Jan 2017 at York River and Home

While 2016 is remembered for a year that took away those that touched many of us one way or another, the year did not take Logan.  Although the ultrasound report suggested it would, Logan decided otherwise.  Rather than succumb to a fate that each day draws nearer, he spent this past weekend acting as if nothing were wrong.  Over the course of one single day, he hiked 7 miles.  The outdoor exertions began early at Poor Farm Park, continued on at York River State Park, and finally ended at Colonial Williamsburg.

Photo taken years ago near same spot as today

It was a day filled with doing Logan’s favorite things.  At York River he made a couple of runs on downhill portions of the trail.  At Williamsburg he pulled us to Raleigh’s Tavern as usual in anticipation of his beloved ginger cakes.  We also walked up the main street to one of the colonial restaurants where the dogs have learned that they get bones from the inn keeper.  Although Frye is the one who drew most of the attention this time, Logan still held his own.  He received tons of pets and even got his picture taken a few times.  Braddock, however, was the only one who got an offer of payment for his picture.   It was a pack of Marlboro’s, which we declined. If I had thought of it faster, as my Facebook friend had done, I would have said, “No thanks, Braddock had to quit for the Invitational.”

Recall from the last post that we were about to start Logan on Chinese Herbs.  We did keep him on those herbs for 9 of the 14 days.  On Day 7 we started to notice he was having a hard time holding his bladder.  While Patti said she had not seen this symptom as a side effect of the herbs, it could be possible.  I tested him for kidney function and an infection once again.  His results were normal. 

The key point here was that Logan’s change on the herbs was very subtle.  We had to be hypersensitive to any potential disturbance.  And while there is no conclusive evidence that the herbs were causing this effect, I relied on my training in experimental design to guide my decision.  The most simple of a within individual experiment is called an ABA design.  In this design, “A” is the baseline, “B” is the introduction of some stimulus/treatment where one would observe an effect, and “A” is a return to baseline.  If during the “A” return to baseline you no longer see the effect, then one can interpret that the stimulus “B” is what caused the effect.  If you do continue to see the effect, then something is shifting over time.  Given what we observed, we concluded that the Chinese Herbs needed to be stopped for now, and within a day we were back to baseline.

We kept him on his original supplements for a couple more days to return him to baseline and then started 1 pill of SAMe per day in addition to his other supplements. The exact pill is PetMD S-Adensosyl Plus (SAMe 225mg).  The rationale for this version is to get the enteric coated capsule.  We are to eventually give the pill 1 hour from feeding, but while he is adjusting we are giving it with food.  The side effects can be diarrhea and nausea.

Most recently we had a wonderful night out at Lewis Ginter Botantical Gardens to see the lights on pet night. 

We had gone Dec 1^st, but the dogs seemed to enjoy it so much that we went back. 

Logan had a great time doing is “meet and greet” with every dog that passed by. 

When the snow came, Logan weathered it well.  We even caught him running through the snow a couple times.  All in all he’s showing a lot of life and his weight has even increased up from 66 pounds to 69 pounds.  He is close to his all-time high of 72 pounds.