Princess Danica has the flu.

I know that you are probably SO SICK of hearing about our dogs but… I’m going to talk about them anyway and I mean, THIS IS OUR LIFE!

For instance, Saturday! Saturday we met a bunch of folks at the dog park to celebrate the birthday of two of our favorite puppies, Max and Reyna. There was a special cake for the dogs and I picked up some cute gifts for both of them. After that we dropped the dogs off at home and met some of the dog park folks at a local restaurant for a late lunch.

Then Sunday! Sunday we met some amazing friends, Kim and Melanie (who we met AT THE DOG PARK), at a local breakfast place. We are dog people now. Especially weekends like this one where Cassidy is out of town at her dad’s house.

Also, Danica is sick. I noticed last Thursday that she felt a bit warm to me but didn’t think much of it. Then Friday I slept till almost 2:00PM because I was in a Benadryl coma to get rid of the HORRIBLE sinus headache (which is back by the way YAY!) and the last half of the day was driving Cassidy to her dad’s house so didn’t really become concerned till Saturday morning that she seemed to have started some odd eating practices.

We are VERY routine with the dogs and they have grown very used to that so when something is different, it’s pretty easy to spot right away. At dinner time they have to sit and then down in the blue room, wait for us to fill their bowls, then when we say “take it” they know they are allowed to eat. They will not eat till you give the command. I’ve accidentally left the room without giving the command and come back like 10 minutes later and they are still laying there and Danica is three feet deep in drool.

One thing that is VERY routine is Danica’s appetite. When you give that command, she is like LIGHTNING on that bowl of food. She also steals chickens off the counter and eats them. And blueberry muffins. And defrosting ground turkey. And the girl has never met a treat, carrot, ice cube, spoonful of peanut butter or piece of chicken she won’t eat. And by eat I mean swallow whole. She has no time for any of this CHEWING stuff.

So when I gave the command Saturday morning and she just sat there I knew something was wrong. Even when I was able to coax her over to her bowl she wouldn’t eat. I got her to take a few bites by hand feeding her a single kibble at a time. Sometimes she’d take a mouth full of kibble and then just drop it all on the floor next to her bowl. We’d finally coax her into eating about 1/2 to 3/4 of her food in the morning then at night and when she got treats at the dog park she ate them but slowly. Like, she actually CHEWED them instead of swallowing them whole.

Then Sunday she started to be really… odd when eating. I can’t even explain it. Luckly, this morning Ben grabbed the camera and got some video:

He called and made an appointment for this afternoon.

Now, I will say that we changed her bowl about two weeks ago and getting her to use it was a chore (ROUTINE! DON’T MESS WITH IT) and so I thought maybe she just hates this bowl! But even when I put her food into her old bowl, she’s still not eating well and it takes a lot of coaxing her to eat it.

Then at the vet today the first thing they did was take her temperature and she had a fever. 🙁 103 and normal for a dog is around 101. I felt like an ASSHOLE because I immediately thought back to Thursday when I thought she felt hot and dismissed it as being overly cautious. They said they could give her some broad spectrum antibiotics to cover any infection and keep an eye on her or do a blood test to pinpoint exactly what kind of infection she has. I could tell by his voice that he was trying not to push it on me because it’s expensive and I was like DO THE TEST, STOP TALKING! I couldn’t get the words out fast enough. No question, it’s money which sucks but FIX MY PUPPY.

He took her back for the blood draw, gave her a shot to take down the fever and then got her some water because he could tell she was dehydrated and of course she wouldn’t drink any of it.

Then I sat there.

For 15 minutes.

Scared out of my mind. He seemed concerned, the nurse seem concerned, she won’t drink, she won’t eat the chicken baby food they are offering her, something is really wrong. I am in the room alone with Danica looking at me like this for 15 minutes and it takes every ounce of willpower not to cry. I am scared.

Poor sick Danica.  :(

He finally comes back in and… she’s just dehydrated. Other then those results, she is a REALLY healthy dog. One of the healthiest he’s seen in awhile! It’s probably just a virus. Get her to drink as much as you can, mix some boiled chicken in with her food, keep an eye on her stool and don’t get concerned unless she has bad diarrhea or can’t keep her food down and if she’s still not eating and lethargic on Wednesday, bring her back.

I feel so bad for her. 🙁 She’s not playing very much and she’s not drinking. I did get her to eat all her food tonight for dinner and I’ve been tricking her into “drinking” by giving her ice cubes which she loves but she hasn’t gone over to try and drink out of her dish on her own at all. I just wish there had been SOME definite answer other than “she probably has a virus, keep an eye on her”.

And I’m SUCH a worrier. I don’t like it when a family member is sick and I can’t be there to watch over them every second of the day. I’m sure like he said she’ll be fine in a few days but the overprotective mother in me is not going to be happy or get any sleep till I see her stealing chicken breasts off the counter again. And not chewing. And chasing Kumo around the house driving him crazy.

And I promise next time I post it there will be NO DOG TALK.

Maybe.

Yeah, that was probably a lie.

The End.

4 thoughts on “Princess Danica has the flu.

  1. Poor sweet girl. I hope she’s feeling better soon.

    Also – my mom tried changing the dog bowls from porcelain to stainless steel. The pug was all “YAY FOOD. NOM NOM NOM” and didn’t even notice, but the cocker spaniel was NOT HAVING ANY OF THIS SHINY BOWL BULLSHIT and refused to eat until she put his food back in the RIGHT bowl.

  2. Oh no, I hope she starts to feel better! You can tell by looking at her she’s a healthy little girl and I’m sure she’ll pull through in a few days.

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