Tonight I forgot whether or not I fed my big old dog Cyrus. I know I fed him at least once today, but I'm supposed to feed him twice a day and give him his thyroid and pain pills. I don't eat on a schedule, but Cyrus does. But I was lying in bed trying to find something worth watching on TV when I realized I might have missed feeding him. Not that he was begging, and it wouldn't kill him to miss his dinner, but the pills. The pills matter. I don't know whether or not it's worse for him to have too much of his medication or too little.
I used to have this problem with myself. I do not eat if I'm not hungry. So that gives me clues about the food thing. But the pill thing is always the same. I take the same pills or thereabouts at roughly the same time every day morning and night. And sometimes I think I took them but might not have. It is a mindless routine. Finally I had to start putting them in pill minders for a week at a time. Now I can know for sure if I took them or not. Sometimes I still forget to take them. I will eventually discover the error. But I never double dose myself like I used to. I have no daily pill dispenser with morning and evening measured out for Cyrus. Am I finally losing it? Do I even deserve to have a dog? So in guilt I fed him just in case. But I might have dosed him twice. That's bad. And in guilt I probably won't tell the House Call Vet.
Saturday, March 21, 2009
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11 comments:
la solution: get cyrus his own pill minder... then you'll be 2 peas in a pod and stop worrying...
only a good dog mom would be concerned, so you answered your own question with this post. of COURSE you deserve to have a dog.
Losing it? Shit, we all forget crap, even important stuff, now and then.
I see Mademoiselle Frenchie McFrencherton beat me to the suggestion. Minder for me, minder for thee.
My husband forgot to feed Diva one night. She woke up in the middle of the night and threw up. (Her stomach gets upset if it gets too empty). Then he realized he hadn't fed her.
Je Ne Regrette Rien has the right idea - get him a pill container broken out by day as well and you'll know.
We tend to forget to give Diva her heartworm pills on time since it's only once a month. We mark it on the box but forget to look at the box. I always feel terrible when that happens so I know how you feel.
Utah - the late, greatly lamented Thurber was on thyroid medication, too. Missing it now and again is not life threatening.
Thurber was the only dog I have ever known that would snub his food, sometimes for days at a time. I swear he was part cat. But his weight never fluctuated -- he stayed a trim 30 pounds his entire life, except for when we discovered that he needed thyroid meds (and discovered that the dog sitter was feeding him people food).
Regards,
Tengrain
Ten, thanks for the comfort of knowing if I miss that thyroid med won't kill him, but will getting a double dose of it kill him? I just can't remember. I was reading blogs and editing, and time passed and all of a sudden it was 10:30, and I usually feed him at 6:00 or 7:00. Did I and think it was yesterday or didn't I? This kind of thing makes me thinks it's time to put both of us down. He's batshit crazy and so am I. I'm getting depressed. Having the novel rejected and then seeing how badly those first three chapters in need of editing makes me feel such shame and embarrassment. I can't even get you guys interested in rereading these three chapters, how can I get strangers interested in it. It's breaking my heart to realize that maybe I can't write worth shit. I'm not asking for stroking. I'm getting a real dose of reality and it's very painful. It's delayed reaction to the rejection from Amazon. And now I don't know where to go from here. I feel failure. Not just like a failure, but real bone deep failure. I am not thriving. I cry over nothing. I cry over the pain of all the people losing jobs, homes, health benefits that were pretty much worthless to begin with. I cry over everything. I think it might be time to realize that I'm merely taking up space. And yet, I have space to take up. There is nothing so disgusting as self pity, but I pity us all. I'm leaking salt water. If tears were blood, I'd be bleeding out. And I personally have very little to worry about.
hey you are fine- every good puppy parent has done this....why not take your pills in the am and at the same time do Cyrus- then you are pill buddies ....
oh wait- just realized Non Je said kinda the same thing.....oye...
( hon, you are not losing it- we all go through this ...now if you are walking around with mismatched shoes or your underwear as a hat- well, then we need to talk...)
to answer the thyroid question - no it won't kill him....
and you could always get a medidose pack and put his meds in it- and then you can check during the day and see that you gave his meds ...
( that is what I had for cancer doggie- because I was scared of over medicating him...)
He has liver damage now from the Rimadyl he's been on for so long. Now he's one a different med for pain, but it doesn't seem to be enough, he is limping more, less willing to go outside. It's so obvious how much pain he's in--arthritis, bad knees, and terrible anxiety. My poor pooch is breaking my heart. The economy is breaking my heart. The rejection of my book is breaking my heart. The stories of all the people so terribly hurt by this fucking economy are breaking... Well, you know. It's happening to you too.
I cry at tire commercials.
Don't feel so bad Utah! I have one dog with cancer, another with chronic toxic respiratory syndrome, and another with mystery seizures. If you think I get all of their pills and treatments right all the time, you would be WRONG. ;)
And don't be down about the rest of it. Most authors tell stories about being rejected hundreds of times before they were finally published. Take a break from it and then come back and rework what you need to.
Suzi that's the best advise I've had all day. And thanks for the reasurance that my dog wouldn't be better off with a saner, more normal person. But that's something to write about other than my literary shortcomings and my rage and grief about the economy and all my friends with mortgages and retirement funds that are just gone. Worthless worry that's driving me a little crazier.
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