Saturday, July 24, 2010

CLEMENTINE.....

Clementine is one of my dogs. A retired puppy mill breeder, who came to live with me about 5 years ago. Until she came here, her life was a living hell. But, she's been living large here! She is a sweet, tiny, neurotic Yorkie who HATES men. This can pose problems, as my husband, and son are both men. But, we are working on it.

Anyway..... she is skinny, when she arrived she was emaciated, and has always been wild for food ~ of any kind. Last week I noticed her belly seemed fat. At first I assumed she had eaten a lot; it didn't go away. As the week wore on, it stayed full, almost swollen.

The dogs went to Donna, the groomer on Thursday. We've had this groomer forever. She has always been the 'family' groomer. She is a dog breeder, and really knows dogs, so I asked her opinion of the chubby belly. She was pensive. Unfortunately when she returned the dogs later, I understood why.

She said, 'I'm no vet, but I think this is whats wrong with Clemmie', and handed me a post-it. PLE Protein Losing Entreopathy. A big name for a NOT good disease. We discussed it, after she left, I had a melt down, that my poor friend Barb had to deal with~ (thanks Barb).

Friday morning I took her to the seriously,fancy schmancy vet clinic in Aurora, and saw the nicest Vet. She ran some tests (Mark's going to kill me when he sees what they cost) and confirmed my fears. Donna was right. It's not a good thing. Sadly, it will kill her.

Choices.

Shall I put her through the diagnostic testing to see just what the deal is? Testing including a bowel biopsy? Shall I let it rest and let nature take it's course? Shall I put her to sleep? I HATE PLAYING GOD.

Tuesday, I will talk to the Vet and see what our time-frame is. I can't say I feel it's fair to put a 10yr. old dog through a surgical procedure to see whether or not steroids are an option for buying time. I'm going to lobby for trying the steroids with out any surgery.

This has been one sucky week. My job is not working out for me, so decisions are needed there and my poor little dog is sick and I've had a stomach ache.

Oh, and I have houseguests. They are wonderful people ~ but ~ have I ever mentioned I HATE HOUSEGUESTS????

Seriously, is it any wonder I have stomach problems?





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