Who Doesn't Love a Good Vet Drama?

You know you've reached the point of no return in your weirdo life when you find yourself in the reception area at the vet talking to a complete stranger about her cat's anal glands.  Poor cat, he was not in for a fun day at the vet.

For me it all started as most of these things do at 1:30 in the morning.  I don't know why these dogs can't keep business hours.  Anyway, I woke up Tuesday night to the sound of Cody reverse sneezing and gasping for breath.  The reverse sneezing is something he does on occasion so I wasn't too concerned about that but the gasping for breath?  Kind of scary.  I noticed a strong smell of smoke so I went outside to see if a new fire had started nearby.  Ash was falling but no sign of a new fire.  Weird because the winds were calm, temps. cool and it was even a bit humid.  If anything the High Park Fire should have been calmer than normal and so far we hadn't experienced smoke that bad in Boulder, at least not in my neighborhood.  I turned on the swamp cooler and stuck it near his bed and once I finally got him to settle in front of it he was fine.  Until the vomiting started a couple hours later.  I figured he was just sick from the smoke and didn't think much of it but in the morning his back legs were so weak, he could barely support himself.  He's got weakness and arthritis in his rear legs/back but this was a huge downturn.  I called the vet to see if she could take a look at him and maybe prescribe some Rimadyl or something.  I'm not a big fan of drugs but he looked so bad and I didn't like the idea of him being in that kind of pain.  Couldn't get in until Friday night and even then I'd have to see a different vet than his regular one.

I'll spare you the rest of the details but the next day and night there was vomit.  Too much.  So I called the vet first thing this morning and pleaded my case and thankfully she squeezed me in.  Who could refuse sweet old Cody?

I'd already been to the Rez for crack of dawn masters and swum 2000 meters and walked Lola all without having very much food but I didn't have time to make breakfast before scrambling off to the vet.   I was feeling a bit light headed, stomach achy already and I had barely sat down in the vet's exam room when Cody starts to squat.  Normally he's such a good dog, I don't think he's ever had an accident in the house in the 13 years we've had him.  He's mortified at the very thought of it.  So I knew he must really be sick.  The vet tech seemed quite pleased.  'Can't get a sample much fresher than this,' and she cheerily scooped up a bit in a plastic container then mopped up the mess.  I'm remembering my incident of passing out in the Chipotle and hoping I don't have a repeat performance.  The smell, people.  We opened all the doors in the exam room and I somehow managed to stay conscious.

Well Cody is just too smart for his own good because it turned out he did have a bacterial infection and the sample he provided was perfectly timed to diagnose his case.  He got some fluids, an antibiotic shot, an anti-nausea shot and some take-home drugs as well as a detailed recipe for a bland diet that he's supposed to have.  I stopped on the way home for his white rice, cottage cheese and chicken because while normal people probably have these staples, I do not.

When I got home I set about cooking food for both of us because it was nearly noon and remember I've expended way more calories than have gone in and who knows when I may finally pass out?  Cody is clever but like me he can't work a cell phone very well.  I don't do so well in the kitchen and trying to cook 4 things at once is usually how I end up starting fires but miraculously I got all the food prepared without setting off the fire alarms.  However the rice was a horrible mess of mush.  I felt bad about making Cody eat it until I realized that the reason he got into this mess in the first place was from eating some disgusting, inedible thing.  He had a bit of a hard time eating the sticky mess so I had to fluff it with a fork for him while he ate it.  Seriously.  Even I can see how this is maybe a little much.

But he looked so much better after he got some food and water into him.  His back legs were back to normal and so far we've been vomit free for 2 hours.  Phew.  Cody turns 14 next month and I was going to be pissed if he wasn't going to make it.