Doggie Flu?

Poor Treble (Tboy). Last week, we had a few days where we weren't sure what in the world was going on with him (health wise). It was so scary and made me feel so sad that we really don't know exactly HOW old he is, what his history is (as he was a rescue) and if he is prone to diseases, etc., because of his breed.

He has been on Phenobarbital for his seizures for about half a year now. He started seizing about a year ago that we had witnessed: we aren't sure how many time he had possibly seized without us seeing it. We decided to put him on medication, even though there were potential side effects. However, at his blood check in December, his liver and other organs were checking out normally, so no "damage" has been done that we know of.

Flash forward to a week ago last Thursday. CJ got home and found 3 different spots where poor Tboy had thrown up. He was hiding under the table, and refusing food. He began going outside to rid himself of this awful colored bile. Poor doggie. I came home, and he was definitely not himself. He followed me into the nursery to put Kyla to bed, and laid on his back, legs up. He has never done this before - I was panicked! He let me scratch his belly, and the moved his position into the bathroom across from the nursery, and proceeded to lie on teh floor, pitiful look in his eyes, and stare at me across the hall. He looked and acted like he was miserable. Of course, I immediately think the worst and thought, "he's dying! what's wrong with him!" - so CJ took him to the emergency Vet that is open after normal Vet hours.

Three hours later and many dollars...there was no conclusive evidence of anything showing itself to be wrong. They did not take Xrays, but suggested if the next day was similar we take him in for some.

He received some shots for his nausea, and for pain, and tips for bland food. They came home and he returned to his station on the loveseat, cuddled up in blankets for the night.

Friday we all left for work, but I took half a sick day (for my fur kid!) and came home for lunch to see how our boy was. He was still miserable. By now, he wouldn't even look at me, turned his body away and was trembling. He also would sometimes get into the "downward dog" stance, where the paws are forward, and his hind legs are still up in the air (I know now that he was doing this because that might signal pain in his abdomen). I got him to our regular Vet immediately where they took Xrays and reviewed his charts from the night before. Apparently , there is a slight possibility that his white blood cell count was higher than it was in December- so is his seizure medication to blame? Did he get into something and have something called Pancreatitis -that was causing his abdomen to become sick and therefore, his not wanting to eat and his vomiting?

Poor dude. *sad mama, sad mama, sad mama alert*

His Xrays were normal, so that (Pancreatitis) was the general consensus of the Vet we visited. Tboy received more shots for pain control (since his abdomen was tender and bloated), and again for nausea. As he trotted back into the exam room to be reunited with me, poor buddy was dripping yellow bile out of his mouth all over the floor.
We got him some antibiotics, more bland, soft dog food and drove home. I took him for short walk (he was so weak from lack of nutrition), and he again vomited bile and had it dripping out of his mouth as we walked.

That night, Tboy slept like a champ and awoke on Saturday morning seemingly more like himself. A couple days on his medications and eating bland food,and he has turned back into the passive, lovable sweet boy that we know. Whew.

How I love this dog, my (formerly) pink nosed Treb!! And how I DO NOT look forward to the future and the inevitable time when we'll have to say goodbye-uggg, I can't even think about it....

No, we didn't let him chew this- it was brief- he thought K1's M&M's were for HIM!