Shiver Health Update

Last week Chico kept me up all night wheezing and sneezing and breathing snot bubbles.  Benadryl just wasn't cutting it, so I made an appointment for the vet the next morning.  I figured I might as well make an appointment for Shiver at the same time.

Chico's part of the appointment was over in a matter a few minutes.  He apparently has a cold and is on antibiotics. He's doing much better now, thankfully.  The steroid is still working and keeping those nasty cancer sores away.  He goes back in a couple of weeks for a checkup.

Shiver never seemed to 100% fully recover from his seizure or whatever it was that happened to him in mid November.  He got really close though and everything seemed fine for a few weeks.  He stopped the medication and started going downhill so he went back on it.  He seemed better over the next few weeks and all was well.  Only he started breathing heavily again and ate very little.  He used to be such a big eater, so this was particularly concerning.

The vet now thinks in addition to the heart failure, Shiver probably also has Cushings disease and diabetes.  He says we need to treat the heart failure first, because he won't have any chance if we don't get that under control.  He's on a much higher dosage of medication and we're giving it time to work.  We go back in a few weeks and will run some very expensive tests.  Once we have better answers, we'll talk about realistic treatment options.

I have no idea how I'm going to pay for any of this.  My job will be ending soon.  I make a decent wage, but I can barely cover the bills.  My credit card is maxed out.  Everytime I make a payment on it, it seems like something else happens and I have to use it again.  I'm literally drowning in debt.

Shiver is a fighter though.  I know that and I know that he's not ready to go yet.  So I'm praying for a miracle that everything will be OK.  Please keep him in your prayers.