I’ve obviously neglected this blog pretty bad. Steve and I were talking about it today as the bill came due for hosting and I thought I should work on some updates. I realized a few things.
1) When I got my smartphone, I stopped using my camera and I stopped importing my photos. That’s terrible! I need to get back in the habit of using my real camera, it takes much better photos.
2) It’s good to document what happens in your life. It helps you to keep things in perspective and also to be able to look back and read about what really happened instead of relying on my not-so-great memory.
So, an update about where we are at with Chip. We determined last year that Chip truly has some sort of seizure disorder. He went on phenobarbitol in the summer of 2013. His partial seizures have basically completely stopped. It is working for Chip.
However, in addition to the seizures, he still has some serious allergies. We aren’t sure what he’s allergic to exactly, but it’s probably a combination of food, indoor and outdoor allergies. So, basically, he’s allergic to planet earth. I have opted out of most of the allergy studies as it seems expensive and has a relatively low rate of success. We are treating his allergies with a regular dose of Atarax, Omega 3’s, a carefully controlled diet, regular baths with a medicated rinse, and prednisone. We’ve been able to get off of prednisone during some months of the winter. He did great during a trip to my parent’s house during the winter. They heat with wood and their house is really dry. He was the best he’d ever been in terms of his allergies. He also did really well during the deep freeze of winter 2013-2014. However, as soon as there were a few warm days, he was back to itching.
Here’s a few pics of my buddy, Chip.
. At his vet appointment in April 2014, he weighed 60#, the same as Quincy. His favorite treat is carrots. It’s one of the few things he’s allowed and he is just so excited about carrots.
Overall, we are happy with his progress. It is VERY expensive to have him on all of these medications. We have tried getting him off meds by controlling with diet, but it just hasn’t been possible. He seems to be allergic to some indoor allergies as well. His health generally is good though and his spirits are high.
