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Roxy was a sick little girl!

4 days ago, I came home from work and just as I put the key in the door, I could smell my house... Ugh!  Inside, I was greeted by 3 brown dogs and a little arsehole.  Yes, I said 3 brown dogs, because Roxy was no longer white inside her crate.  What a damn sin... Not a dry spot in there, and she'd even tried to make it go out through the crate door.

I had noticed the night before and that morning that she had seemed extraordinarily tired/sleepy.  No wonder, as sick as she was.  She needed to be outside probably every 5-10 minutes for the next several hours.  Despite it all, her energy level was still good.  She had to be hosed off outside before she could come back into the house (and what a crime... using cold hose water!).  Then we went straight downstairs for a warm bath, which she enjoyed.  She was exhausted, and cold afterwards, and didn't move when I covered her up in the blanket. If that wasn't enough, Brosa decided to have his own issues with the cleft-related vomit he occasionally does.

She slept a lot of the night away, and we all slept in the living room that night, instead of downstairs in the bedroom; I needed to know I could get her outside as quickly as she needed to, but she was fine all evening.  I, on the other hand, was running on fumes as I probably didn't sleep more than 10 minutes at a time all night!

Tuesday morning, she was still quite groggy, but at the same time, interested in playing.  I worried for her though, and left work at 12:30 to come home.  She was dry and no incidents until 10 minutes later, when she vomited 2 large foreign objects. (Thermometre for size reference - these balls of something were covered in gunk and hair, and were held together as well).

I used a cleaver to cut one in half: Looks like bone to me.  And since there were no bones in my house nor any garbage that gets ripped open, I can only surmise that the neighbourhood crows (those big bastards!) dropped their garbage in the yard for Roxy to swallow.

Roxy's energy still seemed pretty good, as was her appetite.

Thinking the worse was behind me, I went to work Wednesday and came home at the normal time.  Once again, I could smell my house, but Roxy was clean, and the crate wasn't too bad.

But Roxy wasn't acting like herself.  She seemed to be in pain, and was staying right by my side.  10 minutes later, she spewed all over my carpet.  And it was nasty.  It explained why her crate wasn't as poopy as I expected it to be.  How gross, but thankfully, I've invested in Bissell carpet cleaners and shampoos for many years, and was able to clean it up right away.

Roxy, sadly, didn't feel better after that, and actually continued to worsen.  No appetite, lethargy, no interest in playing (where she's normally a non-stop toy fiend), and more phlegmy vomit.  I was so worried that I called the vet at 7 pm to try to get her in within that final hour - no luck, so I stayed on standby to decide if I would take her to the Emergency hospital or not.

Thankfully, the vomit eased off within the hour, and by 9:30 she was perking up and becoming interested in playing with her ball. What really makes me sad is that after 5 weeks of finally getting her to put on a couple of pounds, she lost it all in less than 3 days.  Sunday, she was looking wonderful, and not so boney/spiney.  Now we're back there again. All's well that ends well though.  After sleeping on the couch again last night, I stayed home from work today to keep an eye on her and not have her be stuck in the crate.  As a precaution, I had booked her in for an exam this afternoon, and she is fine.  Just needs a little medication to get her bowels back to normal again, and slowly put some weight back on her (she's 43 lbs).  Today she was feeling like her old self and wanting to play (although I kept the play sessions extremely short).  Whew!
Posted by doglove at 20:18 
I am so sorry she had to go through this... and being set back so much. BUT you are one of the bestest mommys around and she will bounce back in no time. I am glad she is doing better already.

20 May 2010 at 20:38 
Thanks Gail - it's been a trying few days, particularly how scared for her I was last night, knowing it was not normal behaviour for her. As I type this, she's chewing on a bone (not the kind she swallowed, lol!) which she selected after emptying the toy boxes!

20 May 2010 at 20:47 
I've come home to the smelly home and crate ... it's never fun! Happened once to Rinaldo when he was younger.

21 May 2010 at 07:45 
I try my best to keep the home/yard free of items that could cause an issue if swallowed. But there is no opportunity to prevent what those dirty scavengers drop down, unless I were to drape my whole yard in netting, lol!

21 May 2010 at 11:22