We’ve just gotten back from a trip to Kelowna for Whiskey’s spay. When we first got a dog, I didn’t realize there were several different options for spays (and for neuters), each with pros and cons. As I’m typing this, Whiskey is next to me sleeping and recovering.
fetching and swimming in Kelowna
Just looking at a health perspective (let’s assume you aren’t leaving your dog in heat running around with intact males), there is up to a 25% chance of uterine infection with older intact females (pyometra) so if you aren’t breeding, getting a spay in North America is probably going to be considered. Here are the types of spay I was looking at:
Ovariohysterectomy -traditional spay removing both the uterus and the ovaries -removes chance of pyometra -available anywhere –increase chance of joint disease and cancers since hormones are absent
Ovariectomy -removing only the ovaries -removes chance of pyometra -typically a key hole surgery requiring a smaller incision -quicker surgery and potentially safer -less painful with a smaller cut -quicker recovery time -less vets can do this –increase chance of joint disease and cancers since hormones are absent
Ovary sparing spay -removing only the uterus and cervix, leaving at least one ovary -removes chance of pyometra -still small chance of ovarian cancer -increased chance of mammary tumors over other spays -keeps heats but no bleeding -keeps all the hormones -difficult to find an experienced vet that does this
one last sunset picture
For larger breeds, because it’s healthier to keep the hormones, spays are usually delayed until the dog is “fully grown” although with an OSS, you could even do it earlier. I only really researched about spaying later because of this, and honestly I wanted to delay any kind of optional surgery as late as possible. Once I did look into it, I found the only vets near where we lived that offer this special spay were at least a 4-5 hour drive away. Poor Whiskey had no idea where we were going when we headed out on a roadtrip to Kelowna. She was so happy, hiking, exploring, and modelling the whole day before her spay.
she’s old enough to understand the vet is no fun place!
Whiskey’s suspicious face
a small pre-surgery checkup
waiting for her surgery time
Freaking out a bit once we got her on the surgery table
Because Whiskey had such little fat, she was more difficult to put under and struggled more than usual. Outside of that her spay went normal and we were there when she went to sleep and woke up. It was so heart-breaking to watch her struggling against the anesthesia as well as flailing around when she woke up (apparently certain breeds flail more than others). We didn’t leave her side until we drove home that evening.
right after she finished with heating pads
we made sure she could smell us before opening her eyes
forcing her to lay down and not run out!
stubbornly not laying down to recover at the office
That evening Whiskey was feeling so poorly it was very difficult to get her to pee and poop and she was walking like a very very elderly dog with her head hanging low. It was so sad to see! The next day however she was still walking slow but she had perked up and was already giving kisses. By lunch time she would let me spoon feed her (yes, she’s a princess when she feels sad) and by the evening she was 80% back to normal. Currently I walk her on leash only with a long line and work on new tricks, training, and lots of patience!
Over the past year Whiskey has been getting bumps that appear pretty quickly and disappear just as fast. The bumps never stuck around long enough to get to a vet and so we put on our detective hats to find out what the problem was.
small ear bumps
Her bumps were concentrated on her upper head, ears, and the front of her legs and were raised but not red. They would get better within 15- 30 mins once we took her away from the environment she started showing symptoms in, and would rarely show for more than 1 hour. At the least, they were a couple round bumps on her ears, at the worst her whole face was swollen to the point she couldn’t even see, but even then, her bumps would fully vanish within 2 hours (so no time for vet). When the bumps were at their worst, (as happened about 3 times) she would be very quiet, tired, and sad looking. They didn’t seem itchy, and she would be back to normal as soon as they went away. They were like bee stings and we did try some Benadryl but it was hard to tell if it helped because the bumps always went away so fast either way. We also tried a holistic Allergy Supplement, as well as local raw honey but neither seemed to show much improvement over several months.
