Doesn’t everyone wash their floor at 5 am?
UPDATE: SCROLL DOWN TO THE BOTTOM OF THE POST FOR AN UPDATE!
As many of you know, we recently lost our German Shepherd Max. He actually had a long battle with an infection and the pain just got to be too much so we “sent him to Rainbow Bridge” as they say. You can see my tribute to him here: In Loving Memory - Max. Thank you everyone for all the wonderful sympathy and kind words about Max.
Anyhow, we still have another dog, Simon, that we raised from a wee pup of 8 weeks old.
Here is Simon as a puppy:
You can see a more recent picture of him in this post: Wordless Wednesday - my canine kids.
This morning a little before 5 am, we were awoken to the sound of Simon screeching and crying. We heard him get up from our room and fumble his way through the hallway and into the kitchen, still making these awful sounds. I thought, somehow, he had some sort of animal. Not sure how it got in the house, but I was just woke up from a sound sleep and wasn’t thinking clearly. In talking afterwards, Ed thought the same thing.
We both ran through the house and into the kitchen where Simon had proceeded to knock down 2 kitchen chairs and was under the table shaking and kicking while laying on his side. There was a horrible smell and he was foaming at the mouth.
The first thing I thought of was the t-bone steak bone we gave him earlier, and so Ed stuck his fingers in Simon’s mouth to make sure he wasn’t choking. Word of advice. DON’T EVER DO THAT. Ed ended up bleeding. After what seemed like 15 minutes but was likely around 5 or less, Simon stopped shaking and just laid there with his head up and the most demented look I have ever seen on a dog. I thought he was going to attack us. Eventually he did stand up but just stood there staring, as Ed said “like he was going to eat us.”
He called the emergency vet and they said we could bring him in but all they could do was watch and monitor him until we could bring him to our vet. I guess they have to do a bunch of tests. He had a seizure once before a few years ago but it was no where near this bad. He seems ok now, except he’s covered in urine and vomit and who knows what. What an awful smell.
So that leads me to why I was washing the floor at 5 am. Puddles upon puddles of the worst smelling stuff ever! And then I was afraid it got all over other stuff like the table and chairs so I washed them too. The worst part is that I STILL SMELL IT, even though it can’t possibly be there anymore.
So, we will take him to the vet in a couple of hours and go from there.
We seriously must be wearing signs that read “bring us your poor, your humble, your sick and defective animals!”
UPDATE:
They are pretty sure Simon has epilepsy. His blood was fine and his physical checked out so that is pretty much the diagnosis. They said he had a “severe” seizure because he stopping breathing twice that we noticed. If it had gone on much longer, he might not have made it back…
Anyhow all we can do now is watch and wait. They do not medicate unless the seizures occur more often than once a month. Simon did have a small seizure a couple of years ago so that helped diagnosis the epilepsy too.
They also said it could have been brought on by stress. His buddy Max being gone likely the culprit, I think. So, no more major life changes for us. As much as it is tempting because we’ve pretty much always had 2 dogs, we’re going to let Simon monopolize us and spoil him rotten.
Thank you everyone for your concern, we really, really appreciate it!
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July 16th, 2008 at 8:08 am
Found you thru MomDot. What a Scary morning! I hope everything is okay. My dogs are ALMOST my kids.
July 16th, 2008 at 8:11 am
Aww I’m sorry. I hope your dog will be ok. Please keep us updated !!
July 16th, 2008 at 8:20 am
So sorry to read about Max. It’s hard to loose a beloved member of the family, and it takes a while to get past the grief. Simon is a beautiful boy - he must be a comfort to you. Happy WW
Chris
July 16th, 2008 at 10:42 am
Omg thats just awful. best of luck at your vet appointment. Ill be looking for the update
July 16th, 2008 at 11:10 am
I hope everything is ok!
July 16th, 2008 at 12:07 pm
Let us know what is going on with Simon.
July 16th, 2008 at 8:00 pm
I’m so sorry! Did you find anything out yet??
July 16th, 2008 at 8:22 pm
Hazel, thank you for your concern! If you are interested, the post has been updated with his condition!
July 16th, 2008 at 8:23 pm
Debbie,
Thank you for your concern! If you are interested, the post has been updated with his condition!
July 16th, 2008 at 8:25 pm
Pam,
Thanks for asking, I updated the post with his condition.
July 16th, 2008 at 8:52 pm
I’m glad it’s not so extreme that they feel the need to medicate. Hope he never suffers through one of those episodes again; it’s not fun for you guys, either.
Give the sweetie a hug for me!
July 16th, 2008 at 9:01 pm
Thanks Pam, I will hug him, especially now that he had a bath and isn’t smelly!
July 16th, 2008 at 9:13 pm
The poor puppy!
July 16th, 2008 at 9:20 pm
Thanks Kelly, he’s still looking a little sad but his tail is wagging!
July 16th, 2008 at 11:09 pm
I’m really sorry to hear that. I know it must be pretty hard on all of you, with losing Max and now this but hang in there. Simon will be ok.
July 17th, 2008 at 4:21 am
I know what it’s like to lose a dog, my Coco died at only 8, after a brief illness. I miss him every day. http://nosmalthing.wordpress.com/2008/06/10/miss-you-coco So my sincere sympathies are with you. And I hope Simon hangs in there and enjoys all the doting you will no doubt thrust upon him! Take Care…
July 17th, 2008 at 4:24 am
Woops, sorry, I misspelled my own blog’s name up there! http://nosmallthing.wordpress.com/2008/06/10/miss-you-coco
Sometimes I am a dingbat…but it’s early, so I’ll use that as my excuse.
July 17th, 2008 at 6:43 am
I’m glad he’s okay. Give him a hug from us.
July 17th, 2008 at 7:16 am
Oh that poor thing! I am glad he’s a little better. When I was reading that, it sounded exactly like what happened to our family dog many years ago. He was pretty old, but one day I was home from college, my parents were grocery shopping and my brother had the other car. Our miniature collie started convulsing and making weird noises, foaming at the mouth and then collapsed. He struggled to get up, but couldn’t. He had that stare in his eyes too. Of course I was crying and freaking out, because I couldn’t get him to the vet (pre-cell phone days, so I couldn’t reach my parents). It ended up to be a stroke, and we had to send him over the Rainbow Bridge. It still haunts me…but again, I am glad that your dog is better. Sorry to share such a downer story, but your post made me think of it. Give that puppy a nice gentle massage!
July 17th, 2008 at 3:52 pm
Oh how scary! I’m glad he’s better now.
July 18th, 2008 at 7:59 am
Oh… the poor sweet thing…
I hate it when that happens and I have to spend the time when I was supposed to be sleeping - CLEANING! Yucko!
I’m here from Pamibe’s.
July 18th, 2008 at 9:09 am
Bless his heart! Yes, the poor thing deserves all your attention.
We had a dog that had occasional seizures…she was the sweetest, most loving dog. Very protective of kids.