Last night, Harley started coughing. It's almost like kennel cough, but it's allergies. Happens every single year. Only, this year, I'm not sure he'll get through it well, if at all.
I was up with him at 4:20am. I gave him half of a Benadryl and natural peanut butter. Then waited to see if it helped.
While waiting, I made my coffee, did all the usual morning routine. Hopefully, this day can end a bit early for me so I can slide in a few more zzzzz's. Oh, who am I kidding?! Haha!
Next Zeus came to find out why I didn't come back to bed, following close behind, a dopey, sleepy eyed Gibby.
A giant bowl of hot food (kibble with hot water) sat on the floor, divided into three bowls, carefully placed in various corners of the kitchen. Harley started coughing again...a lot. Benadryl wasn't working and hadn't knocked him out yet. Poor guy must be exhausted.
I grabbed a teaspoon from the drawer and drizzled some honey onto it. Zeus tasted and decided it was a tasty sweet treat. Gibby wasn't at all interested, and neither was Harley. Bummer. So, I scooped him up into my arms and turning the spoon upside down, used the hand without the spoon to open his mouth and wiped honey onto his tongue. Unfortunately, the honey did nothing. The coughing resumed within minutes.
I went to my everything clutter drawer and grabbed a basting syringe (no needle). Then to the fridge for the Tussin I keep on hand for the dogs. I poured a capful (approx 1/2 tsp), then drew it up into the syringe. I put the little tube into his mouth, opposite his tongue side and squeezed a bit in. It dribbled back out, since there was nothing to stop it. He's almost totally toothless. The rest, I put into the tongue side of his mouth successfully. So in all, I didn't get very much into him.
The Tussin seemed to help. One more coughing jag hit him. The little guy started stumbling, leaning to one side, mostly blind from cataracts. I wasn't sure if he was having a stroke, seizure, dieing, or about to pass out, but I scooped him up again into my arms. He looked right at me with recognition, so no seizure. Good thing. Then he wanted down so I placed him on the dog bed where I was hoping he'd lie down and get some rest.
He got back up, a little wonky on his feet, but that's also his usual walk. This time, a bit more wobbly, but he walked around a bit, then climbed up his stool and onto the couch. He seems to not cough if he's laying down with his head raised. His trachea is beginning to start intermittently collapsing. Harley is the last of a family of 4 pugs. The trachea thing is not uncommon and it doesn't mean he's suffering. All of our pugs have gone through this with their vets, once in the geriatric stages of their lives. The answer is the same: it's normal and they're too old to survive the surgery. Keep them comfortable.
I grabbed my socks and located a matching pair of tennis shoes to get ready for work. I mean,I'm not going back to bed, it's end of year, and I may as well use the time before customers begin arriving.I went into the kitchen where I sat at the dining table to put my shoes on. Zeus tried to tell me otherwise. He grabbed the end of my sock and pulled. Of course, I laughed. I know, bad mom! Don't encourage bad behavior. But he was totally playing and I knew it. He gets a twinkle in his eye and a big smile. Ya can't miss em! Once I managed to have my sock in place, Zeus took hold of my entire foot in his hippopotamus mouth. Laughing hysterically, while taking my foot back,I said, "Hey! Nobody likes wearing wet slobbery socks"!
Then I put my first shoe on. When I reached for the second sock, Zeus was distracted, so I hurried and got my sock on my foot. When he looked back up and saw my socked foot, he grabbed it just like the first one! 🤣😂🤣 The new interactions make me laugh everyday. Zeus is my best medicine!! I told Zeus to watch over Harley today.
Second shoe on and in place, I'm ready to go. But first, this blog post.
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