[nagdu] Worried about Chet. Again

[sblanjones11]

Dear Buddy,
Don't jump to conclusions yet.
It could be something as simple as a food change needed.
I hope the vet has something conclusive to say.

Hurting with you,
Susan & Rhoda
 

-----Original Message-----
From: nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf
Of Buddy Brannan
Sent: Tuesday, July 28, 2009 4:30 AM
To: Discussions Of The Seeing Eye; buddy-l at yahoogroups.com; the National
Association of Guide Dog Users NAGDU Mailing List
Cc: Ed and Toni Eames
Subject: [nagdu] Worried about Chet. Again

Hi y'all,

OK, it's 4 in the morning and I'm up. Not a great sign (because I actually
did go to bed).

Since a couple days after Melanie's surgery at the end of June, Chet's had
the runs. Oh, not continuously, but every time I think he's hit the end of
them and is getting better, they start up again. After several weeks of
boiled hamburger and rice (with increasing food, resulting in runs, then
back to boiled hamburger and rice), we went to the vet, also for his annual
checkup. Bad news: he lost about eight pounds. Which, by the way, I didn't
notice; no ribs sticking out horribly, and the vet even thought he still
looked OK, but 8 pounds is significant when your dog weighs about 55. The
blood work showed nothing, and I (obviously) couldn't get a stool sample,
but they gave me a de-wormer anyway, which didn't help, so then we got a
week's worth of antibiotic and something to help with the diarrhea, no idea
what that was, but I was to give both for a week twice a day. This I did,
and things improved such that the boiled hamburger went away, then the rice
went away, and stools felt normal again. His meds finished up on this past
Friday, and right up through Monday evening, not only was everything looking
better, stools were normal, at regular and expected intervals, and at
regular and expected quantities.

Naturally, over this time, I've taken Chet out for guide work very little.
Since we got home, I think he's been actually working three times, including
yesterday. And yesterday's was probably the longest time he was out, about
three hours total. Well--this morning at a little before 3:30, we awoke to
an unpleasant and all too familiar odor, so out the door we ran, and the
diarrhea was back. There was a nice solid poo in the crate, along with some
icky squishy stuff, but it was all at least able to be picked up, and I have
it in baggies for the vet (assuming it's not too old by the time I get there
later today). I'm not confident I'll get a newer sample though.

In light of Chet's anxiety on long car rides, I wonder if this isn't related
to going back to work? Chet is always very eager to go, but I wonder if he
isn't still anxious about it anyway? Seems like a strange coincidence that
this should start back up after his first trip out and in harness in about
two weeks.

Well, we'll see what the vet has to say about it later today. But I'm
mentally preparing myself (as far as is possible, anyway) for the R word.
Which isn't going to be easy for Chet at all if we determine that that's
what's needed. Probably not easy for me, either, but these things never hit
me until they're right on me. 

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