Friday was a bad day ...

The bladder leaks started earlier than normal, were more profuse than normal (more flooding than dripping), were more frequent than normal (about every 15-20 minutes at one point), and lasted late into the night. Normally he wakes us every hour or so to go out through the night. On Friday night / Saturday morning he thoroughly wet the floor of his crate and didn't wake me until about 4:30am :-(. At least after that, things seemed to get back to what passes for "normal" at the moment. Of course Jazz had his first dose of the Leukeran on Thursday evening, so I don't know whether that may be related. We'll see how he is on Sunday, after the next dose.

I've been wondering if there's anything in his drug or supplements or feeding regime that makes a difference according to the time of day for the general pattern. Breakfast is pretty much the same as dinner, but smaller - because he's never been a great fan of the concept of breakfast. He gets JWB Chicken and Rice puppy food, with chicken, cauliflower and broccoli. Drugs and supplements are mostly the same morning and evening except:

• Prednisolone (steroid / anti-inflammatory) - mornings only, to simulate the body's normal workings


• Live bio yoghurt (to replace the good bacteria killed off by the antibiotics) - mornings only


• Cortaflex (Glucosamine) - evenings only, nothing to do with the chemo or cystitis


• Garlic clove - evenings only

Then I remembered that he hadn't had his garlic on Thursday night. I can't see why that might make a difference - or at least such an immediate difference, but I was ready to try anything. So on Saturday morning he got half of his daily garlic clove, and yoghurt in the evening too.

The morning was pretty "normal" except that I took him to work where he stayed in the car. (Luckily it wasn't bitterly cold as it often has been recently. We even had some weak sun.) I went to let him out pre-emptively within the hour through the morning 'til 2:00 when I finished work. A couple of minor damp patches appeared, but signifying no more than drips really. Through the afternoon, we got drips, but mostly he gave notice of wanting to go out - a major improvement on Friday, so maybe the garlic really does make a difference that quickly.

He's had half today's garlic dose again this morning, so we'll see how it goes.

Tomorrow morning he's back to the vet to have another weekly blood test. If we then reduce the chemo, that'll be the last one for a little while. It won't seem right not going to the vet's twice a week!