can, and is still looking for food.  So I give him a (small) can of Fancy Feast cat food, and he eats the whole can!  I haven't seen him eat that much in a very long time!  I just hope he can keep it up (the eating, that is).

This makes the 4th day that I know for sure that he has gotten his Prednisone pills down.  He started drinking alot of water (not as much as he is now) before he started the Prednisone.  So, a friend is sending me a Diastix to test him for Fanconi.  I even brought this up to the vet, and he agreed that maybe this is also why he's not feeling well.  On top of everything else that's going on with him, I sure don't want him to have fanconi!

You all come back again, now hear?

Another trying day

Dannii does not have much of an appetite at all.  Course if its scrambled eggs, he will eat that up in no time! 

Yesterday was trying all around. I couldn't get him to eat much except for the scrambled eggs.  I have basically given up hope of ever getting him to take a Selenium pill.  He can smell that pill, so can I.  But, it boosts the immune system which is why I would like him to try and take one.  Have to find some way of doing that.  Need to think on that.

Didn't eat much for dinner, and I am so frazzled that now I forgot what I tried to get him to eat!  All I know is, he ate just a little bit, and that was all.  Gave him some DogSure, and he took some of that also.

Dannii and his niece, Jenna

He had a seizure on 24th of October. The first one in 5 months and 3 days.  Then he has one on the 29th in the afternoon.  He's never had them during the day before, they have always been at night.  My son called me at work, to let me know.  That's when I bought the DogSure in town and when I got home, I gave him a can, and he drank it.  Its a complete meal in a can.  Expensive tho.  Then last night after trying to get him to eat some dinner, I forgot to give him his Phenobarbital pills, so what happens?  He had a seizure at 2:15 this morning!  How could I be so dumb?  Got to make sure he gets and eats those Phenobarbital pills.


This morning, I took a raw egg, and mixed in a tablet of Fresh Factor, and some DogSure, and mixed it altogether.  He ate/drank most of that.  Would have liked him to finish it, so I put in some Call of the Wild canned food, but he was done eating.  Wouldn't take anymore.


Still had not gotten him to take his Prednisone pills, so I took a slice of bread and spread some peanut butter on it, poured the crushed Prednisone pills on it, spread a bit more peanut butter, and then folded it half, and cut it.  He ate all of that.  I was surprised.  So, if I try that one again, this time, I will only use half of a slice of bread.  Just to make sure he will eat the whole thing.

I will not be home tonight when he gets fed his dinner.  So I don't know what to tell my son to do.  Just give Dannii whatever he will eat.  Just so he gets something in his tummy.

Now that he's got at least three days worth of Prednisone in him (that I know of), I hope they start kicking in soon.  I want this lymphoma to shrink as much as possible, so he doesn't have so much trouble going poop.

Dannii soaking up some rays

This past Sunday, was a good day at the dog park for Dannii.  He pretty much stayed with the whole group.  The last Sunday of the month is our monthly Basenji Meet-up day.  Normally, he will wonder off and try and poop in private, nothing coming out. So, I always have to stop and look for him, and makes sure that he catches up to me.  Sunday however, he didn't do any of that, until we were on our way back to the car.  Then he would stop and try and poop every so often.  This picture here was taken by a friend (Meng), and its too bad that you can't see San Francisco in the back.  Off to the right of the picture you can see just a tad. It was a clear and warm day.  A good day for the dog park.  Hope we have some more, before the weather turns.

Not sure how long our journey is going to be, I hope it will be a good one for the duration that we have.  I don't want to see Dannii in pain.  It already breaks my heart when I watch him as he tries to go poop, and nothing is coming out.  Vet said if the colon get completely blocked, then Dannii will start throwing up, and he will get real sick.  I hope that does not happen for quite awhile, if at all.

You all come back again, now hear?

Day 5 of so called diet

This so called diet, IT'S NOT WORKING!

Dannii has now become a very picky eater, where before, he basically would scarf down anything and everything.  Not anymore.

The last two days, I had trouble getting him to eat his breakfast.  I fixed him something that I thought he would eat, only to have him turn his nose up it!  Frustrating.


Friday morning, I scrambled him an egg, and he did eat that.  Surprise, surprise.  But wouldn't touch anything else.  Not even cat food.

Saturday morning, was trying what I could and he still wouldn't eat.  I was running out of time, as I had to leave for work.  So, scrambled up another egg for him, and he ate that.

Around 2:30 in the afternoon, my son call's me to tell me that Dannii had a seizure.  He's prone to these, but usually only has them at night, his last one, was just five day before, on Monday!  That one was 5 months and 3 days, since his last one.

