My Monthly Blog for February

This has not been a very fun month.

You know it is not going to be a fun month when you start it off by going to the vet for your annual checkup and shots. I was very nervous in the waiting area and then the vet tech took me away to poke me and make me bleed which wasn't nice. I came running back to Mommy in the waiting area and wanted to go home right then, but she said no. Then we went in the examining room. Usually I am impatient in the examining room waiting for my vet to come say hi, but ever since I had to spend all those days at the emergency vet I don't like the the examining room so I sat as close to Mommy as I could and I shook and shook an shook and whined. Then my vet came in and poke me and listened to my heart and stuff and said that all things considered I looked very good. Then she gave me my shots and told Mommy I had to come back in three weeks for ANOTHER SHOT!! Mommy and I were both surprised, but they have changed the Lyme shot so I had to come back. After I got the shots I ran to the door and shook and whined. The vet asked how my tummy had been and Mommy said, "Fine, but I suspect it isn't going to be after today." and she was right. Two days later I woke up feeling awful and I jumped out of bed and threw up in the hall, the living room and the kitchen. Mommy let me and out then put me on Carafate again, WHICH I HATE, but which I have to admit makes my tummy feel a lot better. After three days on Carafate I was back to my old self.

Then about a week later we had a great big snowstorm. Mommy took the day off and I got to go on a lot of snow walks with her. When we started our first walk there was about 3 inches of snow on the ground and by the time we got home there was over 6 inches! The next time we went out there was about 11 inches of snow. And by the time I went out before bed there was 14 inches of snow. This was shocking because the snow actually touched my belly when I walked in it! A couple days after the big storm I was trying to catch a squirrel who was on top of the fence and I pulled a muscle in my left hind leg trying to run through the high snow. It hurt a lot and Mommy said "no more long walks for you until that is healed" but I did get to walk to the feed store guys and get a freeze dried chicken treat from them (much to Mommy's horror). Then by Sunday I was driving her crazy so she broke down and took me for a 1.1 mile hike. I had a lot of fun, but by the time we were done my leg was hurting again. That night I felt really bad and had to have a pain pill. Well the next day between the upset from the injury and the chicken treat my tummy wasn't feeling good. It didn't stop me from eating Mommy's toast that morning, but while Mommy was out I pooped in the plant room. Back on Carafate I went.

After four days I felt better again and I got to be off the meds. Then that weekend the smoke detector's battery died and it went "BEEP!" around 6 p.m. Well beeps scare me A LOT (I have had panic attacks because smoke detectors have beeped on TV) and I was on Mommy's lap panting and shaking and whining all night. The smoke detector didn't beep again that night, and I was feeling happy enough to grab a bite of Mommy's pork curry at dinner when she got up to answer the phone, but the next night, right before bedtime it beeped again. Mommy put me outside so she could change the battery and I hid behind the yard shed while she was doing it. She discovered the replacement battery she had was old and so she had to just leave it batteryless until she could get a new one. I came back in reluctantly when Mommy called me and I looked up at the terrible beeping thing when I went into and out of the bedroom, but it stayed quiet for the rest of the night. Anyway, between the curry and the fear of beeps I pooped in the house again while Mommy was out the next day. So I'm back on Carafate AGAIN!!

Mommy realized that my second Lyme shot was today and she knew that if she let the vet tech take me into the back room to give me the shot my tummy would be really really bad so she called the vet and arranged for them to give me the shot in the back hallway with Mommy there. It didn't stop me from shaking and shaking and whining and running to the door as fast as I could when they were done though. So Mommy and I figure I will be on Carafate for about a week this time. Mommy says if I keep being so neurotic she is going to have to get me a prescription for Valium. I'm not sure if she is kidding or not.

P.S. Today is International Dog Biscuit Appreciation Day and because of my tummy I can't have any. That does not seem fair.