Reversal in the wrong direction

As I documented yesterday Elsa’s eating had improved and with it her overall demeanor. When I got home from work at the end of the day she seemed happy and energetic, even jumping up to greet me a bit. I also took her for a short walk, something I have not been able to do all week. However during that walk her poop was pure diarrhea, a sign of things to come.

She did eat more food my girlfriend made last night although significantly less than the night before. We wrote it off to her eating a bunch of food the last 24 hours. She was still acting ok although each time I let her out to pee she also had some diarrhea action which concerned me. The last thing she needs right now is something to dehydrate her as diarrhea can do.

Last night was not good. I took her out twice in the early hours of the morning where the trend continued of doing a number 1 and runny number 2. I decided overnight I was going to use PTO today to stay home with her as I did not like the way things were going. Once I got up in the morning I discovered she also had some accidents in the master closet and in the bedroom. In addition she threw up twice, something she had not done since last Sunday.

I already was going to the vet for her to get more fluid injected under her skin and for them to take more blood work. When I described the events of last night they gave her meds for diarrhea, nausea and yet another special food that I am confident she won’t touch. I have a feeling it is going to be very difficult for me to get her to eat anything right now.

The blood test results from today are going to be very significant. If the numbers swung significantly back towards the bad side since Wednesday it is going to indicate that she is having significant kidney dysfunction which would translate into her ultimate demise. As I have been reading about kidney failure in dogs and the symptoms of it I realized that she may have been having issues for a prolonged period of time. Things that I wrote off to her just slowing down some as she gets older and Elsa being Elsa, like an unwillingness to eat at times, sleeping a bunch, drinking a lot of water and the odd behavior with eating non-food objects obsessively was likely misguided.

She had a full physical including blood work in August and although the kidney related numbers were somewhat elevated they were nowhere close to dangerous levels which is why I have been collecting urine samples for them to analyze several times since then as a precaution.

I can only hope that the numbers today are promising although my gut is telling me that things are not looking good. Compared to my other dogs I have owned Elsa has always been the most care free with very few health issues her entire life (11 years). For this potentially fatal condition to become front and center suddenly is a very tough thing to deal with. Just thinking about the possibility of losing her has made me tear up repeatedly over the last few days.