Riley seems to have leveled off. For awhile he showed some improvement as he began to recover from all of his procedures, surgeries, anaesthesia and hospital stays. He regained his appetite and started to enjoy life again. I still keep looking for him to continue to improve but it's probably a false hope. I get discouraged when I take him to the vet for weight checks only discover that he has dropped a few more ounces. Before his illness he was a trim, well-muscled 25+ pounds. He was always such a vigorous, athletic little dog. In his prime I never saw a dog run faster. Now he is just under 21 pounds and I can feel his little skeleton poking out under his fur. I'm shocked at how frail he looks when I see him in pictures. He has had some trouble with UTI's in the last few weeks but is on antibiotics right now and seems better. He actually seems pretty comfortable most days and is enjoying getting spoiled. He eats well, sleeps well, gets to cuddle lots (has recently gone from sleeping with his college-bound girl to sleeping with Mum and Dad), and enjoys 2 good walks a day. Sometimes he wants to run or play rough but not as often as he used to. He doesn't love getting emptied, but he seems to be figuring out that it helps him since he can only pass a few drops on his own. He threw up this afternoon during a thunderstorm (3 hours after any food or meds). I'm not sure what that was about since storms have never bothered him before and I was sitting right beside him. Maybe we need to switch his NSAID back to Rimadyl from Peroxicam. Overall he seems pretty chipper most days which is better than he would be doing if her were on Chemo. He takes some herbs and supplements, as well. It's about 3 months since his diagnosis and every day with him is a gift. At that time they gave him 6 to 12 months with aggressive treatment (chemo). I'm still glad we didn't go that route.
~Riley's mum
