- Take him to a specialist (yes, they do exist for dogs...)
- Get an x-ray taken at the vet's office to see if that identifies anything
<3
K$
Saturday, August 27, 2011
Sick Puppy Update
For the week or so following the vet visit, Kairo continued to have a gagging cough. Although Kairo's activity level was back to 100%, since the cough was not going away or improving, G$ and I decided it was time to take Kairo back to the vet. So on Monday morning, G$ called the vet and they were able to see him at 12:30 that day. The vet and all the vet techs remembered Kairo from his last visit and were so excited that he was a normal puppy and not a sick, pathetic looking puppy. Regarding the cough, the vet could not hear anything in his lungs, so he said we had two options:
<3
K$
<3
K$
Stick Chasing in the Potomac
I'm a little (or a lot) delayed in actually getting this post posted. Last weekend, we had a pretty active weekend. We had a lazy morning, spending some time outside with Kairo in the cool morning. Then G$ and I had a make-up softball game on Saturday, so we took Kairo to cheer us on. It was a nice day, a little hot, but not nearly has humid as it has been the past few weeks. And we kicked butt and won by a landslide, which is always fun (in my opinion).
Kairo sitting pretty, with his regal, proper stance:
Another with a muddy/sandy nose:
Sunday, we were supposed to have a double header later in the afternoon, which cancelled due to rain. As part of the Sunday plan to poop the puppy out before the softball game, we headed to Scott’s Run Nature Preserve to hike. We did the same trails we did the last time we were there, but this time I remembered my phone! The trails lead to the Potomac, where K-Man then spent a good 30 minutes chasing sticks. The dog will not for the life of him play "fetch" when we are outside in the grass, but boy, does he love fetching sticks when they are thrown in water. I took a ridiculous number of pictures (shocker!), so I've handpicked my favorites. Please enjoy.
And for your viewing pleasure, here's a video so I can spare you the play-by-play on how Kairo fetches. And then another video
Not sure what he was doing, but I promise you he was not tinkling on the backpack.
At one point, the stick went into deeper water and Kairo went after it, not realizing it was a little too deep. He started doggie paddling, but then kind of starting panicking a little. As he was doggie paddling, he gradually started to get more vertical, to the point where he was almost entirely vertical. He made it out it ok, but was very against going after sticks that were in the "deep section." He continued having fun, including some digging, yes, when Kairo gets anywhere near sand, he cannot contain his urge to dig. And dig. Smell the hole. And then dig some more. See:
Another video I capture was Kairo thinking he was a bigger pup than the 35 pounds he is:
And you ask, was the "mission" a success?! You take a look and let me know if this looks like a pooped pup:
<3
K$
Kairo sitting pretty, with his regal, proper stance:
Another with a muddy/sandy nose:
Sunday, we were supposed to have a double header later in the afternoon, which cancelled due to rain. As part of the Sunday plan to poop the puppy out before the softball game, we headed to Scott’s Run Nature Preserve to hike. We did the same trails we did the last time we were there, but this time I remembered my phone! The trails lead to the Potomac, where K-Man then spent a good 30 minutes chasing sticks. The dog will not for the life of him play "fetch" when we are outside in the grass, but boy, does he love fetching sticks when they are thrown in water. I took a ridiculous number of pictures (shocker!), so I've handpicked my favorites. Please enjoy.
Not sure what he was doing, but I promise you he was not tinkling on the backpack.
At one point, the stick went into deeper water and Kairo went after it, not realizing it was a little too deep. He started doggie paddling, but then kind of starting panicking a little. As he was doggie paddling, he gradually started to get more vertical, to the point where he was almost entirely vertical. He made it out it ok, but was very against going after sticks that were in the "deep section." He continued having fun, including some digging, yes, when Kairo gets anywhere near sand, he cannot contain his urge to dig. And dig. Smell the hole. And then dig some more. See:
Another video I capture was Kairo thinking he was a bigger pup than the 35 pounds he is:
And you ask, was the "mission" a success?! You take a look and let me know if this looks like a pooped pup:
<3
K$
Tuesday, August 16, 2011
Sick As A Dog
Yes, G$ and I now fully understand what the phase means. Poor Kairo was sick over the weekend, starting on Friday. Prepare yourself for the novel of a story that was our weekend.
