An update on Missy

We just got home from the vet and Missy is doing great. We got to sit in a room with her and she was eating up all of the attention from us. She kept going from person to person looking for scratches or pats.

The Dr today came in and talked to us and said she's doing pretty good but is still not out of the woods until about 48hours after the surgery. Her temperature has been normal and she is drinking small amounts of water and her digestive system has not reacted to any of the food or drinks so that is promising. Poor thing is on a bland medicated food diet and keeps turning her nose up to it.

Everyone in the office loves her so she is getting lots of attention and love. It will be so nice to have her back home. We all miss her including Bailey and Whiskers. It sounds like we will be able to bring her home tomorrow either late morning or afternoon sometime.

A Missy Scare

On Monday when the vet came out and we were out with the horses our healthy nine year old (er young) dog Missy had a panic attack and ate the corner of a thin table runner rug.

She didn't eat a lot of the rug it was just a little off of the corner. We contacted our old vet office in Denver and they said that we could give her something to induce vomiting but they recommended bringing her in and letting them do it or to not do anything and just watch her. We decided since not that much of the rug was chewed and since it's so thin that maybe it would be best to watch her.

She vomited a little within the hour after she ate it. No rug came up. Then she seemed fine and even ate a little and drank a little. We all went to bed.

At 4:00AM Tuesday mom and dad were woken up to Missy getting sick. Around 8:00 when most offices open mom called a few vets to see if we could bring Missy in to have someone look at her. Our normal vet (who came out with the horses) doesn't have an x-ray machine so he suggested a different vet. We ended up making an appointment for Missy with a vet in Pelican about 20 to 30 minutes away.

We drove to the vet, they took her in the back and took an x-ray of her, then they brought her back to the waiting room and told us what a sweet wonderful dog she is and how much they loved her, then they brought us into the back to look at the x-ray. They pointed out the stomach and that they could only see half of it because of her rib cage but that it showed something in it. They said it could be the grass that she had eaten or a little bit of the rug that she ate. They sent her home with orders for us to watch her and wanted us to bring her back in the morning for another x-ray to see where everything was at.

We left the vet and decided to drop by a friends house for a minute to say hello. On the way to his house Missy got sick in the car. We changed our mind about seeing our friend and decided to just take her home. On the drive back to the house we called the vet. They said to just keep and eye on her. She got sick throughout the day and night every 2 to 3 hours. We called the vets office again. I described to the tech everything that had happened with Missy, how often she was getting sick, what was in it, and how weak she was getting. The tech called the vet (who was on her way home) and said she'd call me back. They called back and said to just keep an eye on her, not give her anything to eat or drink tonight, and to bring her in first thing in the morning when they opened.

At around 8:00PM Tuesday night she vomited up the rug. It was a lot more than we thought that she had eaten. We kept watching her and checking on her and she didn't get sick any more. Every time we went in with her she seemed more alert and like she was feeling better. We even got some tail wagging and a roll over for a tummy rub.

At 4:00AM Wednesday morning Missy got sick again. That was the last time. Mom sat with her for a while after that. When I got up I helped bring her outside and she was so weak she'd take a step and then lay down. I went in the house to get a couple of bath towels to put around her waist and behind her front legs to help support her so that she could go potty. She didn't do anything. I carried her back in the house and watched her. She acted like she was going to get sick again so I carried her back outside. She didn't do anything just layed down. Now we waited for time to pass so we could bring her to the vet.

At 7:30 I carried her to the car and shimmied inside with her. Mom and I sat in the back so that we could both watch her and help if she got sick. She settled down and slept almost the entire way to the vet.

We pulled up to the vet and I carried her inside. The staff was shocked that she was being carried in. I sat her on the floor when my arms got weak from holding her (50 something pounds) and she layed down. The vet had us bring her into a room and was shocked by how fast she had gone downhill. She took her temperature and the thermometer came out bloody. She informed us that we may have to do surgery. She took Missy into the back and had a tech bring us papers to sign to authorize surgery. They told us that they would give us a call around late morning to let us know how she was doing and let us know when they would be doing the surgery.

They called mid morning and said they were about to begin the emergency surgery and that she was going downhill fast and that she was going into shock. We were all devastated to hear the news. They started the two hour surgery around 11:30. By 2:00 we still hadn't heard anything. But no news is good news... so we talked about calling to find out then decided to wait.

One minute after we decided not to call, the vet called us. She told us that she made it out of surgery and that they removed a lot of rug and bile from her stomach. She apologized about taking so long to call but they had been watching Missy and she was taking a long time to wake up from the anaesthesia. She said that during the surgery her vitals and breathing stayed normal through out.

We went to visit Missy about 15 minutes till 5:00 before they closed. She was in a sitting position but she was still out of it. Her eyes were glazed and when she tried to focus the poor thing went cross eyed. They said that she is not out of the woods yet-- now we have to watch for infection. We sat with Missy and talked to her and the vet tech until they were ready to close. They told us how during surgery they keep a dog under the anaesthesia at a 2. They had to keep Missy at a half. She said that normally before a surgery they draw blood and do blood work to check and make sure all of the organs are okay. We told them to draw the blood and run the tests while she is there so that we know how everything is. It was time to go so we said our goodbyes and they said the morning vet would call between 8:00 and 9:00 to let us know how she is doing.