a medium-bad example
It was pretty clear from the get go that these were allergic bumps and since I feed home made raw, it was pretty easy to eliminate food as her allergy source. We noticed a pattern after a couple months that was interesting; if we took her to a park several times a day, only sometimes she would come back with bumps (even if we took her to the same place on the same day). Most of the times if we went into forests or mountains she would be fine, so in general she had more bumps in the city, or close to the city. I have to emphasis that although these pictures look absolutely terrible, the bumps at their worst only stuck around for about 20 mins and in 2 hours, they were gone. I hate seeing Whiskey like this and I’m only posting this as I hope this may help another Vizsla or puppy.
the worst it got with us (about 3x ever)
the worst case only happened when it rained
Something else that was interesting was the worst cases were when it was raining and if she wore a jacket, she would have no bumps where the jacket covered (a strong case for environmental allergies). Also, she had more bumps on the front of her legs, not the back of her legs where she was more exposed to water spray, or where she would have a higher chance of touching allergens. From my research, I found out that tree pollen becomes more concentrated when it rains, and comes down from the air in rain droplets. People that have tree pollen allergies react more in rain as well. Also, in the city, we plant mostly male trees so when pollen is released from male trees, there aren’t enough female trees to capture pollen so there is more pollen in the air causing allergy issues in humans (says Scientific America and Vancouver Sun).
Anyways, since we’ve both been working a crazy amount of overtime, we finally had a chance to book Whiskey in with a pet dermatologist (yes that’s a thing!) about a month ago. I find when visiting vets, I’ve learned I need to really stand up for my beliefs. Vets love to prescribe loads of tests and medications “just in case” and many times these are not needed, and not only will cost more, but you are also giving your pet unneeded chemicals. Now, I’m not expert but I do know my dog so we opted to test Whiskey only for environmental allergies (I had to insist it wasn’t food related) and I opted out of flea control (twice) since I was absolutely sure these were not fleas. We did both a skin test and a blood test. The skin test unfortunately, called for her side to be shaven, a grid to be drawn, and 40 plus tiny allergen injections to compare reactions to a placebo.
Poor girl is also on her heat
Her side is shaven and a grid is tested
Whiskey was given a reversible sedation and I was able to watch the whole procedure. Afterwards we needed to wait 3-5 more weeks for blood test results, and then depending on the results we would have to order either drops or injections to give Whiskey to help her allergies. We ended up with drops and the ordering took another 3 weeks, so a month and a half later, we picked up the drops. At the moment we are just giving her a little drop a day in her mouth and that’s it. We are supposed to see noticeable results from 3 months to 1 year and this is all covered by insurance 80% (I really recommend insurance). Whiskey’s highest reactions seem to be to a mold and some tree and weed pollen. Without insurance this would have cost about $1400 (for all tests and 5 months of drops).
she was half sedated and I was there every minute
For the past 3 months though we’ve not seen seen much allergy reactions at all so we are wondering if this is more a fall/winter thing (or wet season thing) but we are trying the drops (one set lasts 5-6 months) for at least a year to see if this improves. For the time being, we are taking one sided photos while we wait or Whiskey’s hair to grow back!
Awhile back, we had a scary episode where Whiskey was suddenly limping and wouldn’t use her left hind leg. We had taken to her to emergency and had no answers after a rather large bill (xrays were fine). It strangely only lasted a day and she seemed 95% back to normal by the next day.
her first limping episode
However, this happened again a couple months later in late November and while we didn’t go to ER again, we did keep a very close eye on her and like before, it resolved within 24 hours. At this point, I really wanted to get to the source of the issue. We’ve had two tentative diagnosis as a back stress injury (reason why the recovery was so fast, from our vet), and/or soft tissue trauma (ER vet). A friend had a recommendation to a well known vet/surgeon that specialized in lameness assessments as well as chiropractic therapies and orthopedic surgeries, so we called him up to make an appointment. Let me tell you, this is a very rare find indeed!
all is well now!
