Weekend Recap: Veterans and Veterinarians

Normally after a 3 days weekend I am all bright-eyed and bushy-tailed from the abundance of sleep I've had, plus the extra day off, which is always nice. However, I am struggling this AM. Why? A tiny little puppy dog who is not quite feeling up to par. He is fine, just a little needy right now, but I will get into that a little later.

The first part of our weekend was spent at a really fun event, not far from our house. It was the culmination of a week-long deer hunt for wounded veterans. We attended the wrap up party last year, but this year Eric was a lot more involved with helping put the event together, so we spent quite a bit more time there. It started with a cookout on Friday night. We Eric grilled steaks and we got to hang out with several of the folks involved with the event.

They share so well when the stick is that long and they can both chew on it without bothering the other one. 

Saturday was an absolutely beautiful day. Eric hunted and then headed down to the event to start cooking dinner, so I took my time and enjoyed some puppy walks and a run outside! I headed down to the cookout that evening in time to hear one of our friends and his band play and we had a great night!

The Kevin Adair Band

We spent the majority of Sunday lounging, although Eric did head to the woods one more time Sunday afternoon. He got back and we had dinner and then things got a little crazy. About 9PM I was getting ready to take the puppies (who had been asleep on the couch for a good couple of hours) outside one last time. When I picked Peanut up he let out a yelp like he was in pain which concerned me given his previous back issues, but I figured I might have turned him awkwardly somehow. When I picked him up again I noticed his stomach was really hard and seemed swollen, which also concerned me, but I figured he was just really full. But then when I took him outside and he just laid down I got really worried. I brought him back inside and Eric and I discussed it. I was minorly afraid it could be bloat, which is not common in small dogs, but is a huge concern if that is what it is. He was clearly in pain and his stomach was pretty swollen, so Eric called the vet emergency #. After talking with them, he told me they'd meet me at their office at 10:30PM. They checked him over and did some xrays, and said it looked like he had a little gas bubble in his tummy and his intestines were definitely full of poo, so they kept him over night and gave him an enema (he may never forgive me for it) to make sure that his intestines weren't blocked. They did a barium test yesterday and everything went through his system fine, his blood work also came back normal, but he was clearly still in some pain.  They sent him home with something to settle his stomach, and something for his pain. The best we can figure is that his back was acting up (despite his reflexes being normal), which is common for him, especially when the weather can't decide if it's going to be winter or summer like it has been lately. I felt kind of bad for being the crazy dog mom who has the vet meet her at the clinic in the middle of the night, but I am so grateful for the vet and thanked her over and over again. He'll be kenneled for a little while until he starts feeling back to his old self, but other than that he seems fine. Judging by his reaction when Hawk gets too close to him, his back is definitely bothering him. I am just thankful it wasn't bloat or something stuck in his stomach. I am not sure if it's residual effects from the enema or the barium, but his stomach was quite upset last night, hence me not getting much sleep because I had to take him out a few times. He was not too thrilled to get up at 5:30AM with me but did go outside. After a nap while I was getting ready he seemed a little more back to his old self and was eating his breakfast. Hopefully he'll be feeling even better after a little kennel rest today.

Don't let that face fool you, he was thrilled to be going home, he was just letting me know how awful the enema was. 

I attempted to be productive yesterday on my day off but I was pretty much a mess waiting for the vet to call and give me updates on him (the barium test takes a while and involves xrays done at certain time intervals every few hours). I managed to clean out the shoes in my closet (yay!) which needed to be done badly, and took Hawk on a couple of walks which he LOVED and yes he swam when it was 40 degrees outside.

In his happy place. 

This week's going to be a pretty busy one for us, with everything we do normally plus a birthday for Eric on Friday. He's hitting the big 3-2....yikes we're old! It should be fun!