Scary couple of days…

So on Thanksgiving this year, we did what we usually do and drove over to my in laws with the dogs for Dinner.  Between my mother in law and my sister in law there is usually a pretty good spread, from appetizers to deserts.  And I enjoy both of those things very much.

It was a lovely time as usual.  We’ve been bringing Shilo there since we got her four years ago and so we didn’t expect anything out of the ordinary this year.

We decided to play a round of cards this year before desert so we all adjourned to the breakfast nook to play a rousing game of UNO.

We didn’t clear the table of anything other than the plates we actually ate off of.

Do you see where this is going?

After a hand of cards I heard the tell tale sound of dog tags tapping against some sort of dish or bowl.  I bounced up and ran into the dining room but was only in time to see a tiny little Shilo butt jumping off the table, back onto the floor.  I quickly glanced around the table and didn’t appear to see anything too amiss.  The stuffing still looked pretty full, the plate of chocolate tarts seemed intact(including the one I had only eaten half of and put on my soda can to save it),  the yummy homemade rolls were all there.

Hoping no harm had been done I started to clear the serving dishes.  It was when my father in law joined to help that I noticed something was missing.  You see, my sister in law made this cheeseball.  It was no ordinary cheeseball my friends.  It was smoked gouda, it was rolled in bacon pieces and it was a little piece of heaven on earth.  The plate that it had inhabited still held he crackers, but the ball itself was gone.

I inquired to my father in law John if he had moved the delectable item from the table and he said no.  On my second round out with serving dishes I asked the others in the breakfast nook if they had moved the luscious globe of dairy and they all shook their heads.  As I headed around the corner back into the dining room I spotted a slightly larger beige ball of fur than Shilo delightedly licking away at the cheeseball that was now on the floor on the other side of the table.

I let out a loud “EY!” which is the code word in doggy speak for “STOP WHATEVER YOU ARE DOING RIGHT THIS INSTANT!!!” and Pappy leaped away from the delicious treat.  I grabbed it off the floor, it was half gone now, but I couldn’t be certain if it was the dogs or the humans that had put a bigger dent into it.

The good news was that it didn’t appear to contain anything that would harm the dogs.  Just cheese and bacon, both things they loved anyway.  We laughed it off and promptly forgot about it.  Well, I was pissed that the dogs ruined the very thing I was hoping to take home for leftovers, but I eventually let it go.

Cut to Saturday afternoon, Rob tells me that the cheeseball had been a little too rich for our girls tummy as her poop had been kinda loose that day and a whole lotta stinky.  We didn’t think too much of it.  Pappy is famous for getting into things he shouldn’t and having really nasty poops.

Sunday I was under the weather with cramps and spent all morning in bed.  When I finally got up, Rob was heading down for a nap and both dogs joined him.  A couple hours later I headed to the grocery store and when I got back everyone was still in bed.  There was a smell however.  A very disgusting smell coming from the bedroom.  I located the source of the stink and found that while Shilo had indeed pooped a very loose present inside, she had managed to back it up onto a surface that was fairly easy to clean  instead of spraying it all over the carpet.  I silently thanked her while holding my breath during the cleaning process.

She was still having diarrhea on Monday but she was eating well and didn’t have any other symptoms of being ill other than the squirts so we said if it kept up steadily by Wednesday we would bring her in.  Monday night consisted of getting up every two hours to bring her out so she could take a liquidump.

Tuesday she vomited at work with Rob and once we got her home she refused to eat.  We have had this dog for four years now and this was the first time she has EVER refused food.  We decided to watch her and if she was still bad in the morning we would bring her in.  Right before we were going to start folding clothes around seven that night I took her outside to see if she would go.  Go, she did and what we saw frightened the hell out of us.  The liquid that came out of her butt was a bright brick red and smelled of copper.

We bundled her into the van and took off for the 24 hour vet that we thankfully have in Monterey.  I cried pretty much he entire ride there, convinced that she was hemorrhaging and that she would be dead by the time we got to the vets.

Once we finally got in and got seen the vet didn’t seem that afraid for what was going on.  She examined Shilo and the bloody sample we managed to collect and said she thought there was some intestinal distress due to eating something she shouldn’t have and that the blood came from a very irritated colon.  Her suggestion was to give Shilo a shot to stop the runs and some meds to sooth her stomach.  She also said she would be happy to run labs on her but she didn’t think it was necessary at that point.

We decided to take her advice and as she said if she wasn’t any better in 18 hours bring her back in.

They gave her the shot and left her with us while they got her meds together.  She already seemed in a better mood after the shot and we were encouraged.   The lump you see on her back in that photo is the injection site.  We were told it did not hurt and it would go away in a couple of hours, which it did.

We gave her the meds as soon as we got home around ten or so.  One of the meds said not to feed her until an hour after she had that one so we gave it to her and then around eleven I tried to feed her some rice.  She really wasn’t interested but if I broke some apart on my fingers she would eat a little of it.

She managed to stay asleep all night but when Rob took her out this morning there was more red liquid and she didn’t eat much breakfast.  I braced myself for the worst as we headed out to work.  Thankfully Rob can bring both dogs to work so he would be able to monitor her and if she started to get worse he could bring her in.

Around noon she took a poop that was very loose but was finally brown like her normal color.

That has been the last poop she has taken thusfar.  We got her home and baked up some chicken for her and she all but scarfed it down.  That was a half hour ago.  I took her out about ten minutes ago and she didn’t have any interest in pooping(that is what the vet said would happen) and then she  fought with her brother over the doggie bed on the end of the couch.  That was such an encouraging sign in brought tears to my eyes.

We just gave her the last of her meds for the night and she is resting comfortably on her doggie bed but not before chasing me around the kitchen while I started our “human” dinner.  I am hoping this means that our little girl is over he worst of it because this really scared the piss out of me y’all.

Those furballs are my children and I am not ready for them to leave me.  Especially after only four years!