Today was National Dog Day!
I am happy to say Sasha celebrated
turning 16 years and 9 months old!
πΆ β€ π πΆ β€ π
***Despite being diagnosed with
kidney failure, pancreatitis
and anemia back in June,
my little fighter is hanging in there!
She has her good days and her not-so-good days.
Dog food no longer appeals to her.
For a couple weeks, Sasha had a thing for cat food
(none of the fish flavors -- it was mainly the gravy she enjoyed). Well, that ship sailed. No more cat food.
My challenge each day is trying to
figure out what she'll eat.
With my son away for college, his leftovers in the refrigerator are a thing of the past. She used to enjoy scraps he'd feed her.
Earlier in the week she went through a phase
where she loved to eat toasted, whole grain bread.
Five pieces a day!
Naturally, after I bought her a loaf of sandwich bread
at the grocery store she no longer was interested
in eating toasted bread!
My mom dog watched Sasha when we took
our son to college and she had an
impossibly hard time getting her to eat
anything for three days.
Some chicken flavored Alpo dog treats
were the only thing she ate.
Upon returning, I honestly thought Sasha was
on her last days of life....then she bounced back again!
I think Sasha just missed her family
when we were away and lost her appetite.
Speaking of appetite...
The vet prescribed some expensive
medicine called Entyce when
I took in Sasha back in June.
The liquid medicine made Sasha hungry
and as a result she would eat fairly well.
Veterinarians learned that a side effect of
dogs consuming HGH (human growth hormone)
was an increased appetite in some canines.
Entyce is made with HGH.
Well, the first bottle was a test.
It took 3 days before it kicked in and
Sasha's appetite returned.
The bottle lasted about 10 days and cost $45,
but hey it worked!
The second bottle was twice as big
and cost $52 (a value!)
After Sasha finished the second bottle,
I had an epiphany moment wherein I realized
I was playing God by keeping Sasha alive
through medication and decided to quit giving it to her. Fortunately, Sasha has managed to survive without the Entyce medicine for five weeks.
I am thankful Sasha didn't die over the Summer or
I would feel so alone. It's been hard enough
becoming an "empty nester" overnight
with my son now moved away to college
almost 7 hours away and no more children at home.
Sasha is like a child to me though!
I realize God has a plan and one day will be Sasha's last; consequently, I try to take a photo of her every day
knowing one of the pictures
will be the last one I ever take
of my sweet, loyal companion.
Cherished moments captured forever in time!***
More of my posts about Sasha can be found here
here here
and here
β€ β€
This is my entry for DogsofSteemit
hosted by the amazing
and the huge Ulog initiative hosted by
the incredible
**Images taken with Samsung Galaxy S8 Note
Β© 2018 Nina Haskin. All rights reserved
Thank you very much for stopping by
and have a great day!!!**
!steemitworldmap 38.70938 lat -90.652536 long Weldon Spring, MO d3scr
