Sometimes a small change makes a big difference
Jean · Sep. 2, 2006
This morning, I expressed concern to Carol that Isaac, my foster, was not eating. When he came to me on Monday, he hungrily ate a can of dog food twice a day. By Wednesday he was only eating half a can, and this morning he would eat nothing. Isaac had his vet's assessment yesterday, and one of the findings was that he has pain in his neck area.
This afternoon, I gave him one dose of metacam for the pain and, at the suggestion of the vet, raised his food dish so he doesn't need to bend his neck down to reach it. He is like a different dog - he gobbled down 3/4 of a can, and then stood there woof-woof-woofing in my face to tell me he wanted more - which, of course, he got and he gobbled that down too. And then he tried to steal MY dessert.
The pain killer also seems to have lubricated his vocal cords - he's gone from being my silent shadow to my very very vocal nag.
But he's still a sweetie.
i am glad he is feeling better, never under estimate the power of pain, it can literally take over a life and turn it into torment. it amazes me how even some of the nurses i work with are so casual about their old dogs arthritic hips...some glucosamine and an asprin does not cut it. we advocate constantly for our human patients comfort and argue with physicians to provide better pain control, but our dogs? gee, give them an aspirin and that is supposed to do the trick. since when did human pain become more deeply felt than an animals? drives me nutz, pain is pain, no matter what the species. we have just learned to articulate ours better, they suffer theirs in silence.