R.I.P. 2/11/2010

Roland made his final trip to the vet on Thurs morning. He had lost 6 lbs in the last 2 months and his shoulder and hip bones were sticking out. He could barely stand and was limping on both a front foot and a rear foot due to the onycodystrophy. His fecal incontinence was almost daily and his limited mobility made it worse. While it's always sad to lose such a special dog, he had put up with so much for so long.

Rest in Peace:
DC Gerico's Wild Goose Chase SC, FDCh, NA, OAJ, etc (AKA "Roland")
3/9/1998 - 2/11/2010

We hope that his struggles with mega-esophagus help other dogs and their families deal with this devastating disease. He lived 2 years and 2 months from the first symptom and never had pneumonia, so we must have been doing something right or were incredibly lucky. If you are new to this blog, please read from the beginning.

Feb. 2, 2010

Roland is noticeably worse the past few weeks. He's falling frequently and even fell off the bed one night. His rear end is failing him. I think it's a combination of the malnutrition and loss of muscle mass and strength from the megaesophagus and the old greyhound rear end. He's also having trouble with bowel control. He doesn't seem to know that he's about to have a bowel movement until it starts. Then he runs towards the door pooping along the way. He's even pooped in his sleep. Life in our household has really become a mess - blurping and pooping dog in the house who doesn't have good control of his body. I think we're in the last few weeks, but he's surprised us before by bouncing back - so we wait and hope that we know when the time is right.

Jan 2010 Update

It's nearly the middle of Jan and we're still hanging in there. Roland's rear is getting weaker and it looks like he's lost weight. I'm toying with taking him to the vet tomorrow (we are off work for MLK Day) to weigh him. His blurping seems to be about the same and he hasn't had one of those terrible times for several weeks now. If he makes it to March 10th, he'll be 12 years old - a reasonable age for a large male greyhound. He really just sleeps most of the time now and he always was good at simply hanging out. He has little overall strength and has lost so much muscle mass. He sits like a puppy now - rocked back on his butt - and his whole rear end quivers when he sits. He's also gotten very short with our whippet.

He's on the same doses of his medications. Over the holidays, I fed him about 4 small meals a day - basically whenever he was up and around and looked hungry. He does eat well for the most part. Most of his life he's been a very picky eater, so I guess the disease is making him hungry.