We made the date to head to Whistler (about 2 hours away) and took Whiskey for her first appointment with Dr. Lane. My goal was to pinpoint the underlying issue that was causing her periodic lameness and hopefully treat it without any drugs. I know many people might think that this issue “isn’t so bad” since she doesn’t consistently show symptoms; two days of limping isn’t the end of the world, especially with active dogs. However, I would much rather solve this now then wait 5 years and have this become a chronic issue. Also, we are covered by insurance (80%) with Pets Plus Us, which I highly recommend since we’ve tested their claims very very thoroughly.
Vizslas are pretty active
Since Dr. Lane is extremely busy and was only working once a week, it took about 1.5 months for us to secure an appointment. He started the appointment by listening and recording our issues and watching our video of her which we had filmed to record the limping event. We then took Whiskey out for a walk to demonstrate her walk, her trot, and then went up and down some stairs. Dr. Lane noticed that going down stairs, she had less “wiggle” in her lower back which seemed tight. He started treating her by feeling with his fingers all over her as well as extending her legs. Whiskey wasn’t too sure of this strange man so we needed to bribe her with treats. Acupuncture as well as massage, lasers and chiropractic therapies were all used and we even ended the session with some IMS. At the end of it all, poor Whiskey was ready to leave, hugging the door with sad eyes 🙁
acupuncture and laser treatment
Dr. Lane narrowed down the problem to a hip misalignment that was causing her to put stress into her back that would eventually lead to a limping episode after too much explosive activity (ie jumping and sprint starts). The activities we toned down were jumping and continuous fetch although we never did too much to begin with. He thinks that perhaps there was an incident that caused her hips to move out of line and over time her body just got used to it. We were working to correct her hips and let her body ‘remember’ the new alignment by having less activity for awhile. This was pretty easy since she happened to have also started her heat, so it was on-leash walks away from other dogs for a month anyways.
her second heat has her very mellow
After the initial consultation, we went back twice more and were given the all clear (and to come back 6 months-1 year just to check up). After every consultation, I could see a difference in the way Whiskey was running (less so on the last one). She seemed a bit looser. We’ve not had any limping since, and hope this is all over. At the worst, we’ve got a clear explanation and someone that can help us out if anything happens again. I think the hardest part was not knowing the problem and throwing money at an ER vet that didn’t have a clue.
I’ve been working overtime so it’s been hard getting out, taking photos, and writing. We are so fortunate to have a good group of V lovers in Vancouver and we met again despite the threat (and eventuality) of a downpour. This time we headed over to Richmond’s Mcdonald Beach Dog Park. I love that we always go somewhere different and I’m pretty sure the dogs appreciate it too. What follows is lots of barking, some collisions, fast chases, and the owners just trying not to get too much in the way. We’ve had some puppies grow up and some new ones join us. I can’t imagine a better morning activity and if are in the area next time (V lover or owner) just join us!
This post is a long time coming as I’ve been working on a sweater for Whiskey for a couple months now in between other projects. I’ve started knitting a year ago and mostly use Youtube to learn as well as Raverly for patterns. When I first started, I noticed someone had posted a pattern for a dog sweater with a Vizsla modelling it so of course I needed to make it! We live in Canada, it can pretty chilly in the winter, and Whiskey is a bit skinny (no matter how much she eats) so it’s great to have a nice warm merino to throw on.
Good for male or female
This was my first experiment into joining parts together and picking up stitches for a sleeve. The only other things I’ve made before are lots of hats, scarves, snoods, and blankets. This was so much fun and much quicker than a human sweater.
She’s so warm in it!
The pattern isn’t highly detailed but for $2.00 it was very helpful for a starting place. I choose two skeins of superwash merino wool from TOSH VINTAGE (Laurel and Jade) but needed to buy a third skein for the arm sleeves (not needed but I just wanted a nicer finish). For a more interesting knit, I started some cabling down the spine of the sweater as well as a gradient from dark to light green. Also, I knitted the neck in the round rather than flat since I thought it would make the joining easier and cleaner. I finished the bottom with ribbing and added more ribbing on the “sleeves”. I had to adjust the arm holes a couple times to find the right fit for Whiskey.
