Dog scare

Please don't read if you don't like dogs...





Zeus, our 11 year old black lab has been sick for 5 days. Who knows with what. Sage told me that he got into her Valentine's candy, but that didn't seem like it would do it. He just kept throwing up each of his meals starting last Wednesday. At first he would eat it back up (dogs do that), but then I saw a few Ziploc bags (eeeewww) and so I pulled those out and stopped him from eating it. By the next day, he wasn't having much of a bowel movement and he stopped eating much of anything. The vet said to feed him chicken and rice. I tried giving him pepto, milk of magnesia. By this time the vet said to give him Pepcid AC, but he wouldn't even take it wrapped in a marshmallow. Not even with peanut butter all over it.



Saturday morning, was the last straw. He woke me up at 5:30ish in the morning throwing up all around the Wii console in the front room. I woke Lee up to help clean it up. I thought it had gone inside the game console, but nope it is working just fine. At this point, I needed to get him to the vet. He was losing weight and not eating or pooping. The vet took x-rays, and did some blood work and sent me home with pills. Told me to call in on Monday for the results. Have you ever watched a doctor take a blood sample from an animal? It was interesting how he sprayed water or some liquid substance on an area of the neck. Then he proceeded to keep poking the needle in his neck until he drew blood. Amazingly, the dog didn't even flinch. He really loves this vet! Taking abdominal x-rays of a 95 pound (now 82 pound) dog is quite another task. Two techs lifted him up on an x-ray table while I stroked his head and talked to him. He was very good, but extremely nervous (kept licking his lips and holding his tail between his legs). They couldn't snap the exposure until I was 10 feet back from the table. Zeus kept his eyes on me as I would back up slowly and tell him to stay. That worked the first time, but the 2nd time, he stood up...even with the techs holding him. He is very strong when the adrenaline is pumping. So he had to be put in position all over again.



The good news is that on Sunday when we came home from church, he had moved his bowels (going to get gross here). I have never been so excited to see my dog's poop. It looked like a big snake with a gallon size ZIPLOC bag mixed into it. Yep folks, I think we may have cleared him out. I kept feeding him chicken and rice, but he was asking (barking loudly) to eat by afternoon. I slowly fed him dog food a cup at a time (1 hour apart). By dinner, he was back sniffing around the dinner table looking for his next attack. No throwing up, no waking me up in the night to go outside...things were looking good.

This morning, the vet gave me the results of his blood work...perfect! The x-rays showed some obstruction (you think). He needs to stay on the antacid for awhile and some other pill for a few days until everything is balanced again. What a week...don't need another dog scare ever. Zeus is happily taking his morning nap (since all the kids have gone to school and there are no lunches to devour). Happy day!

Side note: Perry thinks that Zeus will happily put the 10+ pounds back on :)