I thought taking the children to my doctor’s appointments was the most dreadful task imaginable.
I was mistaken.
Try taking 4 children and a sick, large canine to a veterinary office when you have no appointment and must wait for them to work you in.
Good times.
Good times with kids.
Good times with kids and dogs.
Good times with kids and dogs and a husband who is worried about how expensive this is all going to be.
Allow me to explain, dear readers.
As I mentioned on my Tragical Thursday, Mabel, our beloved dog of nearly 10 years, threw up.
This is not a rarity.
She throws up on occasion.
But on Thursday, it just kept coming.
Then I noticed she was acting funny. She wouldn’t come when called. Her eyes were droopy and sad. She was shaking. She would not eat. She would not drink.
She would only sleep and throw up.
By Friday afternoon, she was seeming slightly more perky, but still throwing up. So, I called The Lumberjack, who was working, and he said he could meet me at the vet.
And then the waiting began.
It was actually quite entertaining, watching all the pet owners coming in with their dogs and cats.
It is super true that people kind of look like their pets.
What do you think . . .
Mabel
Me.
Thoughts?
I don’t see it.
She is much better looking. And has better camping hair.
Any-whooooo . . .
Some people are really wacky with their pets, treating them like their children and such.
I never treated my dogs like they were my children.
(Yes, we used to have two dogs. To hear all about that nonsense click here, here, and here. In that order. That is important. The whole universe will collapse if you click out-of-order. Thank you)
So, we waited and waited.
And we saw the largest dog known to man, a Great Dane, come in with NINE puppies!
Ouch.
We finally got called back to the tinier exam room. And the super nice escort lady brought each of my children their very own balloon.
Yes.
All six of us were crammed into this tiny exam room, that was the size of a fairly roomy bathroom, the kids are competing in Balloon Wars 2010, and Mabel is hovering with fear in the corner.
It was a treat.
The doctor came in and long story short, we spent a sizeable amount of money and we don’t know what is wrong with her.
We are supposed to try to get her to take some medicine to help with the vomiting.
But she will not eat it.
We have tried several times.
The Lumberjack hid the pills in some food.
Nope.
The Lumberjack actually put the food/pills in her mouth and tried to help her chew them and swallow them.
Nope.
So we have to keep trying to fish out the pills for later use, seeing as how each pill costs like $6, and she needs to eat them all.
I guess.
I don’t know.
Also, the doctor wants her to drink Pedialyte.
Nope.
She won’t even smell it.
I did, however, in all my awesomeness, get her to drink about 1/4c of water.
Holla, Taylor!
Holla.
Lest you are confused, Taylor is the person who is sitting here typing out all of this rubbish.
So, last night we went to bed.
I could not sleep. I am worried she is dying. And I don’t know how to help her.
I really don’t want her to die.
She was our baby when we were first married.
She has always been around.
She is our dog.
We all love her and she is a part of the family now.
Besides, we are most likely moving to Ruralville with 20 acres for her to run around and get to be real dog at.
So, hopefully, we will be able to get her to take some pills today.
And maybe even drink some Pedialite.
Because everyone knows, sick dogs crave grape-flavored electrolyte-filled beverages.
Pedialyte.
For a dog.
Honestly.
Poor Mabel.
Please get well, old dog.
Have you tried to put the pill in the back corner of her mouth? They can’t help but swallow them. I hope she gets better. I had a dog that was over 14 years old. I saved him from parvo when he was a baby and he was MY baby for about 10 years before I had my son. I know how it is to be close to your pet. And I am not really a dog person.
OH Taylor!!! I’m so sorry to hear that Mabel is sick! We had a super big scare last night with our little pommie – he went out to the compost pile and ate a week old piece of casserole that had cheese, meat, and sour cream in it – it had been baking in the sun for days…
He vomited for hours, then finally started drinking water. His little legs were so shaky that he couldn’t even get up on the bed… I was so worried, but then during the night he apparently got rid of the toxins and was up eating, drinking, and jumping about. I was SO thankful. We’re saying a prayer (me and Footnote) for your Mabel!
Poor Mabel 🙁
Get well soon doggie!
Praying for Mabel.
