This was the first time we'd ever seen her. But I think I'm jumping ahead a little bit. Ogre and I had been married for a little over a year when I decided I either needed to have a baby or get a dog. Needless to say he decided that having a dog was the best thing in the world. So after much discussion about which breed and what not, I found an ad online for a litter of basset hound puppies. I told Ogre that we had to go look but we may or may not get one. Yeah right.
We drove for an hour to get to a little farm at the end of a dirt road. The lady met us at the gate and led us into her 'garage' where the babies were. We crouched down in front of a little gated pen and there were 5 puppies. All of them were whining and carrying on and in the corner sat the runt. Quietly sitting, and looking at and wondering what all the commotion was about. Ogre picked her up and handed her to me, and that was that. Despite the fact that there were 2 lemon colored ones, we just loved the little tri colored female. We left a deposit and told her we'd be back to visit before we could bring her home. She was only 2 or 3 weeks when we saw her the first time.
Two weeks later we went back to see her and her siblings.
We visited for about an hour and made plans to come back in 2 weeks to pick her up and bring her home.
During that 2 weeks, we'd gone to the store and gotten all the supplies we needed for her and made our little apartment as puppy proof as we could with out testing it out.
Finally, the day came. My sister went out with me to bring her home and it went off with out a hitch. She was very quiet and just walked around. She slept quiet a bit but I figured that was pretty normal. I had her checked out the next day at the vet's office, where I was told she was in perfect health and how lucky I was because apparently a lot of people get very sick puppies.
My parents came and saw her a few days later and asked why she was walking stiff legged. We thought it was because she hadn't walked around much in her short life and was still figuring out how it all worked. My mom seemed unconvinced as she left and told us to keep and eye on her.
My mom called us the next morning and implored us to take her to the vet to have her checked out. I figured I would just to placate her and when Dove came back fine, I'd tell her that we knew that all along.
We brought her in first thing in the morning on Saturday. It was at that point that she couldn't walk anymore and in talking with the vet I realized she hadn't eaten anything for 3 days. Our vet took her back and looked her over and came back in the room to tell us that she'd eaten a can of wet food very quickly but that there was something very wrong with her. They'd need to run more tests to figure out what it was but we we're told to count on the fact that she would be with them for a long term.
The vet called us back within a few hours to tell us that Dove had a massive brain/spinal cord infection. They were doing all they could for her but there was no guarantee that she would survive. Our vet took Dove home with her that weekend, gave her injections every 2 hours in hope that something would save her.
I called the vet that Monday and asked when we could bring her home. I was told that while she was improving they wanted to keep her another day to make sure she was alright. I said that I didn't have the money to keep her another day but if they wanted to do it for free that would be fine. They told me to come get her. I was told how serious her condition was and that she was, in fact, still in danger of relapse, but she could eat and drink on her own but I had to keep giving her her medication. Not only that, but she couldn't go anywhere for 2 weeks because her immune system was so comprimised. They wanted another set of vaccinations in her before she could go anywhere near other dogs.
So, we followed the advice and our world shut down for 2 weeks. Making sure she was eating and getting her meds and lots of playtime. Boy did she do a 180. She was suddenly full of energy and tearing up the world. She became that ball of puppy energy that we kept hearing so much about.
Long story short, she ended up being a wonderful healthy dog. Our vet said that she sustained a small amount of brain damage from the infection but that it shouldn't affect her much. She's a great dog that doesn't get car sick, she travels wonderfully, and most importantly, she's alive and well today. So, a heartfelt thank you goes out to my mother who stuck her nose in where it didn't belong, told me to shake off my stubborness and go get her checked out. Thank you Mom.
She's a great dog and we love her very much. Angus will be getting his story tomorrow.
A very special thank you to Asthmagirl for sending people my way on her blog. You know I appreciate it.
3 comments:
You're welcome Pinup Girl! You're off to a great start with some of the nicest bloggers on the planet!
So glad to hear that your little puppy made it. You hear so many stories about sick puppies. I'm feeling really fortunate that neither of my girls were sick like your dog.
Seriously, you've got to get rid of the spelling test/word verification thing. No one loves these! And they remind me that I'm due for another eye exam!
She is a doll! So glad she made a recovery. I have this thing for the runts too. They are so sweet.
That must have been a terrible time. I always hate it when animals and babies are sick because they can't tell us anything. Good thing your nosy mother came to visit her new "grandbaby"!
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