Emergency Hospital Visit for Pinky

I woke up this morning and fed the dogs as usual. They ate well and went outside to do their doggy business. When Pinky came in I saw she had pooped on the deck. This happens quite frequently with her because her sphincter muscle has lost a lot of elasticity and she often doesn't even know the poop is coming out of her butt until it is too late, or in this case, she just couldn't get down the stairs quickly enough to make it to the grass, so she just poops on the deck. Anyway, I went out to pick it up and it looked completely normal except that it was covered in mucus. I picked it up and flushed it away. I figured she must have something going on, but I didn't see anything else amiss.

I put the dogs in the bedroom and told my husband that maybe Pinky wasn't feeling well so he should keep her off of the bed and then I took a shower. When I came out of the shower I saw a pile of, for lack of a better word, stuff on the carpet. In fact all over the carpet there were piles of stuff that looked like raspberry jam & mucus. I picked it up with a paper towel and it was blood and mucus. I assumed this was a very bad sign for Pinky. I called out sick and then got dressed to take Pinky to the animal hospital.

First I made sure my dad didn't feed Pinky anything unusual yesterday because you never know with him. He denied giving the dogs anything unusual except a little bit of egg. I knew the egg would not cause blood to come out of her butt. I didn't know what it could be, except that I just knew this was the end for Pinky. I mean, I really thought I was taking Pinky on a one way trip to the vet. I made everyone say goodbye to her, "in case of anything." My husband refused to acknowledge that there was a real problem and that there was no possibility other than Pinky coming home from the vet with some meds.

I cried all the way to the Oradell Animal Hospital http://www.oradell.com/home.htm
Pinky was just laying on a blanket on the front seat. She wasn't even trying to sit in my lap or look out of the window. I couldn't imagine my life without this sweet chihuahua. I love Pinky with all of my heart and couldn't believe that she might not be coming home with me.

At 6 am you wouldn't think that there would be many people at an animal hospital, but there were. We were seen my a triage vet technician who would assign priority to the emergency cases. Pinky seemed pretty normal other than there was dried blood on her butt. They took her temperature and she had a slight fever of 102.7. When the doctor came in I pulled out a sample of the bloody mucus that I put into a zippy bag. I didn't have the poop because I had already flushed that before knowing there was a major problem.

The vet said that Pinky had colitis http://www.marvistavet.com/html/body_colitis.html
He prescribed an antibiotic and told me to add some rice into her food for a while until she started having normal poops. Colitis can be bacterial or viral. Because she had a fever, he thought it was bacterial. I was so relieved that she would be cured with some pills and was coming home! See, I am such a worry wart. The vet said that Pinky can still have the bloody mucus poops over the next 12 hours, so I shouldn't be alarmed if it keeps happening, however it should not continue after that so if it does I will have to call the vet.

Pinky is on the Mend!

I am happy to report that Pinky has not had any more mucus or boody poop emanating from her butt since Tuesday morning. She is running around and eating and playing like she normally does. Whew! Crisis averted.

Poo Day

I am happy to announce that poo has commenced. That was a relief because I was stressing a little about it, and now I don't have to worry. Another hurdle achieved.

I have removed two of my bandages. Dr. Bypass said I could start removing them in 4 days. He told me this on Wednesday so I wasn't clear on whether he meant 4 days from surgery or 4 days from Wednesday. It doesn't matter because after my shower one of the bandages started coming off on its own, so i helped it. The incision is about 3/4 of an inch wide. The area is very bruised and yellow/purple coloring, but the incision itself is healing fine. I showed AR and he nearly fainted. Chicken! Yeah, he'll be doing the lap band surgery for sure.

Went out for another ride, this time to the supermarket. We just had to pick up some cards, so I tagged along for the ride. I waited in the car with my daughter while AR did the shopping. I have to take my very own sippy cup with me wherever I go. I always need to be sipping on liquid, so I have to take it to go. No soda either! Well, I could drink soda if its flat, which I actually do not mind, but I've been sticking to tea, water and crystal lite.

