Paying for the Vet's Christmas

Sorry for the unrelenting number of blog posts with no pictures--especially no holiday photos. Just can't seem to get myself together here.

The good part about no TV in the living room right now? I don't have to listen to those boring news shows, commentaries and TVland reruns! Hurray!

The downside? J-Man's been monopolizing the computer. As soon as he got up, I jumped in. He's had it all day!

Finally had to take Tandi to the Animal Hospital this morning. (Ka-ching!) It had been 36 hours since she'd eaten and over 12 hours since she'd had anything to drink and she looked to me as if she was getting a little dehydrated. She was so pitiful.

Poor baby, she usually prefers to sleep in her crate with its door closed and the blanket draped over it. I guess she's still a little traumatized from having to sleep in it after she upchucked while I was at work Fri. night, because, although I coaxed her into it, she gave me such a mournful look I didn't have the heart to close the door.

Within minutes she was back on the loveseat, and just before I fell asleep, I felt her get up on the bed next to my legs. Now mind you, she has never slept more than an hour on the bed, and that's when I'm lying on it and reading or talking on the phone. This morning I woke to find her snuggled up next to my back. She really was feeling bad.

I called before I went to the emergency hospital, but before I could get there, someone brought in a dog who'd been hit by a car and they were trying to stabilize her, so we had quite a wait. The vet didn't seem in the least bit surprised to see a 50-odd woman sitting in the floor with a dog in her lap when he walked in. Obviously he's a dog-lover and understands.

I could hear a woman sobbing in the lobby and then in the ladies' room, which was right next to our exam room. Having gone through a similar situation with my last dog, Libby, and recently reading about Penny losing Jezebel, my emotions were pretty near the surface. I never saw the lady, but I shed tears behind a closed door for the loss of her companion right before Christmas. Tandi leaned over and gave me a sweet little doggy kiss. She was sick, but she was comforting me. Dogs are so wonderful that way.

Fortunately, she didn't have a resurgence of her pancreatitis, as the vet had feared. He says although the symptoms can seem to disappear, sometimes they keep a low-grade inflammation going and can have flare-ups. She was dehydrated as I'd suspected, so he kept her a couple of hours and gave her fluids and started her on antibiotics. He's predicting some diarrhea, but we're hoping to prevent that and further vomiting, with medications. He doesn't know what set this off, as there's been no change in her diet or anything we can put our finger on, and we may never know, but at least she wasn't debilitated before we got her there.

Everyone marveled at her sweet disposition despite all these "strangers" had to do to her. That's my girl: barks like the fiercest dog on the planet if you come near her house or yard, but has the gentlest nature of any dog I've ever known. Right now she's sacked out on the sofa, exhausted from her day. I'm thinking I'll have a bed buddy again tonight.