Pig 4/4 - 4/5 +10 148; amps 156

Yesterday's

Alright. These long, oh so long, days are about to run me into a wall. But, Pig seems to be doing well. He is a bit sluggish, but I think constipation and the newness of blues is causing it. However, my eye is upon it and I am like a hawk. It would seem that the EZ Eggs are really doing their thing. Every time he has a small BM there are actually chunks in it, which is new for him.. I imagine that some of that stuff is finally moving out and he is feeling it. Also, Tail has cleaned out two hairballs since we started the egg! Being a Maine C. it is hard for me to keep up with his HB and even though he gets the vet stuff, it is still an ongoing struggle with him. Tail gets bi-weekly baths in the summer because of this.. But, these eggs are working their magic and that is a good thing!

Only a few short weeks until SRT. I am getting more and more nervous by the day. But, it is time. Pig needs it.

 

Great job keeping Pig in those blues. He will eventually get used to them.

Glad the eggs are helping.

 

Pig is looking good! The egg yolk helped my boys too, also long hair. Although just recently in the last few days, Bubba has started hacking up tiny hairballs. I am thinking it's the change is season and shedding as he went quite a long time without an episode.

I bet you are very excited for the SRT. We will all be watching and cheering you on.

 

Oh yes, for sure. We go through this with Tail every year. He will not have an actual hair ball all year, instead he passes them in his BMs. However, right at the spring / summer turn he will lose a bit of his appetite and shortly after he will move out a few large hair balls. No matter how much I brush or anticipate, this happens every single year. Those hairs just start falling off. We mitigate quite a bit with baths during the summer time and thank god he is, at least, marginally compliant. However, I have never seen quite a good production and turn as I have with the eggs... I am quite impressed!

I hope your Bubba gets his hairballs gone! Its the curse of the long hair!

 

Also, I think I figured out his sluggy feelings. I give him Cyanocobalamin injections and Adequan injection every week. However, per the schedule that the vets hand out with these supplements they should act cumulatively in the body, building up a reserve. In theory, you should be able to reduce the dosage to once a month after 6 weeks of weekly dosing. I wanted to see if he could go on a bi-weekly dosing schedule. Well, the answer to that is no. No he cannot. I gave him his normal 25ml Cyano and 30ml Adequan last night and by this morning his sluggyness has pretty much all but disappeared. A diabetic Acro's body is so totally different. He is far more awake and alert and not near as 'half-asleep' as he has been the past 24 hours. I am guessing the last round was starting to wear off and he was feeling the difference. I can visibly see the difference.

 

I do not know what happened today. I have been able to keep his blue for several days but alas, today he decided to jump up to yellow again. *Sigh*

 

@JeffJ @Wendy&Neko

How are we looking so far? I still have some supplies to muster up...

ER Vets
Hotels accepting pets
Route Planner

I spoke with WSU for over an hour today and got all the details. I am glad I did not opt for a CT Scan before hand like some were saying as Pullman will need one there. Also, an US for my benefit can be done in house as well. My vet should be establishing contact soon. I thought this had already been done. I have all the days and times to schedule my vacation around and depending on my dispersal notification, we should be on the road in about 2-3 weeks. Keeping fingers crossed for sooner departures! I have a kennel picked out as well.. I will link it here. I ordered his harness (omg! Mom bought the beefy tough black boy a pink harness) and I am going to use cardboard flats for litter trays as he loves them. I also bought some lunchblox kits for food and insulin as they come with click on ice packs. I have stock piled about 10 coolers as well and ordered another several weeks of insulin and all medications.. Food can be bought on the way, but I am ordering extra there too...

Any input is greatly appreciated. I need to do this right.

 

Will your vet give you prescriptions for meds you might need? In case you need enroute? WSU doc should be able to get you anything you need there. Pack extra syringes and lancets plus an extra meter and batteries for the meter. Do you have a tag for the harness? With Pigs contact info and "diabetic" on it? Don't forget high carb food/karo and feeding syringe. Hopefully you won't need enema supplies.

We stayed in Billings, can't remember which hotel now. Ideally hotels will have freezers to refreeze the ice packs, if not in the room then in the kitchen/reception area. Lots of extra towels and laundry soap for accidents on said towels. Pee pads, scratching post/mat, toys, favourite bed, flashlight.

He's allowed one day of yellows, as long as he gets back to business.

 

Brilliant! Yes, I have already put together a travel hypo kit as well as a medication bag for "non-diabetic" medications. The tag I am working on, but it is in my plans. I have 4 different meters and all will be coming with me, one of them brand new in the box. I have 4 boxes of syringes and a double order of strips and lancets on the way. His diabetic medical is in a travel, plastic case with 3 layers. This I will bring as well. I did not think about scratchers, toys, laundry soap, towels, or bowls. Enema supplies are all ready in the med bag.

Also, I will be contacting home again and making sure his microchip is up to date and registered to an emergency address and phone number as well.

 

I packed everything including the kitchen sink, just like you are doing. For big trips I make a checklist. Then the departure day is simply checking it off. You are preparing very well, and should have everything.

I took lots of plastic bags for garbage.
Also pee pads if useful.

I put all plastic under the kennel in the car in case of urine. But Leo was a good boy the whole trip.

 

Definitely checklists. I did the same. And take a copy along to check off for the return trip.

Hello again blues.

 

Yes.. He moved out some good sized pieces last night. I guess those larger chunks are just not comfortable and so I see yellows when those start to move about. He is feeling all spunky again. I just emailed my vet about upping the Cisapride and looking at starting the Lactulose. Hopefully that will help!

 

Oh!
@Wendy&Neko
What travel medications would you recommend?

 

He must have heard you... lol

 

I just accidentally replied to a previous day's thread. I try not to do that so I do not junk up the board. I will just combine the two days and run with it!

 

Oh!! His kennel I am wanting to get... What do we think about this one? I am really liking it and it seems to afford some comfort. This would stay in the vehicle, with a carrying kennel for transport around.

Arf Pets Kennel

 

That kennel looks fine. We used a wired dog crate. If you on the same site, just search "dog crate". It was bigger, but easier to see thru. Then I also had to carry a separate small cat carrier to get Leo into the hotel and into the facility.