My BFF and her husband have been living in WY for the last few years, and last week they moved (back) to the Denver metro. They have a Chocolate Lab named Sid and since they left for a vacation in Europe, I'm dog sitting. Sid was a shelter dog they got around 2 years old, 6 years ago. He's gettin' up there, his hips are bad, he's overweight, but a really sweet dog. Anyway, my friend dropped him off on Wednesday along with a bottle of antibiotics, because he's got an ear infection AND a chronic sinus infection, which makes him spew snot everywhere, sneeze, wheeze, cough, and pant really loudly, like a freight engine. We're all miserable, he doesn't sleep, he's not feeling good, he's clingy, paces... it's not good. He's under stress - his family moved last week, this week, he's in my care, they're expecting a baby in October, so they're collecting kid stuff - big life changes all happening to this sweet fella. Anyway, things are not great, he's restless and uncomfortable, sneezing, congested, etc. So no one slept Wednesday night. Last night, we broke out the ear plugs and it was better, but he still spent the night whining and pacing, spewing snot, and panting heavily. When we woke up this morning, there was a big pile of puke by our back door, and then he vomited again shortly after we fed him his breakfast. So, I took him to the vet this morning and asked them if there was something we could do. They did blood work (thinking it might be a reaction to the antibiotic, or pancriatitus) and it came back "beautiful." So, they did an x-ray and... there appears to be a blockage in his stomach. The next steps in this process are to feed him Barium and more x-rays to see if it's something that might pass, or if they need to do surgery. Soooo... I've gotta figure out what's OK to do to him (we're already $250 or so into diagnosis, the Barium series will be another $300-$500, and surgery will be about $1200). If it were Nikolai, it'd be a no-brainer, I'd move heaven and earth to do it to make my boy happy, healthy, and comfortable, but Sid isn't my dog. Since he's older and stressed out, he's... hard to love (Chris has dubbed him "Slime-ooo" and my trainer was absolutely grossed out the door when he sneezed big long green strings of snot all over). When I was helping my friends move last week, his "dad" said "if he gets out, don't bother lookin' for him, it's OK..." and his "mom" left instructions not to do "heroic measures" if he were to get hit by a car or something... but OMG, I am *NOT* going to be the one to have this poor guy put down, and... it's the worst thing ever. So, I'm burning up the phone lines to get them to call me back so they can decide his care. Not a happy place to be. :-(

ETA: THEY CALLED BACK and have OK'd the recommended course of treatment. So, we'll have the Barium series and x-rays done today, and if needed, surgery first thing tomorrow.

Oh no, poor old man! I hope everything works out alright for him. And for you guys, get some sound rest!

I recently had to look after my fathers 14year old Retriever. She's got such bad arthritis that I could barely get her out for walks. That stressed me out enough as it was, I can only imagine looking after poor Sid!

Oh Kate!!! i just met with Claudia and i asked where you have been.... guess you just answered that. im so sorry you are having to do this for not even your own dog, glad they got back to you but who just moves then goes on a vacation.... i hope the treatment works for him, keep us up dated. HUGS!!!

*BIG HUGS*!!
I know they are your friends, but Jenn's right....who moves with an almost senior (if not senior) dog and then goes on vacation only to leave him in an unfamiliar surronding, with unfamiliar people, and feeling not so good???

I'm sorry you're having to go through this. At least when I had Sully, he wasn't throwing up or blowing gross snot out of his nose

At least they called back....Let me know if there's anything I can do to help....

You guys are great, thank you for the support! The update from Dr. Miller is pretty good: the barium is moving through his system... his "60 minute" film shows that barium is leaving his stomach and he hasn't vomited, but it's not leaving quite like it should - there still some in his stomach (which isn't normal, it should be out by now). If he continues the way he's going right now, we will be picking him up at 5:30 and just watching to make sure he's still passing food/water, etc. I'll know more when I call back around 5:15... at the moment though, it looks like the barium may be helping the situation, making whatever is causing the blockage heavy enough to be passed *fingers crossed!* thus making surgery unnecessary. Keep sending good thoughts!

