I know this blog is supposed to be all about the pregnancy . . . but right now I’m concerned about my other “baby.” I mentioned yesterday that my dog, Nugget, was not feeling well, so I took her to the vet. After explaining to him that she hadn’t been eating all day and was completely lethargic . . . Nugget promptly bounced into his office, ran up to greet everyone, wagged her tail, and went scavenging for new discoveries all over his office. They had a jar of doggie treats, and they started tossing a few to her . . . and lo and behold, Nugget scarfed ALL of the treats down immediately. Naturally, I felt like an idiot, but was still convinced she was sick. They took her temperature, and it was really high (102.5), so at least that gave me some “proof” that I wasn’t completely insane. After checking her over, the vet determined that she has a skin infection (she ALWAYS has a skin infection) and that the medicines she takes to try and help keep her skin in order might be causing a mild gastro infection. He took some skin scrapings to verify the skin infection, and then we talked about a new treatment plan. We are going to switch her from daily prednisone pills to a steroid injection of dexamethasone every 2 weeks. The side effects should be far less than the daily pills, and will hopefully bring her the same benefit. He gave me a 20 day course of antibiotics for her to see if we can get her skin to heal up, and he sent me on my way!

I was filled with newfound relief that Nugget would quickly be back to her old self. Since her appetite had returned, I thought I would give her a treat. We dropped by my parents’ house, and there they have a bag of dog food for Demeter, my brother’s dog . . . Nugget tends to think of this stuff as “McDonald’s” – you know, kind of like the junk food mom never lets you eat. I put out 1/4 c for her, fully expecting her to scarf it down . . . and nothing. She didn’t even want to sniff it. She sat around and wallowed for about 1 hr before we left, although on the way out the door, she did eat 1 or 2 bites of food.

We got back home here, and again, no eating. I made her a big thing of white rice, thinking maybe I could coax her into eating that, but again, we barely got her to eat a tablespoon. Before bed, she did finish off the little bit of food that was in her bowl . . . maybe 1/4 cup?

This morning, we woke at the usual time, and she seemed much peppier. She followed me to the bathroom, and watched me while I got dressed, and when I suggested we go for a walk, most of her usual gusto returned and she bounced after me for our walk. When we came downstairs, I did a quick search for any vomit patches . . . and I found one. Except, it wasn’t normal vomit . . . it was a GIANT hairball, about 4 inches long. Naturally, you must be wondering why I was so convinced this was vomit (well, perhaps after you get over your disgust as I describe a giant puke hairball). It was in her normal puke spot, and it was mixed with the rice we fed her last night for dinner. Clearly, this came out of my dog, undigested. What concerned me the most was that it appeared to mostly be MY hair, not her fur. In recent months, she has developed a nasty habit of licking the carpet in the living room. Back and forth, all day. I thought it was gross, but haven’t really bothered to stop her. Of course, now I’m wondering if she managed to ingest enough of my stray hairs from licking the carpet that she now has a giant human hair blockage in her belly. Of course, seeing the hairball also gave me some relief. I mean, she threw it up, right? That must mean the blockage is gone and she should be feeling better.

After cleaning up the nasty hairball mess, we head outside for our walk. She has the normal spunk in her step, she keeps trying to eat everything disgusting, so I figure we are all good. She even “did her business” so I took that as another good sign that everything was working properly. We came back inside, and I scooped her food into her bowl – and much to my surprise, she looks at it and walks away. Still not eating! Have I mentioned that my dog NEVER doesn’t eat? She can have severe pancreatitis and spend 24 hours vomiting . . . and all she wants is to keep eating. In ten years, I have only once ever seen her lose her appetite . . that was following the great Father’s Day debacle of 2005, when she developed a severe case of gastroenteritis (thanks, in part, to 6 different family members deciding to feed the dog lox under the table all day!)

I called the vet again, and I think we need to figure out how to get back there for ANOTHER visit – and I need to bring the hairball. I’m a little afraid of the hairball . . . I think it might be alive, and it could possibly out-muscle me on the way to the vet. It is days like this I wish I took the dog to a more conveniently located vet. Wish us luck! I’m a little afraid we are dealing with a stomach or intestinal blockage that will require surgery.