Wednesday, May 28, 2008

Good puppy

So, I'm driving home yesterday and I get a text from Mrs. SFC B. "Zoe is vomiting, going to take her to the vet." I know what she's thinking, she's worried about the dog having parvo. For those who don't like to click things, BLUF: parvo is a virus which will seriously dehydrate an animal and can kill them through secondary infections. It's very resiliant and it's a problem here in Arizona. Zoe hasn't had all of her boosters, and even then they're not 100% effective so it's something we need to keep an eye on. If caught early enough the animal has a decent chance of surviving. Although the virus can't be treated, the symptoms (dehydration) can. End result: Mrs. SFC B taking Zoe to the vet.

About a month ago Mrs. SFC B had come into the office where I was hard at work and told me she though Zoe might have parvo and she was going to take her to the vet. Mrs. SFC B's indication that Zoe might have contracted the virus was that she was acting lethargic. I'd never heard of parvo at this point in my life so I quickly practive my Google-fu and check the list of symptoms. Lethargy is right up there, however vomiting and diahrrea are as well. To my knowledge she hadn't demonstrated either. So I go downstairs to check on our lethargic puppy and I'm attacked. Mucho puppy love. Zoe is bouncing, yipping, wagging her tail, basically acting in every non-lethargic way possible. Mrs. SFC B and I agree that, she doesn't have it.

I admit to being worried when I got that text saying she was vomiting. I took Zoe for walks with me in the morning, and while I was vigilant about keepng her away from non-Zoe poop, I was worried I'd exposed her to the virus. I head to the vet to meet w/ Mrs. SFC B and the puppy. I'm quickly led to the room where they are and, as usual, I'm greeted with a very happy puppy showing no signs of distress. At least no signs until she had a swab stuck up her butt and got a couple of shots. She tested negative (yay!) but we were told that she might still have it but hadn't started to shed the virus, so the very nice vet told us to keep an eye on her and watch for several symptoms, most important is lethargy.

Up to this point I'd been told time and time again how Zoe was throwing-up anything she ate or drank as soon as she consumed it. I even saw the towel Mrs. SFC B used to clean it up, and the stain on the patio. At some point that afternoon Zoe had been a very sick dog (that or bulemic). We get home and give Zoe water; no issues. Give her some more; no issues. She is running, jumping, being the exact same hyper ball of fluff she's always been.

Work days I usually wake up around 5, watch SportsCenter, let Zoe into the backyard, and do things like write blog posts and read/ respond to email (I have like 8 billion euros waiting for me from the various lotteries I've won). When I woke up there was Zoe, in her little caged off area running in circles waiting for me to take her out.

While we're not out of the woods yet (if she's symptom free for another 12 hours this will have been, officially, a false alarm) it's looking good. When I left this morning the puppy was doing her little "I'll knife ya! I'm crazy!" schtick with the cat, which is a good thing.

Anyways, time to head off to the office. Have a good one y'all!

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