Juana reports ...      Edited and posted by Bill

TRANSCRIPTION SUMMARY WITH PHOTOS:

[USUAL INTRO, then ...]

Bill: Juana, what happened today?

Juana: It was a very busy day, and very scary early this morning. When James was trying to feed Champ, Champ barely got up to come to his bowl, and he was kind of wobbly. I went to check on him, and it was still dark.

Bill: Yes, because of the time change.

Juana: The first thing I did was touch him, and he was cold! His nose was cold. His gums were cold. [It's not cold outside, he must have been cold because he's ill]. So we immediately brought him inside. Then, when James was picking up poop, and he has a little flashlight to see, James found blood. I went out there, and we saw vomit too, which was from last night, we could tell. When the clinic opened at 7 a.m., I called and told them it was an emergency. Vicki said that Dr. Terry would see Champ right at 9 when she gets there.

Then, when I was ready to take Champ at 8:30 a.m., I found a lot of blood in the H2 kennel.

We let him stay outside in the pretty weather, because it's nice and he loves it outside. (He has always been an outside dog, and it took him awhile to get used to being inside). He's getting used to being inside now, and likes that too now.

Anyway, I got the pictures of the tremendous amount of blood in his H2 kennel to show Dr. Terry. I took him to the vet, and I thought the worst. I thought his kidneys were shutting down or something. We had taken him to Dr. Terry yesterday, so something happened through the night.

Juana: Dr. Terry did bloodwork, and everything was absolutely normal. He didn't have any infection going on. BUN and Crea and Liver numbers are normal, so we didn't know what was going on! Everything was normal. So Dr. Terry kept him and is treating it as colitis, irritation of the stomach/bowels. The food he had been on a couple a months because his phosphorus level was high has helped for all his [blood] figures to be normal now.

Bill: That's good. How is he now? Have you heard anything more from [the clinic] throughout the day?

Juana: At 4:30 this afternoon I talked with Dr. Terry and everything is okay. He's still nervous and shaky, but everything is going okay. He's on an IV, she didn't want to feed him tonight, but will tomorrow, and we'll be taking him home. He's a champ.

Bill: Yes, looks like it's colitis then. Okay... what's next?

Juana: Chubs has been by himself and Lindsey is okay with some dogs and snippy with others We thought we'd try them but it didn't work. There was growling right away.

Juana: So we thought we'd try Sarah. She's another dog that runs and runs. Chubs did like Sarah! Sarah was a little reluctant to accept Chubs at first. But knowing that he accepted her, she was okay. It was funny watching them in the park today.

Sarah has been by herself since Wednesday when Pup Gordo got adopted, but these two are working well together. She wasn't really missing Big Pup Gordo, but Chubs really likes her so we have a match, and they're together.

Boogie is a dachshund, a blue dappled dachshund puppy that Dr. Terry saved. Dr. Terry said that a couple came to the clinic with a little dog with a prolapsed rectum. He had a lot of parasites and was straining, and this is why he was having a problem with his colon. They wanted to just euthanize him and so they just gave the puppy to the clinic. But Dr. Terry, if she can help it, she's not going to euthanize a dog. She fixed him up, neutered him, and now she needs to find him a home. He's heartworm negative, only being seven months old. He gets along with cats, kids, other dogs. Just a little snappy at feeding time, but most of our dogs get that way. That's why we separate them during feeding time.

I brought Boogie to the shelter and the H1 gang, the wild gang accepted him, Noble, Pudgie, Poppie, Daisy even Bitty. Everybody but Freddie. Boogie looks like Pudgie except he's short-haired.

Another thing that happened today was that I introduced Krissy to Ruger and they got along! Ruger's tail and ears perked up. It was funny. Ruger and Krissy stayed together inside until feeding time. At feeding time I took her out of their kennel. We have to feed Ruger by hand. He ate a lot of chicken today.

But then when Erin was here talking with me at the park around 3:30 pm, Krissy wanted to show off or something, and she kind of jumped on Ruger. So, that was sad. Ruger is too weak. He doesn't need that.

Bill: No, that's not good for Ruger.

Juana: And, David brought a box of some of our mailout sheets to the shelter, that Stacey asked us to help with, and and we're tabbing the mailout and getting it ready to go.

Bill: Yes, if you'd like a mailout, please send us your address and we'll put you on our mailing address.

Juana: Caregiver James Crisp is back. Some of the dogs remember him and were ready for their treats from him. Demon really likes him and remembered him. James will be working on the weekends. Coby's last day is soon and so we needed some more help, and luckily James Crisp could come back.

Poor Bailey is hanging in there. He is still eating, but he is really sad. He lost his friend Prince recently.
We got everybody wormed today. As we reported yesterday, Puppy George went to the clinic and he has hookworms. So, we put the right amount of Strongid wormer in everyone's meal, except for the picky eaters. Bobby is a picky eater, so he got a squirt in his mouth and wasn't very happy about that. The small dogs in H1 are picky eaters too so I'll worm them individually tomorrow. It was a good day today, not too hot. Tomorrow is Adoption Day. We have Boogie, Pudgie. Puppy Luz & Natasha (about four months old) and Rowdy.

Bill: Okay--we'll be back again tomorrow night with another report from Straydog.