And Jenn/Claudia - I've been MIA this week because my sweet spouse has turned my "staycation" into a "slavecation" - we've been supervising contractors who sanded and stained our deck and another company who epoxy'd our garage floor... and now we're cleaning out the office, doing some paperwork, and watching Sid. I just came in from spackling/patching the million and seven holes in our garage in preparation of sanding then priming and painting. WOOOooo... I know how to have fun. ;-) This time "off" isn't really restful, but we have a lot of good stuff to show for it. :-)

Keep us posted and sending good thoughts!

If I ever take a staycation (and I have thought about it) I would be doing what your doing! I might take a 4 day weekend to do the bathroom once we have the money to finish it...

Fingers and paws crossed he doesn't need surgery!!!

Ok, here's the latest. I picked Sid up at 5:45 after 4 sets of x-rays watching the barium work its way through his system (very slowly). Thankfully, the blockage hasn't moved into his colin, so surgery isn't something they have to do RIGHT NOW. If the barium showed something lurking in there, he'd be on the table ASAP. He didn't puke up his dinner (we spread it out on a cookie sheet and he ate it much more slowly), so that's also a very good sign. On our walk a few minutes ago, he had two (TWO!) huge, white, barium/liquid BMs. So stuff is moving through like it should. I think I can confidently say that surgery tomorrow morning isn't absolutely necessary, IF he needs it, it can probably wait until his family gets back. There's something in there, with bizzarly lacey/fluffy looking edges, and I'm taking him in tomorrow morning bright and early to have one last x-ray to make sure all the barium has left his stomach. If it's STILL there, or if he's still pukey, we'll talk options at that point.

Dr. Miller gave me a bottle of Homeopet to calm him down (I think stress/anxiety was going a long way toward working him up to coughing/sneezes/spewfests) so chilling him out and taking the edge off is helping him to lay down and be quiet. The silence is golden.

...and, as I write this, he vomited by the door. Two fister. Gag. Off to go do cleanup and analysis.

OK, cleanup wasn't too bad. It was ALL of his inhaled, still recognizable, kibble dinner and a little bit of the barium. :-( Not good.

Oh man kate, I'm so sorry your dealing with this, its not even your dog! I hope your friend realizes the stress she left you with on your week off! Do u think its something he ate at your place or do you think it was B4 u got him?

Oh, Kate! I'm so sorry you're having to go through this on your staycation!

I hope your friend knows how BIG of a friend she has in you!!!

Well, I just sent off a massive email with all the details to Sid's Mom. I know she's worried about him (she emailed me to tell me how much she appreciates everything). I've known her since 6th grade - she was my matron of honor, one of maybe three people I'd trust to help me bury a body and not ask questions. ;-) She looks over my taxes every year (usually on or around the 15th of April with no complaints or bitching! HA!). Caring for her dog isn't a chore, it's just part of being a caring friend. I can handle pretty much anything.

Anyway, Sid's been wiped out and sleeping since he upchucked the latest bunch. I took a photo of his vomit pile for Dr. Miller *lol* and we'll be headed to bed soon and back at the Dr. first thing tomorrow. We're gonna give him a benadryl/simply sleep (vet approved) so we can all sleep and be functional tomorrow. I'll update again when I know more.

Right now, I'm not mourning the loss of my staycation - we really have gotten a lot of good things done... after dinner, I sanded down our garage walls and cleaned up with the blower/shop vac, so we're ready to roll primer when we get back from the vet tomorrow morning. ;-) WOOHOO!!

You're a godsend, Kate!
She's extremely lucky to have you as a friend! (I consider you a friend, so I consider myself extremely lucky too!)

I'm glad to hear you all got some sleep.

Sounds like you and Sid are in very good, caring hands with Dr. Miller!

Hope things look better for Sid today.

(Don't you just love her?!)

Aww, Kate! I'm just seeing this now. What a good friend and a lucky dog. Keep us posted.

Hope Sid is doing better!