Starting out I worked the neck in the round
splitting off into flat after the neck
So much fun changing into the second color
showing the split
In all, it was an easy knit, and now that I know her size, I can make the next one much quicker. Whiskey tolerates “clothing” quite well for a dog but I would make sure your pup is ok with sweaters before starting out. I would also suggest to knit in the round so you can constantly try the project on the dog as you go so there are no surprises. I think for the next one, I’ll extend the length of the inner belly section, make that section a bit more narrow, and maybe make the whole thing a bit longer.
20km (roundtrip), 8-10 hours starting from Seymour Mountain Parking lot Link to hike OR this link
Lake Elsay
This was a tough one as we didn’t expect such technical terrain and had started later than planned. Carrying heavy backpacks we took about 5.5 hours each way with lots of breaks. While it was my first time on this trail, I found the trail pretty easy to follow even though there are loads of warnings about the “poorly marked trail”. There were orange markers everywhere although I can see how it would be difficult to find the trail with fog or snow so make sure you are fit and experienced before attempting this one in less than ideal conditions. Also, there are a couple creek crossings which may be difficult in high water (we are currently in a drought so no issue there).
photobombed!
It would be so nice to sit down…
Well marked path in the summer
technical terrain
We parked at the 2nd Seymour parking lot (designated for overnighters) and started on the trail to Seymour peak’s first pump. Right before first pump, there was a marker to veer off towards the Elsay Lake trail. From here there are about 8kms to get to the camp site and about 6kms of it is technical and tough terrain going down down down. Just a note of warning, we did see someone carrying their dog back the trail in a backpack because the poor pup had warn through their pads on the hot rocks, so make sure your dog is used to hiking on rocks and check their feet often.
starting out with Seymour’s first pump ahead
my vizsla-goat
turn off to Elsay trail
From the turn off, we soon turned a corner to see an enormous panorama of the valley. We crossed about 4 rockslides and followed one more down. There are some streams along the way (about 2kms to the lake) and the lake itself was pretty large for swimming. For space in the emergency hut, make sure you get there early (houses 6). It was a long weekend and we were a bit surprised to find another 6 tents up and a group staying at the hut.
She loved the rocks
just wow!
my hiking buddies
Taking a well needed break
crossing a creek
The way back seemed so much easier although it took the same amount of time (this time going uphill). We had run out of water in the summer heat so we stopped by the creek to filter a couple liters while Whiskey rested on some mossy rocks. I was surprised since this is the first time I’ve seen her lay down on a hike! We made sure she had plenty of dehydrated food, water, hard boiled eggs, and she shared all our food. She even crawled into our sleeping bags at night taking turns with mommy and daddy.
setting up camp while Whiskey supervises
so hungry!! feed me
it was too hazy for stars
waking up with a Vizsla in the sleeping bag
swimming in the lake
heading back home
Overall the hike would be much faster without the packs, but it’s still pretty long for a one day hike unless you are a trail runner. The payoff wasn’t as amazing as many of the other trails we’ve done though I acknowledge we are spoiled for choice in BC. In the end I’m glad we did it but I won’t be planning another hike or overnighter here for a couple years.
We’re finished! I was so worried about having a female dog in heat, downtown, in the summer, in an apartment. I’ve heard that the first heat isn’t very representative of the future ones, that it can be lighter, shorter, and apparently sometimes people don’t even notice it. I’d be super surprised to not notice my dog in heat, but it honestly wasn’t as bad as I was expecting. Neither Whiskey nor any male dogs we met in these weeks went “crazy” and it really was only about 5-7 days in total where her drive to mate was strong enough to overtake her normally great recall.
off to quiet trails
a waterfall is welcome during a dry summer
The first week she bled, I noticed a decrease in energy and lots of small pees, but male dogs were not showing interested in her. I started feeding more buffalo/beef which has lots of iron as I notice that I become anemic and tired when I’m also bleeding. After that her energy popped right back up.
