sickness, worry, bad vets and great walks

after acupuncture last night, we took carver to a near by animal hospital just to get blood tests to check his liver and kidneys, to see if the Nsaid was bothering him (and to see if it was the cause of his vomiting the morning before. I had called in the morning, and was told it would be no problem to have an appointment with a tech to have the blood drawn and then have the results faxed over to my vet. when we arrived we met a sweet dog who had chewed her sutures out after surgery, poor thing! the tech brought carver in back to draw the blood, and would not let me go with him. he was gone for way too long. the tech came out, said the blood had been drawn, but then began to give me the third degree about who approved this, we had not been in in a year, blah blah-they wanted to hold the blood until they reached our doctor (who e promptly called on her cell phone while the tech was standing there) all the while carver was still (totally unnecessarily) in the back with some stranger. You would have thought we were asking for narcotics! we just wanted to run some tests! finally they brought carver out-e took him to the car while I settled up. then they tried to charge me $350 for the tests! I told them I would not pay that much-dr. walker had said it would be around $80! they grouped the tests together (hello!) and it ended up $185. I was so angry but really happy to have the tests done, and to get out of there. once again, we have learned the hard way how sucky all vets are in boston. I am sure that that is not true, but we have had such bad luck..big expense and little compassion or understanding. We are so lucky and grateful to have found dr. w and the vca in weymouth. we love those folks!

we had not eaten supper yet, and decided to pick up some mexican food. I got carver a quesadilla. we went home and ate supper-carver wolfed his down (as did I!) well, around 2 a.m. I heard e get up-she heard carver throwing up. I got dressed and took him out into the yard while e cleaned up the living room. outside, he peed and pooped. I spent the rest of the night on the couch to keep my sleepy eye & ear on him. we got up at 430 am (because of me & work, not him!!) and went for a short walk-again, a poop & pee-he seemed tired, and not as excited about walking, which filled me with a panic. e called me at work to tell me he was resting on the couch. this made me feel much better!

when I arrived home, carver was very excited to see me, and very excited to g go out-I found out soon enough-he had diarrhea! I felt so bad that he was home alone and needing to go out-what a good boy to wait! we headed towards the little ponds, and he then threw up again, this time regular dog vomit (sorry!) but he was in great spirits. he howled at a fire engine, ran in the woods, walked in wards pond, ate some sticks, all around had a great time. I felt comforted in seeing how happy he was, how happy to be out in the world. and I realized that, for the moment, we have done everything we can-he is off the worrisome med, he has had the blood work taken, I have changed his diet, called the vet to see if the tests are in (not yet) and am home with him. he is cozy beside me on the couch as I write. so I will pray for it to be the mexican food that has upset his stomach, or a little bug, and not anything serious, and i will take good care of him until we here any news.

carver ate cous cous made with organic chicken broth, which so far he is holding down. gosh, he wanted to EAT! pain meds this morning, with cottage cheese. keeping everything simple today . poor baby!