two dolla

your nightly dog update

Riley saw his (and my) favorite vet today. She took great care of him. All of his tests are concerned levels are just a shade above where they’re supposed to be. He’s responded extremely favorably to being rehydrated via IV.

He’s so tired now. Not in a lethargic way, but more of a “Jesus, just let me sleep as much as you normally do!” way. He’s had enough energy to jump over boxes, play in the snow, pull my arm out of its socket, and make sure he’s no less than 10 feet from any human.

The method that we’re treating him at home involves shooting electrolyte IVs into him, between the skin and the muscle. Then he gets bloated wherever he gets the injection. Right now, my dog looks like he has a goiter and his skin is all jiggly. It’s very sad.

He gets home treatment tomorrow and what’s looking like more blood tests on Tuesday. And on Thursday we have to finish paying the rest of our deposit and half of January’s rent. Hopefully with my charm and good lucks, because that’s about all that we’ve got to give after this weekend’s dog emergency.

an update on the mutt

Getting a dog to sit still so he can be hooked up to an IV overnight is not one of the easiest things I’ve ever done. We got through about 3/4 of the first bag before Riley ripped the catheter out. He was fast asleep and then all of a sudden jumped off the couch, yanking the catheter right out. After a quick call to the Animal Emergency Clinic in St. Paul, we headed over to get it fixed.

The attending vet at the e-clinic was extremely confused by our lack of knowledge of what was going on. You’re not the only one, lady. Turns out the two elevated levels that Dr. Doogie had mentioned in such a fashion that sent me into hysterics weren’t really that high. They were just slightly above what they were supposed to be. The Emergency Doctor promised Riley wasn’t going to die tomorrow, and I appreciated her humor when she followed that up with, “But if for some reason he does, I don’t want you coming in here with a gun.”

The Emergency Doctor wasn’t able to adjust the catheter, because it wasn’t against her policy to do that. I was a little irritated by it, until she mentioned that she could send us home with needles to get the IV into Riley even quicker. She was extremely surprised that Dr. Doogie hadn’t mentioned that at all. No big shocker there, since I’m pretty sure Dr. Doogie is a halfway incompetent ass clown. Only $101 later, we were on our way home at 4:30 a.m. with some needles to give Riley the electrolytes that he needed to fix the levels in his blood.

We got home and The General,  having given subq treatments to a rabbit before , started in on Riley right away. They took a break 1/3 of the way through the bag and Riley’s energy was just ridiculous. It was almost impossible to tell he hadn’t slept for hours, because all he wanted to do was play. It was very exciting. He got the rest of the treatment and we called it a night at 6:00 a.m. He was so tired. He ended up peeing while he was sleeping, but I probably have two if someone just put two bags of fluid into me.

It was back to the vet this morning at 10:00 a.m. All of us were in a complete daze, having got maybe two hours of sleep the night before. Riley’s regular doctor was there and was immediately concerned when we told her what was going on. We left him there, and she called just a bit ago. His levels of concern were down; the fluids had improved them considerably, especially considering it had only been one night of treatment.

For instance, his Creatinine levels yesterday afternoon were 2.2. The normal range is between 0.5 and 1.8. This morning, they’re down to 1.9. His BUN tested at 52 mg/dL yesterday; today it’s down to 41. The range on that is between 7 and 27. His regular doctor is extremely encouraged by the way he’s responding to the fluids.

Riley’s still at the vet and they’re hooking him up to an IV until 3pm. We’ll go get him then, and do some more subq treatments all day tomorrow. Thankfully, they’re being extremely flexible on payments for me, because HOLY SHIT. Don’t get me wrong – he’s worth every last penny and then some. But having just put down a deposit on a new apartment, cash is stretched pretty thin and sometimes even almost non-exisitent. We’ll figure it out; we always do. It’s just a little scary right now.

But not nearly as scary as last night, when the idea that my 3 1/2 year old dog, who is in fantastic spirits, was having life-threatening kidney issues was in my head. Thank you for all the good thoughts and if you could continue to send them our way, I know we’d all appreciate it very much.

riley’s urine and his bladder and his kidneys

On Thursday, The General and I noticed Riley being weird. Not weird like wanting to carry around a ball of yarn all day, but weird like sticking to The General’s side like glue. A trip to the bathroom by The General, meant Riley was going to sit on the bathroom rug, which is located four inches from the toilet. As soon as I got home from work, the peeing started. Almost every hour on the hour, Riley was having some sort of pee attack that ended up on the carpet in some fashion. (Thankfully, we’re moving soon.)

