Coughing less, destroying more... thanks Viagra!

A few weeks ago, one of Skelly's wonderful friends was nice enough to send some samples of the ever-elusive Viagra that he was prescribed. I was going to wait and consult with the doc on when the administration would be most beneficial. Skelly's cough was getting a bit worse, and then he was being a real scaredy dog. I started to think he was getting sick(er) again. I decided to halve the pills and give him 25mg with his evening meds.

Since I started giving him Viagra, I have noticed a marked improvement in the frequency and severity of his coughing! The Viagra helps with his pulmonary hypertension, which may be tied into his dry cough. In any case, I'm pretty excited about his improvement. He's got enough Viagra to last him a few weeks at this rate of consumption. I may have to look into getting some more if it helps him out this much. I just wish it wasn't so flippin' expensive!

It looks like the thing he was scared of was a motorized toy robot arm that was sitting on the coffee table. Since Ian took that to his bedroom, Skelly has not been acting so terrified.

Skeletor has been full of vigor this past week. While I'm not a huge fan of cleaning up his wake of destruction, I am glad to see him feeling good enough to focus on being bad :)

Sophie left her little pink dog bed here, which Skeletor has been using as a toy box. As it turns out, pink isn't his color, so he decided to rip out half the stuffing. Tsk tsk!

This week is the big day!! Skeletor's first Immiticide injection! The first of 2 doses he'll need to kill the adult heartworms. The 2 injections will be given a month apart. This means we've got 2 months of very little excitement in store for this little Tasmanian devil. It's going to be interesting to say the least.

We will have to keep him calm and collected. If his heart rate goes up (which it does on a rather constant basis) it could cause a dead or dying adult heartworm to shift and cause a blockage in his heart. Needless to say, that could be very bad for Skelly.

The doc did say that they can prescribe a sedative if need be. I'm also under the impression that the injection itself will cause a drop in energy levels.

This is the moment we've been preparing him for since day one! Thanks again to all of you for your help. He's come a long way and we wish him the best of luck in being rid of these pesky parasites once and for all!

Go Skelly!