Our buddy

Recently we "scheduled" a photo sesh with my sis :)  Last summer we wanted to do family photos with Mark, Rocky and me but it was so hot and we were busy finishing the planning of my sister's wedding.  There just wasn't time.  So, yes it's a bit cold now, but it's necessary because time is an issue again...

This guy:

Oh, don't hide, Rocky, show everyone how cute you are!!!!!

much better!!!!

This guy isn't doing so well.  I'll take it from the beginning...

About a month ago now, he had a really hard week.  

On Sunday, Mark took him out for a run, came inside, ate dinner and after dinner we noticed when Rocky got up he was limping.  Now, this isn't too weird.  He was hit by a car three years ago and sometimes re-injures his hip and limps for about a day.  So, we chalked it up to that.  

Monday evening when I got home from work, it seemed he had taken a turn for the worse and wasn't walking on his left leg at all.  I'd never seen it get this bad.  So, when Mark got home from work I told him we needed to talk to the doctor.  

Tuesday, Mark called the vet and we were told to use some Aspirin and it should be fine.  I picked some up and we tried it... 

Wednesday night when I got home from work (after about three Aspirins from Tues-Wed evening) he couldn't even get up.  When I got home, he didn't greet me at the laundry room door begging to go out and when I walked into the family room, he turned just to look at me.  I was scared.  Again, I told Mark we needed to get a hold of the vet.

Thursday, Mark called the vet and got an appointment for some x-rays on Friday.  By that evening Rocky was walking around a little bit better, but we weren't taking any chances so on Friday Mark took him in. 

In addition to the x-rays, we had the doctor run some blood work to see what was going on with his appetite.  He started not really wanting to eat his food (which is weird for a dog who leaped and jumped and used to get super excited about dinner time) around the time we found out we were pregnant.  We had heard that dogs can sense the pregnancy and it could effect their attitudes.  So, we thought the loss of appetite had something to do with that.  But, it continued, so we changed his food, and it continued still.  So, we thought we'd just get to the bottom of it.

Turns out the x-rays were fine!!  Our guess is that he injured one hip while playing with Mark that Sunday evening and nursed it, but while nursing it and walking on only one leg, his other hip got sore resulting in not being able to walk at all come Wednesday.  But once they both had some rest, he was fine.  So, clear x-rays!  That's the good news.  

But, if there's good news, there has to be bad news, right?  Unfortunately.... :( 

Turns out Rocky has had Lymes disease and you're probably thinking, "Lymes is not such a bad thing!"  Well, you're right .... for about 90% of pets.  Unfortunately, our buddy is one of the 10% of animals/pets that has an adverse reaction to the disease.  I'm not sure of the specifics, but the Lymes disease has caused some kidney damage.  There is nothing good about that.  So, for the last few weeks this household has been on edge... and by on edge I mean we tip toe around because I'm emotionally unstable and when it comes to Rocky, so is Mark. 

The kidney damage is causing the loss of appetite we have noticed.  It's also causing him to drink more water to help clean out his kidneys, and it's causing him to vom.  

Fortunately, we have a wonderful vet and a resilient pup!  We have changed his food to prevent the amount of protein getting into his kidneys and he is on an antibiotic for the Lymes.  He gets a piece of cheese every day :) and what we like to call "gravy" in his new food.  It's just some soft, canned dog food because he still isn't eating his new, very expensive light protein Rx dog food.  He's gained 3.5 lbs in three weeks and that's good since he lost about 7lbs. the last time we took him in.  He is also getting extra lovin' from his mama and papa!!  SO MUCH extra lovin' :)

We've seen a positive effect on his water intake, he's not drinking as much.  Now it's just a chugging after food and after being outside instead of a steady chugging.  He's not voming regularly anymore - a little spit up from time to time BUT we still need it to stop.  Completely.  We're hoping the return of his appetite is coming soon, yet we haven't seen it and this weekend was not a good one...  We are trying to stay positive for Rocky's, and for our sake.

So, what does all of this mean?  Let's just say we need your positive vibes so that our buddy maintains. 

On Friday, we took him in for more blood work.  Turns out that some things got better, some got worse.  By "things" I mean medical terms that none of us would understand so why would I confuse you?  Bottom line: the 'worse' needs to get 'better'.  We're keeping up the new diet and the pills, we're starting him on some blood pressure meds now too.  We'll keep up the very expensive blood work and anything else we can do to get him through this.  But we could use your help.  Keep your most positive thoughts coming to us.  Every once in a while when you remember, say a prayer for Rock.  

He really needs them:

and I'm not just talking about the brown one...

Thanks to you all, I know it's not a very positive post on a Monday morning, but I wanted to let you in on the haps in the fam and wanted to wait until I had as much info as possible.  Keep the positive vibes coming our way; he's going to pull through this because he just has to!  

xoxo