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Pukey Puppy

I woke up at 5:30 am yesterday morning to the sound of Dexter flopping into his bed and coughing. When I went to investigate what he was hacking on, I saw he'd vomited all over his bed. I went to get a towel to clean it up, and saw he'd done the same thing in three places on the living room carpet. When I went to the kitchen to get paper towels to clean that up, I saw he'd also thrown up in the den, and soiled the floor with the largest amount of feces I've ever seen in one place (and our cottage had an outhouse). I had a very sick puppy on my hands. After cleaning up while trying not to gag myself, I called the vet and took him into the emergency clinic. He was tail-wagging and alert, but still nauseated. You could tell by the amount he was drooling. They x-rayed him to see if he had an intestinal blockage, but couldn't see anything. They determined he was fairly dehydrated, and hooked him up to an IV to get fluids and salts into him. They've been keeping him there ever since to rule out parasites, pancreatities, a blockage that wasn't radio opaque, and poisoning.

The poor little guy has never spent a night away from home like that before. He's stayed with his "grandparents", but has never been in any sort of a kennel with no human company overnight. This morning he's off the IV, but is still suffering from nausea and diarrhea. They are reintroducing food, and will monitor to see if it stays with him. When I visited him, he was wiggly and waggy and happy to see me, but clearly confused about why I kept letting strangers poke and prod him.

I am going to visit him again at lunchtime, and hopefully will be able to take him home with me. It's so quiet here without him. Usually in the mornings he wakes me up before the alarm goes off, he gets a belly rub, and then we go for our walk. Afterwards, he eats his breakfast, I drink my coffee, and then I work while he plays with his squeaky toys in the living room. I feel kind of lost not hearing his claws on the hardwood, or his sqeauky shoe and jingly ball thumping on the floor. I really hope he comes home this afternoon.