JUANA: As we’ve done every morning for years, we take all of our dogs to the park. H1 dogs go to the big park and H2 dogs go to the Beemer park, which is the new park 2. We do that before we walk our outside dogs. It’s usually easier to walk everybody else and leave the H1 Gang (Noble’s gang) for last. The Chihuahuas all go outside and it takes about 30 minutes to take them out. We have to change their beds daily and change their water bowls. Tinkerbelle poops in her bed and pees and sometimes Bitty does too. It’s just easier to walk everybody else and leave the gang for last. It takes us about 30 minutes to clean up their crates and they get to stay in the park.
When David Ford turned over the night shift to us, he said that Noble didn’t finish his food. David and I have been noticing that Noble hasn’t finished his food lately. And Brandy, our overnight person, suggested that we stop buying green beans, because Noble wouldn’t eat the green beans on Wednesday morning at 5:00. She picked out all of the green beans and then he ate his food. That was strange to us, because Noble has never been a picky eater and he loved green beans.
We’ve noticed that Noble has been going downhill since September. A month ago, I took him to the vet and Dr. James said that his liver enzymes were elevated. He suggested that we do a biopsy. I didn’t want to do a biopsy, because Noble is diabetic and I didn’t want to put him under anesthesia. I was afraid that he wouldn’t wake up. I’ve been thinking about taking him to see Dr. Lay, so he could do a scope. But we didn’t have the money and Noble seemed okay. Now he is starting to go downhill and he wouldn’t eat all of his food. That’s a red flag to us. Brandy said that he wouldn’t eat on Wednesday and on Thursday David Ford said that Noble wouldn’t eat all of his food. So we started hand feeding Noble and he ate and he walked okay. His sugar levels were in the 300s. They weren’t sky high or very low. Then on Friday, David suggested that we try some dry food. When he won’t eat, we try feeding him chicken dry food, which is light dog food. It doesn’t have any sugar in it. Noble was picking at his food. After Noble ate at 5:00 on Friday afternoon, he seemed bloated. That was odd, because he didn’t eat that much. I walked him and he seemed okay.
When we took him out to the park, he walked to the park and then he lay down. He was just lying there. He’s never done that. He also had diarrhea. When we got him up, he started stumbling. I brought him inside and checked his sugar and it was 300 and something. I thought that was odd because, when he stumbled, I thought his sugar was low. But it wasn’t his sugar.
On Saturday, the clinic opens at 8:00. I texted the doctor at 7:30, to see if they would answer me, and I didn’t hear anything. I decided that I would call at 8:00. Jessica answered and said that Dr. James was going to be there and they were slammed. She said that we should bring Noble in and they would work him in. They know that he’s our diabetic dog and Straydog’s mascot. We walked him out to our car. There’s Noble’s face. He’s usually serious. But this wasn’t a serious look; it was a sad look. He wasn’t feeling well.
BILL: We had to wait for a long time at the clinic and I got lots of pictures. He got on my lap at the clinic and then he was lying on the floor. Jessica took him in the back to draw blood and she asked me to stay in the waiting room.
JUANA: Then Bill came back to Straydog and brought the camera back. Bill said that Dr. James got the blood work results. His liver enzymes were sky high (off the chart) and his BUN to creatinine ratio (his kidneys) was high, not very high but high, and his platelets were low. The doctor wanted to keep him, because they were so busy at the clinic, and they could start him on an IV right away and they could do a sonogram later in the day. Dr. James was the only vet there and they were so busy. He wanted us to leave him and he planned to call us back later and we could pick him up, because he’s on a special diet. I thought he was just having a spell, where they would flush his liver and kidneys with IVs and they would put him on antibiotics and he’d be ready to go. He’s always up and down.
So we brought Handsome inside and we put Portia in to the front. We also wanted to introduce the new dog Sally to somebody. There was a lot of moving and we needed a lot of help and we took a lot of pictures. I know I am confusing everybody. It isn’t as bad as it seems.
BILL: Where is Sally now?
JUANA: Sally is back inside, but I’ll get to that.
BILL: We have six here already and a cat!
BILL: In the pictures you will see that Gordie is wearing his sister’s Army t-shirt that we got for him.
JUANA: I have one too and I love it. I put Dr. Erica Dumeyer to work. We walked around, when we finished feeding the dogs, and I asked her to check some of our dogs. A free vet, when we are so short on funds, was a wonderful thing. I had to take advantage. Dr. Erica checked on Erika-dog, because she was limping. Erika was barking and the doctor didn’t want to go in her kennel, so Gordie took her in. Erika just barks and we know that she won’t do anything. Junior was limping too and they checked him too. They said that their legs were fine. They must have just strained them digging or running. The doctor said to give them Rimadyl for a few days and they should be fine.
BILL: We’ll be back tomorrow with another report from Straydog.