Isis was RUNNING today!!!

WOW!!! I took Isis out into the workshop so she could visit Bob today. It's a nice evening... so the big garage door was open. No worries... I can walk and catch her anyways.

SURPRISE!!! After she said "hello" to Bob she wandered out into the front yard. I was close beside her... then she got to the edge of our small road... and started running to the main road!!! FORTUNATELY.... she's not up to full speed so I was able to catch her! But I had to run TO catch her!

Collar goes back on and always on a leash in the front yard again!

I'm not so sure she should be running... with her heart!?? But it was great to see that she wanted to... and could!

Pictures finally!!

I've finally uploaded some photos of Isis taken in the last month! Here's one..... and if you click on the photo rectangle on the right side of the page - you will go to our Flickr account for our whippets!

Isis is doing GREAT!

Sorry I haven't posted about Isis in a while... she's much more mobile now so it takes more time to make sure she's not getting into trouble!

Earlier this week.... she was in the office with Bob. The Girls' crates are in the office... and Isis' is a top crate. Her crate door was open... and she looked like she wanted to get in. (She LOVEs her crate!) Well, before Bob could stop her... she jumped up to try to get in. Unfortunately... she missed and so fell backwards. FORtunately she was not hurt! But she is definitely feeling like herself again to want to try!

She's been walking MUCH better! Earlier this week we described her walk as like a drunken sailor :) This morning... we watched her and felt she's walking like a cowboy now LOL!

Jen's boyfriend Peter was over on Monday... and he came over again on Thursday and he said that he noticed that Isis made a lot of progress in those 3 days!

The only time Isis wears a diaper now is in bed (yes, she's in the "big bed" with us every night now!) and also in her crate if we have to leave her unattended.

She's eating 3 regular size meals a day now!! So much easier than spreading them out over 25 meals, that's for sure! She's starting to fill back out again too.

Hopefully I'll have pictures next time.... the pictures are from a few weeks ago... I took them and never got a chance to work with them yet.

Isis Claims "Her" Chair

Last night... we decided to watch a DVD. I was sitting in my LazBoy, and had Isis up on my lap for cuddles. Well, part way thru the movie she shifted a little... from on my lap to next to me in the chair.

She was comfy for a little while.... then got restless..... just couldn't seem to get comfortable.

I got up so I could adjust both of us... but as soon as I got up.... Isis TOOK possession of the entire chair!!!! LOL!!!!!!! I went over and sat down on the couch and said... "I can't believe she wanted me OUT of the chair so she could have it ALL to herself!"

:)

Isis is doing well!

Isis is doing very well! She's walking more... and is able to walk on her rear pawpads more and more (as opposed to walking on the tops of her rear paws). She's "insisting" on spending the evenings on the couch with us like she used to :)

Thursday night... she got up at 1am to go outside (she hardly ever wets her diaper anymore!). Then she got up again at 3.... so I took her again.... then she woke AGAIN at 4! I knew that it was probably NOT because she wanted to go outside.... but wanted back in "the big bed". I brought her to bed and she stopped figeting :)

We've been having her sleep on a dog bed on the floor... with a pen around her (to keep her from wandering). Now that she's started feeling more and more like her ol' self.... she wants to know why the heck she's sleeping on the floor instead of in the bed!

Last night.... she slept in bed with us :)

Taking Care of Isis

What's it like to take care of Isis? Well, there's a lot... but she is worth EVERY minute!!!

She is taking 8 pills a day. I can't hide them in food.... she finds the pill and spits it out LOL! I have to give them to her the old fashioned way... open her mouth, put them in the back of it, close her mouth and rub her throat. She's getting VERY good about it! We do this 3 times a day... 4 pills in the AM, 1 in the afternoon and 3 before bed.

Eating.... at this moment, she is finally hungry! But her system is NOT used to food... so I have to be careful about how much I give her at a time. As of today... that means giving her a little about 1/3 cup of kibble a day... spread out over about 25 very small meals! (She was used to a full cup of kibble a day... just twice a day!) I give her "treats" of a small bite of chicken breast or her RX canned dog food here and there too. I eventually need to wean her off the Eukanuba and onto the RX food... because the RX food has less than half the sodium of her regular food... and is also low in another nutrient... phosphorus I think. The salt is not good for her heart!

Although Isis IS starting to walk again (whoooHOOO!) she's still VERY wobbly... and needs to be carried outside to go potty. I carry her, open the doors with one hand, try to keep the other 3 whippets inside... close the door.... get her outside, take off her diaper and set her down. That's probably 6 times a day ... sometimes more.

Yes, in that last paragraph I said "take her diaper off"! One of the medications Isis is taking is to rid her body of excess fluids... to keep the fluids from building up in her lungs and heart. She takes this pill 3 x's a day. So.... she wears a diaper. YES, a regular baby diaper!! I'll show later how it goes on (in case that helps anyone else!) I have found that Pampers are MUCH better than other brands... even Huggies! I do not have to change the Pampers as often as I did the Huggies. Isis could feel the wetness right away with the Huggies. Boy was I tired with all those diaper changes!

Sometimes, Isis just couldn't hold it... especially at night... and her diaper would get soaked, soak thru to her bed. Thankfully, I've been using doggie "pee pads" to help protect her bedding - a crate pad with a blankie over it. But there were many times that both Bob and I had to get up, and I'd clean up Isis, Bob would change the bedding.

As Isis continues to get better, she tries more and more to not wet the diaper... cause she knows she should not pee in the house! She's also not going "constantly" like she used to. She is SUCH a good girl! That is really nice cause BOY... diapers are sure a lot more expensive than when I used them 18 years ago! LOL!!!

