Well, my confession... My "log" is mostly in my brain that has enough crap in it to officially be accused of being a Horder 😂🤣😏 I guess it could be worse.

Update, Mitch is doing pretty well  We started him on half doses of the Proin, 25mg twice a day. He has his CBD faithfully first thing in the morning, just a little over 1mg/lb. This week we raised his dose to 50mg Proin at night, and the last 2 days her is on the original dose of 50 mg twice a day.

Call me crazy...I know some of you already do but I truly believe the CBD oil has had surprisingly noticable effects. All positive. You've seen young strong Mitch, sleepy Mitch, blah Mitch... Check this out:

This is happening more. He is up and about, sleeping less, eating better, and a lot more playful. We still have our food moments but not every day now.

He is having far less accidents. I am questioning the separation anxiety. Now, David went to jury duty and Mitchell's diaper was wet, soaked. But he was snoring on the couch when I got home and calm as cucumber. We are playing music for him, and he takes gaba only when he's going to be alone. He has started to slow down on the peeing in his diaper at night. 

I'll take it. I realize her could freak out when we first leave and then calm down before we get home. Either way this is a whole lot better and we put his crate away tonight *happy dance*

Maybe somewhere out there some of this will help another furbaby. I am definitely seeing a more lively happier Mitchell, that means the world to us.

Jackie and her wonderous puzzle of a Mitchell doggie 🐾🐾

I was going to start a new thread, but looking back on this one gives a great timeline for all of Mitchell's events, especially with the CBD oil. He has responded very well to it. About a month ago we started giving him a second dose in the evening with dinner. Same as his morning dose. I know finding definitive information on dosage and quality products has been hard. The most common dosage I have found throughout my searches has been 1mg for every 10 pounds of puppy. That is what I have stuck with. Instead of increasing the morning dose, I added the evening dose. I always give it on an empty stomach, just before his meal.

So, we have had a few weird run in's with Mitch. I let him outside into the back yard about 1 1/2 weeks ago and he just stood there on the sidewalk looking confused. It was a hot day, and he just plopped himself down on to the hot sidewalk. I had to argue with him to get up and out of the sun. Then it passed and he was ok.

Not long after, he was sleeping on the couch across from me and he picked his head up. I got up, went over and sat with him when all of a sudden he jumped up. I don't know if his plan was to jump off the couch to go out or if he just jumped out of nowhere, but he did a faceplant on the floor before I could grab him and cried. It broke my heart. 

We decided to take him off the CBD for a bit just to see what the difference would be. The difference was incredible, and for all of you following all of our different CBD escapades, it was a FAST change. It was just as fast as the differences I noticed starting him up on it. Within 48 hours he was back to having difficulty walking, difficulty jumping up on the couch, and even more difficulty getting up from the laying position. You could tell by his demeanor that he was uncomfortable, the brightness faded quickly. That lasted less than a week and we started him back on the CBD about 4 days ago. He is already getting around better, but it is taking longer this time. I think we "have what we have" with him, and he is probably not long for this world but in the time that we have left I want to make the most of what we do have. My conclusion after all of this is that I have an old dog. I know, right? He is not as sharp as he used to be, might have a touch of early dementia, and he is slowing down. 

The Proin never did work for Mitchell, I took him off of it. I have made dietary changes and his drinking has decreased quite a bit. I am switching him over to a good grain free food, and as long as we keep a diaper on him when we are gone and at night we do ok. He has a lot of dry nights now that he is off the Royal Canin, and drinking a lot less. I think it was a good food, but the sodium in it was off the charts. He could not stop drinking, and with the drinking came more peeing.  I had to really think about this and I honestly don't think his lifespan will circle around to more bladder stone surgeries. I chose the grain free mix because carbs seem to aggravate bladder stone issues, so I think we have a happy medium here. 

CBD has not seemed to affect his continence issues either way. It has helped his cognitive skills. Oh, a HUGE surprise to me... it actually cured his fear of thunderstorms. We had a few doozies.. he slept right through them. Honestly, I never even thought about it until we took him off of it briefly. On the second CBD free night we had a little thunder shower. By KY standards it was low to average, ok? At 1:00am I woke up to find that he had dragged himself upstairs He was panting, pacing, crying, beside himself. That was when I had my AHAAAhhh moment.

So all in all, Mitch is still hanging in there. He has a new food that he likes, we are playing a lot more ball in the yard, and he seems happier and more comfortable. I just bought him a swimming vest. He has always been apprehensive about swimming, but I thought maybe if I got him a floaty vest he would enjoy it. I know if I can get him swimming in there it will be great PT for him. We will see.

Hugs,

Jackie and Mitchell the Wonderdog 

Sally, you would have thought of all things I would have picked up on the storms right way lol. We found out almost the hard way within 2 days of adopting him that thunder and fireworks horrify him. We were out on the deck his second night home and it started to thunder. He almost came out the window through the screen to get to us in a total panic. He actually hears it before we do and starts panting. After that I always made it a point to have a fresh bottle of Benadryl and pill pockets in the house. Even with the Benadryl sometimes he would panic unless I could dose him before a storm really set in. 

I would like to try cooking for him again and incorporating it into this new food. Last time was a flop. I couldn't get him to eat it at all and it all went bad 😦😧😨

If I can make something he likes that's good for him I'd like to be able to freeze it into portions so I can make batches that will last a while. Just have to find a good recipe I guess. He's just so picky. He will love something one day and turn his nose up the next 😤🤯😬

I will get some pictures together soon 💖

Thanks, Rene. The recipe that I used was from something that I found here, I think I added too much liver (didn't know there was such a thing, lol) so I think I need to add more other meats and maybe boil some eggs too. Our kitties love eggs too so my goal is to put something together that they will all enjoy. I may have to add different things, like the Canine Complete to just Mitchells portion. I will have to read up on the types of carbs that are healthier too, seeing both Mitch and Andy have urinary crystal problems and Mitch had 7 stones removed from his bladder. 

Right now, we are using a food that we found called Crave. The ingredients were really impressive and I have not been able to find any recalls as of yet on either the cat or dog side. The first ingredient is meat.. and it is not 75.00 a bag.. amazing. Even if I integrate some home made food into this food to keep it nutritionally balanced, they are all actually eating it and enjoying it. 

I already have 3 and 4 legged company at the dinner table, lol... that won't change any time soon