Well I will admit it, the holidays are NOT favorite time of year. I have worked in the retail business too many years, to enjoy the shopping and I love to give gifts.. but that entails shopping.
SO that being said I really was hoping for a quiet day, uneventful, and one I could enjoy the dogs/pups, not go out and CERTAINLY no shopping!! YEAH RIGHT ... I should know better by now.
Last weekend the Miss pups did go off their puppy food and have a bout of loose stools... it occurred right after the trip to have their eyes checked so I chalked it up to stress and treated them with Albon as an extra preventative. Not a one ever had a fever and just seem 'off' for a day (well that happens they are pups). They were due to be wormed so they also were treated with my typical protocol of Panacur wormer too. All is fine now they are back to normal stools and they are their obnoxious selves driving me nuts trying to keep up with them.
Late last night when I went to feed the older imported pups I noticed that Rion (the red merle boy) was slower to eat. He did finish his dinner ... but not with the vigor he normally does. He was still quite perky and went out happily wagging his tail at last potty time.
Well this morning I awoke to a pen full of undigested food (he threw his dinner back up) and a pup that was not nearly as perky as he was the night before. I let him outside (he did hop right up and decide he was headed outside with his brother and adopted sister)... I watched close when he pottied outside ... it was not good ... not good at all! Liquid not a normal stool from him at all.
So I brought him back in and immediately took his temp. 100.1 (no temp... actually the lower end of normal)... so I dosed him with Albon and decided to watch him close for a few hours and make my decison on what to do (knowing today would be my day to take him to the vet as they would be closed tomorrow). I did think they have been out playing in our heavy amounts of rain water/puddles, digging holes in mud, and general rough housing in the back yard quite a bit lately. Eating something that could upset his stomach would certainly not be out of the question and very VERY plausible.
Hour and a half later ... I peeked on him... NOT a happy puppy. He didn't even want to get up for me to take his temp and more loose liquid stool all over his papers. I took him out and took his temp. It was UP to 102.1 (still in the normal range but higher)... this took just under two hours to happen and he was certainly a 'droopy lethargic puppy'.
Now if anyone knows me ... I watch my pups like a mother 'hawk' they sneeze I know it and exactly which one!! And due to the massive outbreaks of Parvo in the area in the last 18 mos (more cases than in decades) I don't take chances!!!
SO MUCH for the QUIET relaxed day with the dogs!!! I was on the way to the vet ... just as they were closing (yep emergency call fee here we come!). Rion and I get there ... they immediately pop him up on the table ... and begin a Parvo test. (needless to say... I had gone over all the horrible things that could happen with SO many pups in the house and if he had PARVO... I was just beside myself with horrible thoughts of sick and dying pups!!).
For those that have ever had to do this test on a pup you know.. they take a stool sample and mix it with a solution .. put it in this little test kit (kinda like a pregnancy test for women but no peeing on the stick)... snap it and 'WAIT' ..... yeah that is the hardest part... the WAIT!!
As I am watching this little white kit ... I begin to freak... THERE IS A SPOT !!! OH MY GOD THERE IS A SPOT it is positive!!... Hillary (one of my favorite vets).. say OH No NO!! that means the test is running and it's right ... one dot is fine ... TWO dots is BAD!!
More waiting .... (they run a fecal in the meantime ... just to check).... no more dots are appearing... I keep looking at it.....
My other favorite vet (the owner of the clinic Dr. Meade) comes in ... and says ... "well a tiny bit of roundworms... but that is all I see". He may have just eaten something and it could be a bit of coccidious due to all this rain and junk floating around. He looks at the test kit and goes .... "looks like NO PARVO!!"
WHEW!! I sigh (a HUGE sigh I might add!) and of course Rion who is sitting on the table waiting ... just sits up and licks my face like "see Mom.... you ARE a nervous NINNY!!".
Hillary went to throw the test kit away ... and I said HEY no!! That is the best Christmas present I could ever get this year!! I gotta take that home!! (not to mention I can keep it for his scrapbook!!)
So here is my best Christmas present of the year!!
A negative Parvo test!!
Well I was not totally 'out of the woods" or off the hook for Christmas shopping. Due to Rion's liquid stool, I used up all the paper towels and bleach cleaning up after things. Any dog owner knows it is also an EMERGENCY when you run out of paper towels... so that did require a trip (on Christmas EVE day right prior to closing) a trip to Walmart... (I couldn't go a day with no paper towels and a ill feeling puppy!! ) UGH double UGH.... I waited in line over 15 mins even in the express lane... not to mention how many people were pushing carts up and down the packed aisles... But I survived and the house is loaded up with bleach, cleaner and paper towels!!
My second 'blessing and gift" for the Christmas Eve... was the gift of CHEAP gas!!! While I was out later this evening the BP gas station in West Lebannon has gas down to $1.39 a gallon!! Whooo hooo that is thirty cents cheaper than Danville, IL and Lafayette too!! (Oh I am sure there are places much cheaper... but heck ... this is cheap for us!!)
In the pouring rain, I could not help but snap a quick photo of the price sign!!
As an evening update on Rion ... He is feeling MUCH better. No more throwing up after he came home from the vet. He napped most of the day (I even hooked up a heat light over his wire crate to keep him extra warm). By later evening he was showing signs of his perky self again and even complained he wanted out too when his brother Rigel and adopted sis Hope went out. He ate a small meal of regular puppy kernels (with water on it) and all seems to be on the mend. Just took a matter of hours and an expensive emergency TRIP to the vet to ease his Mommy's mind!!
Well my Christmas Eve is almost over ... and I am grateful for the "gifts" I have been given today. Tomorrow is the day we get to spend with part of the family... that will be a good day too, I just KNOW it!!
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