Canine Crisis, Part 2

In yesterday's entry, I wrote about how my dog, Indy, had Addison's disease, which is a failure of the adrenal gland to produce the right chemicals. Today she seems to be a tiny bit better than yesterday: she's more interested in things, wants to play more, and even chased her sister around the churchyard during our afternoon walk.

On the flip side, she hasn't regained her weight yet. I gave her a bath today and told her she was a bag o'bones. She just gave me a look of "yeah, whatever". The poor girl still has very little stamina. She tires very easily, which is really sad to watch because until last week, she was a tomboy, always running and getting into things. On our walks, she always took point, going out as far as her leash would allow, nose out front, on a mission, by God. Now she trots along beside or behind me. And after any kind of exertion, like after a walk or even a playtime, she needs a nap. The lack of energy is noticeable even when she's just lying there ... before, there was an alertness to everything; now, she seems more tired or almost depressed.

The doc has us giving her a small Prednisone tablet every day. We think the dosage may be a bit too high, as her water intake and (especially) outflow are much higher than before. Indy and Soozee have always been picky eaters ... to the point where we put their bowls down and almost have to beg them to "pleeeeze eat your dinner" while they sit back (way back) and try to decide if the food smells like it's suitable for royal princesses. But now Indy seems to have a bit less apetite, too, which makes trying to get her to bulk up even more difficult.

But she's still with us. And she's getting better, slowly. I don't know if she'll ever get back to full Indy-ness, but she's still here. And I thank God for that every five minutes.