The Hospice Vet

Photo: Zeb swimming in the ocean this summer (Bodega Bay)

Ron, Zeb and I met with Dr Anthony Smith at the house of our dear friend Jean.

He only specializes in end of life care www.rainbowbridgevet.com

He was very kind and had a number of drugs that hopefully will help make Zeb more comfortable.

It was a long drive and back to Berkeley for Zeb but he did okay. (Lyla wanted to come too).

Her is a list of Zeb medications so far (he isn't rattling yet!)

Western drugs:
Prednisone
Faminotine
Tramodol
Metronidazole
Baytril
Predisolone eye drops
Gabapentin
Amantadine
Buprenex
Subcutaneous fluids

Eastern/holistic drugs
Yannan yao pai
Quiet digestion
Azeo pangen Enzymes
Acidophilus
Transfer X supplement
Clear heat
multi vitamin

Qi Gong healing
Reiki healing
Acupuncture
Infinite unconditional love
Beach walks
Big toy box
Numerous beds

Ron bought an oxygen concentrator to set up an oxygen tent to aid his breathing if he has trouble breathing at any point.
Home cooked foods
(Baked chicken breast and any other foods for healing)

Zeb is sleeping more peacefully tonight. The hospice vet gave him a shot of the Buprenex - an injectable narcotic. Made him sleepy but eased his body for him.

We'll see how he is tomorrow and adjust his meds to support him best.

His system is trying hard to heal it's self from the pancreatitis attack on top of the lung condition, hyphema, fatigue, anorexia and fatigue. Could well be cancer and that the pancreatitis arose from this condition. But another consideration is the chemotherapy drug Elspar which he had 2 weeks before the pancreatitis can have a delayed reaction and actually be a cause for pancreatitis! Great! Poor Zeb.

Either he will get better or he will move on to his next existence. This is still hard to accept but a truth for all of us - we never know when our time is up for this life. There is no guarantee we will live to old age. None. This part of my practice - be prepared for anything; one just never knows. Just this moment - that is all we really have.

Send Zeb your love, Metta, prayers, positive energy, kind thoughts - he is such a special boy.

A person who just met my dogs for the first time a week before Zeb got ill said that he had never met such happy dogs! Lyla and Zeb are such sweethearts. They have extra waggy tails and Zeb is a confirmed wiggle butt and a great kisser. They just love people. I have the best dogs.

Zeb - you are the greatest. I love you so much. You are such a loved dog. You are my best boy.

My Zeb, my deep wish for you: May you be happy. May you be peaceful. May you be free from all suffering forever.

Zeb's Story Continued

Photo: Zeb in his Halloween Jester costume and having acupuncture treatment (yep - see the needles!).

Oct 31

Zeb has another acupuncture appointment. He is still eating with a finicky appetite so I'm tempting him with many goodies. He especially likes raw food (of the carnivore persuasion).

His energy is about 10% of what it is normally - not our Zeb. Whatever is ailing him is seriously sapping his energy.

I have been spending hours searching the net for other things that could be going on with him. One rare disease is called Hermansky Pudlack Syndrome that affects people with little pigmentation in their skin. It affects their lungs, gut and can cause bleeding issues. Zeb is nearly all white skinned. And the symptoms are very similar - who knows?!

Nov 2

Zeb is not good this am. His heart rate is up over 200 beats a minute, actually we can hardly count them cos they are so fast. Very scary for all of us. Ron calls the emergency vets and they say it could be due to pain or internal bleeding. His calms down after a bit but he seems uncomfortable. I increase his pain meds. We watch him closely over the rest of the day. He off his food but I do tempt him with morsels so he will take his numerous assortment of pills and potions. I also notice he has diarrhea - very yellow too. Not good. I research the net and all his new symptoms sound like like pancreatitis. Really not good.

Nov 3

Zeb seems in pain this am so I call his regular vet and get him squeezed in in the pm. He seems to be getting worse and so when we get to the vet I sit on the floor with him in the exam room and when Erich comes in he kindly also gets on the floor too. When he examines him Zeb seems pretty uncomfortable in his abdomen. W decide to do a full blood panel with a rest specific for pancreatitis. I have increased his pain meds even more so he seems more comfortable.

I feed him very bland food (rice, chicken) to try and rest his poor innards.

Nov 4

The blood tests come back positive for pancreatitis. His liver values are off the charts 4 times higher that what they should be plus hid WBC is elevated to over twice. Poor baby - so painful and yucky on top of what he is already going through!!!

I call the TCm vet to make sure none of the herbal meds are reacting with the western meds. The vet is great says they will not but we take him off them except for one and make an appointment to she her the next day.

(Yay - Barack Obama is our next president of the USA! May some sanity be restored!!)

Nov 5

Zeb gets another acupuncture treatment and I get good advice on food prep for him to help through this episode. Pancreatitis is treated with supportive measures. Fluids, painkillers, simple fat free foods, rest, and maybe antibiotics to ward off secondary infections. This ailment could of been started by the new diet I was feeding him or it could be pert of some disease progression.

I'm keeping him on high doses of Tramadol to help with the pain. And tons of love, love, love and more. I cook him chicken breast and rice and puree it and add a little corn starch to make a baby food. He also gets a little slippery elm herb powder to help out his tummy.

Nov 6

Zeb still has bad diarrhea. And it now gone from yellow to dark reddish brown. Not good. Worried he might be bleeding internally. He is still eating and drinking and has no fever. And his pulse is normal. His lip capillary refill test is good. Maybe just some really irritated intestinal tract.

I have been giving him subcutaneous fluids since yesterday too. Helps balance his electrolyte levels and keeps him hydrated. I love my boy.

Nov 7

We have a reiki healing session this afternoon with a local woman called Brenda. She is great and Zeb lies down on the floor as she enters the front door - like he is instantly ready for his healing session! He relaxes into it and gets a wonderful holistic treatment. Arabella wants to join in too. She knows good vibes when they are present!

Tomorrow we are driving over to Berkeley to meet a vet that specializes in home hospice care (just in case). After talking to 4 different local house call vets they don't seem to administer morphine or heavier painkillers which I would want to use so to as alleviate any pain as I could possibly do. The hospice movement is not as advanced for animals as it is for humans. But this vet seems to be pretty serious in supporting animals in a good transition.

Our dear friend Jean is letting us come to her house to have the meeting. Thank you Jean! xxxooo

I'll let you know what we learn.