This carried on all of Thursday, including an accident or two overnight, and all day Friday. This morning, I’d kind of had enough and called the vet. We ended up taking Riley in about 11:00 a.m. this morning to have some tests done that were covered under his monthly insurance plan. (Yes, I have a monthly insurance plan for my dog.)

I got a call from the Vet that I like to call Doogie Howser. His normal one works on Sundays now. Doogie said that the urinalysis didn’t indicate a bladder infection, but wanted to run some blood tests to rule out kidney problems. An hour or so late, he called again to let me know that the blood test indicated Riley had elevated levels of Creatine and Blood Urea Nitrogen. His kidneys aren’t filtering the urine; it’s just running right through him. Doogie wanted me to hospitalize Riley overnight so he could get some IV fluids in him and try to get re-hydrated. Commence pathetic sobbing here. They money, which would have been a lot, wasn’t my main concern; my main concern was my poor dog being in a cage all night with scary tubes running in his leg.

We wound up getting approval to bring him home, as long as we were able to get two IV bags in him by 10:00 a.m. tomorrow morning. Two extremey amatuer nurses, one dog who doesn’t understand why he’s been prodded at all day long, and another dog very concerned about his big brother’s bandaged up arm? Makes for an interesting bunch of people.

Tonight, he is happy to be home and I just fed him one of the light-sensitive pills they gave me. But my little puppy’s home with me and that makes us both very happy.

just a friendly reminder

Tomorrow is the last day you can vote for Riley in the Star Tribune’s Dog Photo Contest. In case you’re bored or anything, that is.

Look how worried he is that you might not vote for him!

i’m that kind of dog owner

The time has come for me to completely exploit my puppy, and I’m not too proud to do it. But c’mon, I’ve paid for his food and health insurance three and a half years – it’s time he pays me back!

There are 6536 dogs in the competition, including 49 not nearly as cute dogs named Riley.

I think you have to register for the site, and if that’s the case, I’m really sorry… but if it’s any consolation, I haven’t had any spam or anything of the sort from them yet! You have to click on this link to register and it’s pretty simple from there. And if you click here, be sure and visit this site every minute, because I’m pretty sure that’s how frequently you can vote. Riley has 4 votes so far… they’re all mine. Don’t make him feel sad! And, you know, help him win $1000! You can also go here to vote for Kentucky!

And in case you forget these links, I’ve whored both dogs out on the sidebar for your convenience… or annoyance.

my rough life

he needs a ravelry account too

We just got back from two hours at Spin Cycle, our favorite local laundromat. Two hours seems like a hell of a long time to spend with laundry, but considering we did at least twenty loads of laundry, I can’t complain too much. I’m glad my clean work clothes will soon be on hangers, as opposed to crumpled on the corner, serving as a napping area for one very spoiled big white dog. With only one washer and dryer in our apartment building, it’s easy to get way, way, way behind on laundry. We’ve vowed to start making weekly trips just to keep on top of things. We’ll see how long that lasts.

And I figured I’d clean off the camera card tonight while we watch Rock of Love Charm School, and found quite possibly my new favorite Riley picture:

There were others, but somewhere between Picnik and Flickr, the internet is refusing to allow me to post any pictures. Hate to both of them right now!

riley needs a trampoline

that sweet scent of urine

You know how they say dogs don’t do things because they’re mad at you or to get back at you? I kinda call that bullshit. You know why I call that bullshit? Riley’s never had a problem with the urinating in the house. He knows when it’s time to go to the bathroom, and there have been times when I’ve been sick, that he’s patiently waited much longer than any dog ever should to go outside to pee.

And now, about a month after Kentucky moved in, Riley’s decided it’s okay to pee in the house. Wherever he wants even. Just as long as he’s looking you right in the eye when he does it. What the hell is that about?

Sure, you can go ahead and stop him from doing it, but then he just runs around peeing all over the apartment instead of just once place. You can run outside with him, but then you have to clean up a whole line of urine from the third floor all the way down and out onto the front porch.

And I’m sure it’s not a urinary tract infection, mainly because he and I drink vodka cranberries with dinner every evening.

I threaten him with leaving him at the pound and sometimes murder; The General threatens him by reminding him that dogs are a delicacy in some countries. Nothing seems to work. I’m certainly not just “giving up”, but holy crap, is it getting old.

this weekend at the dog park (in pictures)

The General and I took Riley and Kentucky to the Minnehaha Falls Dog Park this weekend. It was the first time I’d ever been, but it’s completely gorgeous and I kind of want to take these damn dogs there every weekend. Here are some of my favorite pictures from the afternoon (and here’s the whole set):

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