A Hippo Mouth, a Gallbladder, and One Missing Kidney

 

I hope your Friday went far better than mine! I woke up to Poppy (pound puppy) throwing up all over the place. It was so bad that I was on the phone by 9:30 a.m. trying to get her in to the vet. So I went out to make sure my car would start (battery issues for a few weeks, and I just haven’t taken it in yet). Of course it was dead.

I was lucky my sister was off, so she ran over and picked us up. Once at the vet, Poppy had bloodwork done and an x-ray. They thought it was most likely a blockage (I was afraid they’d say that). The only way to be sure was a barium test (have you started hearing “Cha-ching” yet?).

That takes a hot minute, so my sister & I went to a new crystal shop that had just opened (Red Stone Fossils & Minerals). They had super amazing stuff!!! My favorite was the hippo skull. They had more than just crystals. There were fossils, a sand-sifting area for kids to look for stuff with a “gold miner” type of set-up. You can also purchase a small bucket prefilled with sand & goodies to sift in the water feature. You can buy a geode rock and crack it open with their cool pirate wheel-turning crank. Very cool place.

Once I got home from the crystal shop, I picked up my phone every five minutes. Waiting sucks. The vet finally called. The barium stopped at her stomach and never even went into her intestines. Perfect. Then they told me they couldn’t do the surgery (3:00 p.m. on a Friday); there were already two scheduled, and they couldn’t work her in. She suggested calling an emergency vet to see if anyone else could get her in. So I did. Naively. The least expensive option I found was between four and seven thousand dollars. Once again, what the what???

I had to call the vet back and tell her it looked like we were going to have to put her to sleep, all while sobbing hysterically and telling her I had just lost Scrappy (14 y/o chihuahua). She told me to hold on and she’d talk to the vet. That precious veterinarian said she’d stay late and do Poppy’s surgery.

Fast forward to around 8:30 p.m. We finally got the call that we could come pick her up. Results? There was no obstruction. What the what? Apparently her gallbladder was inflamed and enlarged. The vet thought the parvo she suffered from as a very young puppy could be the cause. She drained it and then went on a hunt for Poppy’s second kidney. Non-existent. Birth defect. Very unexpected.

She’s currently on four prescriptions and seems to be doing better. As in, better than ever. I used to joke that we should have named her “Wendy” because she was always whining. Saying that now kinda makes me feel like a trash dog-mom. She had to be in constant pain. If you’ve ever had gallbladder issues, you know. She’s eating chicken & rice with green beans and is doing so much better than I expected.

It’s crazy how attached you can get to your pet in just six months. We’re so thankful she’s alright, and we’ll just have to keep an eye on her water intake and hope the scripts help heal everything and her gallbladder doesn’t act up again. Give your pets an extra cuddle or treat. Life is short for us, but even shorter for them.

Puppies, Parvo, & the Pound

I went to the local animal shelter. They were overcrowded, so they were having a free pet adoption. I walked into the first kennel room (there were quite a few different rooms) and saw two dogs in chain-link kennels. And I couldn’t do it.

I couldn’t walk into that humane society, wandering down aisle after aisle of those sad eyes, all hoping you’ll choose them. Nope. Could. Not. Do. It. Luckily, I had saved a picture of a puppy from their website before I came. It did say she was reserved, but I thought perhaps she had a brother or sister available.

I asked the girl at the front desk, who, unfortunately, was just security (I wasn’t aware that was needed, but here we are). As I was explaining and showing her the picture (all while wiping my eyes and trying not to snot on the counter), a girl exclaimed as she passed by, “That’s Zelda!” 

I looked up from the picture on my phone & asked if she had any littermates. “I just took her hold off not five minutes ago! She’s one of my favorites.” “Can I have her?” No idea why I asked like that, but I did (there’s no end to my awkward encounters). She explained which room she was in, and I must have looked panicked at the thought of going back in, because halfway through explaining where she was, she just stopped and asked if I’d like her to just go get her for me. I was so relieved.

She brought her out & handed her to me. She was much heavier than I thought (worms weigh A LOT…we’ll get to that). The poor thing looked terrified, but who can blame her? Only bad things happen when they take her out of the kennel. And by that, I mean this poor puppy had a very rough start.

I didn’t have a chance to look at her paperwork until I got home. But when I did, wow. It said she was three months old (I would have been surprised if she had been eight weeks old). In her short life, she’s suffered from and been treated for a respiratory virus (not surprising), Parvo (and yes, she was lucky to survive), a hernia repair surgery (I had the same repair surgery, so I thought that part was kismet), parasites (still more to come on that), and she had been spayed the day before (after being cleared from Parvo). 

They tell you when you adopt a puppy from our local humane society that they have a 30-day return policy (also didn’t know this), so you can bring the puppy back and get another one if it doesn’t work out. Remember this when you see the carnage she & Molly wrought in my office. So our Bloodhound Molly was over the moon about having a sister to play with (and yes, I call them sisters AND talk to them. All day. Judge if you must.). This is where sturdiness is beneficial, and boy is she sturdy!

That was on April 16^th. It’s now been four months. My husband calls her “Chaos.” We tried Zelda (because it’s a cool name!), but in the end, she wasn’t a Zelda. She was a Poppy. Poppy Sue, to be exact. I told my sister we named her after her. Her middle name is Sue & we called her Sue-Sue growing up…but it was completely unrelated; it was just the name that sounded right. So we have the Chaos twins. Molly Mae, a 100+ pound, 1-year-old Bloodhound, & Poppy Sue, now a healthy 6- or 7-month-old, 50ish-pound Shar Pei mix…yes, the vet said that was the only breed she was sure about because of her “hippo mouth.” DNA testing will be done in the future.

I can honestly say, she is now a healthy, happy dog. But it’s taken this long to get here. What they don’t tell you about adopting a puppy are the challenges you may face. When I got her, she had been treated for fleas, ticks, worms, etc. Well, let’s just say we got a VERY rude awakening several nights in. Worms were involved. I regretted not naming her “Eddie” (if you get the reference, you’re my people).

So, a few vet trips in and an amount of money I don’t want to discuss, we now have the aforementioned “healthy dog.” When you have to treat a puppy repeatedly for parasites & illness, it really does a number on their poor tummy. I think we’ve finally got that fixed.

There were definitely a few times I jokingly (mostly) said, “We’ve still got time to return her!” She has become “my” dog (Molly was a birthday gift for my husband). She’s not done growing, and is only about 4 inches shorter than Molly. She’ll be big. She’s already big. Molly & Poppy keep our days & nights filled with chaos. We wouldn’t have it any other way!