I can't believe that only ten days ago I was happily posting and counting days to our 2-month ampuversary.  A couple of days after our introduction on this forum Krishna started having intermittent trouble breathing and felt hot.  By the following day he was listlesss and had a bit of a fever...then he started losing interest in food which he has NEVER done, so finally we called the vet for an emergency appointment.  We took him in one week ago today and she put him on antibiotics but also suggested an xray.  Bad news, there were spots on his lungs.  Switched our herbs to one more suited for lung than bone.   Friday the vet called to say the blood work actually looked pretty good, but she wanted to add another chi-strengthening herb.

We had an invitation to have dinner with the pawrents of his best friend on saturday night, and the "boys" had a great time together.  Krishna romped a bit with Keo on the lawn, stole some of the cat's food, and spent the evening relaxing and even "kissing" his buddy.  We had great hope after that, but this week has been rough.  The antibiotics had no effect, although on Monday acupuncture got his temp down about one degree.  After six days our vet said to drop the antibiotics and switched to coptis teapills to address inflammation.  Day by day Krishna was eating less and less until yesterday it was down to three cookies and one cube of cheese.  Needless to say, he was also getting weaker from not eating...but still going out to do his business and sniff around and mark his territory on unsteady legs.

Today I decided we needed to get some nutrition in him and get this fever licked so we can figure out if there is still a chance of addressing the lung mets.  I went to the supermarket for organic baby food (veg and turkey, vanilla pudding), remembering that when my dad was in the nursing home they simply put pureed foods in his mouth and out of reflex he would swallow.  That's what I did with Krishna, and we had another emergency acu session, which brought his temp from 104 down to under 103.  Left with another lung-specific Chinese herb, Qing Fei Saw.   Finally tonight, I was cooking up a batch of "beef stew" thinking I'd puree it and not have to spend $1.79 a pop on little jars of gerbers and Krishna laid down near the stove.  I took out a bit of beef...and HALLELUJAH he wolfed it down and then kept eating and eating.

It is really "one day at a time" right now, but honestly if there is one lesson our animal companions teach us is that we really only know that we made it to today, so we'd better live today with all we've got.  However much time we have left with Krishna, for anyone reading who has just gotten the diagnosis and is wondering what to do, to have had even a few weeks of our old boy back, running through the fields and swimming on his favorite beach, was a complete blessing. 

I also am tremendously grateful for living in a small town on a small island, where a wonderful holistic vet is five minutes away and says "Call or email me any time" and means it.  She kept kissing Krishna today as she checked his needles. And my boss told me to bring Krishna into the office tomorrow (I'm a real estate agent) because my husband will be away all day and she thought it might cheer the pup up to spend the day with us!  I know it will at least cheer me up.

Krishna's "mom" Beth