Dog Days

Poor Miss Slippers. She's had a bit of a harrowing week I'm afraid.

Sunday night we noticed that she was starting to limp. Nothing major - just 'a little hitch in her giddyup' as Kevin says. By Monday morning, however, she really couldn't walk on her leg at all. Normally, she's right next to me when the alarm goes off and she's more than rarin' to go for her walk. But on Monday? She didn't even want to move, let alone go for a walk. She didn't even have the strength or energy to lay down on her favorite spot: the couch. Kevin pulled her bed into the living room and she rested there.

I called the vet and made an appointment to take her in that morning. By the time we got home to pick her up for the appointment (Kevin and I both wanted to go), she was walking a bit better, but still not great. Without so much as examining her, the vet suggested that she 'may need knee surgery'. Huh? Ummm....doc, if you look in her records you'll see that she has a history of arthritis. We've done this before. I suggest to the vet that, because this isn't new for her, perhaps we could try the medication she's gotten in the past. If that doesn't work, then we can look at something else. The doctor thinks that, at the very least, she needs blood work. Sure, fine. No problem. Then, if we can have her prescription for Zubrin, we'll be on our way. Doc thinks that another medication will be better. I remind her that Slippers has a very sensitive tummy and can't handle certain medications. Oh this will be great for her, swears Doc. Hmmmm. We'll see. So ... 90 minutes and $300.00 later, we're walking our baby back home.

By Monday night, Slippers is much better! She's walking better and seems to be back to her old self. For a day or so anyway. Then ... she throws up. Poor thing! Hmmm ... wonder if it could be that medication ... Let's try stopping it and see if she recovers. Well what do you know? No medication. No throwing up. No limping. Just a normal, albeit somewhat overweight and arthritic dog. Huh. Who would have thunk it? Oh wait a minute ... I thunk it!

While I admit I don't have a veterinary degree, I do know my dog. I wish that vets would realize that when you take your pet in for an appointment. You might not know everything, but you do know somethings. Grrrrr.

The bottom line, though, is that she's feeling MUCH better and we're very happy to have Slippers healthy and back to normal. She even celebrated today by getting a bath, nail trim and haircut! ... though, honestly ... she'd much rather have been laying on the couch =)