Straydog UPDATE posted MONDAY 9/8/03 at ~9:18 p.m. CT

Bill Arnold's Daily Straydog Log

MONDAY SEPTEMBER 8 2003

Blackie got sick yesterday evening, vomiting several times

     Blackie didn't eat much at all yesterday, and by last night he looked like he was about done for. I might have panicked and called the doctor for an emergency visit to the clinic, but old Blackie has had bouts with this type of illness several times before and always seems to recover within 24 hours, so Randy, our night guy, watched Blackie very closely throughout the night. This morning Blackie still wouldn't eat, but you could tell he was feeling a little better.

     Our theory is that because this little guy will eat anything he can find anywhere, he often gets into stuff he shouldn't be eating, but there's no stopping him. We don't even need to mop the kitchen floor very often, because Blackie is constantly licking up anything that spills. When you're in the kitchen preparing food of any kind, Blackie sits and stares not up at you but at the floor beneath your feet just waiting for something--anything--to drop.

     Juana took Blackie to the clinic first thing this morning (along with Julie and Big Boy for their blood tests), and Dr. Morton diagnosed Blackie's illness as colitis and gave him some medicine for it. By five o'clock this afternoon Blackie was eating again, and when I came out to the kitchen once for something, there was Blackie staring at the floor where Juana was standing as she was preparing a big pot of grains and vegetables for the dogs.

Both Big Boy and Julie accompany Blackie to the clinic for blood tests

     Big Boy's blood sugar level was unexpectedly very low when he went for blood work on August 29th to check for liver damage from the anti-seizure medication he's been on for quite some time, so the doctor wanted to check his blood sugar level again today, and Big Boy is now in the normal range. [None of the numbers on the 29th showed any liver damage.]

     Julie's blood sugar continues to go down. Because of this the doctor reduced her insulin from 20 to 15 units--still three times a day. Dr Aiken, a DVM who also practices alternative veterinary medicine, prescribed the diet we are now feeding Julie, saying that this diet would eventually allow Julie to stop taking insulin.

I'm going to post this update and then work on yesterday's photos till lights-out.