Lately, we’ve been bringing Nachos to Animal House in Alabang for several reasons. The first reason was because for a couple of days, he was refusing to eat and it looked like he was in pain all the time.
We found out he had doggie gas. So he was prescribed to go on an antacid for 3 days and eat yucky geriatric dog food (which he didn’t eat, still ended up giving him boiled chicken or chicken liver).
Black spots are the gas bubbles. Very painful for doggies.
He got well and was okay for a week until he started coughing and wheezing. It was so bad that in the middle of the night, he’d wake up almost choking to death with coughs.
Last Monday I took him back to the vet and they gave him another x-ray. This time they found out he has tracheal collapse and an enlarged heart.
His trachea is so tiny at the end 😦 Makes breathing difficult for him.
Actually the enlarged heart issue was diagnosed a few months back. But I never really saw how serious the issue was until I saw the x-ray of Nachos’ heart. It’s really alarmingly huge.
So this Saturday, he has a scheduled ECG and we’ll find out if he needs to go on heart maintenance meds, which I think will be the case.
Currently, he’s on these meds. Cefalexin for antibiotics until tomorrow, Lysine for multivitamins (forever), Prednisone is an anti inflammatory to help his collapsing trachea and Cimetidine for his doggie GERD. We also share my bottle of Myra-E oil capsule, one capsule a day for him.
Sad to say, I’m really getting stressed and depressed over this as I’ve been reading serious, scary stories about dogs with enlarged hearts. And these stories don’t end well.
Sigh. *sad*
Yesterday, my sister mentioned that we should get another dog. She thinks that Nachos needs his own pet companion to get thru this ordeal. She said it would be his therapy.
You know how they say that having a pet is therapeutic for old people, right? My sister says it’s the same thing with pets. Pets needs other pets, too. Even though they’re showered with human love, having another pet as companion is a different thing.
Nachos: Who has bigger eyes? Me or him?
I actually believe this might be true since Nachos started getting all these health issues when we moved out. He had a doggie friend when he was staying still staying in Artie’s house 3 months ago and he was perfectly fine.
Sushi, Nachos’ ex-girlfriend. Nachos is currently woo-ing a Pom in our condo compound. Sorry, Sushi.
Now we’re thinking of getting another Chihuahua. But it needs serious thinking as another Chihuahua puppy costs around P12,000 – P16,000 ($280 – $370). Of course, we’ll need to spend twice the amount on dog food since we’ll be having 2 pets. The first year of a new dog is also expensive since you’ll need to be updated on vaccines and stuff.
On doggie training, that’s entirely different issue altogether since I’ll need to potty train the new pup and teach it doggie manners and all.
Gosh, it’s like planning to get another baby 🙂
But for now, I’m putting Nachos on a strict diet. It should help a little with his enlarged heart issue.
Apparently, adult Chihuahuas should only eat 1/4 cup a meal, twice a day. Currently, Nachos eats thrice a day, 1 cup a meal 😛 He’s not THAT overweight, but he’s a bit chunky at 5 pounds (healthy Chihuahuas should weight 2-6 pounds only).
I think I’ll try to bring his weight to 3-4 pounds. (Sadly he can’t get over exerted with exercise because of his heart issue)
Skinny, not-so-cute 1 year old Nachos. I think he was 1 pound then, LOL 🙂 He reminded me of Gollum
I’ll be more lenient though and feed him thrice a day since he’s prone to doggie GERD. But still, only 1/4 cup! (Hear that, Nachos!)
Must not give in when he licks his emptied bowl and look up at me with puppy eyes, “I want some more…”
Leave a comment