Thursday, August 29, 2013
While looking at old pictures, I came across this picture of backup puffy and I couldn't believe how fresh and new backup puffy looked!
Puffy and backup puffy were the first toys given to Benjamin and Henry from G-Ma. G-Ma gave the boys their puffys the first day that she met them. So, puffy and backup puffy are as old as the boys. Before I saw this picture, I thought puffy and backup puffy were in good shape. I had forgotten how fuzzy they were when the boys first got them. They may not be as fluffy anymore, but the fact that they are still in one piece 11 years later is a feat in itself!
Wednesday, August 28, 2013
We started Luna on her FlowVent inhaler a little over a week ago. I was very anxious to start Luna on the inhaler because I was curious if it was going to help her cough. We have gotten to a point that none of the other medicine was working, so we had a lot of eggs in the inhaler basket.
We gave Luna her first puff of the inhaler at night so we could be around to see if she experienced any negative side effects. After her first dose, the rest of the night went awesome! Luna's cough was significantly less, not gone, but a lot better. We were like play by play commentators all night because Luna would do something and we would be like, she didn't cough! She always coughs when she jumps up the step coming into the house or some other ordinary thing. To say we were a little excited would be an understatement.
After a few days passed and Luna had a few more puffs from the inhaler, Luna's cough got even better. Granted, she still has breathing and coughing issues, but she is certainly doing a lot better.
I was very concerned with how Luna would do taking her medicine, but we have a pretty good system in place to make sure she gets her meds. It is a two person job, but so far it has been working well for us.
One of us sits behind Luna and keeps her still, while the other one puts the mask on Luna's face. The AeroDawg chamber has a little indicator that lets us know if Luna is breathing in or out. It is also a good way to know that we have a good seal with the mask on her nose. When Luna is breathing in, we push the inhaler and keep the mask on for 3-5 breathes so she gets her medicine. As soon, as she is done, she promptly gets rewarded with treats and lots of praise. Of course, her brothers are right next to her during this whole procedure encouraging Luna to breathe faster so they can get to the treat portion of the ordeal faster.
We are stepping Luna down off the prednisone to see if we can get her completely off that drug. In another week, we will have a better idea of if we can get Luna completely off of prednisone.
We are super excited that the FlowVent inhaler is helping Luna. If Luna is going to be taking the inhaler long term our next task is to find out the best place to purchase it from as it is quite pricey (~$200 / 120 puffs). The best we have been able to do locally is $178 from the Sam's Club pharmacy.
Tuesday, August 27, 2013
Looking forward to your captions in the comments.
Monday, August 26, 2013
Some little pug didn't want to get out of bed on Saturday morning, so we made him right into the bed. It sure didn't help him get up any faster. Even after being made into the bed Henry was pretty happy with himself.
Friday, August 23, 2013
This picture is from August 2003.
I recently signed up for and uploaded all our photos to Everpix. One of the things I love about Everpix is that they send you Flashback emails. Each day, you get an email of previous pictures that you took on that day. So, it will say something like 1 year ago today, 3 years ago today or in the case of this photo 10 years ago today! When I see it put that way, I think, wow that was a really long time ago!
Thursday, August 22, 2013
Huckle mentioned in the comments that one of her pugs can not take Theophylline because it makes them jittery. That reminds me of a funny story, well funny now, that I would like to share.
On Christmas day last year Benny had a serious case of the jitters. He couldn't settle, was panting and acting totally out of character. He was giving us a pretty good scare and I was thinking that we might have to spend part of Christmas day at the emergency vet.
Our first thoughts were that he got into something that he wasn't supposed to. We had a houseful of family so our routine was off, but everyone is really good about making sure they don't leave anything around that the pugs could get in to.
I was replaying every second of the day in my head and then it hit me - I gave Benny Luna's breathing pill!
Luna gets her breathing pill tucked inside a biljac treat. Even though the boys don't get a pill, they get a treat. As I was replaying things, I remember accidentally giving Benny Luna's treat. Suddenly, things were making a lot more sense. One of the side effects of Luna's medicine is jitteriness. Sol suffered from this a bit, but not too bad, Luna has absolutely no signs of the jitters whatsoever. And, well, now we know that Benny will never be able to take Theophylline because that boy was a mess all day!
Once we knew what was wrong with him we couldn't help but chuckle because Benny probably has 10 pounds on Luna and her dose of the medicine was wreaking havoc on his system. We have always said that Benny is very sensitive and once again he proved it.
Wednesday, August 21, 2013
This is a first. I haven't seen any of the pugs use the dog beds like this before.
Henry is the king of cooling his belly off on the tile, so I think this might be some sort of hybrid approach that gets him the best of everything.
