still-alive

Rally beagle!

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Well, it was touch-and-go today with the Bella. She was nauseous and throwing up today (a sign of complete kidney failure) and refusing to eat (good thing I porked her up from 23 to nearly 26 pounds in the last two months). Kris took her to the vet again this afternoon, where she received fluids and anti-nausea medicine. Whether being at the vet pissed her off, or the medicine and all helped, she's rallied and is back home go go going.

Rally beagle FTW!

Rough night

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Yesterday was pretty rough for the little girl.

She refused to eat her dinner and had been instead eating clumps of grass from the back yard. When she puked up four grass balls and refused even rice and cottage cheese, Kris took her to the emergency vet. She ended up staying the night as they tried to put fluids and nutrients into her.

And thus begins the heroic measures to extend her life. Well, not so much "heroic" as "expensive."

She's still howling. She's still feisty, refusing to go to the vet this morning and being all huffy. While her quality of life may be decreased, she's still Bella and she still has fight in her. When she's awake, she seems to enjoy walking around the block. Sure, it takes her 30 minutes to go less than half a mile, but, wow, the sniffing she manages in that walk? Yeah, same as the young Bella.

So, not that you can tell in this picture either, but she's still alive, just a little drugged up on painkillers.

Not that you can tell

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Not that you can tell, but the dog is still alive.

Still kicking!

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Bella woke up enough for a walk around the block. She was pretty spry on it, too, even howling when we returned home.

And other than that, she's pretty much unsurprisingly a slug. She's been walking into things, hanging out underfoot, bonking herself on the nose, and sleeping. Mostly sleeping. It's hard to watch her be unable to go down the stairs to go outside to pee, walking circles in the kitchen. It's probably only a matter of time before she starts defecating on the floor.

Related, I've been passed out most of the weekend myself. The weekends are the worst time to be sick, though, really, weekdays aren't much better.

Yep, still here

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Last night was a rough night for Bella. I forgot to refill her painkillers on Tuesday, and ran out today. She's been taken a half pill twice a day, where the full dose is 1 pill every 8 hours, for 3 total per day. I didn't give her one in the morning. She was out of sorts all day yesterday, wandering around, unable to walk down the single stair out the back door, walking in circles around the back yard, eyes moving rapidly back and forth, trouble standing, trouble lying down, never quite staying still, never quite settling down. She's struggling, and I'm kicking myself for forgetting to pick up her prescription yesterday or even today.

Yet, she's still here. First really bad day I've seen in a while.

Fisheye Bella

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Still breathing, still snoring, still kickin' it.

Go, Bella, go!

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Sleeping!

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And now, it's both Bella and Annie where I'm sleeping. Great, just great. My pillow is going to smell like dog ass.

Of note, Annie has been hanging out with Bella more than before. She will snuggle Bella, sleep close, look for Bella when the older dog is off somewhere sleeping away from the pack. I don't know if Annie knows something's going on, or if she, too, is just getting old and seeking the comfort we all want.

Annie and Bella where I sleep

In my spot

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Bella, sleeping in my spot!

Yes, it hurts to be this cute.

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As mentioned

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As mentioned, a photo of Bella today.

She's still alive.

Alive and sniffing.

Still alive

Still alive

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I feel at this point that I need to start posting daily pictures of Bella, mostly with the title "Still alive!" or maybe just the tag. She made it past the original month she was given by the vet after her early stage kidney failure condition was found. We believe it's mostly because she's been receiving fluids twice a week. The vet said without fluids, she has a month; with daily fluids she could have up to a year. Given that she's sixteen and a half, it's unclear if kidney failure is going to do her in or if something else will. She pretty much fears the vet now, shaking violently in the car once she realizes where we're going. It is now a balance between quality and quantity of life: no way am I going to torture the dog every day for a year just to keep her alive longer for my benefit. She struggles with walks, barely making it 20 minutes at a time; her back seems to hurt every time it's touched; she's deaf; she's blind in one eye and nearly blind in the other eye; she often misses items held next to her face; and she spends a large amount of time either sleeping or standing motionless staring at a wall. I try to make everything as much fun as I can for her, going for walks when she indicates she's ready to go, but, well, she's nearing the end of her life.

For now, however, she's still alive.

And kicking.