They called before 9:00 this morning and said that she is doing great! They said she is a lot more perky and that she went outside and went potty on her own this morning. They are very happy with where she is at. We are going to go and see her again in an hour or two and the vet is going to let us know how the blood test turned out.

As long as everything keeps going well Missy should be able to come home tomorrow.

As a word of advice to anyone who has a dog or cat who may eat carpet, a rug, a sock, a coat, a net, anything that can get blocked or wrapped around something be sure to take them in to a vet as soon as you realize what they ate. Don't assume that it was a small amount that will pass. Let a vet be the one to tell you that. The sooner you get them in the less they may have to do to save them and the less serious the condition may be. I guarantee that we have learned our lesson and we will not be taking any chances again.

Proud

Woke up to wind this morning and it has been blowing all day (still is).


The vet was scheduled to come out this afternoon to give the horses their spring vaccines. I was nervous about it since we have two horses who are bear-cats for the vet and we all know how horses can be when there is wind or bad weather involved.


Pebbles who is usually the worst with the vet went first. She did some circling, snorting, and more circling, got her two shots and wormer then was all done. Usually it is a battle with her to get her to hold still long enough to let the vet give her any medicine.


Sweetie, Sundance, and Shoshoni stood there like troopers and were done quickly.


Tabasco is the other bear-cat. Lives up to his name maybe? lol No he is a sweetheart, he's just a prankster sometimes too... He did some sniffing on the vet then circling a couple of times then was done.


Needless to say all five of our horses made me very PROUD!


Now for a little bit of backtracking... before the windy day I spent some time grooming all of the horses but mainly Sundance since he had knots in his mane and needed his bridal path trimmed again. It's also that time of year when they start shedding and all of the horses are itchy so they appreciate a good grooming! :)






I love Sundance's palomino spots! ;)







Sundance eating up some attention from
Grandma

Not much to blog about

There has not been much to blog about lately. We've been getting hit with some heavy storms the last few days. First with rain, lightning, and thunder that shook the entire house. Now it is snow with drifts as tall as me (I'm 5'9). We had winter storm watches and blizzard warnings last night. It was still snowing this morning when we went out and did chores and I think it is finally (knock on wood) dying down a little.

Since there isn't much to write about I will just post some pictures that I took before the bad weather hit.

The day of these pictures I was out grooming the horses and Teena our little deer neighbor decided to come out to say hello. She seems really taken with the horses and she actually came out there this morning when we were doing chores. She even layed down while we were feeding everyone! Anyway, the horses don't really know what to make of her. They peek through the pannels at her--except Tabasco who sticks his head through the pannels to see a little better... and Sweetie being the curious mother hen that she is waited patiently watching Teena. The little doe eventually got brave enough to come over and touch noses with Sweeite then go back to grazing.

Above: Shoni watching Teena the deer


Below: Shoni and Tabasco (with his head through

the pannel) watching Teena

Above: Sweetie and Teena checking each other out

Above: Pebbles sniffing a little black bird

Below: Sundance being the lookout

Just a few photos...

I just wanted to pop in for a minute to put up a few photos of the horses. :D I'm hoping the weather is nice tomorrow so that I can take more photos of the horses and get some serious grooming done. This MN mud is like rock when it dries. Yuck.

I went a little crazy playing with eye shots of some of the horses and thought that these three were pretty awesome. The ones below are of Sweetie (1st picture) and Tabasco (2nd picture). It is so comical how much they look alike. Tabasco could pass for Sweeties colt. :D

On a side note I thought that I would include a few pictures of our newest neighbor. She is a lone deer yearling? She stays in the neighborhood and you see her almost daily. Isn't she the cutest? I love that long tail of hers!

A Solution!!!!!!!!!

One of our new neighbors offered us a solution to our horses in mud dillema!!! He has offered to let us move all five of the horses to his back field that is next to our house. And the better news? All of them are already moved and settling into their new digs!

I have never seen horses roll so much in all my life. At one point Sweetie, Sundance, and Shoni (a horse in each of the three pens) were rolling at the same time! Now the only thing that I can slightly complain about is the cockleburrs... the horses roll and get clumps of them in their manes and on their coats. But it is only temporary and at least they are not in the mud any more.

I can't wait until we get a building up and get everything set up for them.

MUDDDDDDDD!

Ok I officially HATE mud! We have been having pretty warm weather here and whatever left over snow is melting. The trouble is that our property is hilly (is that a word?) and all of the melting water runs down the hill to sit in the horse pens and the driveway. We have tried scooping the mud out of the pens, pulling the snow away from the pens, creating a small trench in the pens so the water can run out, buying stall mats for the horses to stand on, and even piling mud around the pens as a barrier to keep the water out. Of course none of it has worked.



Someone suggested laying down corn stalks to help absorb the mud and that he knows a guy who can possibly get us a truck load to try. It sounds kind of expensive and messy to clean up lol. We also contacted a couple of boarding facilities to try and keep the horses there until we can get our place set up for them. One place seemed really nice but his idea for separating the horses made me a little nervous. Also the type of fencing that he had set me on edge. The babies have never had any other kind of fencing other than panels and I would rather not have them run through a fence or roll under one (Tabasco) at someone elses place.


Hopefully we can figure something out soon. Keep your fingers crossed for us.