Update on Choya - March 03

The old boy is doing the best he can.

He now receives Prednisone every other day and we can unfortunately tell the difference when he doesn’t get it. He is still on the Tramadol every 12 hours. Over the next week we will arrange to try acupuncture. Apparently this can be a hit or miss venture but it certainly is worth a try as it is one of the least invasive treatments recommended. Choya is in good spirits with a willing heart and a healthy appetite. Choya enjoys a short, slow walk at Conroy Park most days, weather and temperature permitting. The down side of this is that Choya must be lifted into the van as he is unable to jump or step up into the van or even put his front paws up to help. It was quite cute this morning to find one of our other Goldens sleeping with Choya in the living room on a cozy makeshift bed we’d organized for Choya. Sometimes the other Goldens will remain behind downstairs in the evening to keep Choya company for a bit after we have retired for the night. We were up at 3 am to let Choya outside. A few hours later at 6 am our daily routine started once again. The old boy needs to go out to relieve himself about every 3 to 4 hours, sometimes he can go a bit longer to 4 or 5 hours. In addition to his daily rations of J/D we feed Choya extra organic apples, cooked green beans and squash to help offset the increased appetite from the Prednisone. Sometimes we also give Choya his favorite as a treat which is simply a slice of bread. We weigh Choya every week because in the beginning of all of this he started losing weight. His weight now is stable. The vet gave us guidelines of what to look for to monitor Choya for pain and so far he’s doing pretty good overall. We can see some discomfort but his spirit has not thrown in the towel and there is no indication he’s had enough of it all.