April 2008 Archives

It's hard to be enthusiastic about blogging when you haven't had a good night's sleep in days.  I don't have to tell parents about this.  You develop a second sense--hypersensitive hearing--that wakes you whenever you hear a certain kind of noise.  For parents, this might be a baby's cry or cough.  For us, it is the sound of Hobbes gagging.  I can sleep through phones, motorcycles, thunder, pretty much anything.  But the second Hobbes hacks, I am awake.  It must be the maternal/paternal instincts in Tom and myself; we are driven to protect Hobbes.

Not that we can do anything to prevent or stop these episodes.  Esophogeal fluid builds up in Hobbes pockets, or his acid reflux kicks in.  I don't think I have mentioned this before (forgive me if I have), but along with his esophagus not working, the sphincter that connects the esophagus with the stomach also appears not to work.  So, when he lies down, stomach acid flows back up, and sometimes out.  That's why he is on pepcid, among other medications, to reduce the acid and help protect his esophagus. 

These episodes occur either around 12:30 or 3 a.m.--almost never during the day, because Hobbes is up and relatively active.  When they do occur, he makes sounds like he is trying to clear his throat, which in a manner he is.  Then he may or may not offer up a puddle of slimey stuff.  We cheer him on--go Hobbes!  Spit it up!  Because when he does, he is fine, and we can clean it up and go back to sleep.  We may lie awake watching him for half an hour at a time, multiple times during that night.  And, it usually takes two or three nights for Hobbes to finally surrender his bodily fluids.

Poor little guy.  He doesn't like this any more than we do.  He looks up at us--asking forgiveness and begging us to make it stop.  Of course we don't blame him--we never could.  And we wish we could make it stop, but nothing really can.  All we can do is squeegee the mess up and go back to sleep.

My husband and I are very different personalities when it comes to "stuff" laying around.  He is a very neat person, but doesn't mind making piles.  I am a very neat person.  Period.  Some might say compulsive, perhaps (which is a very difficult thing to be, if you have three dogs and two cats!).  I don't like piles on counters. 

Last Saturday was a beautiful day.  Tom was working in the garage, getting our lawn mowers ready to roll (we have two acres, and will likely have to mow by next weekend), and I was inside doing what I do every Saturday--cleaning.  Windows were open and a wonderful breeze was blowing.  Shortly after Hobbes' lunchtime feeding, Tom brought in the mail--an election flyer for a local candidate and our water bill. True to form, he left them on the kitchen island counter.  I spent the rest of the afternoon moving this little pile around as I needed different sections of the counter to clean and do other things.  Finally, I got so sick of the election flyer that I folded it up, threw it away, and immediately forgot about it.

The next day, Tom began pulling out the checkbook, check card receipts, and bills in order to balance our checking account.  He then asked me if I knew where the water bill was.  Oops!  Had I accidentally thrown it out with the other junk mail?  I began digging through the garbage, while he looked in drawers and other places I put things when they are in my way.  No luck.  I thought for sure I had either thrown the darn thing away, or put it somewhere for safe keeping, only to discover it months after it is due.  

What does this have to do with Hobbes, you may ask.  Everything.  For a dog who has issues consuming things, he loves to chew and eat anything and everything he can get his furry paws on.  In this way he takes after his sister Jada, who can eat rocks, dirt, pretty much anything and suffer no ill effects.  You probably see where this is going.  The beautiful breeze that was blowing through the house also blew the water bill off of the island and onto the floor.  Manna from heaven!  We didn't see signs of the bill until Sunday afternoon, when we realized Jada and Hobbes must have shared the yummy orange piece of paper.  Probably the only time in their lives that they will cooperate and share <sigh>  An aside:  My mother loves to tell the story about me and my older brother, happily sharing the bottle of baby aspirin--the only time she ever saw us (or caught us, I should say) doing so, and it had to be with something poisonous to us.  The same could be said of the water bill and Hobbes, although at this point we have seen no signs of pneumonia.  This does explain why he was coughing so much Saturday evening--he was having the same reaction to the water bill that he has to water...   

It seems that I tend to add entries to this blog after Hobbes has had a bad night.  Maybe I am more inclined to write when I am half asleep.  Who knows.  Needless to say, Hobbes had a bad night last night.  We were up at 1:30 and 3:30--awakened by gagging and hacking.  Poor little guy.

One of his issues, which we can do very little about, is his acid reflux.  As I mentioned in a previous entry, Hobbes' sphincter between his stomach and his esophagus doesn't close.  When he lays around for an extended period, like at night, his stomach acid creeps back up into his esophagus, and sometimes right back out, in the form of a puddle of slime.  Most dogs with this condition are given an antacid of some kind.  We tried to give Hobbes Prilosec, but it made him sick, so we've stuck with good old-fashioned pepcid (which is also much cheaper!)  What pepcid doesn't do is heal the lining of the esophagus, which is damaged by the continuous acid assault.

Some people give their animals Nexium, still others use a drug called carafate.  When administered, carafate coats the esophagus and protects it from damage.  The challenge with using this medication is that it has to be given at least an hour before the dog eats, or two hours afterward.  Which means the dog has to be in their "box" when the medication is given, and for the 20 minutes or so afterward.  Tom and I just can't do it.  We both work--this would add an additional hour or so onto each feeding, which would mean a three hour lunch, and getting up at 4 a.m. to feed Hobbes breakfast.  Considering our lack fo sleep as it is, the latter just isn't an option!

Thanks to another Lappie owner who also has a dog with mega-e (but not MG--her condition is idiopathic, or of unknown origin), we have an alternative to carafate--slippery elm.  It sounds disgusting, and looks even worse, but Hobbes loves it, and it seems to help calm down his tummy.  Here is the recipe:

1 tsp powdered slippery elm, added to 1 cup boiling water.  Reduce heat and stir over low heat until mixture begins to congeal (this doesn't take very long, and it will thicken further as it cools.)  When cooled a little, add 1 tsp honey, and a few drops of molasses.  Give 2 tsps after dinner, or more frequently if needed.

I understand that slippery elm also has been suggested for people who have IBS and other gastro-intestinal issues.  I can't say it works every time for poor Hobbes, but it doesn't do any harm, he loves how it tastes, and seems to offer some relief.