December 7, 2015

White Dog was going in and out the dog door at a VERY early hour for her, so my spidey-sense was already alert and tingling when Steve came in and said, "We have a problem."

Instantly I was sitting upright and fumbling for my glasses. "Who?" Thinking of ALL the possibilities. I was NOT expecting his answer.

"Opal is having very bloody diarrhea. From the looks of the deck it has been the case all night." "Bring her to me." I grabbed a towel to swaddle her. Steve came in with a trembling baby girl; Pearl velcroed to her side.

I felt around; no pain reaction. Good. Her eyes were fearful but clear. She was not struggling to break free. I spoke softly to her as I worked and Steve assisted. "Are you feel stressed out, Sweet Girl? You have been through so much. And now you are adjusting to all these new things as well. That could be enough to really rock your system."

Ferguson had a followup appointment with Dr. Julia for mid-morning. Thankfully, taking him off of the piroxicam and a few doses of the anti-diarrheal had him back to being normal and solid. So his visit would hopefully be short and sweet. "Maybe we can piggyback Opal onto Ferg's appointment," I thought out loud. "No one will be there for two hours or so yet but even if they have to move us to the end of the day to squeeze both in it would be OK."

Steve tossed out the idea of giving Opal a dose of the metronidazole that Dr. Julia had prescribed for Ferguson last week. They are nearly the same weight and her symptoms were every bit as serious looking...bright red blood in the stool. "It might get her system to calm down long enough to get to the office's opening and make the appointment. She is not on any other medication. The medical records we have don't show any issues she brings from the rescue."

I looked at Opal. "What do you think, Opal? Shall we give it a shot?" Her haggard look said,"Yes." Steve went to the kitchen for the pill.

Opal is too shy and timid to eat from the hand yet. So we decided that we would just have to put it directly down her throat. We discovered that Opal has the amazing skill of chewing and swallowing and still hiding the broken bits in her cheek until she could spit them out. After many attempts, and much concern from all of the WDA, we finally got her to finish the dose.

We were able to keep the morning appointment and bring Opal along. Ferguson got a clean bill of health and a positive pat from Dr. Julia for his good attitude. She agreed that we should continue the metronidazole for Opal and took a fecal sample to send out. "Probably just a bout of stress colitis but let's be safe."

Already the medication seems to be helping and Opal had a tremendous appetite for dinner. We should have test results tomorrow to rule out anything out of the blue.

And Fergus? He is good until next month when we re-xray to look at the tumor growth.

We got home and dropped into chairs. Every pup greeted Opal and Ferguson...and then eyes turned to Steve..."Breakfast, dad? It is late and we are STARVING!"