Wednesday, June 23, 2010

Just like a child, only not...

That would be my girlie.  My girlie who cost me almost two hundred bucks today.  Don't get me wrong, she is well worth it.  Here's the scoop:

Since Tuesday she hasn't been feeling well.  Tuesday and today she had accidents in the house which she NEVER does.  I could tell that she was embarrassed and I kept telling her that it was ok, she wasn't in trouble.  She wasn't very interested in her food either, which at first didn't make me too worried because that happens a lot in the summer.  When it gets really hot outside her appetite tends to go down a bit.  She was still drinking normally and, other than the accidents, was going to the bathroom normally, too.  She was having a gurgly tummy day yesterday and that continued until today.

She was due for her regular yearly checkup so I called the vet yesterday and was able to get an appointment for her this afternoon.  She was scared at the doctor, as usual, but fortunately, there wasn't anyone else in the waiting room while we were there.  Phew!  As I have mentioned before, I love miss raven's doctor.  She does such a great job with her and I am so thankful for that.  It doesn't make raven any less scared but it makes me much more comfortable knowing that she will be gentle and kind with her.

They weighed her and I discovered that she has gained a little bit of weight (just like her mommy!) but that isn't a bad thing for her.  She isn't overweight (sigh, like her mommy) and the vet was pleased with that.  Her temperature was also perfect which made me happy because if she had an infection her temp would have been up.  Her coat looked good, her eyes were good, her coat was shiny, her ears were impeccable (she is fastidious about cleaning her ears!), and the vet said she isn't dehydrated which they had been a little concerned about because of the diarrhea.

They drew some blood to do her annual heart worm test and also to do a basic workup of her kidneys, liver, and blood cell count.  They also checked some bottom glands to make sure those weren't infected.  She was a trooper through all of it and I am very proud of her.  After all, she had things shoved up her butt a couple of times and never even flinched.  Just looked at me like I was selling her out.

The only thing that concerned them a little was the sample of her "business" that I brought in this morning.  The vet said that when they did the preliminary look there was a red tinge to it which could suggest blood.  My heart started slamming then because that wouldn't be a good thing.  She didn't seem overly concerned right now, though, because of the normal temperature.  Oh, her heart and lungs also sounded great.

I have medicine to give her.  She gets a protein powder mixed in with her food (boiled chicken and rice for a few days) once a day.  I am supposed to feed her a little chicken rice mix twice a day.  Along with her food she is also supposed to take an antibiotic twice a day and the vet did say I could put a little peanut butter on that (phew!  miss raven LOVES peanut butter so no problem there!)

So all of that cost me almost two hundred dollars.  In addition to that they gave me a "loose" estimate for having her teeth cleaned which they STRONGLY suggested I have done very soon.  Her teeth are horrible but there is some build up on them.  The only problem is that the tooth cleaning procedure is going to cost me close to FIVE HUNDRED DOLLARS.  I don't have that.  Not only that, they don't take payments.  They expect the full payment the day it is done.  They told me that, if I have it done within the next couple of weeks, then I don't have to have the blood work redone.  If I wait longer than that I have to pay for the blood work done again.  The way it is looking right now I am going to have to wait and just save up the money to have it done, hopefully by Christmas time.  We'll see.  Right now I am just focusing on getting her better from this little episode.  I'm not as freaked out as I was earlier today especially since she is laying behind me on the back of the couch softly snoring while she sleeps a little.  She is my child...only not and at this point, I will do whatever I can to make sure I have her for a long, long time.

1 comment:

  1. Deja Vu. Your dog and my cat have a lot in common right now. The dog we used to have (We eventually had to put him down since he was REALLY old and got to the point where he was suffering a lot), was on daily pills and we gave them to him with Singles Sliced Cheese wrapped around them. He LOVED that. Still praying for Raven. Hope she's all better soon, and glad to hear that her heart and lungs are going strong :)

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