At some point in the first weeks of this year I decided I would be a good blogger this year. And now at nearly two months in I realize I have just two posts, I've fallen short of that promise. (And this was started "two months in" and is now being completed and posted in April. Oops.) So I'll try to recap a little bit of what we have been up to this year. Not a lot but still busy.
First, we're having a really weird winter. For the most part (until recently - I'll get to that) we have had a fairly mild winter. Mild in the way of rain, that is. There's been a lot of dry weather, cool to very, very cold, and little rain. Except when we have had the rain it's been crazy, torrential, and miserable. But it's typically this season been short-lived and then back to cool and dry. In the Willamette Valley of Oregon we don't get a lot of extremes. We have consistent four seasons (three of which are typically rain), but rarely a ton of really cold or really hot. Severe is just not really in our language except when referring to wet. And all of a sudden, the dire predictions of the weather people came true two weeks ago. We ended up with snow.
It started on a Thursday. I'd decided to stay home since the city was already in crazy, panic mode and in case the weather guessers were really right, well, it made no sense for me to just spend hours in traffic trying to come back. The day was crazy in other ways before the snow really kicked off. I got up and the hot water didn't want to work in either bathroom. Fabulous. On top of that, Vegas wasn't feeling well. She got up like normal and ate breakfast. And I spent the next two hours with her up and down, up and down, clearly uncomfortable, unwilling to lie down, licking her lips and acting funny. Of course I was freaking out thinking it was bloat. Except the symptoms weren't "quite" right. She couldn't vomit but was acting just like when she needs to. I was so tired and just wanted to go back to bed that I wished it was like she has on occasion - a need to vomit and re-eat it (I know - gross!) and then she's fine. But she just couldn't pull it off.
Snow is tiring. Enjoying the heated mattress pad to warm up.
Let's. Go. RACING!
Did you hear that?
Crazy!
Got booties?
Finally she vomited but that didn't stop her from acting agitated so we ended up going to the vet as soon as they opened. Fortunately they were able to see us and, long story short, never figured out what caused it. Basically we just treated her symptoms to the best of my financial ability at the time. She was given a liter of fluids subcutaneously as well as an injection of Pepcid AC.
She came home and vomited two more times over the course of the next six hours and then seemed to be fine. The vet suggested not feeding her until late that night so she finally got rice at 7 or so. Cause she was "dying" by then, you know. This seemed to be a passing thing once we got past that day. The next day she was fine. We had a total of 3-4 other "urpy" episodes where she acted a little off, drooly, or wanted to vomit/did vomit over the course of weeks and since then all has been well dietarily speaking.
But, speaking of diets and guts, Vegas has always been pretty "rock solid," no pun intended. Usually with raw feeding I give her a bit heavier meal in meat or even all meat meals 1-2 times in a row because she doesn't seem to need as much bone. But lately, I'd say in the last six months or so, she's been having a harder time even within the same diet guidelines we have followed for years. It's strange so I started her on a probiotic this year. Not bomb-proof, but it is helping. Hopefully I can upgrade her probiotic to a slightly better type such as Nzymes and see if that helps. Or start adding in kefir. I know people who swear by it.
The rest of the winter we've just done our best to stay active and busy. We don't go to many dog shows, etc., but we get out and walk as much as possible. Just trying to keep her moving and make sure she's happy and healthy. Aging sucks and I often question this, that, or the other, but then she zooms around the house and demands to play, go, chase squirrels, and tug and I know all is well in the land of Vegas. I am ever so grateful.