I took Kairo out in the morning and in the elevator, he started gagging. Then once we made it outside, he actually threw up some white, foamy liquid. I took him back upstairs after doing his business and he was lounging on the couch with G$ while I got ready for work. When I went into the living room at one point, I noticed Kairo was shivering. G$ left for work and I finished getting ready. Part of our morning routine, right before I leave, is putting a peanut butter filled Kong into Kairo's crate to entice him to voluntarily go into the crate (and to say, I'm sorry for having to leave you, buddy, have some sticky, yummy peanut butter). Well this past Friday, the K-Man had absolutely no desire to get off the couch and go to the crate. No desire even to lick the peanut butter off the Kong when I put it right in front of his nose. That's when I knew there was a problem. A serious problem.
I try calling the vet when I first get into work and their line is busy and remains busy for the first hour. I have a 9 o'clock meeting, so G$ takes over trying to get in touch with the vet, after noticing that their website states that their phones are down. G$ finally is able to get in touch with the vet and the vet can squeeze us in at 12:30. So I leave work around 11:45 to drive home to pick-up K-Man. When I get home and open the door -- which usually immediately prompts K-Man to get up and start wagging his tail and shaking his tooshie while I walk over to the crate -- all I get is a slight head raise and a little tail wag, followed by the head going back down. Oh my gosh, my poor little guy. I of course start freaking out. I take a quick pic to send to G$:
I try to coax Kairo out of the crate to no avail. Finally have to pull his bed to get him closer to the crate door. I then finagle him out, pick him up, and carry him down to the car.
We get to the vet. And the vet can immediately tell that Kairo isn't feeling well. He is just laying there, ears back, eyes barely open. Turns out that Kairo has a fever and all signs are pointing to some sort of bacterial or viral infection. So the doc gives Kairo a shot to help with the nausea, then says he's going to give Kairo some fluids -- which apparently, is not quite the same as giving humans fluid -- the assistant made a joke about Kairo becoming a hunchback, which I didn't fully understand at the time. They then proceed back into the room with an IV bag of saline, but rather than hooking it up to a vein, they just fill a pocket under the skin with liquid, which is possible since dogs have a lot of extra skin. That's where the hunchback comment comes in -- Kairo had a huge bulge halfway down his back that was about the size of a cantaloupe. Unfortunately, in an attempt to not sound like a horrible puppy parent, I opted not to say: let me get a picture of this for my blog. So sorry, no pic.
Get home. Luckily G$ worked some extra hours earlier in the week and had planned to leave work at 1pm, so I get home shortly after 1pm and give Kairo dose #1 of the antibiotics. Since he has no desire to eat, I had to shove them down his throat. Then, we lounge on the couch and wait for G$ to come home. Then I head back to work for a couple hours. On my way home from work, I was planning to stop by the grocery store to pick up food for a dinner party we were hosting on Saturday evening (more on that in another post), and I text G$ to let him know I was leaving and ask how Kairo is doing and I get the following response: "Eeeh... Want to swing by here first then go?"
Oh gosh. What does that mean!?! I hurry home and when I walk into the apartment, the chaise couch cushion was off the couch with the cover off it. Did I mention that Kairo had close to 500ml of saline pumped under his skin!? Apparently he was so out of it (either from not feeling well, or the anti-nausea shot), that he didn't even get up or stir before he tinkled. Twice. Poor G$. Poor Kairo. He spent most of the evening on the couch, occasionally getting down to tinkle (not making it outside, but conveniently tinkling on the tile right by the door), occasionally getting off the couch to lay on the ground. And boy, did he look pathetic. His ears weren't their normal perky ears, and he just looked sick, not wanting to move. Occasionally coughing a gag-like cough. Here's Mr. Pathetic:
The vet asked me to call to give him an update later in the day, so around 6ish, I gave him a call. Since he was not showing improvements, the doc said we had three options:
1. Bring him back in to get blood taken, which they can send to the lab for analysis
2. Take him to an emergency vet facility, or
3. Wait it out overnight, then if he's not showing improvements, take him to an emergency vet facility
The term emergency vet did not sit well even though I know they get their name more from the fact that they are open 24/7, but still. I did some Googling on the emergency vet facility (South Paws) that our vet recommended and some Yelp searching to ensure it was in fact the best emergency vet place around. It was, phew. Just in case we had to make a trip there on Saturday. As G$ always says, "Prior planning prevents poor performance." [Like that G$]
Around 9 or 10pm on Friday, Kairo decided to voluntarily drink water! Hurray! Although still not back to normal (not even close), we could tell the antibiotics were definitely starting to kick-in. We went to bed and woke up every couple of hours to let Kairo go to the bathroom, and on two of the three times, Kairo drank more water. Something that just had to be a good sign.
