Puppy Update

Our parvo positive puppy seems, overall, to feel better today.  She’s had no more seizures since the one yesterday morning.  Her appetite stayed up all yesterday evening, she remained fairly active while we were up, and then she slept through the night pretty well, only awakening at midnight and 6 am to ask to go out–which isn’t far out of her normal range for sleeping through the night.

She continues to willingly take her antibiotic.  But she worried us some this morning when, after taking her antibiotic, she didn’t remain in the kitchen to look for breakfast–instead she headed for the living room and asked to be allowed on the couch.  She’s still so little, and sick, that we both often let her curl up in our laps to nap while we’re watching TV.  And I realized she was indeed aiming for a nap–when instead of sitting down on the couch, I squatted on the floor and tried to interest her in playing with her tennis ball (her usual morning game) she glanced at me like, “You’ve got to be kidding.” and promptly curled up on the corner of a blanket trailing off the couch.

Well, I didn’t exactly want to be up at 6 am anyway.  It’s still dark here then–dawn begins at about that time, but it’s not bright enough to see inside the house without a light.  Our alarm wouldn’t go off for half an hour, and then I usually stay in bed and read until about 7:15.  And, indeed, when I headed for the stairs, the puppy was ahead of me, stopping only beside the bed to beg to be allowed on it.

She’s supposed to sleep in her crate/kennel/cage/bed–call it what you will, her pet carrier that we’re using for a safe and comfortable place for her to sleep while we’re house-training her.  But on Saturday night, when she was so sick and scared and suffering a seizure every few hours, we wrapped her in a towel and let her sleep with us.  On Sunday, she went to sleep in bed with us–but when I let her out at midnight, she’d trotted back upstairs by herself, and when I indicated her crate to her, she willingly entered and lay down.  She’d slept there until 6 am… but now in the early morning she asked very politely to be put in bed again, and there she indeed curled up and slept while I read.

She stayed there through both our showers, too, sleeping in the bed by herself–normally she doesn’t do that.  Usually she wakes up the moment we leave her, and cries to be helped down so she can follow us around and again curl up somewhere near us.  But by 7:50, she still slept deeply… and I really needed to convince her to eat before we left.

And she didn’t want to eat.  Even in the kitchen, with the food under her nose, she’d just pull back, then retreat somewhere where she could curl into a ball and try to sleep again.

We finally left with her curled on the couch, our didi having nodded soberly to careful instructions about what to do if the puppy continued to refuse food, or if she went into another seizure.

[Didi review:  “Didi” is the word here for a maid, and it’s linguistically interesting because while the English word “maid” literally means a young girl, the Nepali word “didi” actually means older sister.  So it’s extra-odd that I know I’m a year older than our didi.  She’s a wonderful young woman, and actually used to work as a nanny.  Though she hasn’t quite bonded with the pets like we have, she seems to be adjusting to the idea of treating them like children, and she’ll help out with them in any way we ask, staying very patient even while learning how to mix special food for the puppy.]

And by noon our didi called to say the puppy still hadn’t eaten–she just kept sleeping.  She would go outside, and do her business, but once she was inside she’d immediately curl up and sleep again.

I returned at 3.  And when I opened the door, the puppy dashed into my arms, tail wagging furiously.  And our didi followed her with a smile.  “Ma’am, puppy ate food.  5 minute.”

“Just now?  Five minutes ago?”

“Yes.”

“What did she eat, all of her food, or just…”

“Just liver.”

Still, it was a start.  And when I immediately offered our puppy some more minced chicken/minced chicken liver, made soupy with the water we’d used to boil the chicken in, she eagerly gobbled it all up.

So for the rest of this afternoon and evening, she has kept eating.  Not a lot at a time–and she refuses puppy food, or rice–but she’s indeed staving off dehydration and keeping some nourishing food in her belly.  She continues sleeping a lot–she’s been on my lap throughout my entire time writing this post, and for much of it she had her head slightly tilted up so she could rest her chin in the crook of my elbow, despite how my arm bounced with the typing.  She’s currently in her third patch of REM sleep of the post–and I think, poor baby, all her dreams have been nightmares, because she tenses and seems uncomfortable.  But when I pet her and talk to her softly, she settles, even in her sleep, evidently to more pleasant dreams.

In between the deep sleeping, she remains active.  She doesn’t quite play with her toys again.  But she “dances” up to greet us, tail wagging and prancing, her front legs sometimes held out straight like a Lippizaner stallion performing, as she bounces from foot to foot.  She’s done that when she’s happy ever since we adopted her; she seems to think it’s fun.  Outside she doesn’t quite run, but she trots quickly around the yard and house, investigating anything that catches her interest, hunting bugs, sniffing at the grass.

We may take her by the vet again tomorrow–lack of appetite is a common symptom of parvovirus, after all.  But not one she’d displayed earlier, and as long as she keeps eating occasional small amounts, and playing some, and remaining clearly interested in her surroundings… I assume her exhaustion is only to be expected, from fighting off two diseases and a worm infestation, and then suffering a spate of seizures to boot.  I really think/hope/pray she is continuing to get better.

And the update for the update:  She woke up just as I was finishing this, and wanted to go out.  And eat again.  And play!  I offered her a treat for going outside, and though she didn’t try eating it, she proudly carried it around, then dropped it on the floor on purpose and hunted it for a while, occasionally playing with some of her other toys again.  It’s good to see her so happy!

I know, again with the no pictures.  But I’m too exhausted myself to try uploading them.  Maybe, if she keeps getting better, tomorrow?