Okay, first of all, get the NON flavored pedialyte and and also pick up some LOW sodium chicken broth. Mix the two together to get her to drink it.
Second, if the vet has given her the go ahead to eat if she wants, put the pill in a little peanut butter and wipe it on her tongue. She shouldn’t be able to spit it out.
Did they do xrays to check for a blockage?
We didn’t get xrays yet. That is the next step. Non flavored Pedialyte! Kimberly, you are a genius! I did not know such a product existed!!! I just had some grape flavored in my pantry for the Lumberjacklings. We tried pb.
okay, so my aunt is a vet and I used to work for her in the summertime (summertime! summertime!), and they have a little plastic “pill popper”, that’s like a wand with a hole for the pill at one end, and then you push the button on the other end and POP, back of the throat baby!
I’m just wondering if you can call them and say, “I need a pill popper!”
they’re plastic, they can’t be expensive…:)
Poor pupster. You guys do look alike, but only because you have dimples and she has a furrowed brow…it’s in your expressions.
Thanks-I finally got her to eat about 1 1/2 pills ( she needs 2), but if I can’t get her to do it again, I will try this. I tried Lynette’s trick and Mabel tried to get it out but I got it in!
Oh, poor Mabel. I hope she gets better soon. There is a resemblance between you two. 😉
there is nothing worse than trying to get your dog to take pills!! i eventually found a way to do it and it saved our sanity! =) i hope mabel feels better soon!!! and what is it with the balloons at the vets office?? we must visit the same one – i would have to ask for no balloons ahead of time because the kids drove me crazy with them!
I am a huge dog lover! I hate to see them sick or in pain, so I also will pray for Mabel. And I have never once been given a balloon at the Vets office… I feel deprived somehow.
push the pill to the back of her throat, Hold her mouth shut and rub her throat. She can’t help but swallow. But don’t let go of her mouth yet. wait till she swallows again cause she might not swallow the pill and will just spit it out. Dogs are tricky like that! Hope Mabel feels better soon.
The pill popper is called a bolus gun (not completely sure of the spelling but that’s how it sounds), so you won’t feel dumb if you call the vet. But you should be able to pick it up at a local feed store….we had one for cows and sheep – different sizes….. it shoots the pill down the back of the throat so far they can’t get it back out. Unless she thows up again. 🙁
Hopefully she will be doing much better in a day or two…….
yes, non-flavored pedialyte and you can get the pill poppers at the feed store! 🙂
Poor pup, hope she’s better soon.
Poor Mabel! And you do look alike, you both have beautiful, expressive brown eyes!
We have the same problem with getting our dog to take pills. We tried everything, peanut butter (she licked around the pill), rolling it up in meat (she ate the meat and then spit the pill out), putting it the back of her mouth and closing it (she still spit it out even after a minute) Finally, I covered the pill in peanut butter, rolled the peanut butter pill into a slice of lunch meat and hand fed her the meat. She tried, but was unable to get the pill out of the meat since it was stuck in with peanut butter. I hope you find something that works for Mabel and I hope she gets better soon.
SO sorry! I hate it when doggie-children get old/sick. I’ve been down that road way to many times lately.
When my girls get sick (the canine girls that is), we boil rice in chicken stock. I feed them a tiny handful at a time until I know if they can stomach it….
Did they do x-rays? My stupid (but well loved) Goldens have all loved to eat the darnedest things. I once found Polly Pocket in a”pile” in the back-yard…and poor Polly was complete minus one leg!
Praying for Mabel! Hope she gets better soon.
I am very sorry to hear about Mabel. I do hope that she gets better soon and you can give her the rest of her pill.
i really hope your mabel is okay. she looks a lot like our ruby. i complain about our hairy beast all the time, but i love her and would be so sad if she was sick.
Awww, good luck!! Poor Mabel!!
Hi Taylor! My name is also Tayler, and believe it or not I also have a sick pup..and let me add that I was also up all night worrying..UGH! The clear-non flavored Pedialight worked this morning- also tricked her into eating by giving her some organic treats.. trick or treat 🙂 Oh wait, we still have a while for that.
HOLLA.
Holla! Nice to meet you, Tayler! Hope your doggie feels better soon!
This post made me teary. I love our dog. And now I love Mabel. Long live Mabel!
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