[nagdu] Worried about Chet. Again

[Joy Relton]

Oh Buddy,

I hope that things are solved soon so that you and your dog can relax.
Remember that strees, too, has affects which can exhibit themselves in the
same manner. Strees too can be managed, both for dogs and people. I pray
that you and your four-legged partner find a solution soon. 

-----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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