Skinny Sydney Sue and the Evil Dog Door

I naively thought I was buying time with the Prednisone, and so I was shocked to see her get thin almost right away.  On Saturday, I took her to retirement day with me, because I didn't have a dog door yet, and she cannot go more than an hour and a half or so without needing to go out (from the pred).  She looked okay at retirement day (10 days from diagnosis, and 5 days after starting prednisone), not chipper, but her weight looked okay. On Sunday afternoon, I noticed divets behind her hip bones, and her spine stuck out, whereas before, the only time her spine was visible was when she curled up in a ball.  Today, she is painfully thin; all of her ribs are very obvious, her entire spine is visible, her shoulders and hip bones stick out, and her chest is noticeably thinner.  I am feeding her more; I've added a third meal each day; I've been supplementing her kibble with high protein foods, and tonight, I made food known as The Cancer Diet.   It's ground meat with brown rice, zucchini, and oils.  Last night, when she got into bed with me, I noticed she was shaking, but not her whole body, just her neck.  I covered her with a fleece blanket, and kept her covered all night (which is no mean feat when she gets up at least twice to go potty.  Barking her high pitched "MOM!" bark at me each time to go out, and again to come back in. : )  (I haven't had a decent night's sleep since before this began.)  This evening, she was shaking again, just in the neck and head area, so I put jammies on her, thinking she was cold.  I think I humiliated her, she is wearing pink four legged jammies with velour sheep all over them. She gave me the most pathetic look I have ever seen her give. EVER. (Guess who is making new jammies this weekend?) After I fed them, she stood in the middle of the living room, shaking, and staring at me. She started to shake, the way greyhounds do; first the head, then the upper half of the body, the the rear of the body, then the tail. Only she just tilted her head, looked at me, and stopped.  And then she did it again. I ushered her out to potty, and she did it again out there.  Finally, after she pottied, she did it again, but this time she finished the shake, albeit in slow motion.  I have a feeling this is related to the tremor in her neck, I think there is something going on, maybe a side effect from the pred, or the cancer, or a neurological problem. I'm going to try to get a vet appt for Saturday to see if the vet can make anything of it.  I have a feeling she is going to be on the very short side of the prognosis times, which makes me really sad.  I just don't want her to be miserable or suffer.

She was using the back door open / side porch door with a doggy door hole cut out okay; but I was freezing my butt off with the back door hanging open. So, I brought home a door from work, and my dear friend who built the porch side door was dumb enough to come back to hang the new door. (I made him dinner, don't feel too bad for him.) (It was a good dinner, too, slow braised beef with roasted butternut squash.) (and fresh from the oven chocolate crinkle cookies.) (which I am SO over until next Christmas.)  So now I have a fabulous 3 panel door from the 20's that I LOVE; it closes, the deadbolt works, and the hole for the doggy door (which will arrive here next week) is already cut.  YAY!  Or not so yay, actually, because when the dogs go through the hole, they have to go down a step, as the threshold of the door is raised up about 4 inches from the porch floor.  Which isn't a big deal for the little kid, but the tall greyhounds spring up and down over the step, which meant they were cracking their backs on the top of the hole.  So I folded a hand towel into padding, and taped it over the top of the hole, so there is at least padding if they hit it.  But, the problem is the step.  So my dear (and by now, completely retarded) friend is coming over to build a platform so that there will no longer be a step right as the go through the door; instead, it will be an even surface on either side, and THEN a step down off the platform.  It's an engineering marvel, I tell you.  We are even going to tack a carpet remnant onto the platform to make it non slip. Who's the crazy greyhound owner now??!?!??  Oh, me. That's right. : )  I'm hoping that the girls' traumatic door experiences pre-towel haven't scared them from using the door.  Shae will be the litmus test. Once, the screen door on the front door slammed shut, and I had to CARRY her outside for two days after, because she reFUSED to use the door. : /  Wish me luck on the dog door. Really. I need all the help I can get right now.