This is Sunny's favorite place to relax.

Can't say I'd argue with her about it. It's my favorite too. She is seldom without her baby hedgehog in her mouth. I don't know how she can stand holding it in her mouth for hours, but she does. When Steve took this picture, she had been in my lap for about 90 minutes (thru Wheel of Fortune, Jeopardy and into NCIS.)
The update on her Phaeohyphomycosis- the wounds on her paw have healed nicely. The ulcer on the metatarsal pad is closed so I have started walking her without her boots. Unfortunately, Sunny's appetite is waning. This dog that once attacked every meal is now eating quite slowly. She picks her vitamins out of her food, so we have stopped putting them in her bowl. We have started putting homemade gravy on her food. It seems to help some. Yesterday, for the first time, she left about 25% of her dinner. She went to the door and asked to go outside (an after meal ritual for her). When she came back in, she still refused her food. She did the same thing with her breakfast, but Steve got her to finish her food when she came back in.
Sunny no longer will take her pills in peanut butter, pill pockets, American cheese or squeeze cheese. I got them down her in liverwurst this morning. I am running out of ideas.
We have supplemented her diet with peanut butter as the Sporanox has to be taken with a fatty meal. Sunny has always loved peanut butter. Now she refuses it. She will still eat Mini-Wheats and will take them with peanut butter on them. Since I gave her the meds with liverwurst I didn't have to give her as much peanut butter.
Sunny's waning appetite really worries me. It makes me sad to watch a dog that always attacked her food (so much that I was actually considering ways to slow her down to avoid bloat) start to pick at it. Her ALT was WNL last week. According to the literature, any change in liver function typically occurs during the second month. The first sign of liver failure is loss of appetite. Her current appetite level could be from simple nausea or change in sense of smell. I taught her to distinguish subtle scents when we were tracking. Subsequently, she has always used her nose as her first source of information; much more so than any other dog I have ever had, but she is the first tracking dog I have trained. As long as her appetite stays as it is currently, I'll continue with her treatment plan as is. If it continues to decline, I'll get Dr. Mike to draw another liver panel before the 2 1/2 month mark in January.
I have been so worried about her, I spent most of my day, yesterday, pouring thru the internet for information on this disease. I heard a news report about Google reporting searches done in 2009 that have never been searched before. Phaeohyphomycosis was one of them! I have found that I am able to get more results each time I search it.
Sunny is extremely sensitive to my emotions. I fear that my worry and sadness is affecting her negatively. No matter how I try to seem 'up' for her, I can't hide it. She is my best friend and that's what best friends do; they have a sixth sense for your feelings.
As if Sunny wasn't enough to worry about, there has still been Beau's issues with chronic bladder infections. We pushed it to get six weeks of Cipro in him and had to stop it. He became seriously anorexic. He stopped eating my chicken and rice mixture completely, won't eat his Science Diet CD (that he has eaten for the past 9 years) and stopped eating his homemade liver pate. We are now forced to simply put his pills down his throat.
After one week off his Cipro, I took him in for a urine culture. We then immediately started him on Nitrofurodantin (aka Macrodantin) to keep his urine sterile. Ultimately, this should prevent future bladder infections.
Thanksgiving night, he had an episode of screaming in pain with lameness of his front leg; the same thing we treated him for last winter. Fortunately, it appears to be an isolated incident. Dr. Mike gave me a bottle of Metacam to use along with hydrocodone, if it returns. Dr. Mike and I had a serious talk about this problem and just how far we go with treatment. He feels we are doing the right thing right now and have a very broad window of pain control still available to us. As long as we have a howl for his treats or a little trot to the gate for his walk, we will continue to treat him.

We have had some pretty days lately that have allowed Beau to be outside in the warm sunshine on his palette. I think the sun feels good on his bones. He has always loved being outside.
Poor Jackon! the middle child.......
Thank heaven he is healthy! He doesn't quite understand all this attention that Beau and Sunny are getting. We are trying hard to give him equal attention, but he simply doesn't understand. Steve takes him for 'private walks' and I give him a little taste of whatever the treat du jour for hiding pills is.
This year, all I want for Christmas is a healthy pack! Is that too much to ask for?