Got through

As I have described I have been enlisting multiple layers of Elsa incontinence protection at the house. Part of that is putting two large absorbent but waterproof pads on top of the bedspread at night with the thought being I just can throw them in the laundry each morning without collateral damage. Well I woke up this morning with a massive wet spot in the middle of the bed. I think she somehow got positioned right where the pads overlap and managed to bypass them. The end result was a 6:15 AM stripping of the bed and beginning yet another massive laundry cycle while I swapped in my secondary bedding. I have been doing so much laundry that I exhausted my detergent in about a quarter of the time I normally would. I hope my 10 year old washer and dryer hold up to the extended duty cycles.

It isn’t just bedding that is getting washed. I also have to wash another pad that I use on the sofa where she lays on a regular basis as well as her dog beds. It’s a lot.

So I made yet another purchase in my war against incontinence, two more bed covers but these are king size so there will be no seam that can be exploited. I am hoping this will at least simplify my morning routine if I can just throw this one item into the laundry in the morning instead of a complete bedding set.

Elsa has not been very willing to eat the new kidney friendly food which does not surprise me. Last night my girlfriend had some luck getting her to eat some of it but this morning she refused and would only eat the FreshPet and Nutracomplete food which are both very high quality but not designed for dogs with kidney problems.

I sent my email to my vet yesterday updating her on Elsa’s condition but also letting her know I was not all that happy with what the insurance adjuster told me regarding what they saw in the medical notes. In a nutshell the incontinence med Elsa was on seemed to be connected to both her hyper tension and elevated kidney numbers. I said that from what I saw it seemed like as soon as we saw any elevation in these numbers that medicine should have been discontinued, which we started giving her in 2024. I was nice about it as I do like my vet but I think this was an oversight that contributed to the situation Elsa is in now. I also shared how my pet insurance company has rejected all of my claims, utilizing her medical notes as a reason. I wasn’t sure how she would respond.

She did respond with a very long email that was really nice. She even admitted that in retrospect she should have stopped that med earlier than we did but she thought the high blood pressure readings she was seeing were more from Elsa being very nervous at the vet more than anything else. She also was very upset that the insurance company was using her very detailed and complete notes as a tool to reject payment. She made it clear that she sees this sort of behavior from pet insurance companies on a routine basis and as a result dislikes them greatly. She even offered to advocate on my behalf to my company. I told her she was welcome to but I didn’t expect any significant change of heart from them.

I requested to get a refill on the appetite stimulant as it doesn’t have any significant side effects that would make Elsa’s condition worse. The vet said that was fine. My hope is the stimulant will help get us over the hump with the new food. When she was on this for 5-6 days she was cleaning the plate of pretty much whatever we gave her.

So yea, my focus has been mostly on Elsa’s health and coming up with solutions to her incontinence that I may just have to deal with long term. It’s not convenient or fun, but it’s doable.