working on our modelling skills
By the second week, her appetite was back to normal (for 2-3 weeks before it was up and down) but the bleeding had shifted from bloody to a more pinkish color. The smell also go much stronger, which my partner hated, but for some reason it didn’t bother me. Whiskey became MUCH more interested in flirting with particular males (not every male) and males because quite interested in her. As, we live downtown, most males are neutered and haven’t encountered a female in heat before. I kept her on leash around other dogs and did many quieter hikes. I’m so lucky that there’s so much real estate for dogs to run that I never had a day I couldn’t let Whiskey run off leash for at least 45mins. Our normal dog park is normally empty at 7am for fetch, and there is such a selection of trail networks that you don’t have to go far for some beautiful walks on weekends.
the smoke from wildfires drifts into Vancouver
The dog diapers worked great for the most part but there were a couple leaks. I ended up going with gigantic “night time” pads and hand washing the diapers every night as something would always leak. Our sheets also got stained as Whiskey loves to roll over for belly rubs (rolling around in diapers is bad).
pointing the way
At the 2.5 week mark point, the bleeding had stopped and males had stopped showing interest. Whiskey is still swollen and peeing lots but I’m really happy not having to worry about diapers. It gets annoying walking to the car with a diaper in your hands and don’t forget it to it off IMMEDIATELY when they get out of the car (2x she peed in her diaper).
my mountain goat in the North Shore
Overall it wasn’t the disaster I had expected in a busy downtown area with lots of dogs. I imagine this would have been much easier with a house and yard but it’s nice to know it’s manageable in an apartment. I’m still tossing up how much longer to wait to get Whiskey spayed, and what kind of spay, but at the moment, I’m just happy to have gone through this with her. She’s grown up now but she’ll always be my little Whiskey girl.
Whiskey has impeccable timing. The day that my partner left for Belgium, she started her heat. We’ve been noticing that she’s been slowly swelling for about 1.5 months before she started bleeding. The last 2 weeks her nipples had swollen up as well and she had been losing appetite for 2 weeks prior. Other changes were that she’s been getting more protective (barking at “strange” people and sounds) and there’s been more “discussions” about rules in the house. For instance, Whiskey “talks” to me to try to convince me to give her my dinner. Or she’ll “argue” with me that she doesn’t think it’s time to go into her crate. The latter could be just part of her growing up and nothing to do with her heat.
I bought dog diapers on amazon when Whiskey was 6 months old. Her mother had her first heat at 6 months so I count myself lucky that she held on for 1.2 years. I bought a size medium, which is too large so I just ordered another size small. You really do need 2 so you can wash one while she wears the other. Currently, with the diaper and a load of sanitary pads, the bleeding is fully contained and not a huge issue. I’ve lined her crate with light coloured towels and change them daily so she doesn’t have to wear diapers in her crate. Thankfully Whiskey is tolerating the diaper because I know not all dogs will. The reason we are not spaying Whiskey yet is to let her full develop and also to avoid health issues later in life.
A meet and greet in the woods
As soon as her heat started, she became more interested in other dogs, especially males but they are not yet going “crazy”. Her training is pretty poor (recall down to 50%) even without other dogs around but I haven’t felt an increase in velcro tendencies or much more overall moodiness. She much more often though, and is very very interested in smells around town.
Still hiking! Still smiling
Meeting few hikers on the trails
We take walks in quieter areas now with only female dog friends. She’s still ok with a couple dogs around, but to avoid problems I’m trying to go on less populated hikes so I can let her off leash. Once she starts “flagging” or lifting her tail, I’ll have to be much more cautious and keep her mainly on leash. I’m pretty happy a know quite a few “secret” hikes to do during this time.
Just girls these days. Hana already had her heat.
