Wednesday, July 17, 2013
Luna wasn't too happy with the esophagus sticks that we got for her, but she gave her stamp of approval for the 3' long "porkie" chew that we brought home the other day. I should have taken picture of the super long stick, but the pugs were so excited I didn't want to make them wait while I grabbed my camera. The "porkie" could easily be broken so I gave each of the pugs their own little piece and saved some for another day. The boys gobbled theirs, but Luna daintily chewed hers for hours on the rug.
The funny thing about the boys, is that after they devour their chewie and Luna still has plenty left, they look at me like, "Ma! Why did Luna get more treats than us!
Wednesday, July 10, 2013
I'd say Benjamin and Luna are the most reliable clocks in the house, but they tend to run a little fast. They generally arrive in the kitchen for feeding time about a good 20 minutes before it is chow time. And these are the pleading looks they give me to convince me to feed them early. They look starved don't they? 
Monday, July 1, 2013
We received the test results for Luna's airway wash and the biopsy for the two spots removed on her side. The two bumps removed from her side were benign. Yay!
The culture from the airway wash showed signs of bacteria. So we have started Luna on a round of antibiotics to see if we can clear that up. I don't think the antibiotics are going to cure Luna's cough but hopefully it will get us on the right track.
Later this week, Luna will go to the vet to have the stitches removed from her side. The funny thing is that it appears that Luna has almost as much hair growth on the patch that they had to shave for her biopsy as Benny does on the shaved spot on his back from the testing he had months ago.
Friday, June 28, 2013
From the looks of this picture you probably think that we posed Luna with the gargoyle statue. Nope! Sitting with this statue was all Luna's idea. She walked up to it and plopped down next to it just like she does when she hangs out with Henry.
Let's not tell Benny that the gargoyle statue may be ahead of him on Luna's preferred friends to hang out with list.
Monday, June 24, 2013
Late last week, Luna went back to the vet to have a scope of her airway and a trachea wash. In addition to those tests she also had two sinister looking growths removed from her side.
The trachea wash was performed to see if Luna happens to have some sort of bacteria infection in her airway. The scope will give everyone a better view and idea of what is going on in her airway.
The scope of Luna's airway was sent off to the specialist for review and the trachea wash and removed growths were sent to the lab for testing. We are waiting for the result and hopefully will have them either today or tomorrow.
Luna was pretty wiped out after her procedures on Thursday. When she got home, we put her down to try and go potty and she was having none of it. Benny, on the other hand, was super curious as to where his sister had been all day and what the crazy vet had done to her side. By the next day, Luna was feeling much better and getting back to being her normal, spunky self.
Wednesday, June 19, 2013
Good news! We received Luna's test results and her ticker is working just fine! After the specialist reviewed the EKG, they also reviewed Luna's chest x-ray. The chest x-ray showed that Luna's heart was enlarged (and that was what has led us down this path), but the specialist's opinion is that Luna's heart is slightly enlarged but it is not a problem. She just has a big heart (and who didn't know that already)
This is stupendous news, but it does leave us with the question of what is causing her cough and breathing troubles. The thinking now is that it is more airway related. Tomorrow Luna is going to go in for a few more tests which will hopefully give us a better picture of what is going on and allow us to get the miss back in tip top shape. I will keep you updated as I know more.
Thank you all for the well wishes and good juju!
Monday, June 17, 2013
Last Friday, Benjamin and Luna took a trip to the vet to get some things checked out. Henry, even though he didn't have an appointment, went along for moral support.
Our biggest concern of late has been Luna's breathing. Since "unofficially" being diagnosed with pulmonary hypertension we have tried a few different medicines to help with Luna's labored breathing. However, things have not been going so well as of late, so we took Luna to the vet to have an EKG done so we can find out more about what is going on.
The EKG as it was explained to us sounded like a simple procedure. Four alligator clips would be attached to the loose skin by Luna's elbows and knees. Once the clips are attached, the machine will be able to monitor Luna's heart. Sounds easy enough. But, then they informed us that Luna would need to lay on her side for the test and that she would need to not be panting during the test. That was the real issue. With her labored breathing, Luna is pretty much always panting. After all, that is why we are coming to the vet! Luna has been panting more and more around the house and we knew that the excitement of going to the vet is sure to get Luna worked up.
Luckily, we found out this information the day before the appointment, so we had time to come up with a plan. We called the vet and asked if Luna could go into the room where the EKG would be performed as soon as we arrive. Skipping the waiting room, would spare Luna from interacting with the other dogs and the nervous excitement that comes with waiting. The other key to this plan would be that Benjamin and Henry would not accompany Luna into the EKG room. This would keep Luna away from all of their nervous energy. This plan sounded like a stretch, but we knew it was really our only hope of keeping Luna calm enough for the test.
Step 1 of the plan, whisking Luna away to her own private waiting room, worked so well that Benjamin and Henry were left sitting in the waiting room wondering what happened to Luna.
Surprisingly, our plan worked and Luna was able to lay on her side, without panting, and have the EKG done. She did such a wonderful job and I was so incredibly proud of her!
Now that the test is over, the hard part of waiting for the results begins. We should have the results later in the week and will let you know how things went.
