made an appointment for rio for this afternoon as she has continued to have diarrhea despite the passage of some undigested, underchewed rawhide treats. i had really thought that would take care of her issues. this morning when breakfast was served she made her way very slowly downstairs and then walked past her food. this isn't a dog that misses any meals or snacks or any chance of food in any form. then she started to vomit and just looked poorly. animals tend to hold it together for as long as they can, only showing weakness when the process is quite far along so if a dog acts ill, it's probably sicker than it looks. humans have evolved beyond this to our disadvantage and now it's hard to know if people are really sick or just faking it for attention.
the vet took xrays. i snapped a picture while she waited for her partner to take a look at the xrays. i have turned down surgical procedures a few times before and in the end they turned out to be unnecesary. in this case today i was on board in the thinking that rio probably had a partial bowel obstruction. i authorized surgery. turned out that there was no such obstruction. rio's bowels were quite inflamed, so a really bad enteritis. feel really badly that rio has been put through unnecessary surgery and that i authorized it. of course, if she did have a true obstruction she would have gotten much worse much quicker. it's never good to rush into surgery, at least that is my opinion. rio was just already looking much worse and it was easy to see that as the best option.
my girl is home. my appointment was at 3:30, she was in surgery by 4:30 and i picked her up by 6pm. she was pretty sleepy, needed quite a bit of assistance to get to the car. she walked with help. lucky i have the element, much easier for loading/unloading. my friend amy, bless her, came home and helped me get my 120# dog into the house. rio was very sleepy and hesitant. we lifted her from the car and it wasn't easy getting her inside. she is settled down now and mostly sleeps and snores. every so often she sits up as above and wants to sit for a bit. she can't really stay up as she's too sleepy and so i let her lean on me for a bit before she finally slumps back onto the dog bed. it's so sad!
she now has a big incision and will have some discomfort and recovery to deal with. she came home with an iv in place. i'm to take her back to the vet for more iv/hosp care in the morning. there isn't anyone at my regular vet at night and i could have taken her to the emergency hospital overnight, but she has bad seperation anxiety, is blind and i'm a nurse and a vet tech. the vet was the one who suggested i just take her home for the night. she's due for some iv antibiotics at 2am. a woman at the counter as i checked out with rio was horrified that i'd be giving my dog an injection through night.
she just looks so sad and pathetic. there is an odor from all the diarrhea. apparently with the anesthesia the pooch let loose of the bowels. better there than here i'm guessing. the other animals in my home are a bit wary of rio. blossom seems very upset over rio not being right or smelling right. she's been a bit needy and off all night. they all come in to check her out briefly and then retreat. i think this is another natural reaction in the animal world. best to stay clear of an ill animal for survival sake. humans often do that to each other as well i've noticed. we like healthy vibrant people around us.
don't see myself getting much sleep tonight. figure i'll just have to sleep down here. this will further distress all the other critters in the house as the routine is broken.
ms breezy chatterbug looks on.
everyone has been so sweet to me and the pups through this not so pleasant day. it's so stressful, it's nice to have so many kind words waiting for me on facebook, emails and texts. this modern stuff is pretty sweet in many ways. thanks to all....
this was as close as ms breezy got to rio tonight so far. i just put in some incense, maybe that will help mask the smell of her. i could sure smell the diarrhea in the animal hospital. i'm sure those techs are headed to a nice bath.
since i had the vet appointment at 3:30 i decided to head to the coastal refuge for a bit with the dogs. it's not a long trail so i figured rio could stroll along, pooping and blossom could chase her tennis ball.
it was beautiful but super icy! blossom didn't care, but rio and i stepped gingerly. felt badly that i took rio walking yet again seeing how her day turned out. we went very slowly and i had planned on leaving her in the car but she didn't want that.
it was dusky out so quite pretty.
the trail was tough and the ice become total when we got out near the big log i usually use as my mark when i walk out further. i couldn't even get to that due to the sheet of ice. cleats would have been a good plan, but i really didn't have any intention of going far with rio not feeling well.
blossom had a great time!
no animal sightings.
i haven't eaten much myself today. rio will get a rest from eating for a few days. i can always use a rest too, my hips really could use a rest.
not much else happened today. was thinking about catching a movie or hitting hte hockey game or for sure getting in a swim. plans change. dogs come first.
above is my favorite shot of the trip to the refuge. i'm happy i didn't fall over and whack my head. probably not a good idea today in all that ice. isn't that what i was talking about yesterday. how we all do stupid stuff and somehow we mostly survive it.
guess there is another planet out there that is similar to earth. i think it would take us like 22million years to get there though so probably best if we try and take care of this one. i think some people feel like if we find another planet like earth we can just use this one up and move on to the next one. that seems to fit the current mentality on life.
tried to get the other camera's out. i'll see what is on those camera's later. it was really windy and cold out there on the flats once i got beyond the safety of the trees. even though the trees are pretty dead, they still supply a protection, who knew?
walked faster on the way back. easier to walk just off the trail in the reeds.
watching some old sex and the city episodes and getting my downstairs room set up. gonna be a long night!
the sledding hill was just ice. no sledding this week.
a little sunset action before i leave....sorry, pretty dull writing. just talk of a dog, but when one of em is sick it pretty much takes over your life.