Shorter hikes in the summer heat on Whiskey’s heat
So Whiskey has been running and doing really well lately. She’s even been filling out her very skinny frame (adding much more fat, oils, quinoa, sweet potato into her diet is helping). Then one day while at work, I received a text from her walker informing that she was limping and favoring her left leg. I had taken her out that morning and played fetch and she was doing really well, no sign of any issues before she was put into her crate to rest up. The walker noticed nothing different as she was taken from her crate, to the van to be transferred to her walk. It was only after getting out of the van, there was an obvious limp. He noticed the limp within minutes and kept her on leash for the walk (checking her paws but finding no problem). After he dropped her back home, he put her in the crate, and when we got home from work, she was a very different dog.
so so mellow and sad
getting her eyes tested
not putting weight on her back legs
switching from one leg to another
She wouldn’t come and greet us, she was very sad and wouldn’t stand or walk. She wouldn’t squat to pee, and she was refusing a bullystick which was very very out of character. We took her into ER immediately and carried her the whole time. At the ER, the vet pointed out that a dog with a physical problem doesn’t normally show signs of such lethargy and wanted to test both her legs as well as blood and more. She tested her legs, put her under sedation for xrays, and did a couple blood tests. In the end she said we ruled out the serious stuff and it was probably a soft tissue damage. She gave her a little painkiller and we went back home to watch her. The ER vet prescribed 3-5 days of on-leashed walks.
xrays
That evening I carried Whiskey to her normal potty spot and kept her lying for the evening. Since she wasn’t interested in eating from her bowl, I literally spoon fed her and she would only eat her favorite bits. I slept with her in bed, and the next morning I woke up to find Whiskey had forgotten the previous evening and was her normal self again! I couldn’t see a limp at all whereas the previous night she wouldn’t even stand! She ate her breakfast, cleaned the bowl, and there was a super happy wagging tail with lots of face licks, and she was very ready for her morning walk. I was astonished at the change. I only did a very short walk on leash so she could pee and poop.
The next day we pose for photos since we can’t do much walking
Still working for treats!
3 days later I took Whiskey to see another vet for to check her legs for any sign of trauma, for a second opinion, and to see how slow/fast we could expect to have her to full running again. The vet was very thorough and was unable to find/feel/see anything alarming. She also mentioned that instead of a soft tissue injury it could have been more in her back/spine which is why it seemed like a huge change from one day to the other. She prescribed a more conservative 10 days of on-leash walking (no running and jumping) with a gradual work up to off leash and longer hikes. At the moment it’s been very difficult to keep a one year old from running or jumping but we are trying our best. Today we took her on a canoe ride (because I really hoped there would be limited running and jumping in the canoe) with a tiny bit of water retrieving and some short on-leashed walks. It’s been a tough week but it’s worth it to make sure whatever the problem was doesn’t happen again and Whiskey can fully heal!
activities for the resting Vizsla
swimming much better this year!
Update: 2 weeks later Whiskey’s shown no signs of limping. Hopefully this was a one time thing and it doesn’t happen again! I think the lethargy was mostly Whiskey’s personality when she is feeling sorry for herself. Alot of dogs don’t show signs of this, but even when Whiskey is cold from swimming, or it’s started to rain, she looks so miserable you wonder if there is something truly wrong.
We’ve had a couple minor health problems since spring rolled around. We’ve had a couple bumps crop up and are currently finishing up another case of Giardia (Giardiasis) so I thought it might be of interest to keep a diary of small problems should they crop up again.
Bumps
I self-diagnosed these as hives which was caused by an allergic reaction to physical contact (in this case) with something in the environment (a vet would later confirm, but was unable to see the bumps). A couple small bumps would come after a walk in the park and last several hours only appearing on her lower muzzle. I was pretty sure it wasn’t food since I hadn’t been introducing anything new to her diet and it was a specific area (the part she shoves into everything interesting on the ground). Her appetite didn’t change but because she was a little swollen she looked miserable. They were slightly itchy but otherwise didn’t seem to bother her. The bumps appeared on and off for about a week and even her worse case of it had the swelling go down quite fast.
the worst case she had that lasted just hours
Bumps on ear- bumps all over just one ear after a play at the park. Gave her a ear mite treatment just in case, but they disappeared and never came back.