Since he was voluntarily drinking water, the next morning, we thought we'd cook some rice to see if he'd eat some bland food. I started the rice, then headed to the grocery store. When I got back, G$ had hand-fed Kairo some rice and he actually ate it. Another good sign! Then there were some vomit episodes where some (keyword: some) rice came back up, but that means that he still digested at least some of the rice. Kairo lounged for most of the day while G$ and I got ready for the dinner party. Cooking, cleaning, ironing. Oh my!
We had our friends over, one of which has two 14-month twin boys, who loved the puppy-dog; however, Kairo was not quite in the mood for putting up with them, so he curled up on the couch or was running away from them. G$ and I made sure we were protecting Kairo and letting him sleep. Later that night, he ate some Cheerios and then proceeded to his bowl which still had some dog food in it and ate a good amount. Hurray - another good sign!
Kairo is definitely on the road to recovery, despite having eaten a few wood pieces at G$'s parents house on Sunday. We are still seeing a little vomiting, but the vet said to monitor it today and tomorrow, then if it's not improving, come in for a x-ray on Thursday or Friday. I'll keep you all posted, but the fact that Kairo is back to acting normal (i.e. active and wanting to play with other dogs), I think we are definitely close to being 100% again. Here he is curled up at the end of our bed last night, cute as can be:
<3
K$
I took Kairo out in the morning and in the elevator, he started gagging. Then once we made it outside, he actually threw up some white, foamy liquid. I took him back upstairs after doing his business and he was lounging on the couch with G$ while I got ready for work. When I went into the living room at one point, I noticed Kairo was shivering. G$ left for work and I finished getting ready. Part of our morning routine, right before I leave, is putting a peanut butter filled Kong into Kairo's crate to entice him to voluntarily go into the crate (and to say, I'm sorry for having to leave you, buddy, have some sticky, yummy peanut butter). Well this past Friday, the K-Man had absolutely no desire to get off the couch and go to the crate. No desire even to lick the peanut butter off the Kong when I put it right in front of his nose. That's when I knew there was a problem. A serious problem.
I try calling the vet when I first get into work and their line is busy and remains busy for the first hour. I have a 9 o'clock meeting, so G$ takes over trying to get in touch with the vet, after noticing that their website states that their phones are down. G$ finally is able to get in touch with the vet and the vet can squeeze us in at 12:30. So I leave work around 11:45 to drive home to pick-up K-Man. When I get home and open the door -- which usually immediately prompts K-Man to get up and start wagging his tail and shaking his tooshie while I walk over to the crate -- all I get is a slight head raise and a little tail wag, followed by the head going back down. Oh my gosh, my poor little guy. I of course start freaking out. I take a quick pic to send to G$:
I try to coax Kairo out of the crate to no avail. Finally have to pull his bed to get him closer to the crate door. I then finagle him out, pick him up, and carry him down to the car.
