Is It Any Wonder?

Warning ~

There is a slight reference of icky dog vomit to follow.  (At least I didn't take a picture of it.)

Our beloved Roxy has been under the weather for the last month or so and finally, finally she is back to her normal sweet and stubborn self.  She has been lethargic, has had not much for an appetite and has been throwing up quite a bit.

Early in the year, we all were sort of sad because Dr Jim left the Animal Clinic in town.  Dr Jim is a good vet and Roxy really liked him, but Dr Jim apparently decided that he would rather take care of horses and cows in Kansas than sweet and stubborn Roxy dogs.  Our new, fresh out of animal school vet wouldn't take up residence in the office until the first of July, so we were at the mercy of a series of  temporary vets until then.

In the spring, Roxy was shaking her head quite a bit and Randy and I thought that her ears may be bothering her.  Since she was due to get a kennel cough booster shot, we had one of the revolving vets take a look at her ears.

To be blunt and to the point, qualities in myself that I find refreshing, I did not care for this vet.  He didn't introduce himself to us, he didn't have much of a bedside manner and I just didn't think that he was the person to intrust the health of my precious Roxy to.

Mother's instinct.

So when Roxy started being sickly, I was hesitant to take her in to the clinic.  Of course, with the help of WebMD, Randy and I tried to diagnose her ourselves.  It could be the dairy in the teensy, tiny bit of vanilla ice cream that she gets a couple of times a week.  It could be her food, and we darn near went broke trying to find a food that she would continue to eat more than for a week.  It could be the heat.  It could, quite possibly, be anyone of the interesting things she brings home from the woods.

After about a week of her acting spunky, then being lethargic, then vomiting, then back to spunky, then not eating, then vomiting, we decided to take her in to the clinic.  This time around, we got a different vet who had a no-nonsense, process of elimination approach that I liked.  Between this vet, Randy and myself, we finally whittled it down to Roxy's rawhide dog chews.

I had bought Roxy a new beef-flavored rawhide chew the day before.  One that she promptly chewed up in seconds.  Well, maybe not seconds, but my $2.99 investment in her entertainment didn't buy me much for dog-chewing pleasure.

When I mentioned the new chewie to the vet, I was leaning more on the side of the new flavor being the culprit.  But no, it was the rawhide itself.

Rawhide chews are made of, well, rawhide, or leather.  Leather, it seems, is not easy to digest.  Who'd of thought?

Anyway ~

The three of us left the clinic with instructions on getting rid of all the rawhide chewies as well as to make some gloopy, sticky white rice to mix in with Roxy's food to help her pass the chewie that was stuck in her tummy.

It broke my heart to have to throw away all her chewies.  The vet also guessed correctly that Roxy has a basket of toys and suggested that we only let her play with one toy at a time.

I am not emotionally ready to perform that task yet.

Anyway ~

I made Roxy a delicious concoction of sticky white rice, cheese and chicken and mixed a bit of it in her food.  She took to it like a duck to water ... like Dorothy to sweets ... like a very loved dog to people food.

By the end of the week, Roxy still wasn't herself.  Since it was a Friday, I was between a rock and a hard spot.  If I didn't call the vet, she would end up getting really sick over the weekend and I would have to call my favorite EMT's from Baxter Regional Medical Center to take her into the ER.  If I did call the vet, she would be just fine.

I opted to call the vet, not wanting to risk an emergency trip to the on call vet and because our clinic doesn't charge for recheck appointments. Plus, I really did think that the first temporary vet was no longer there and we would get the anti-rawhide vet.  I was incorrect.  We got the vet that I didn't bond well with.  He kind of checked Roxy over and since she was running a bit of a temperature, he gave her a week's worth of antibiotics.

A couple of weeks go by and she is still not her normal self.  Randy and I tried to be reasonable about it.  During this time, Roxy's first love, Charlie came to visit.  Roxy is a very emotional dog and any kind of change seems to set her back a bit.  We thought that with the heat and the commotion of guests, that was causing her to not be herself.

When I felt sure that the permanent vet was in the office, I made another appointment for Roxy.  Oh, my do we all like Dr White.  The first thing that Roxy did, even though she wasn't feeling well, was to give Dr White a big ole kiss.

Roxy got an almost immediate diagnosis of having picked up a 'puke worm' in her travels through the woods.  They are not dangerous, they just settle in her tummy and cause it to be upset.  After a dose of anti puke worm medicine, Roxy is now back to being herself and back to dragging back unusual treasures from her adventures into the woods.

Within a day, Roxy the Dog was back to her normal spunky self.

I have a feeling that Dr White will be keeping a whole lot of puke worm medicine on hand for Roxy.

Have the BEST day ever!
~ Dorothy