Treatment
I boosted her immune system by cutting out the kibble entirely (she only has at most a cup a day) and giving her a spoonful of local honey every night. Honey has been my go-to when Whiskey has a problem. It’s great for infection and wound healing (applied to the skin) and in this case local honey helps both humans and canines for allergies. I also sprayed on some Burts Bees Anti Itch Soothing Spray because it seemed like she had a mild itch. We also washed all bedding just in case and gave her extra cuddles.
Giardia
A week after the bumps went away completely, there was one evening when I noticed she was less energetic at the park (walking to retrieve the ball, not running). I kept an eye on her and she happily ate dinner and but then was super sleepy. An hour later I noticed her tummy gurgling more than usual (I was lying down with her because I felt something was off) and she didn’t even seem interested in some cantaloupe which she normally loves. Overall it wasn’t a huge change in temperament, because even my partner thought she was just tired from her hike that day. That night she woke us up whining and when we took her out, she pooped twice (soft) and went back to sleep for the rest of the night.
My sleepy girl with gurgles in her tummy
The next day her energy level seemed better but she vomited during a car ride. In the evening again she seemed ok, but in the middle of the night woke us for another poop. After that she was fine with no symptoms since I changed her food back to home cooked and added extra probiotics. We weren’t too concerned at this point because everything went back to normal and we had assumed that she just ate something bad at the park.
energy level is quite normal
Then several days later the wake-up calls to soft poops started again. After a couple days of getting progressively worse it got to the point she was straining to go but couldn’t and would try over and over again. She would also wake us up 3 times at night to go out. At this point we took her to the vet.
waiting at the new vet
During the wait for the vet, she tried to go poop 5 times in an hour. Because it was last minute, we tried out a new vet closer to home that was available (her normal vet was booked up that day). This one was much more thorough in the examination, but asked to do more expensive (and maybe unnecessary) tests. He noticed her heartbeat was slower than normal and did an EKG (she’s just really fit). We also ordered a very comprehensive parasite panel and diarrhea panel, but needed to wait a couple days to hear back. That night I went to Costco and bought a ton of ground chicken and sweet potato so I could start her on a bland diet.
during the day she is normal
We went back to the vet the next morning after 2 rounds of vomiting (mostly bile) and waking up 4-5 times at night for poops. Strangely she was eating fine and her energy was good at the park, but more subdued at home. This time they did a full blood test, gave her extra electrolytes, a subcutaneous fluid injection (fluids injected under her skin) to help elevate any dehydration, and got her started on antibiotics and some special super canine probiotics. Her blood test came back with everything normal, which was a relief because with home-feeding it’s good to have the feedback she’s doing well. Within an hour Whiskey had perked up again has been getting better ever since. Eventually a couple days later we got a call about the poop results and confirmed she had Giardia and I could come pick up more medication.
the lump is the fluid injection, disappears over the day
Whiskey’s had Giardia before as a puppy but this time didn’t present the same as last. As a puppy it came on very fast and was obviously a problem. This time the illness was non-continuous and harder to tell it wasn’t just something she ate in the park.
a bit skinny, needs more food!
Treatment
Vet bills were over $900 so it’s good we were insured!!! If we weren’t insured, we wouldn’t have agreed to all the tests and treatments. So Whiskey had a heart test (EKG), bloodwork, poop test, electrolytes, a subcutaneous fluid injection, probiotics, prescription probiotics, antibiotics, and a small change of diet. The last time we had Giardia we only had a poop test, with quick feedback (40 mins vs 4 days) and antibiotics so the price to treat and diagnose this can vary like crazy depending on the vet!
extra velcro these days
Lessons Learned
-Insurance pays off, especially moments where you don’t want to make decisions based on money
-Even though we spent more at this vet and did more tests, it took longer to get a diagnoses because the fecal test was sent to another lab. Our other vet would have been quicker because they can do it immediately, even though we would have had to wait an extra day to get an appointment.
-A sick dog plus two working parents make for a very hectic week and lots of worrying
