Chance’s New Normal

Before anyone panics, (not going to mention any names, Joni-Dee) Chance is okay!

I have not posted in awhile because not only have I been heavily deep into a project, but we have been adjusting to taking care of Chance is a unique way.

Days before leaving for Nantucket, Chance was being very lethargic and not himself. It also happened to be Labor Day Weekend and two local vets here were closed. We have a great kennel that we use here in McMinnville and both of the dogs were being dropped off before we left for our trip.

However, the day before, I just couldn’t leave Chance at the kennel. Something was wrong. I just knew it. And after giving him a haircut, I realized he was so skinny. How did we miss this? So the plan was to leave Jaxson at the kennel and take Chance with us and my parents would drive to Massachusetts to pick up Chance and watch him for the week. Chance is over ten years old and if anything was going to happen to him, I wanted him to be with people he knew—If not us, then my parents.

On the first day of the trip in the car, not much out of Chance. He just laid in his bed on the backseat and would stare up at me with these eyes…

About an hour before we were to pull off for the evening, he got down to drink water out of his bowl and after 15 minutes of drinking water straight, and the bowl not emptying, I knew something was wrong. So got on my phone and found a vet hospital in Maryland that was about 30 minutes from where we were spending the night. Great.

We arrived and was seen right away. After examination, it was clear he was starving and severely dehydrated. So the doctor brought in some food and water so we could watch…  we discovered the problem… his tongue was paralyzed! Yes, paralyzed. He was making the motions of eating and drinking water, but nothing was getting in. And I’m not even sure if he knew this because he just kept going through the motions of “eating” and “drinking.”

How did this happen? Currently, nobody knows why. So he got a steroid shot in the hopes that maybe he got bit by something. They ran a couple tests and sent us on our way with some syringes so we could give him water.

Here I am hand-feeding Chance in the hotel later that day, and you can see the giant syringe that I use to give him water now…

What saddens me most and leaves me with much guilt is that he was starving and became severely dehydrated right under our noses! Jaxson was obviously sneaking in and eating his food and drinking all his water without us knowing. I just can’t believe that dog lovers like ourselves couldn’t recognize that Chance was in need of help.

But I was sure glad we took him with us. If we left him in the kennel, it would’ve been assumed he wasn’t eating because of his separation anxiety he usually gets when I’m gone for the first couple days. It’s normal for him not to eat the first or second day away from me. And from how thin and lethargic he was, I don’t think he could’ve made it.

So the next day we meet up with my parents and I show them the procedure on how to feed him, the pills he needs to take and how to give him water, and then we were off for Nantucket.

My parents reported back how weak Chance was when they got home—My father had to carry him up the stairs. It was so unlike Chance who was still a bundle of energy despite being over ten. But while on the Island, my parents FaceTimed me so I could see my mom hand-feeding Chance and I was able to say “hello.” Anyone who can bring Chance back to health are my parents!

So Nantucket was great, (I have lots of pics to post and other things we’ve been up to) but Eric had another class to teach on the Cape. So my parents drove down again from New Hampshire to pick me up so I could spend time with them and take over the care of Chance. And he was so happy. You literally could see the life coming back into him. And by the time Eric drove up and we headed back home the next day, this was Chance at the hotel…

He was running around the room, rubbing up against the bed, looking up at me, wanting to play…. just back to his normal bubbly self! But not completely normal—his tongue was still paralyzed.

And to top that off, when arriving home, we found out that Jaxson ripped up his dog bed just 2 days prior (something he has never done before). Tim said he probably decided that we abandoned him because he was there for two weeks and there was no Chance—so he was confused and angry. Ahh great… more guilt for us!

The next day upon returning, Chance got more extensive tests and a series of x-rays. Everything was fine except his thyroid level was lower than normal. So he’s on more medication for that. However, it looks like this will probably be a permanent disability. It’s not too bad, but it does take a lot of monitoring and doing my best to “tune in” on what he needs or trying to tell me. And to forgive myself for the guilt of knowing I was starving my dog. As well as trying to occupy Jaxson because he does not like the attention Chance is getting from all this hand-feeding. His answer is to push Chance away and crawl in my lap to get me to stop!

So our new normal is hand-feeding and also try getting him to work his tongue, which he does. He has food on a flat tray and I have to soak it in water. He does get frustrated and gives up and then I take over. Then he has a small flat casserole dish sitting inside of another larger casserole dish to catch all the water that is pushed out over the side of the first dish because he’s “pushing” the water up with his nose. But it’s also doing another purpose which you really don’t think about – he’s cleaning his tongue in that dish. You won’t believe all the stuff that appears in the water now. Dogs have a “filtering” system of sorts that help their tongues be clean, because after all, that’s how they cool down—through the pores in their tongue. It can’t be all clogged. So in addition to making sure he’s getting food and water, there’s also a tongue cleansing several times a day!

Anyway, hope that wasn’t too much information. Eric and I are doing great and keeping very busy. He’s been working on lots of new stuff and so have I. Hope to share some stuff soon. Just wanted to let everyone know the absence. Needed to get back into a somewhat regular routine before I could focus on other things, like my blog! And Chance is doing great. Just got done running around in the backyard today… only difference is he now has a wrinkly tongue that just sits in his mouth… but he’s still just as cute…

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