Izzy

Okay got a lot of personal emails about Izzy. So I thought I would take the time to share what is going on with my little gal.

Now I am new at this whole doggy thing and I just can't believe how in love I am with this puppy. She is 5 months old (21 weeks) and sick as a dog as the saying goes.

Let me begin by telling you she has never had a normal stool. It's always been what I refer to as "soft serve". As usual all my descriptions are like food - soft serve ice cream that is.

We have noticed that she is always chewing one area of her back leg and it seemed like she had allergies. But it wasn't a constant thing. We checked her skin and it was dry there so we change shampoo's.

Then this weekend she began to sneeze. We were convinced she had allergies now and thought come Monday morning we were going to call the vet and see what was going on.

By Sunday night she was throwing up mucus.....hey people you asked. She was all snotty, crusty eyes and they were all sick looking. She was coughing and it sounded like she had black lung or was a smoker for the last 40 years. She had diarrhea something terrible and she was lethargic.

Her pads were hot as were her belly and nose. I was a wreck. Rick didn't think it was necessary to go to the veterinary ER - he just laughed at me. I was overruled.

By bedtime she was coughing so badly it was breaking my heart. I was so damn mad at Rick that I screamed, "If this was a human child would you just say let's wait until morning really?" I wanted to hurt him I was so angry.

Neither of us got any sleep at all. I tried to pick up my 37lb baby and she wouldn't even let me. I thought if she would I was just going to put her in the car - the hell with Rick. But she backed away and wanted to be left alone. She was so far back in her crate I had to crawl in to reach her. But she didn't want to be touched. So I gave in and let her be. We gave her baby benadryl and that dried her up a bit and slowed down the coughing she slept for a couple of hours. Too bad her parents didn't....it was now time to get up.

I got her to the vet by 7:30am yesterday morning when they opened. No appointment and looking like hell. I didn't care what the hell they thought of my bed head and plain face I needed them to look at my dog not me. Izzy barely walked in. She just laid right down on the floor as I explained like a frantic first time mommy what was going on. They took her leash and headed toward the back. They asked to keep her all day. I admit I was fighting back tears. She went with them and then stopped turned back like she does when it's time for bed, she heads up with Rick and then turns to make sure I'm there like, "Aren't you coming too?" It broke my heart.

Her temp was just over 103. They gave her fluids and electrolytes via IV. They took stool samples and they took blood and checked white blood count. Some tests will be back tomorrow. By the end of the day I got to pick her up and bring her home. Her temp was down to 101 - Whew.

They had her quarantined so when they took me back to see her she was in her own crate. She was just lying there looking sick. Her tail wagged but she didn't move. I opened the door and she slowly walked out. That was a sure sign she wasn't feeling well. Her normal greeting is very energetic with slobbery kisses. They had just given her another round of fluids under the skin and she looked like The Hunchback of Notre Dame. I wasn't aware of the injections so I asked what the hell that was just below her neck and they said the fluids. Jeez - they could have said something first becuase I thought she had grown a hump in the time they had her.

So the vet, whom I love, gave me the low down.

1. Izzy has a virus - she is very contagious. She has to stay 4 ft or more away from other dogs. She has an upper respiratory infection. We have antibiotics for this.

2. She has Giardi - this is awful diarrhea which a dog gets from another dog. It's a parasite. She has medicine for this as well.

3. Because they think she does have allergies to some type of food we have her on a bland diet as well. Separate issue but one we wanted to address to also help rid her of the diarrhea.

4. They tested her for Parvo which she was just immunized for so I pray to God she doesn't have that. They couldn't rule it out yet. She could die from Parvo most dogs do I think and I can't even bear that thought right now. We'll know about that tomorrow.

5. I thank God for dog insurance which we were smart enough to purchase. It is the cost of a nice bottle of wine per month. ($28) Or my favorite - Tangeray Gin. That helps me put it in perspective. Yea, I know ya'll thinking, boy this bitch likes to eat and drink doesn't she? Yep.

Izzy is to not walk, not play, no exertion. We are not allowed to take her to the lake this weekend. They do not want her to be in the car for 4 hours. She is to just eat, drink and rest. Which thus far has not been an issue. She no more wants to walk than any of us do when we are sick with the flu. She did pick up her tire toy today and dropped it in front of me....which means please throw this and let me retrieve. But I didn't throw it. Instead I rolled it and she watched it roll and then laid down and closed her eyes.

Now how she got this horrible thing to begin with. We think it was from taking her to Dogtopia. Remember when I wrote about how I was kicked out of the dog park when she was 4 months old? 2 snotty old women told me my dog was not socialized. Well hell no, she's 4 months old and not around dogs. How the hell is she going to get socialized bitch? Anyway, I decided to enroll her 1 day a week at Dogtopia to play. A good deal of neighbors swore by it. When we asked our vet she thought that was a great idea and said that she liked them there because it was very clean and kept clean and they monitored the dogs etc. So on Monday's we went there. So socializing also mean germs and bugs and guess what? Izzy got sick.

I am thinking this is like when you send your healthy child off to school with 20+ other snot nosed little monsters crawling with germs. They bring it home and mom and dad get sick more too. It's a normal thing. Doesn't make this any better but I realize it's not any ones fault.

So before she can go back to Dogtopia (doggie day care) she must get a clean bill of health from the vet and I have to have a doctor's note stating that. Rather funny but it's for the good of all who bring their dogs there.

So there you have it.

My little gal is sleeping soundly right now with her face almost completely under the sofa.

She's been sleeping most of the day and that is so good for her. I took this photo from the stairs so I didn't go downstairs and wake her. I hate that she is sick but I do enjoy the quiet while working I'll admit. (bad mommy!)