Back in the land of the living . . .

What a week it has been for Jones. Last Saturday he was poisoned. Sunday he was overdosed (possibly). The rest of the week he slowly recovered. Last Saturday the kids had their friends over and we went over to the park. I noticed Jones drooling a little bit. I thought that was strange as he has never drooled. It soon got worse, we're talking Cujo bad, and it was also evident he was having stomach issues as well. I called the vet which was closing and they sent us to the Alpine Animal Hospital in Issaquah. The kids were a bit freaked out and didn't want to go so I dropped them off at their friends' house. Usually, Hannah is the one who is my helper with getting Jones in and out of the car, putting his harness on, etc. so I didn't know how I was going to do this alone, especially since he was covered in drool and I didn't want to even touch him. I stopped by Kristin's house and asked her to go with me. What a good friend to join me on this fun-filled trip! She carried him in his crate because he was too disgusting to touch by the time we got there. Thank goodness she has some muscles because he is heavy in that crate. Jones was very excited to be there and was eagerly wagging his tail. An hour or two later it was basically confirmed that he had ate something poisonous but I guess we'll never know what - a plant? a mushroom? Who knows. They gave him activated charcoal to get the toxin out of his system, gave him an anti-nausea medication, rehydrated him with a fluid injection in his back, and sent us home with antibiotics. By the time we left he was no longer wagging his tail and was pretty shaken up.

I wish that was the end of the story, but things got worse the next day. Sunday we noticed him shaking, not just shaking, more like tremors whenever he breathed in. He could hardly move around. I called the hospital again and they said to bring him in and would give me no information about what could possibly be wrong. After a spendy bill the night before, we decided to wait it out a while. I also called the breeder who felt that we would be better off following up with our vet the next day if possible. He was extremely lethargic and you couldn't even touch his sides without him yelping in pain. That evening I also noticed what felt like a large fluid filled sac behind his front legs.

The next morning David took him to the vet. She said the hospital gave him twice the dosage of medication she would have so we are thinking he had a reaction to the antibiotic. The extra fluid in his body from the injection had settled in his stomach area instead of being absorbed, making his stomach area tender and extremely painful.

For a few days he was extremely slow moving. It was very sad. My mom and dad came and took care of him Monday, Tuesdy, and Wednesday. He is now finally back to his old self, jumping up on guests and trying to eat everything off the ground once again!