We get to the vet. And the vet can immediately tell that Kairo isn't feeling well. He is just laying there, ears back, eyes barely open. Turns out that Kairo has a fever and all signs are pointing to some sort of bacterial or viral infection. So the doc gives Kairo a shot to help with the nausea, then says he's going to give Kairo some fluids -- which apparently, is not quite the same as giving humans fluid -- the assistant made a joke about Kairo becoming a hunchback, which I didn't fully understand at the time. They then proceed back into the room with an IV bag of saline, but rather than hooking it up to a vein, they just fill a pocket under the skin with liquid, which is possible since dogs have a lot of extra skin. That's where the hunchback comment comes in -- Kairo had a huge bulge halfway down his back that was about the size of a cantaloupe. Unfortunately, in an attempt to not sound like a horrible puppy parent, I opted not to say: let me get a picture of this for my blog. So sorry, no pic.
Get home. Luckily G$ worked some extra hours earlier in the week and had planned to leave work at 1pm, so I get home shortly after 1pm and give Kairo dose #1 of the antibiotics. Since he has no desire to eat, I had to shove them down his throat. Then, we lounge on the couch and wait for G$ to come home. Then I head back to work for a couple hours. On my way home from work, I was planning to stop by the grocery store to pick up food for a dinner party we were hosting on Saturday evening (more on that in another post), and I text G$ to let him know I was leaving and ask how Kairo is doing and I get the following response: "Eeeh... Want to swing by here first then go?"
Oh gosh. What does that mean!?! I hurry home and when I walk into the apartment, the chaise couch cushion was off the couch with the cover off it. Did I mention that Kairo had close to 500ml of saline pumped under his skin!? Apparently he was so out of it (either from not feeling well, or the anti-nausea shot), that he didn't even get up or stir before he tinkled. Twice. Poor G$. Poor Kairo. He spent most of the evening on the couch, occasionally getting down to tinkle (not making it outside, but conveniently tinkling on the tile right by the door), occasionally getting off the couch to lay on the ground. And boy, did he look pathetic. His ears weren't their normal perky ears, and he just looked sick, not wanting to move. Occasionally coughing a gag-like cough. Here's Mr. Pathetic:
The vet asked me to call to give him an update later in the day, so around 6ish, I gave him a call. Since he was not showing improvements, the doc said we had three options:
1. Bring him back in to get blood taken, which they can send to the lab for analysis
2. Take him to an emergency vet facility, or
3. Wait it out overnight, then if he's not showing improvements, take him to an emergency vet facility
The term emergency vet did not sit well even though I know they get their name more from the fact that they are open 24/7, but still. I did some Googling on the emergency vet facility (South Paws) that our vet recommended and some Yelp searching to ensure it was in fact the best emergency vet place around. It was, phew. Just in case we had to make a trip there on Saturday. As G$ always says, "Prior planning prevents poor performance." [Like that G$]
Around 9 or 10pm on Friday, Kairo decided to voluntarily drink water! Hurray! Although still not back to normal (not even close), we could tell the antibiotics were definitely starting to kick-in. We went to bed and woke up every couple of hours to let Kairo go to the bathroom, and on two of the three times, Kairo drank more water. Something that just had to be a good sign.
Since he was voluntarily drinking water, the next morning, we thought we'd cook some rice to see if he'd eat some bland food. I started the rice, then headed to the grocery store. When I got back, G$ had hand-fed Kairo some rice and he actually ate it. Another good sign! Then there were some vomit episodes where some (keyword: some) rice came back up, but that means that he still digested at least some of the rice. Kairo lounged for most of the day while G$ and I got ready for the dinner party. Cooking, cleaning, ironing. Oh my!
We had our friends over, one of which has two 14-month twin boys, who loved the puppy-dog; however, Kairo was not quite in the mood for putting up with them, so he curled up on the couch or was running away from them. G$ and I made sure we were protecting Kairo and letting him sleep. Later that night, he ate some Cheerios and then proceeded to his bowl which still had some dog food in it and ate a good amount. Hurray - another good sign!
Kairo is definitely on the road to recovery, despite having eaten a few wood pieces at G$'s parents house on Sunday. We are still seeing a little vomiting, but the vet said to monitor it today and tomorrow, then if it's not improving, come in for a x-ray on Thursday or Friday. I'll keep you all posted, but the fact that Kairo is back to acting normal (i.e. active and wanting to play with other dogs), I think we are definitely close to being 100% again. Here he is curled up at the end of our bed last night, cute as can be:
<3
K$
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