Thursday, April 02, 2009

Odie good vet visit

Dr. W says Odin is doing great. He has a "sparkle in his eyes". I told her that's only because she gives him so many treats. He was even talking at her, trying to get her to give him more treats. (And then, because Stampy stayed at home alone, they both got cheeseburgers after.)
She said that she thinks the big sign will be that he'll stop eating, and then boom - he'll die. She said he is not suffering right now.
So my list of trivial things:
- His bulgy eye is quite possibly a fatty tumor that's behind his eye, like the ones on his body. Since it's not bothering him and there's nothing we'd do about it anyway (like surgery), there's no need to do anything.
- His breathing and afib at night is just what it is. Not a sign of impending death.
- His cool lips/nose/tongue/feet AND wobbly back legs in the middle of the night are all inadequate circulation. Nothing to do about that either.
- Flopping down in weird spots, seeming tired - also just regular old heart failure.
She said it's ok to take him on little short walks.

That's it. She said that for a dog with all his heart problems, he is doing just as she would expect. She thinks he's stabilized on all the meds, and seemed optimistic he could hold out like this at least a few more months. She told me twice she thinks he'll just die suddenly, and while that's worse for a planner like me becuase I won't know it's coming, it's good because he won't have a long drawn-out suffering phase where I'm agonizing over what to do.

Oh yeah, and the gagging - she said there's no fluid in his lungs, and a heart failure cough is a little puff, not a nasty retch.

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