i love you my little bucky woo-woo

I am so bad at updating this - I honestly think about it all of the time and just never actually do it..does anybody else have that problem? Anyway - I'm here to update on Buck..

Here he was on Saturday

Our five year old, super cute, super energetic, very loving & affectionate baby is super sick! Here's how it's all gone down..

It was Tuesday morning and Brock & I were fast asleep with Jayda in her crate, Buck at my feet & Feebe..well who knows where she was. At 5am Brock awoke to the sound of Buck getting sick. He jumped out of bed to check on him and clean up the mess. Both fell back asleep until 6am when Brock was up to prepare for his first day back to school [teaching].

Buck was sick one more time before Brock was off to work. I snuggled Buck for about a half hour before he got sick again. Literally 10 minutes later Jayda got sick, twice [complete fluke!]. Needless to say I was freaking out - was it something they got into? Was it the lake water we kept telling them not to drink over the weekend? What was it?

I immediately texted Brock wishing him 'Good Luck' for his first day back and hoped that he was having a better morning than me. I brought the babies downstairs to put them out & clean up the messes. Buck literally would not stop barking at the door & wanted nothing to do with being outside...for those that know my little boy know that is so unlike him.

Anyway, I brought them back in and Jayda fell asleep but Buck would not leave my side..again, not completely abnormal. I was catching up on a show on DVR when I smelt this terrible smell. I didn't immediately see anything but the minute I looked around the corner into the kitchen I was mortified. It literally looked like a massacre of sorts...I turned to look up the stairs only to find the bloody mess continued it's way into our bedroom.

I was told by our vet that if a dog throws up or has diarrhea, it's not usually an emergency but if they have both, medical attention is usually needed. That being said:

I again, put the babies outside so I could clean up the crime scene. When I began cleaning up the mess, it had a very strange color - kind of red, kind of brown. I wasn't really sure where it came from and at that point who it came from. Outside, Buck again, barked relentlessly. I knew he had to be the culprit.

At this point I was in shock. I mean, I know I'm a drama queen but SERIOUSLY, I had never seen anything like this...the picture below is just the mess in the kitchen. It continued up our stairs, on to the landing & into our bedroom.

Brock & I have been through so much with dogs in the last year that I frantically texted him...at his [new] school he has spotty service so he didn't get it until a little while later.

I had such scattered thoughts - what do I do? I tried feeding them & only Jayda would eat. I tried giving them water. Only Jayda would drink. Please Brock, text me back!

At this point though, I HAD to get ready for work. I KNEW something was really wrong with Buck when I opened the shower curtain to find him sleeping on the bath mat. Usually Buck uses that time to play with Jayda & steers clear of getting anywhere near water.

Brock [FINALLY] calls me. He was freaking out due to the picture I had sent. CAN WE CATCH A BREAK? We decided he definitely needed to get into the vet. Brock called while I finished getting ready. The receptionist or vet tech told him that Buck could be seen if we got him in at 2:30. This time would not work since we were both at work. Brock confirmed that with his symptoms that we monitor him overnight & bring him in tomorrow. She said that would be just fine.

I left [nervously] for work & confirmed with Brock that Jayda was her normal self at this point but to monitor Buck to see how he is when he got home in just a few hours.

4:30pm: Brock gets home to Jayda bouncing off the walls like a ding dong. He greeted Buck, who had no interest in moving. Brock tried to get him to drink. No luck. He picked him up and blood dropped on his foot. He put him on the floor and Buck just drug his back legs. He scooped him up, leashed Jayda and off the the vet they went.

No appointment. No call. Just showed up.

Buck was seen immediately by our vet. He left him for testing and within 20 minutes we had a diagnosis: HGE

To dumb it down so us non-vet's could understand - Buck had a SEVERE reaction to one of three things: stress, an allergic reaction or a parasite. His body went into overdrive and he had very high red blood cell count [usually in the 30's & his was in the 60's]. Basically this causes his blood to become sludge-like & doesn't allow oxygen to pass through. He was also 7% dehydrated. His symptoms of bloody diarrhea & vomiting fit the bill.

Our vet was VERY PISSED at whoever told Brock that we could wait through the night because Buck was very sick and would not have made it had he not brought him in..because our clinic is only open until 6pm, Buck had to go to the emergency vet for treatment. What we did know was that because we caught this so early, Dr. Alton [our vet] told us the success rate was high with aggressive treatment.

Brock arrived with our very weak baby. They cuddled for about an hour until the vet saw them. At this point he knew he would be staying the night but he just didn't know if he would be ok.  They explained the treatment and monitoring would happen throughout the night. They said no news is good news but they would call at 2am if xrays would be needed or at 7am with transfer information - if he was stable he could return to our vet otherwise he would be at the clinic next door to them [way more expensive].

No news. GREAT NEWS! He was stable but still very weak. He hadn't thrown up all night but still had bloody stool. I picked him up this morning, craddled that stinky boy as close to me as I could and just sang & talked to him. His ears perked up & he opened his eyes...I'm taking that as a sign that he was happy to see me.

Anyway, what I know right now is that his vitals have remained strong. His hydration is getting better & his red blood cell count is going down. This is all so good. Dr. Alton was in this morning & said that if all goes well today, Brock should be able to bring him home tonight...otherwise it's back to the emergency vet for the night.

Here's my poor baby - so weak [& crusty]

 He perked up when I would sing to him...hey, it's our 'normal'

On a side note: For those looking for a vet in the Coon Rapids area, I strongly recommend Dr. Ross Alton at Banfield. He is absolutely AMAZING. Both of our dogs love him as do we. He's very upfront and explains things so well. When we've had a question on ANYTHING (behavior, food, health) we have confidently called him. He goes above & beyond - since I couldn't be there yesterday, he gave Brock his cell number so I could call him when I got home [around 10pm] so he could explain it all to me.

Praying for success in today's treatment. I love you my little Bucky WooWoo -

N.