Well, it's long time since I last posted. On top of trying hard to catch up with the tutorials, pieces that need finished, writing articles for the website and filling it up with content, as well as taking photos of pieces of jewelry and uploading them to the online store, I had unexpected health issues to deal with, this time not mine, but my furbabies.
First Whisper woke up one morning with half of his face swollen. Couldn't get in to see the vet until 2 pm (the vet was not there, was gone to a dr. appointment for himself). then once we got there, they ran the routine blood test and some values came up unusual so they asked me if they could run some additional tests. To make a long story short, his liver enzymes came up 3-4 times higher than normal. So there's a suspicion of either Cushing's or liver cancer. They gave him a "shock" shot of antibiotics and we got antibiotics for home too. I won't be able to know what is going on exactly until I have the money to run the test that would rule "in" or "out" Cushing's. I don't want to go liver biopsy way not just for the expense but also for the stress it would put on him - that, and the fact that there is the risk that, if it's cancer, it may be "seeded" by the biopsy needle.
Since then, his swelling came down completely. After extensive research, I switched him (gradually) to mostly raw food and started to give him Melatonin and ordered online some lignans (one of my neighbors gave me the money for it). If it's Cushing's I don't want to give him the meds they have, not just that they're very expensive but the side effects are very serious and they make the dogs' lives miserable. I read quite a few materials (including studies done by accredited reputable establishments) that show that switching to a raw diet combined with natural supplements not only has proven to control Cushing's but in a few cases it actually cured it. Whisper is 11, so he can be considered a senior dog - even if he doesn't look like it - so I don't dream about ccuring it but if it can be controlled I'll be thrilled.
He seems to be doing really well now. He even played, he sleeps, he enjoys his new diet. He refuses now to eat most of the things he used to love - like carrots and yogurt - but he finally ate chicken soup and a few peanuts.
Then Conor started sneezing Thursday. I thought it was just allergies but then it got worse, and he started just not being himself. Quite lethargic, with a runny nose. He spent Friday on the loveseat, sleeping, and Friday night too, no roaming and running around the house at night as is his habit. He seems to be just a tad better right now, he actually came to me last evening and slept on my chest, and in the afternoon he joined me in the craft room as is his habit whenever I work there. His nose is still runny, but clear runny, he had at one point teary eyes (also clear) but now his eyes are not teary and the third eye-lid that was raised yesterday seems to have gone down to normal again. I will try giving him a puff of Flonase sometime later today.
I am posting updates (including videos) on the Kalyana facebook page about them.
So these are the bad news. I am working on making a "destash" video, right now working on separating and making "stashes". I intended to do that in a couple of weeks but I decided to do it sooner just in case I need to rush Conor to the vet - it's the end of the month and after Whisper's vet visit I really have no money, got $21 in the bank right now and still got the gas bill to go through (it's really small) so I got about $12 to spend - definitely not enough for a vet visit.
One good news in all of this. Finally, after working for three days to get things exactly the way they want them in terms of file format, presentation, etc, the malachite tutorial is up on Amazon, and you can get it. I am posting the link below.
Nice post.
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