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Wednesday, March 29, 2006

Update on the dogs, and please pray!

Everyone, thank you for your prayers.

This just seems to keep getting worse and worse. Yesterday morning my greyhound had a bout of diarrhea. (sorry to be gross). I had him out 3 times, having to put the bootie over his pressure bandage each time. Then I went to work. My Shepherd was fine.

I was able to leave work about 20 min early yesterday and when I got home, I saw a mess unlike any other I have ever seen. My grey was kennelled, and he was crying. I could smell what was happening, but thought I was mentally prepared. But I didn't understand at first that BOTH dogs were sick. The Shepherd, running freely around my livingroom, had also emptied herself freely in several places. If I had the ability to just pack up my livingroom and throw it away, I would have done so.

Pet owners, you know what I"m talking about. Thank God there was nothing on the furniture, but couldn't the dog at least have done her business on a cleanable surface or on a rug?

I had to run out and buy 2 gallons of Nature's Miracle (this is a powerful enzyme cleaner). I took the dogs with me because I was afraid to leave them in that mess. I even had to throw out the kennel bedding, most of which was from Goodwill, anyway.

I called the vet to be sure I should not bring them in. Nope, they said no food for 24 hours and then if they are still sick, to bring them in.

Well, I think we're going in today. I took my grey out and was surprised that he still had something left. But there's blood in it.

I've never seen that before but there's no mistaking fresh blood.

The clinic doesn't open until 8:30 am and hopefully we can get in right away. Maybe it's nothing. Maybe he's fine. Maybe this is a disaster.

My shepherd seems OK but then again, this illness was delayed in her also, so we may have more to see from her yet. I'll be calling in at least late to work.

I can't afford to keep taking time off like this. Of course this is one of those emergencies time off is for, but every company has absentee regulations and while I am in no danger now, I do not want any kind of "verbal warning" that must be given at X number of "occurrances". I don't know how liberal they are with this policy or whether they consider the totality of circumstances. Certainly employees with sick children don't get fired for having to take them to the doctor and coming in late, etc, and I doubt that'll happen to me, either.

But boy, do we need prayers. I'm not sure what to do right now other than just wait and pray.

My house smells like an animal quarantine. Yuck.

God bless you all.

8 comments:

Unknown said...

How's the mistress of the manor doing? I'd bet you're a bit short on sleep. Take care of yourself, too, Adoro!

I'm renewing my prayer promise for you and those "nameless" dogs. It'd be easier to pray for "Fido" and "Spot", you know!

Anonymous said...

Ray!

Their names are Fire and Tikaani, and yes, there are stories behind each name. Fire is the shortened form of his racing name, and Tikaani means "wolf".

Thank you! And yes, I'm short on sleep. I'm pretty sure I'll be snoozing by 8 or 9 tonight.

- Julie/ Adoro

Banshee said...

Try giving the dogs Pedialyte pops for the diarrhea. Cooked rice with a little salt and a little sugar is also supposed to be good, if you don't have Pedialyte. We have wolfhounds, so our vet let our dog take human doses of anti-diarrhea medicine when there was a big need. We've also been known to give our dogs cottage cheese or plain yogurt when they're having gut trouble.

Finally, I will say that a shot of any strong enough liquor is well known to be a sovereign remedy against diarrhea. I've tried this myself, and it works. (It's alcohol. Of course it kills gut germs and critters.) But I have no idea if it works on dogs, if dogs will even drink whiskey/whatever, or what dosage would be appropriate. Maybe if you sugared the whiskey?

I really hope your dogs get well soon.

Unknown said...

Hey, Banshee, you mean a good snort of Jack Daniels or Irish Whiskey is just as good as Kaopectate?

Wow!

Kind of a twofer: You feel pretty good while you're waiting for it to work!

How come doctors never tell us that? [GR]

Adoro said...

Banshee,

Well, the normal course of treatment for diarrhea is withholding food for 24 hours...that's what we did first. But the blood...now, that's a vet-worthy trip. Gotta rule out parasites.

It seems they have a virus, so they're on a nice med., and I regularly make hamburger and rice for them, especially when they're sick. NO salt or any other additives at this time, but that'll be added in the next batch.

I would not give my greyhound anything the vet doesn't approve--they are not made like other dogs. They have to be on different doses of everything because they metabolize things differently than other dogs. Alcohol could kill a greyhound and have no affect on my Shepherd.

I've also given them cottage cheese and yogurt. They love it! :-)

I think we're done with this bout of sickness, just medicating until they're back to normal.

I love my dogs, but boy, have they been expensive lately!

Our Word said...

The yogurt bit is interesting - Judie's cat always used to love yogurt, even though Judie wouldn't give it to her often. Of course, she also loved listening to Phil Collins on the stereo, so I'm not sure how to assess that cat's taste...

Jean Heimann said...

I recently had a problem with my cat being stressed out from moving to a new home. I learned that they give cats Prozac for depression. I couldn't believe it!

I prayed to St. Francis of Assisi for her urination problem and took her to the vet to rule out any serious medical problems.

That Natures Miracle is a lifesaver. I don't know how I would have managed without it!

I will pray to St. Francis of Assisi for your pets.

God bless you,
Jean

Adoro said...

Jean, thanks for your prayers! I learned they have another produce on the market called "Anti-Icky-poo", and I'm considering getting some just to have on hand! As I understand it, it's an even stronger enzymatic cleaner.

So I take it your cat is ok now? It's so hard for some pets to make adjustments. I had a dog in the past who had been in a shelter for well over a year and predictably, once adopted he developed seperation anxiety. He ended up on clomiprimine (a tricyclic uses mostly for animals now as an anti-anxiety drug). He needed to calm down in order for the training to work, and it worked well.

Well, the dogs are much better and the silver lining is that Fire has demonstrated that he can be out of his kennel for a couple hours at a time so we're going to work on weaning him out of the thing. Yay!