Good Riddance July

I'm ready for July to be over.  And never repeat itself again because it's not welcome in this household.  Thankfully Abbytail is doing well.  We adjusted her medication about a week and a half ago, so she doesn't have such drastic muscle weakness that made it hard for her to stand up on her own.  I don't worry about her falling over trying to go potty now.  She's doing alright.  Her red blood count went down slightly today, but we are watching it close.  She is ACTING normal.  Whew.

One week ago today, we brought my son home from the doggy hospital.  Yes, that's right, our other beloved pup went to the same emergency specialist animal hospital in Kansas that his sister had just spent almost a week. 

It all happened the Saturday before last.  About 10 or 11pm, Keystone started standing up and circling and sitting down.  Only to immediately get up and try to settle down 2 feet from where he just sat down.  He could NOT get comfortable.  It was like sitting or laying down hurt him.  We didn't know what was going on, because that is so unlike our laid back boy.  Then he started retching.  He kept trying to vomit, with no results.  I felt so bad for him.  I didn't know what to do. We felt helpless.  After frantically and fruitlessly coming up with no good answers (and having a mental breakdown at midnight), we went to bed.  The stuff I was finding on the Internet made me want to drive right then and there to VCA (Mission Medvet).  After what I found out the next day, I should have taken him immediately, but it all worked out just fine--so I am ONE VERY LUCKY DOG OWNER.  If I had it to do over again, I would have driven RIGHT AWAY to the specialists, and not taken the risk.

Keystone had a gastric torsion.  His stomach rotated, and twisted on itself.  He was also bloated which probably happened and then his tummy twisted.  From what I understand, a dog can have bloating without a torsion, but if there is a torsion, there is bloating.  This site lists the symptoms Keystone experienced.  I don't know which of the sites I added here are reputable, but they all have good points on symptoms and what to look for--please check them out if you have anything bigger than a purse pup.  Especially if your baby is a male.

On Sunday morning, I called our vet, you know, since I have his after hours number on speed dial.  He met us at the office and took an x-ray.  As he was sending us immediately to the specialists, he took a blood sample and was running tests so that the hospital could have the results by the time we arrived.  I love my local vet.  He and his wife were both there on that Sunday, caring for other animals who had issues and had to stay.  I jokingly told them I was going to have to put them on my Christmas card list.  But it actually wasn't a joke.

We were lucky with Keystone.  They were able to operate right away.  They fixed his tummy and "tacked" it to the walls of his abdomen so he will never experience this again.  While in there, the surgeon said that his spleen was fine, so that did not have to be removed (splenectomy is common with this disease).  His stomach was not black anywhere, so nothing had to be cut out and removed.  And best of all, his liver and other organs that could be seen by the Doc looked just fine.  I was petrified with fear that when they opened him up, he'd be one big metropolis of cancer masses.  But I should not have fretted--they saw nothing of the kind.  All of his lumps and bumps, are just lumps and bumps.  At least so far.

It's hard to believe this is what Keystone looked like just the week before his tummy did a somersault:

Where's my chauffeur?

Keystone after he got home from the vet, resting one evening while I was still working.  Amazingly, I was still productive with my typing.

Mommy's lap boy

It's hard to believe that both of my babies have had major health issues and faced serious life-threatening diseases within a span of 3 weeks.  The other amazing fact?  Their litter-mate, Baxter, had to have a full ACL replacement last week.  We wish my God-dogson/their brother Baxter all our love and a speedy, painless recovery.

Enough with the health issues already!

Here are the kids now at home recovering

Matching war wounds: shaved bellies and hairless armbands

 

Cheers to a healthy August and good riddance July.