AR is amazed that I am not hungry. He was afraid to eat in front of me for the first few days, and I told him that was ridiculous. For 1, I'm not hungry anyway and for 2. I can't eat solid foods yet anyway or I will get sick, so I cannot be tempted. I am craving hot chocolate. I bought some diet hot chocolate, but I'm not sure it qualifies as clear liquids. I may try some later tonight to see how I make out with it.

Crayola® Kryptonite

I was awakened last night at 1:15 am from a deep sleep to the unmistakable sound of a Chihuahua heaving. Nothing strikes fear in the heart of a Chihuahua owner more than the sound of vomiting. There isn’t much worse in life than rolling over in bed into a puddle of cold puke, unless you have a dog with loose sphincter muscles but that is a story for another day…Luckily, the culprit this time was Chi-Chi and she is most considerate. When she feels the vomit urge strike, she leaps off the bed to hide under it where she does her dastardly deed. Of course, you are only lucky if it is at night because at least then you know what is transpiring. It can happen when no one is there to see it and then we play a game of “What’s that stench and where is it coming from?”

So there I was at 1:30 am attempting to coax Chi-Chi out from under the bed. AR was snoring away oblivious to all. She kept making that wretched dry heave sound without producing any vomit. She must have eaten a bad crayon or perhaps Chi-Chi had just discovered what her Crayola® limit was for the day. Either way, something needed to be done to remedy the situation.

I pretended not to care and climbed back into bed, allowing my arm to hang off of it so that my hand touched the floor. Slowly I heard Chi-Chi inch her way over to my side under the bed (AR’s side is the one she prefers to puke under), until her cold wet nose was flush with my hand. I gently scratched her head and rubbed under her chin all the while whispering to her that she needn’t hide under the bed since she isn’t a bad dog just because she feels sick over and over until she was finally out from under the bed.

Up until this point, Pinky was fully enjoying the luxury of being the only Chihuahua in the bed. She shot me a dirty look when I pulled Chi-Chi onto the comforter. Success at last! I scooped up the ill-feeling Chihuahua and sprinted into the kitchen with my catch. I dared not to release the petite hound for experience has taught that she would immediately dart under the couch, thus beginning the next round of coaxing.

With one hand filled with Chihuahua, the other managed to open the fridge door and pull out a bottle of tonic water. Tonic water is the great elixir when a tummy is upset. It works for humans, so why not for Chihuahuas? I somehow unscrewed the bottle cap with one hand and poured a small amount in a glass Pyrex dish, also known is this home as a dog bowl. I held the bowl up to Chi-Chi’s mouth and her head bent down slightly to inspect what was proffered. After a quick sniff, she flatly refused the tonic.

I took a spoon and tried unsuccessfully to get Chi-Chi to drink from it. Finally I dipped my finger into the tonic and touched it to Chi-Chi’s lips. She accepted the tonic and so we continued finger to bowl, tonic to Chihuahua lips until it was done. It was a painstakingly slow process.
I sent Chi-Chi out into the yard thinking that she might enjoy a chomp of some grass to force the vomit issue, but she did not partake of the green substance. Promptly she emitted a huge poo smattered with flecks of Vivid Violet crayon, the last Crayola® to meet with Chi-Chi’s vice-like jaws.

Chi-Chi scampered back into the house and was already peacefully slumbering before I reached the bed. I spied my daughter’s box of Crayolas® that have already proven to be one Chihuahua’s Kryptonite. I cavalierly tossed the sweet-smelling wax into the garbage without thinking how I was going to explain the missing crayons to her and retreated to the bedroom. Pinky had already assumed her rightful place atop my pillow. As I settled back into bed, Chi-Chi snuggled up to my legs and Pinky heaved a deep sigh. I looked at the red LCD numbers on the clock that said 2:10 am. Only three more hours until it’s time to get up I thought and instantly fell asleep. All was right with the world.