Monday, December 11, 2006

When it rains . . .


Well, as they say, when it rains it pours. Poor, poor Farley has a rough, tough life. His tummy seems to be feeling better, thank goodness. So I decided to give him a bit of a trim. He hasn't had a haircut since before he got sick, so I wanted to tidy him up. I decided to scissor trim his ears, to get the mats and gunk out of them. I didn't want to shave his ears, as I wanted to preserve some hair. I planned to take the hair really short and close to the ear leather. At this point I'm assuming you've looked at the picture to the left, so you know my plan went awry (I have a wicked vocabulary!)
Anyhow, I accidentally cut his ear . . . pretty good. It bled like a stuck pig, I thought I was going to have to call the vet AGAIN. Farley was such a trooper - he yelped once and then just endured it. This dog is AMAZING!
My mom and I bought him a new sweater. Normally I don't keep the dogs dressed up, although they do wear seasonal outfits from time to time. But this sweater is made with really nice fleece, and it's been quite cold here. So we picked it up. I think he looks great in it, and he seems to enjoy wearing it. I think he looks like a little tuff guy!
Grace is doing well, although last time she bit Farley on the ear she got a "lecture" from him. Ooops! She keeps trying to nurse him back to health, and he keeps resisting her efforts. It's quite cute. She is a brave girl - we have huge snowdrifts around our yard and around the hot tub, and she jumps all over them like a mountain goat. It's too cute to watch!
Almost done with school stuff now . . . one more final and then I'm a free woman for a while. Yahoo!

Tuesday, December 05, 2006

Improvement


Last night Farley came home, thank goodness. After spending two nights without him in the house, I was starting to get quite down about it all. Even though he's still resting a lot, the house is just more "right" with him in it.


In the end, the barium passed through his system (albeit slowly), and he didn't need surgery. The vet still doesn't know the reason for this illness - there are a few possibilities. It could have been a partial obstruction that is slowly moving through Farley's system. It could be a severe case of gastroenteritis. Or it could be the onset of Irritable Bowel Disease. We don't know for sure. I'm to monitor him for a while, to make sure the symptoms don't reappear. If they do, he gets admitted again for more bloodwork and exploratory surgery. I hope it doesn't come to that, because those kinds of things just never end well.


He was sure happy to be home last night! He was squeaking the heck out of his new toy (he stole it from the vet clinic waiting room before he got admitted - but I paid for it, don't worry) and his little tail was wagging a mile a minute. He's more subdued today, but I'm hoping that's just because he's stil recovering from being sick.


Grace is ecstatic to have her brother home . . . she's been harassing him non-stop since he walked through the door. He's not thrilled with it, but he tolerates her SO well. I'm crating her a bit to give him rest breaks, but she's been out trying to entice him to play too.


So the household is full again . . . let's hope it stays this way now!

Sunday, December 03, 2006

And so it goes

Well, I thought Farley was better. He certainly improved through the course of the week. He got Kaopectate for a few days, along with pumpkin in his food, and so his diarrhea seemed to go away. Anyhow, I wasn't really worried . . . disappointed about spending so much money to get no answers, but relieved that he had nothing wrong. Hah!

Friday I went out for a few hours to curl on my mom's team, and when I got home he'd pooped in the entry way. Now, this dog does NOT have accidents in the house, so I knew his tummy was still upset. Still, that in itself wasn't odd, given the week he'd had.

Saturday morning he woke me up with his shivering . . . really hard core shakes, as if he was wet and cold (he was neither). I took him outside, and he did his business. Not that long afterward, he threw up. Not bile . . . it was a bunch of liquid with some undigested food in it. Odd, since he hadn't eaten since the night before. After he threw up he was really upset, and hiding around the corner from me. It was absolutely heartbreaking, since I wasn't in the least bit angry (how could I be???).

So yesterday I took him to see the emergency vet (my regular vet is closed on weekends). We discussed a few things, and I found out that Farley is running a temperature. I didn't know that. So we opted to have him admitted (which is NOT a decision I make lightly), so he could get IV fluids and IV antibiotics. I felt he needed a quiet night for resting, and I knew he'd get looked after (the vet was on call, so there was somebody at the clinic through the night).

This morning they called to tell me they'd gone ahead and done barium x-rays. There are blockages in the stomach and the small intestine, but they're not complete blockages. The vet wants to re x-ray at 6:00pm and call me then. He was also going to try and get ahold of my regular vet, to get the test results from Thursday. Then we may opt to do surgery, depending on how things look and compare to previous test results.

So, keep my Farley-boy in your thoughts and prayers if you could. I'm awfully worried about him. And Gracie misses her big brother.