made an appointment for rio for this afternoon as she has continued to have diarrhea despite the passage of some undigested, underchewed rawhide treats. i had really thought that would take care of her issues. this morning when breakfast was served she made her way very slowly downstairs and then walked past her food. this isn't a dog that misses any meals or snacks or any chance of food in any form. then she started to vomit and just looked poorly. animals tend to hold it together for as long as they can, only showing weakness when the process is quite far along so if a dog acts ill, it's probably sicker than it looks. humans have evolved beyond this to our disadvantage and now it's hard to know if people are really sick or just faking it for attention. 
the vet took xrays. i snapped a picture while she waited for her partner to take a look at the xrays. i have turned down surgical procedures a few times before and in the end they turned out to be unnecesary. in this case today i was on board in the thinking that rio probably had a partial bowel obstruction. i authorized surgery. turned out that there was no such obstruction. rio's bowels were quite inflamed, so a really bad enteritis. feel really badly that rio has been put through unnecessary surgery and that i authorized it. of course, if she did have a true obstruction she would have gotten much worse much quicker. it's never good to rush into surgery, at least that is my opinion. rio was just already looking much worse and it was easy to see that as the best option. 
my girl is home. my appointment was at 3:30, she was in surgery by 4:30 and i picked her up by 6pm. she was pretty sleepy, needed quite a bit of assistance to get to the car. she walked with help. lucky i have the element, much easier for loading/unloading. my friend amy, bless her, came home and helped me get my 120# dog into the house. rio was very sleepy and hesitant. we lifted her from the car and it wasn't easy getting her inside. she is settled down now and mostly sleeps and snores. every so often she sits up as above and wants to sit for a bit. she can't really stay up as she's too sleepy and so i let her lean on me for a bit before she finally slumps back onto the dog bed. it's so sad!
she now has a big incision and will have some discomfort and recovery to deal with. she came home with an iv in place. i'm to take her back to the vet for more iv/hosp care in the morning. there isn't anyone at my regular vet at night and i could have taken her to the emergency hospital overnight, but she has bad seperation anxiety, is blind and i'm a nurse and a vet tech. the vet was the one who suggested i just take her home for the night. she's due for some iv antibiotics at 2am. a woman at the counter as i checked out with rio was horrified that i'd be giving my dog an injection through night. 
she just looks so sad and pathetic. there is an odor from all the diarrhea. apparently with the anesthesia the pooch let loose of the bowels. better there than here i'm guessing. the other animals in my home are a bit wary of rio. blossom seems very upset over rio not being right or smelling right. she's been a bit needy and off all night. they all come in to check her out briefly and then retreat. i think this is another natural reaction in the animal world. best to stay clear of an ill animal for survival sake. humans often do that to each other as well i've noticed. we like healthy vibrant people around us.
don't see myself getting much sleep tonight. figure i'll just have to sleep down here. this will further distress all the other critters in the house as the routine is broken.
ms breezy chatterbug looks on.
everyone has been so sweet to me and the pups through this not so pleasant day. it's so stressful, it's nice to have so many kind words waiting for me on facebook, emails and texts. this modern stuff is pretty sweet in many ways. thanks to all....
this was as close as ms breezy got to rio tonight so far. i just put in some incense, maybe that will help mask the smell of her. i could sure smell the diarrhea in the animal hospital. i'm sure those techs are headed to a nice bath.
since i had the vet appointment at 3:30 i decided to head to the coastal refuge for a bit with the dogs. it's not a long trail so i figured rio could stroll along, pooping and blossom could chase her tennis ball. 
it was beautiful but super icy! blossom didn't care, but rio and i stepped gingerly. felt badly that i took rio walking yet again seeing how her day turned out. we went very slowly and i had planned on leaving her in the car but she didn't want that.
it was dusky out so quite pretty. 
the trail was tough and the ice become total when we got out near the big log i usually use as my mark when i walk out further. i couldn't even get to that due to the sheet of ice. cleats would have been a good plan, but i really didn't have any intention of going far with rio not feeling well.
blossom had a great time!
no animal sightings.
i haven't eaten much myself today. rio will get a rest from eating for a few days. i can always use a rest too, my hips really could use a rest.
not much else happened today. was thinking about catching a movie or hitting hte hockey game or for sure getting in a swim. plans change. dogs come first. 
above is my favorite shot of the trip to the refuge. i'm happy i didn't fall over and whack my head. probably not a good idea today in all that ice. isn't that what i was talking about yesterday. how we all do stupid stuff and somehow we mostly survive it.
guess there is another planet out there that is similar to earth. i think it would take us like 22million years to get there though so probably best if we try and take care of this one. i think some people feel like if we find another planet like earth we can just use this one up and move on to the next one. that seems to fit the current mentality on life. 
tried to get the other camera's out. i'll see what is on those camera's later. it was really windy and cold out there on the flats once i got beyond the safety of the trees. even though the trees are pretty dead, they still supply a protection, who knew?
walked faster on the way back. easier to walk just off the trail in the reeds.
watching some old sex and the city episodes and getting my downstairs room set up. gonna be a long night!
the sledding hill was just ice. no sledding this week.
a little sunset action before i leave....sorry, pretty dull writing. just talk of a dog, but when one of em is sick it pretty much takes over your life.
Hoping Rio is doing better!Sending prayers and hugs to her:),Mary in ma
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