He’s back from Fountain Veterinary Hospital. It was a 4 day, 3 night visit this time – we’ll call it his “spa treatment.” It’s really a sort of doggie dialysis treatment for his old and failing kidneys…
In my last “Bradley Blog” in May, I mentioned that he hadn’t been expected to survive past January, so he hung in there for about 5 months. Now in June he started to lose his appetite. He started having some digestive upsets, common in dogs with kidney disease. We feared that he was fading – and he certainly was shrinking. So thin he looked, and still does, like a concentration camp survivor. But this 12-year-old dog still has some spunk in him!
Since his spa trip, he’s eating, drinking, walking, climbing steps, and most importantly wagging his wonderful, spike-like tail. Dr. Pete says not to expect Bradley to put any meat on his bones, and to expect him to get even thinner (which doesn’t seem possible.) And he must stay on his Royal Canin Modified LP canned and kibble food diet. We can supplement it with cooked sweet potatoes 
and a very little of some of his favorite foods if he balks at his food. It’s important that he keeps eating and drinking, of course! In a few days we’re going to try a blood pressure medication to see if his kidney function might improve a bit.
The really wonderful part of all of this is – Bradley STILL does not know he’s sick! The staff at Fountain Vet said it’s just amazing that all this doesn’t seem to faze Brad. Doctor Pete said we’ll probably need to bring him in for another treatment in about 3 months.
Thank you to all of you who are following Brad’s progress and wishing him well!
