Look what we got over the weekend!

We won Dachshund Nola‘s giveaway! We got 25 bully sticks from Best Bully Sticks. Lassie and Petal were both very excited by this package. Petal ripped it open and put a few small holes in the resealable package in her enthusiasm, oops. Luckily I was able to force them into our treat jar. 😉

Thank you Nola and Best Bully Sticks!

How was everyone’s weekend?

Our weekend was crazy. Mostly thanks to this dog here:

Our weekend went from relaxing, to stressful, to filled with relief and exhaustion.
Lassie was up sick from 3 AM – 7 AM Saturday morning. He was drinking plenty of water and nothing suspicious was coming out of him, so I wasn’t too worried until his diarrhea turned to blood. At that point I was exhausted, which is probably why I was so scared when I lifted his tail and found blood all over his romp. I knew it was normal to have some bleeding after suffering through so much diarrhea, but I had never seen him bleed this much before.
That discovery led to lots of crying to my Mom over the phone. I was sure I had done something to make him so sick. She and my Dad were out of town, about 2+ hours away, with our only car, but they rushed home as soon as I called. They picked me and Lassie up and then drove another forty-five minutes to the vet in another town.
Why? Because my parents are awesome, but also because our Usual Vet wasn’t working yesterday, Dr. Jerk Face Vet was and we avoid him unless it’s an absolute emergency. This wasn’t an emergency, so we made the drive to our Favorite Vet Office. We go there whenever we can because I feel they actually listen to me, even if I’m just rambling on and worrying over silly things, they listen and they’re so supportive. They make sure I get all my questions asked and answered before they send me on my way. Our Usual Vet is nice and he seems to know what he’s doing, but I feel like he only half listens to me and he doesn’t take the time to explain anything. It’s frustrating.

Saturday at Favorite Vet Office we met a new-to-us vet, Heather. She was very sweet. She listened to everything I had to say and offered feedback, suggestions, and answers to my questions. She even made sure I got all my questions asked and answered before we left. And she found nothing wrong with me feeding a homemade diet with supplements. She’s the first vet I’ve ever told that my dogs eat homemade food because I was worried I would be lectured and/or criticized (too many internet stories of pet owners being chewed out by their vets), but she did none of that. She simply looked at Lassie and said he was living the high life and then told me the current meals I had made up would be perfect for his upset tummy.

I brought in what I could gather of Lassie’s poo for them to take a look at, but it wasn’t much. She mentioned colitis, stress, or something he got into (among a few other things). He did get into the trash Friday night and ate something that I couldn’t see in the dark kitchen. We’re usually careful not to throw away dangerous things in the kitchen trash and instead throw them out in the big trash can outside to avoid the dogs or cats getting into it, but who knows, maybe he got something that just didn’t agree with him. There has also been thunder off and on over the past few days and he’s not a big fan of thunder.

So he’s on an antibiotic, a probiotic (in the form of kefir), and a bland diet. The vet told me to call today if he’s not feeling any better and she’ll give him an anti-nausea shot. He’s acting more like his usual self today though, so that won’t be necessary.
I probably could’ve given Lassie a few more days to see if his tummy troubles would sort out on it’s own (as I usually do, so long as there isn’t anything alarming about it), but the blood scared me and he had been throwing up here and there for a few days prior, so to the vet we went. The antibiotic he’s on seems to be helping, he hasn’t thrown up since Saturday morning. So here’s hoping.

Petal also seems to be feeling better today. She hasn’t been sick or anything, but I think I stressed her out Saturday with my worrying and then suddenly taking off with Lassie and leaving her behind. She glued herself to me when we got home and had little to nothing to do with anyone else.

Snoozing across my chest Saturday afternoon.

But today she’s back to her playful, goofy self.

Busy, busy weekend.