Isis is now recognizing even at night that she needs to go.... around 1 or 2 in the morning. She just can't make it thru the night. But taking her outside at that time and putting her back into bed is much easier than doing a complete bedding change! And ususally she makes it outside without wetting her diaper! She's such a good girl!

I want to say... a HUGE thank you to ALL of my collector friends... past, present and future!!! If it were not for you....I would not be able to care for Isis in this way - and she'd probably have had to have been put to sleep a while ago... THANK YOU!!!!!

Isis is doing well after a couple of setbacks...

Isis was getting her appetite back! She was enjoying the RX canned food and boiled ground beef... and she's SO skinny! So I let her eat more than I should have in one "sitting"... and she got sick. After that she showed NO interest in food! She really cannot afford to not eat!!

But then I had the thought to boil some chicken breast. (After boiling either chicken or ground beef... it is drained and also rinsed very well in hot water to get rid of the fat. The fat will cause a dog to get sick also!)

Tried that with Isis... and she LOVEd it! Later I tried a few kibbles (litterally! I only gave her 3!) of her regular food... Eukanuba... and she loved that too! By the end of the evening she was begging for food.

It's hard now... to not give her all she wants... but as I've learned.. that will make her sick! So I've been feeding her a little bit all day long. 2 days in a row... everything has stayed down!!

Now some good news!!!

Boy what a roller coaster of a day!

She's gotten a little of her appetite back.... and while I was trying to get her to eat more baby food (with RX kibble mixed in) She said "Mom, enough is enough! I'm thirsty!"

Then she got up... used her front legs to get her moving... and yes... she MOVED her rear legs!!!!!!!! Not a lot, but she DID move them! Her paws were turned down so she walked on the tops of her paws...

But she walked BY HERSELF to the water dish and took a drink... all by herself! Neither Jen nor I helped her at all. We wanted to see how she'd do by herself. WhooHOOO!!!

This morning... not so good...

Well, this morning was not so good. We did have 3 good days though... I'm so happy for those!

During Isis' checkup this past Monday, the doctor said we could try to back off some of the meds. We cut the heart meds in half and the diuretic by 1/3.

By Tuesday, I could tell by Isis' breathing that she needed the full dose of heart meds. So after talking with the doctor, we put her back. She was not coughing though! Coughing in this case is a sign that her lungs are filling up with fluid. That's why she was taking the diuretic 3 x's a day.

This morning - Friday morning however, her cough came back :( I gave her her normal morning dose... she did have her night time one last night... and will add an afternoon one to her schedule again. We can tell she's just not feeling right at the moment - my poor Girl! We'll see how the meds help her....

Jen's Home!

Jen's home from college now - she came home last night. Boy was Isis really happy to see her! Jen actually made an extra trip and visited for an hour the night before... to see Isis... just in case.

Isis does have some good days!

Isis has had a couple of good days! She's starting to act like her ol'self :) We do realize... as the vet said, she could go even when she'shaving a good day. On the other hand... she could surpise us all like other whippets have :)

Today I was working in the office and brought Isis in with me. I put her on a blanket on the floor...I heard a rustling... and turned to see my Sweet Girl pulling herself into her crate!!! (we keep the doors open when we are home) When crates are used correctly.. (ie: NEVER for punishment!) MOSTwhippets LOVE their crates! It just makes me feel good to see her doing things that are normal for her :)


One thing I am VERY grateful for is that I work from home... so I am able to be with Isis all day long. (I am a teddy bear artist). Funny thing is that Isis came into our lives the day that I quit my regular job to stay home to do this full time :)

Isis' Check up... not good news...

Thank you EVERYONE for your kind posts and private emails!! They aregreatly appreciated :)

We took our Girl in for her check up on Monday and her prognosis wasbad. Her heart is in really bad condition. We were told we have days or weeks... if we are LUCKY... months. Of course we cried buckets again.

Isis is still alert, enjoys ground beef (boiled and rinsed) and rice,takes her pills like a champ and loves to be loved. She loved just lying in the grass yesterday for about an hour - in a sunbeam,watching things around her and sniffing. I can tell she's gone backwards a little... so we'll just love her till we know it's time.

We are SO lucky that Isis came into our lives!!! She came to us as a 19 month old VERY submissive whippet needing an understanding home. When we first met her, she belly crawled across the floor to us...and then curled up in a ball in our laps as we sat on the floor.

She would not hold your gaze. It took a little over a year... but eventually this scared little girl transformed into a very confident young lady! We are honoredthat we were able to provide her a home in which this transformation could take place!!

If, when we first adopted her, we knew in advance that things would turn out this way... we'd do it again in a heartbeat (no pun intended)

Thank you again for all your good thoughts and wishes!!!:)
Laura, Bob, Jen, Isis, Cleopatra, Athena and Pandora

One week later....

Isis is doing very well... heart meds seem great. She will be going in for a check up next week.

We have her in a partial ex-pen right now. I was out running errands and Bob was home with her. Isis wanted to go out.... and Bob justwasn't responding quickly enough for her. She pushed her way out ofthe ex-pen (not hard... but wow) and started making her way down thehallway. Bob got her outside and she was able to stand by herself to go!

Our Sweet Isis Girl....

On Saturday afternoon ~ April 28th, one of our Girls - Isis, had a bad accident while running in the back yard. This accident left her back legs paralyzed. It was a spinal injury.

The treatment for this is cortizone shots and then oral steroids. Unfortunately, 2 days later we discovered that Isis has a very bad heart condition.... The steroids almost killed her (but was the only treatment for the spinal injury!)

At the time of this posting... Isis is still with us! We are not sure how long she has... could be days, weeks or months. I decided to start writing down the experiences with our Girls... to help us remember every wonderful moment!