The Stars Must Have Been Aligned

Yesterday started off as an ordinary day. I'm watching my son's two Weimeraners--they are a joy. Jack was a little stand offish--I thought perhaps he didn't like sharing attention and that his nose was a little out of joint. I took him for a short walk and he seemed fine. A couple of hours later, I asked the three dogs if they wanted a cookie (dehydrated sweet potato chip), and he did not react--just looked like an old sad sack. I got him to come into the room I was in, but I noticed when he went to step up to the room where his bed is, he could barely get his back legs up. Time for the vet.


Jack has a habit that he's had for years--before going out on the leash, he eats. That wasn't any different, yesterday, except that he may have eaten a little faster than usual. It dawned on me only later in the day that there had been food in Bella and Bogey's dishes (I switched them over to his food) and he probably gobbled that, too! That would have been a LOT of food. I got him to the vet, they did a thorough physical exam. They didn't find anything so they Xrayed and did blood work. They came flying back in to the room I was waiting in and threw up the film and showed me a belly full of food that they thought might be bloat. They said they were going to try to get him to throw up. They tried five times and had no luck. They called the specialty hospital that saved his life last year, and they said to bring him right in. They would need to keep him overnight, give him fluids, and watch to make sure he didn't need emergency surgery. My vet said we'd worry about orthopedic problems after the problem with his gut because if his stomach twisted, it could be fatal.


I got to the specialty center, which I am so grateful to have near me, and they took him right back and did a brief exam and verified that he might, indeed, have what could turn into bloat. I had to leave him. They called me several times through the night to give me status. Each status seemed to get less and less urgent. Finally, the good news, no bloat.


Time to address orthopedic issues. Initially, they thought he might have problems with his "knees" since they seemed thick, but they couldn't rule out hip or back. I got a call a little while ago that he has no arthritis, no sign of skeletal injury, but may have injured a muscle. (He did jump a fence to get to my daughter a week or so, ago, but showed no signs of injury at that time). I have seen him slip on our wood floors a couple of times, but no wincing, etc. Yesterday, I had trouble getting him in the truck when I took him to the vet, but none getting him out, even with the ramp--stepping up made him cry. He had been fine on his walk in the morning. 


So, he will be on some medication and will be going to physical therapy. For his almost 11 years, he's a very, very healthy pup. Blood work came back great--he'll get to go to a spa and walk on a tread mill under water.


You all may have heard my sigh of relief. After the scare last year, I practically had myself convinced that I was going to get bad news.


He is still my miracle dog, and at this point in my life, my significant other. All is well that ends well.

I took some pictures of the pups just yesterday morning. Bella and Bogey were making themselves comfortable laying on me. Jack is not a jealous dog and didn't mind the attention I showed them to make them comfortable away from their humans. He was napping after his walk, so when this picture was taken, I had no idea that complete chaos was headed my way!

Jack

Bella and Bogey