[nagdu] Worried about Chet. Again

[Sherri]

Buddy, So sorry to hear about your ongoing problems with Chet. How long have 
you had him? I would think the stool samples you collected might shed some 
light on things. Please keep us informed and hang in there.

Sherri
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Buddy Brannan" <buddy at brannan.name>
To: "Discussions Of The Seeing Eye" <seeingeye-l at list.web.net>; 
<buddy-l at yahoogroups.com>; "the National Association of Guide Dog Users 
NAGDU Mailing List" <nagdu at nfbnet.org>
Cc: "Ed and Toni Eames" <eeames at csufresno.edu>
Sent: Tuesday, July 28, 2009 4:29 AM
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.
> _______________________________________________
> nagdu mailing list
> nagdu at nfbnet.org
> http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/nagdu_nfbnet.org
> To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for 
> nagdu:
> http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/options/nagdu_nfbnet.org/flmom2006%40gmail.com