Well, the good news is Sid is still alive and doing OK. The mass/blockage in his stomach hasn't moved to his intestines, so that's a good thing... but it's still there and it's keeping him on a liquid diet until his family gets back and can be with him for surgery and recovery. I just don't have the resources to be able to pay for his surgery up front and take the time off to be with him while he recovers post-op, besides, he probably needs a few other things done while he's under anyway (massive need for teeth to be cleaned, has a fatty tumor where his leg and belly meet, may need to have his sinuses flushed...) so, we're in a holding pattern until his Mom is back Wednesday night/Thursday morning.

At least he hasn't gotten worse.
Hang in there Kate!

I can't wait for Thursday. I am sick of cleaning up snot and boogers all over my house... seriously, there are crunchies all over the place by where he sleeps and sneezes. I just want to break out the steam cleaner and carpet shampooer and clean the snot out of EVERYTHING (literally!!). Yuck yuck yuck yuck... *shudder*

Do you think it'd be too much to ask my friend for the $650 for vet bills, and $20 for a bottle of carpet cleaning solution?

CoffeeK8 wrote:

Do you think it'd be too much to ask my friend for the $650 for vet bills, and $20 for a bottle of carpet cleaning solution?

Too much to ask for her to pay for vet bills for HER dog?? Heck no!! That should be a given on her part. You shouldn't have to ask for it, rather, she should KNOW she owes you THAT, and she shouldn't have to make you wait very long.

Too much to ask for $20 for a bottle of carpet cleaner? Heck no!! That's cheap!! If she is your good friend like you say she is, you shouldn't feel bad to ask her to pay for carpet cleaners to come do it - you can find some company to come clean 2 rooms for cheap!

Maybe this is just me, but if you had to watch my 2 and they messed your carpets, I would OFFER to get your carpets cleaned! And if you had to take them to the vet, I would call my vet to give them my credit card number so YOU wouldn't have to deal with the expense AT ALL!

Anyway....that's just me...

Yeah - you're right. If it were Nikolai, I'd be on the phone at midnight in London with my CC number on hand. I know they're good for it and will be paying me back for the vet bills, but given the stern "no heroic measures" warning I got before they left, and then $650 of diagnostics, is, well... making me wonder. They're sort of in a financial mess at the moment, too - they just moved into a small one bedroom apartment because the company her hubby co-owns and works is on a complete spending freeze for 3 years (he and the other partner are not taking any salary, instead they're reinvesting everything into growing the company), she doesn't work because she's pregnant (high risk after a loss last year), and well... they were talking about saving up for moving into a two bedroom apartment next year after the baby arrives.

Her hubby did however offer to hire a yard cleanup service for us after Sid's stay (before any of this vet stuff hit), because he knows "how much of a poop machine that dog is." *lol*

im with Claudia on that one! i think she could get you one of those "groupon" deals for a house cleaning, they have them like every week and i would have called the vet and paid the bill over the phone, now she is out of the country so its a different story but i would have the vet bill out and ready for when they pick him up and say here are the bill for Sid and if its not to much trouble can you pay me back by tue. as that credit card bill is due next week.... thanks and i hope you get him better soon!


hang in there Kate and enjoy your iced coffee!!!!

OK, thanks... just wanna make sure I'm not off base here. ;-)

Yup, the coffeeeeeeeee is divine. :-) Might have to fix myself more when I go home to check on the monsters at lunch. Bwahahahahaa...

CoffeeK8 wrote:

Do you think it'd be too much to ask my friend for the $650 for vet bills,

Geez you better hope she doesn't plead poverty and tell you to keep Mr Boogers.

Here4thePics wrote:

CoffeeK8 wrote:

Do you think it'd be too much to ask my friend for the $650 for vet bills,

Geez you better hope she doesn't plead poverty and tell you to keep Mr Boogers.

Is it bad that I laughed out loud like, LOUDLY when I read that?! Yeah, Chris is sooooo not a fan of Slime-ooo... Chris is trying to convince me to find a vet that does "special needs boarding" for our remaining two days.

Whatever happened with this poor baby?