We lost our Pepper to kidney failure yesterday. She was in misery all Friday night, so we took her to the vet Saturday morning to end her journey. ='(

I haven't posted for a while... uh... LONG while.

Ms Pepper is slowing down. She's basically just eating, and sleeping all day. When she goes outside to potty, it's quick. She no longer wants to snoop around the yard. She does pay attention to what's going on. Instead of jumping around and barking, she'll lift her head and bark. My little old lady. =)

My hubby had his hip replaced six weeks ago and is doing wonderfully. He's back driving, working and looks 15 years younger.

I haven't had much time to keep up with this blog. Son, Chris, is recovering from surgery, and Hubby, Bob, is going in for hip replacement in two weeks.

Miss Pepper is having water works problems. Unfortunately, with all the snow, and the fact that she can't manage the stairs any more, we can't get her to the vet. Poor old girl.

So, right now, it's time to do the laundry to clean up the pee pad off Pep's bed, and finish making her dog food. (We can't afford to buy the low protein stuff from the vet.

Miss Pepper has started to show signs of her age this winter. She's 11. We're trying her out on Rimadyl to see how that goes. She's been having real problems with stairs, and since we live in a split level, it's all stairs here. Luckily it's only two steps down to the back yard and she can manage that. But getting her out for walks is a challenge. She can manage going down the front steps to the street side of the house, but won't go down the family room steps to get outside UNLESS my husband's the one taking her out. She'll do it for him, not for me. Getting back in is twice the problem. Won't go up the front steps, won't come in the side (unless Hubby takes her, and he has a bad hip so he usually prefer me to to the leg work with her. So we either go through one side or the other to get into the back door. I nearly lost my shoe in the mud (it's either mud or snow here in winter), but we got her back in the house. Poor old girl! (the dog, not me!(

We've had a bit of a hair-tearing time here. Pepper is doing well. She recovered very nicely from her bout of Kennel Cough and Pneumonia. (I'll be damned if I leave her at THAT kennel again!)

Hubby was due to have a hip replacement. We had it all lined up and then the bank called to say they'd cut our credit limit to zilch on the card we were going to use to pay for living expenses while he was recovering. So we had to post pone it until we can save up enough scratch to cover day to day expenses while he gets back on his feet and back to work. It's hell to watch him limping around, even with the aid of a cane. The family will not help, so we're on our own as usual. (God, forbid the inlaws ever need anything. One must drop everything and run the moment one is summoned!)

At least my cardio exam and stress test went well. Yes, I am a strapping old girl! LOL! The doctor asked if the stress test treadmill wore me out. I said, heck no! I felt great and could have gone a half hour on the thing if they wanted. On the down side he did tell me not to 'nosh', but I am down ten pounds from my last visit. (I want to know exactly how I managed that. Is candy corn now a veggie?)

Nearly All Better!

We got her through pneumonia! Pepper is MUCH better. The awful coughing and gagging have stopped, although she still sleeps much of the time. Her strength is coming back gradually, but she was up to playing with me yesterday in the back yard. We still have a few more days worth of pills to give her, and I have to check back with the vet, but it looks like our girl has recovered! YAY!

Thanks for everyone's thoughts and prayers.

Adventures with Pepper and the Nebulizer

This time, the nebulizer treatment was success. First of all, I fixed the leak in the unit with a little glue and plastic wrap. Yay, Go me! I put 30ccs of saline into the cup, attached the mouthpiece and turned the unit on. She looked a little amused and listened as I told her how Chris used the thing and now it was her's. I sang along with the ipod, cradled her head and held the thing next to her nose. She was very good and lay there, breathing in the moisture for ten minutes or so. She stopped coughing and is breathing easier. SUCCESS! So cheers for Pep for being such a good dog!