Thursday, April 10, 2014

Part 2:  A Day In the Life at the Home for Senior Pugs

Now that the hotel reservations were made, an airline trip for G'Ma was booked and the time neared, we, the humans at OBP, finally were ready to go away for a vacation which constituted one overnight to the other side of the state. We went to see two Baltimore Orioles Spring training baseball games. It used to be an annual tradition to attend a game during opening week at Camden Yards in Baltimore each April. In an effort to revisit that long lost tradition, we took a short trip to Sarasota to take in a couple of the O's Spring training games. This meant, leaving the dogs (and Cupid) at home. Overnight. For the first time ever since we've lived in Florida. Without us. But we had G'Ma there. She was ready. A little nervous, but ready. Grammy, who lives up the street, could be called upon for back up but hopefully, of course not needed. During her few days of pug boot camp just prior to us leaving, we had shown G'Ma the route to our regular vet and (gulp) the dreaded emergency vet, if needed.

We went through the notes and the routine for G'Ma. In doing that, it hit us hard what a day in the life at the home of senior pugs looks like from the outside. We have the routine down to a well oiled machine, but for an outsider to come in and take over for 2 days was a feat.

This is how the day begins:

5:45ish AM wake the pugs. Usually Cupid helps this along but making a lovely poopy in her cat box early in the morning which gets Benny's nose stirring. If this is the case, scoop the poop, feed Ben and work on waking the others. At breakfast time, the pugs all get their morning meds.

Their meds are concealed in various yummy treats to get them to down them with ease. Henry and Benny are not picky about how their meds are camouflaged but Luna has become a master at eating the package and discarding. The most recent one was at the bottom of the water bowl. At least that was an easy one to spot.

Breakfast time ORAL meds include:

Benjamin:

• 1/2 synthroid pill (for thyroid disfunction)
• 1/4 Reglan (to help with acid)
• 1 full Theophyline (to open his airways and help him breath)
• 1 full Tussigon pill (cough suppressant to help his chronic cough and in turn to give his collapsed trachea relief from continuous pressure)
• 10 mg of generic Prilosec (for acid reflux)
• 1 full prednisone every other day

Some meds are best if given before they eat. However, for the sake of this narrative, some of the super minor details have been omitted.

Luna:

• Lasix (to help keep her mucous production low which allows for her to be less gaggy/hacky and helps alleviate stress on her trachea and upper respiratory system)
• 1/4 Reglan (to help with acid)
• 1 full Theophyline (to open her airways and help her breath)
• 1 full Tussigon pill (cough suppressant to help her chronic cough and in turn to give her collapsed trachea relief from continuous pressure)
• 10 mg of generic Prilosec (for acid reflux)
• 1/2 prednisone every day

Some meds are best given before they eat however for the sake of this narrative some of the super minor details have been omitted.

Not an "oral med" per se, but then Luna has to have her inhaler. This is similar to what people with asthma would take. But since you cannot explain to a dog how to "suck in" air through their mouth, you have to put the inhaler into a tube and the other end of that tube has a cup that covers her nose. You spray the inhaler into the tube while the cup is over her nose and you watch the little flap on the top of the tube to see how many puffs she breathed in.

This is by far the most challenging task that we have with the pugs (even harder than giving Benjamin eye drops. Prying his eyelids open to put a drop in his eye is like trying to open a pistachio nut that doesn't already have that convenient little crack in it already.) Luna has actually gotten really good at this, though. We even think that she has come to associate it with knowing it helps her feel better.

Henry:

• 10 mgs of generic Prilosec (ain't he easy?!)

So, that is pill time in the senior pug home at breakfast. Now. On to early morning eye drops.

Benjamin:

• 1 drop in each eye of KCS solution which has to be refrigerated (to help with reducing pigment covering his eye)
• 1 drop in each eye of an anti-allergy drop (to reduce itchy/mucous eyes)

Once you give a set of drops you need to wait at least 5-10 minutes before you can give a different set.

Luna:

• 1 drop in each eye of KCS solution which has to be refrigerated but is a different type than Ben's (to help with reducing pigment covering her eye)
• 1 drop of Pilocarpine (in her right) and 1 drop of Tacrolimus (in her left) (to help with dry eye, tear production)

Once you give a set of drops you need to wait at least 5-10 minutes before you can give a different set.

Henry:

Initially Henry was on no drops. That is how it was for when G'Ma was here. But for the week or 10 days before Henry had to have his eye removed, Henry became king of all eye drops. I cannot even tell you what the names of what he was on. There were so many that I could only remember them this way (and I won't repeat them the way I will for Luna and Benjamin because now that he no longer has a left eye, this is all sadly moot). All drops in the left eye. 3x a day drops with orange lid. 2x a day, drops with yellow lid. 4x a day the milky drops that you have to shake really really well. Tacrolimus (I only know this one by name since Luna has been on it forever) is 2x a day in both eyes. Then they added the drops in the bottle with the teal colored top that has to be refrigerated 2x a day. So he went from being super dog to the neediest one (in the eye department) almost overnight).

Whew. Ok. So the morning shift of eating, oral meds and eye drop is done. Now, time to potty them. Are you ready for the bathroom tour?

Benjamin can go one of a few ways. He typically goes outside, does his business and toddles back in. Sometimes, though, often weather dependent, he goes outside, and does his Benny walk which is the small loop around our court. If there are smells in the air then he will wander a bit more aimlessly following the scents in the air, especially if is a windy day. Oh boy does Benny love him a windy day!

Henry. He likes to use this time to try to bust out a walk to the busy corner (about 2 blocks away) and back. I say "and back" but once he gets to the corner he not only doesn't want to come back but when he eventually realizes he has to come back he dawdles like nobody's business. He is often carried home if time does not allow for his shenanigans.

Then there is Luna. Luna has her own agenda set each day. You cannot deviate from Luna's agenda. She either goes outside and does her business immediately or lets you know that you are going to have to work it into your schedule to give her another chance to use the ladies room before you head off to work. It will be clear what her choice is. If she doesn't do her stuff quickly then she will either just march up to the door or not even move the entire time she is outside.

This is the basic care routine of the morning shift. All the stuff that has to be done before the humans go to work. This of course does not include Cupid's routine needs (except the possible early morning poop scoop). Nor does it include the loving, petting and general conversation we have with the fur babies.

Moving on to midday. This is Grammy's shift on weekdays. All things considered, it is a light shift. Pugs get a midday day snack. If Benjamin, especially, and Henry, often, do not eat then they will develop acid in their tummies to the point in which they throw up stomach bile. Not to mention with the Hunger Games twins (Ben & Luna) being on prednisone they are ravenous! Henry's stint on pred also increased his appetite but he was manageable. Anyway, around 12-1 each day, Grammy comes down, lets the pugs out in the back yard to go potty, gives them a little snack and then tends to Luna's midday eye drops. Around lunchtime Luna gets 1 drop in each eye of cyclosporine (which works in conjunction with Tacrolimus) and about 1/2 an hour later she will get lubricating eye drops (Genteal drops) just to keep her eyes moist.

Grammy stays for a couple of hours. She listens to a book on audio, does some sewing, gives the puggers and Cupid some lovin's and tends to them daily. (So, when we think of this "extra shift" we have to include it into what G'Ma would need to learn during her training drills.)

Early evening (after work) the humans come back home and then it is on to the 3rd shift. The pugs get dinner and a round of pills much like the ones in the morning, but not quite as many. They get a round of drops almost exactly like the morning and Luna gets her breathing inhaler again. And of course, more time to do their business.

This is the breakdown of a day in the life at the OBP household. No wonder we don't have much time to go places anymore!