Well well well… I’m Back… Sorry I didn’t tell you I was leaving… thats just how I roll I guess. My birthday is at the end of July, and I got swamped between work, seeing family, going out of town, developing new business ventures, having friends in town, and really dealing with some doggie drama as well.
Just before I went out of town in August, Bacio had started becoming a little over aggressive. He even went as far as to attack Yuki one day and Yuki had a big puncture wound in her shoulder. When I got back in town, my dad told me that Bacio was still being very aggressive there too. It is so very unlike him to be violent or trying to hurt another living thing in anyway. I mean, he’s definitely given me bruises and bloody noses, but its usually because he’s super excited and paws, nibbles, or head butts me accidentally. It got me thinking to his hip problems, and I knew I had to seriously start considering his next surgery.
It’s daunting to think of him going through all that again. It was so stressful for me, and I’m sure it was no walk in the park for him. I kept saying I was going to schedule the surgery for the end of August, then it was pushed to mid September, then October…. I called to schedule his surgery last week for this Friday actually, but they were booked. His surgery date is now the 25th. I’m dreading it, but again, I know its worth it.
He doesn’t even know that in 2 weeks he’s going to be Mr. Gimp again.
Like anything in life, nothing can ever just go smoothly. Sunday, we had a play date planned with Soma, the cutest lil red doberman puppy you’ll ever see. I had a soccer game Sunday morning and came home to the sugar jar, the same sugar jar that has been on the counter for the past 4 years, emptied. Yes a third of it was strewn about the kitchen floor, but the rest of the organic cane sugar was in Yuki’s belly. I say ‘was’ not because it happened this past Sunday, but more because in addition to sugar all over my kitchen there was also vomit all over the area rug in my living room. Chunky, syrupy, smelly, vomit.
I vacuumed up the sugar, and cleaned up the vomit while I left Yuki on the balcony. I put Yuki inside so that I could take all the garbage out. In the 3 minutes it took me to walk to the alley, toss the garbage in the bin, and get back inside, Yuki had tossed another batch of cookies. Le sigh.
Everything was cleaned up, I cleaned the floor, and scrubbed the carpet with Resolve. I even had time to sweep off the steps, and my landlord asked me to wipe them from dog hair being everywhere. I couldn’t find the Murphy’s hardwood soap, so I used Pine-sol. After this little 2 hour cleaning fest, I had about 10 min to hop in the shower before little Soma arrived.
We went to the park and had a blast. Picked up a pizza on the way home, and as soon as we walk in the door from the hour and a half extravaganza outside… Puke! Puke!
I honestly have no idea what’s going on here.
Twice.
She double troubled the kitchen. Thanks Yuki, that pizza isn’t looking as delish with your bile all over my tile. So, cleaned that up, ate pizza, took the dogs out to pee quick since Soma is just learning her potty ways, and Yuki’s rear end was now a high powered poo faucet.
Seriously, she seemed fine the entire day.
Now, as I’ve gotten way more into this story that I really intended, I’m telling you all this because that night, Sunday night, I slept maybe 2 hours. I was kept away all night by Bacio, who was hacking his lungs out. I got him into the vet as soon as they opened the next day… Did he cough once? Nope. Did he do anything out of the ordinary? Nope. Does my vet think I’m insane? Yup.
The vet examined in his mouth and nose, and played with his throat to get him to cough. Nothing. He said if it were kennel cough, he’d be way more sensitive to his throat being touched and would be coughing constantly. He listened to his heart, because coughing can be a sign of congestive heart failure (Oh please no.), but the vet didn’t hear anything unusual (Thank you Buddha!). He told me to go get some off brand Zyrtec, and that it was probably and allergic reaction. I did just that on the way home. Popped the pill into his mouth and he hardly coughed at all the rest of the day.
I can’t be 100% sure, but I think all the cleaning products from Yuki’s SpewFest ’13, have irritated the little bear. He’s still not 100%, I talked to my vet on the phone today about it. He knows I’m super paranoid, and deals with me. He told me Bacio is getting older and may get more sensitive to changing weather, cleaning products, air fresheners, etc. If he doesn’t get rid of the symptoms all together by next week, I may consider further testing, because if surgery is on the 25th, he needs to be 100% healthy by then.
At least he looks dapper right?
There’s 2 things that really suck about this. One is that surgery may have to be delayed, and the second is that the only thing the vet can pretty much rule out is the kennel cough, because he isn’t very symptomatic of that and Yuki would also be sick if that was the case… So unfortunately, there could still be underlying problems with his heart that a stethoscope can’t detect. I’m trying to be optimistic, but man, this dog just can’t win.
So to at least end on a high note, I will leave you with this picture.
Cutest. Puppy. Ever.
