(Yes, this is more of me being an obsessive new parent over our dog. If that’s not your thing move on to the next post on your Friends Page 🙂
It’s been something of a roller coaster these last two days. You see, Buddy got sick.
I took Buddy to the vet on Wednesday for his distemper booster shot. No problems, and the vet also gave me a follow-up round of Panocur for the whipworm problem, just to make sure everything is taken care of, as well as a 6-month supply of flea/tick/mosquito medicine. $186, yowch. When we got home, I made the mistake of letting Buddy out of the car without a leash, thinking he’d head straight over to the door into the house. No, instead he led me on a chase across half of the neighborhood, never letting me get closer than 10-15 feet. I finally tackled him and brought him home. The unfortunate result of this is that unless we can get him more training, Buddy cannot go anywhere off the leash, not even the dog park (after all, if he doesn’t come when called, we’ll wind up chasing him around when it’s time to leave).
That night because my back was still messed up from putting together our new grill I took a muscle relaxer and went to bed early. Dan woke me up – sometime, no idea when since I was in a bit of a haze – to tell me that Buddy had thrown up twice and wasn’t doing well. I acknowledged him and quickly fell back asleep.
On Thursday morning when the alarm went off, Buddy was right there by my side, poking me with his nose and shivering like all get-out. I filled his water bowl, and he promptly drank the entire contents – with predictable results. At least I got him outside before he vomited. I tried giving him a little water at a time and had similar results (again, getting him outside just in time!). That was it – time to go to the vet. My back was still pretty lousy anyway, so between the two problems I felt OK about calling off for the day.
When we were finally seen by the vet, he wasn’t quite sure what the problem was. Buddy was running a 103.4 degree F fever (normal is around 101), which explains the shivering. The vet didn’t think it was due to the distemper booster since Buddy hadn’t shown any reaction to the initial shot, but wouldn’t rule that out either. He took the general approach: treat the symptoms, and hit it with a broad-spectrum antibiotic. In addition to giving Buddy a shot of epinephrine and a steroid, he gave me a prescription of Flagyl (an antibiotic good against anaerobic bacteria and protozoa) and told me to dose Buddy morning and night with one teaspoon of Pepto Bismol (administered via syringe) and 25 mg of Benadryl. (And that was another $85, though at least he didn’t charge for an office visit.)
I took Buddy home, and the poor guy was obviously miserable. I gave him the pills and the Pepto (he’s OK about the pills, but clearly didn’t enjoy either those or the Pepto) and waited for those to take effect. He was reluctant to lie down, probably because of breathing issues or just not feeling well, but as the Benadryl kicked in this caused a problem. He would stand with his head down, staring at nothing, and start to sway. Eventually one of his legs would give out and he would stagger a bit, then begin again. After about 20 minutes of this, and when he almost staggered into the TV stand and nearly whacked his head, I led him over to his bed and slowly pulled his feet out from under him until he was laying down. I could see his thought processes were something like “But I don’t want to lie down, I…OK I guess I’ll just lie here for a whilezzzzzzzz”.
By evening his fever was gone, but he was obviously still dopey from the antihistamine. He generally dozed the night away, though he ate the half-can of food we put down for him during the night. This morning, after an epically-long pee (which is good – much better than throwing the water back up!) he slowly started to show a little more appetite. The vet wants us to keep the pills going through tonight, but I think that by tomorrow he’ll be back to normal (though he’s very sleepy now!).
While I would never draw a direct parallel between owning a dog and having a child, I can say that I have a deeper appreciation for those with kids, and what they go through when their child is ill. It’s nerve-wracking, exasperating, and stressful. I have to say it was very much worth it for me when I came downstairs this morning to see Buddy looking at me hopefully and hear his wagging tail thumping on the sofa.
Merf, hopefully, this is past and Buddy is all better now. poor doggie.
Yeah, I remember dealing with Minuette and Madeline’s problems from time to time.
*hugs*
I’m quite familiar with the “Look! There’s all this space and I can stay just out of reach of Daddy!” game. I have a ten-year-old German Shepperd mix(it’s been that long?) and she still likes to play that game. To make matters more fun, my neighborhood borders fallow farmland and scrub forest on three sides and a limestone quarry and cutting shop on the forth, so I either end up picking my way through brambles and low-hanging branches or picking my way over waste rock and gravel. Thankfully, more often it’s the scrub and farmland.
Do try the dog park. The socialization with other dogs will actually make Buddy easier to round up and take home in two way. The first: He’ll be tired out from the play. The second: He’ll be so distracted that he’ll forget about the “make Daddy chase me” game. You’ll still want to work on the recall command (good luck), but lack of it shouldn’t keep him from the dog park. It just calls for more caution.
As for being sick… Dealing with it is part of the deal. It’s good to hear that Buddy is feeling better. Obviously you’re feeling better, too.
Seconded. As I mentioned on IM, Briana had the same issues, and I think it was so many distractions and the sheer joy of being free… she forgot that Mom and Dad were trudging along behind her. 😉
Treats help with the recall, and as your bond grows stronger, he’ll associate you more with things he likes, so he’ll be better about the recall.
Also, right after we got Briana, we had a $500+ vet bill when she pulled a muscle in her neck. So… this is all pretty par for the course in dog ownership. 😉
Oh, I’m glad to hear he is feeling better. It is tough dealing with sick/hurt animals we’re responsible for. I was the same way when Ladybug determined she was pterodactyl bait (tore her sides up alternating two weeks apart,) staying home sick with the drugged up pup. There was actually a New Year’s Eve once down at Corby and Thjora’s where Maxi had to go to the emergency vet that afternoon and was stumbling around more than the drunks at the party, but refusing to lie down.
I also won’t let Ladybug off leash, since I don’t trust her not to follow her nose to Texas, but she’s great at the Dog Park. When she’s tired (usually after an hour) she stays near me/the gate and I know it is time to go. Don’t make the mistake of having treats in your pocket, but perhaps keep some in the car just in case for luring.
As far as training, one of the great things our trainer insisted on was the stand-stay command. She may not come to me always when I call, but she will stay put when I’m firm and let me catch her. This was tested and worked well one time when we left the gate unlatched and she went on walkabout. She wouldn’t come when called, but she stayed when Thjora told her to and let herself be caught that way. Stay is a savior.
I’ve been enjoying all the reports of raising your “son.” Glad Buddy is better.
You’re far from the only sort that has animal children. The Carspeckens often write of their feline kids.
Good that Buddy is doing better!
Glad to hear he is doing better. Hopefully it was just some lingering stress of moving to a new home and all of that.
I don’t trust Jack off leash at all (When I first found him he escaped from his collar several times and led me chasing him around), but if there is a large area I want to give him more freedom to run around, I found these 15ft or 30ft “training leads” at Petsmart and let him run around still attached to that.
Did you ever loose sight of him while he was running around? Wonder if he got into something or ate something he shouldn’t have?
Nope, I was with him every step of the way, or just a few steps behind, anyway. Watching him making his rounds, though, it’s easy to see how he could come across a nasty bug. As repellent as the thoguht might be to humans, dogs sense both by smell and by taste. One lick at the wrong thing, and you’ve got intruduction of a nasty bug, very easily.
The good news is that he’s well on the road to recovery, though!