Before I went home, I went to my local Petco to see if they had any DogSure. Its like Ensure that is for humans, but this is for dogs, and its a complete meal in a liquid form.  They had a couple, so I bought two cans.  Now, am wondering if Dannii would drink the darn stuff!  Well, the water bowl was empty, and he was looking for something to drink, so I poured the can into his bowl, and surprise, surprise, he drank most of it right then and there.  He kept going back to it, as I purposely did not fill the water bowl up.  I just wanted to make sure that I could get something into his tummy!  After he drank it, then I filled the water bowl up, and somewhere along the line, he used my living room floor for a swimming pool!  I have never seen so much pee.  He's never gone to the bathroom in the house before, so I let it slide.  He can get outside, it was just for some reason, he just peed on the floor.

Same ritual this morning, I couldn't get him to eat.  Thought I had it made, and gave him the rest of the can of sardines.  He started eating them, then I decided to put some crushed pills into the mix, and that was all she wrote.  He wouldn't touch the sardines after that!  Couldn't get him to take the Prednisone tablets either.  I put them in a piece of hotdog, and he just ate around the pills, and spit them out.  So, I put them in another piece of hot dog, and put it in a baggie with treats, and we went to the dog park.  When I was handing out treats, I gave him his hotdog, (he must have forgotten there were pills in it), and he ate it right up, pills and all.  Guess he didn't want to share.

I think he had a good day at the dog park.  Usually, he wonders off by himself to try and poop (with nothing coming out).  But, today, he stayed with the pack.  Today was our monthly basenji meet-up.  We had two new dogs that we have not seen or met before.  And they fit right into the pack.

Jackson is up front and center, and his mom, Phoebe, is right behind.  Both very nice dogs, but Phoebe, just like your typical female basenji, snarked and growled whenever anyone got too close.  They were both off leash, as they have been to this park before, but just not when we have been there!


Getting back to Dannii, I hope now that I will be able to get the Prednisone into him, and hopefully it will work to take some of the swelling down, and increase his appetite again.

It would be nice to be able to have surgery done to find out exactly what that mass is, and see if it could be removed, that is on the outside of his colon.  But my funds are next to nil, and all I can do is pray that this medicine will work, and that Dannii will be able to have some "normal" poops...........whatever that is, now.


Hope you all come back again, now hear?

Day 2 of our journey and diet

Well, I think it must be the garlic that Danniii doesn't like to smell of!  I honestly did not add that much, but even I could smell it.  So, guess what, he wouldn't eat it!

I put his Prednisone tabs into a Gerbers Graduate hot dog (cut in half), and his phenobarital tablets into the other half.  He chewed the meat up, but the pills dropped out!  So of course, I had to get out another piece of the hot dog, and try it again.  This time, he ate the pills and all.  Still has not touched his breakfast.  Guess I will not add anymore garlic.  I even added on sardine, and some of the liquid, still turned his nose up at it.  Here, I had been saying for the past week or so, that Dannii still has his appetite, and now he pulls this on me!

Self, and Dannii

If I can't get him to eat, this is not going to be good for either one of us.

I really hate to think of the possibility of loosing Dannii before his 13th birthday, on 12-12-2011.  I know its a possiblility.


Right now, I just wished I had the funds to do what I could for him.  No, would not do chemo, but "maybe" the vets could operate and try and take out the lymphoma that is right inside of his rectum?

He does have a mass on the outside of his colon, and it is pushing on it.  I don't know if that is also part of the reason, why Dannii is having such a hard time going poop?

I just finished giving Dannii and tablespoon of organic cottage cheese, and a squirt of Barleanes Falxseen oil, mixed that in real good together, plus added a piece of sardine and some juice, and he ate it up!

I leave soon to go to work, and won't be home til 10pm, so am having my son feed him.  Just told him to give Dannii a can of Pinnacle trout and sweet potato, nothing else. Hopefully he will eat all of that, now.

Till tomorrow, you all come back again, now hear?

Lymphoma journey, Day 1 of diet

Well, for breakfast Dannii got a half a cup of cooked brown rice, and no it wasn't the burnt rice from the night before!  I, however did give some of that to the dogs, to see if any of them would eat it.  Zak and Jenna did eat some, but Dannii took one bite, and walked away from it. I expected as much. He also got two small boiled chicken breasts, a selenium and fish oil and a small tip of a teaspoon of organic garlic nuggets, fish oil, and a teaspoon of Call of the Wild (wet) food.

He finished most of it, but then had to go out to the backyard.  I think the food was a tad bit too dry, so I added a bit of hot water, and now am letting it soak up some, before I see if he will eat the rest of it.  Only about a quarter of cup (if that) left, but I would like him to finish it.

Dannii got the little bit of food that was left from his breakfast, along with come canned Call of the Wild.  There was not that much left over from breakfast, as I said, so I just gave him a teaspoonful of the can and mixed it in with what was left, and he ate the majority of it.  I let Zak finish it off.

For dinner, I am going to give him a small baked sweet potato, maybe one sardine piece, and some of his regular kibble.  He will also get a Co-enzyme Q-10 tablet.  Hopefully he will eat this without leaving any.  How yummy can you get?

Will let you all know how he did with his dinner, tomorrow.

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