Yesterday, Buddy had to go to the vet. For one thing, it was time for a good teeth cleaning (something for which he was clearly overdue). Also, he had been licking at a bump on his left front elbow for the last week. It clearly wasn’t painful, just annoying. I had pointed out the bump earlier to the vet, and he said when it got bigger or started to cause irritation, bring Buddy in. Looks like the time had come.

Buddy was a little woozy when we picked him up last night, and clearly not happy to be wearing a Victorian collar (aka The Cone of Shame). The vet said his teeth were healthy and no extractions were necessary. He removed the cyst from his elbow and had sent it off for biopsy, and put in three stitches. At our request he injected Buddy with a microchip for tracking, and even trimmed his claws (unasked!). He sent us off with a pain relieving syrup (meloxicam), an antibiotic (clindamycin), and an anti-anxiety med (acepromazine) for when Buddy gets too freaked out by thunderstorms.

Buddy was pretty wobbly last night, but is doing much better this morning. Navigating with the Cone of Shame is a continuing challenge – his spatial awareness is way off, and he almost fell down the stairs a few times. He has finally been able to get comfortable with it while sleeping, it seems. I think he was in a bit of pain this morning, as he couldn’t get comfortable and kept lying down, then getting up again. It looks like the pain killer has hit him surprisingly hard, though, as I’m watching him fall asleep on his bed right now. Theoretically, he has to wear the Cone for the next ten days, with his stitches coming out on Saturday. We’re hoping maybe we can take it off sooner than that, but we’ll take things day by day.

(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.

Or, Reflections on 24 Hours of Dog Ownership.

* In walking Buddy around the neighborhood this morning I met more neighbors than I have the entire seven months that we’ve lived in our house.

* The fact that you and a stranger each have a dog is the basis for striking up a friendly and chatty conversation. And everyone loves a shelter dog.

* Buddy spent the night in our bedroom last night, outside of his crate. He crashed out on his bed and pretty much stayed there all night. Dan and I kept waking up worried about him or thinking we heard whining, but he was just fine. This is very promising.

* Speaking of crates, Buddy wasn’t really sure he liked his. He had to be bodily escorted in this morning, though once in he laid down and didn’t complain. When I put him back in the crate after walking him at lunchtime he strolled right in. Maybe it was just a case of getting used to it?

* Adopting an adult dog is a fascinating case of trying to deduce the dog’s training and history by his behavior. He is crate trained – we knew that from his foster family. He was obviously not allowed on the furniture by his past owners, since he steadfastly refused our invitation onto the sofa. It looks like his foster family fed him the very first thing when they woke up, since he was positively bouncing off the walls when I came downstairs this morning. He gets one can of Pedigree in the morning, and another in the evening. We need to see if we can work in some dry food to get him a bit more fiber because, uh, he kind of needs it.

* The only strange quirk I’ve noticed about Buddy is that he tends to sleep with his eyes open, which can be a little freaky. You think he’s asleep and you look down and his eyes are rolled back in his head. Eep!

So far things have been going very well. I’m very pleased! Plus, it means we’re going to be getting more exercise each day, which is also a Very Good Thing. I know I’ve already walked a mile and a half just today, and there will be more tonight.