Uploaded to Flickr on 2nd December, 2007.

I took Enzo to the Park Animal Hospital a couple of weeks ago for a kidney value recheck. The vet called back a couple of days later, and said that although his values were not the highest they have ever been, they were going up again. She spoke to the vet specialist that Enzo used to see, and after discussing it, they concluded that there wasn’t anything more that they could do with medication, since he is already on a lot of medication.

So they said the best thing for his would be for us to give him fluids every other day to try to get his values down before he starts showing symptoms. Unlike humans, though, dogs can’t really sit still for an IV, so the fluids are injected under the skin of the scruff of the neck. I brought Enzo in the next day, and they showed me how to give the fluids, and sent me home with two 1000 mL bags of fluids, a handful of needles, and instructions to give him 300 mL every other day.

We gave the first treatment last Thursday, with me holding and petting Enzo, and Amanda inserting the needle. It only took about 5 minutes, and besides being a little annoyed at the hump of water on his back, Enzo didn’t seem to mind too much. The treatments seem to help, and Enzo has been peppier than he’s been in a while, which is good to see.

I was a little sad to have to start doing the fluid injections, not because I am unwilling to do it, but that it signals us moving on to the next step of Enzo’s treatment, and I know what awaits him at the end. Although he seems to still be doing quite well, he has lost 10 pounds in as many months, and sleeps much more than he used to. Still, he is still happy, and as long as he stays that way, I’m wiling to do whatever it takes to keep him there.