Sophie

Sophie is a very small schnauzer, weighing in at only 11 pounds, but with every bit of the feisty schnauzer personality.   She was turned into a shelter at 13 years old by an owner who could no longer afford her vet care – she’d done a knee ligament repair and a dental, but now there were issues with her liver and her bladder. After too long in the shelter, ODH was finally asked to take her.

She had one emergency room trip for GI distress and then saw 3 different internal medicine specialists and had three abdominal ultrasounds.   A gallbladder mucocele was finally diagnosed but also fairly serious liver disease; she continued to have crystals in her bladder but those have stayed at bay with careful management. Then she developed hypertension with proteinuria.   SO little Sophie takes 5 different medications daily, is on a prescription diet for her liver and gallbladder, and has very regular checks on her blood pressure, blood chemistries and urine.    Amazingly, after two years she is going strong!    She insists on  occupying her dad’s lap and the center of the bed, she makes funny noises at all the other dogs but shares the lap with several, she screams in a very high pitch for her 5-times daily meals, and she can fly around the field with the best of them if inspired.

Sophie doesn’t seem to be showing her age – until we look at the pictures taken 18 months apart. We hope she will continue to age gracefully and keep her dad’s lap warm for quite some time more.

Update:  We were successful in keeping all of Sophie’s major issues at bay for 2-1/2 years, only to lose her to lymphoma.    Old dogs always surprise us….    The most important thing was to be on her dad’s lap as many hours a day as possible, and of course second was eating 5 times a day (for her gallbladder).     That lap will feel pretty darn empty without her, we will miss her a lot.