Emergency!

May 26, 2008

It’s been one week that we’ve had Kruiser and now have been through our first medical emergency with him. Ed had just left to meet our friends Joan and Glen at Safeway when I noticed his left eye was all puffy and partly swollen shut. As I watched, his other eye started to puff as well. I panicked. I had put him in his crate while I mopped the wood and kitchen floor with antibacterial Mr. Clean. Had he gotten bit by a spider? I called the Fraser vet and got a message saying that they were closed for the long weekend and to call Wheat Ridge for emergencies. I called Ed, and then tried our vet, but again, just a message. Finally I called a Granby vet and someone actually answered. She said she was the only vet in the whole county working the weekend. I described Kruiser’s eyes to her. She said it was an allergic reaction, most likely to a bite since it came on so quickly, and recommended 50 mg of Benadryl (an adult dose) every 4-6 hrs until it went down. I reiterated that he was just a 25 lb. puppy and she said the dose was right. I wanted to check with Deborah before giving it to him, but I didn't have her phone number. Then I remembered we have digital voice at home, so heart still racing I hunted through our on-line digital record of phone numbers called over the last two weeks. I finally figured out which it was and called her. She answered! She said she’d call her vet as well and get back. After almost an hour and no return call, I called again. Her vet hadn’t returned her call. We agreed we should go ahead and give Kruiser the 50 mg of Benadryl, but she warned me to watch his breathing when he fell asleep. Gulp! I mixed the kid's bubble-gum flavored Benadryl with yogurt. He ate it and then played with Pat hard for a while. Very reassuring. Then he fell asleep. I found something to work on beside him, my hand on his chest. Once he took a long time to inhale—I jostled him, and he breathed. By the time we went to a neighbor’s house for dinner (we took him), the puffiness was largely gone and never came back.

On Sunday we discovered that Kruiser really likes snow. We walked on the upper loop road with Pat, Kruiser, and Chelsea (Joan’s dog. Kruiser and Chelsea got tired so some of us turned around.On the steep downhill Kruiser sat down every few feet, but then we hit a patch of snow. He ran to it and did a series of Tigger hops on all four feet. The snow definitely revived him for the rest of the way back to the cabin.

Today our company left. I feel like I’ve figured out Kruiser’s likes/abilities up to now, and can finally relax, let down my hypervigilance some. We worked on firewood—I moved some while Ed split logs. We kept the dogs inside. At one point both Pat and Kruiser wanted out, but we worried about their safety with the splitter, so kept them inside. I went to get tea and caught Kruiser mid pee onto our small green area rug. Did the “ockt,” grabbed him, and took him outside. It was our fault. He wanted out before, and we didn’t let him. He followed me to rinse off the rug, acting very contrite. When I finished I went over to the snow patches to play with him to make him feel better. He bounced and chewed again and even did a couple of full body slides down the snow to the bare ground.

I also discovered today that Kruiser’s “come” isn’t as good as I thought. Our neighbor’s dog Ivy came over and Kruiser tried to get her to play. She started back to her house. I called Kruiser by name. No response. I called a couple more times. Finally, Ivy reached the road to the bridge, and he came. I said “come” right before he reached me and gave him lots of praise. He needs more practice! I tried working on it while walking with him and Pat on the lower logging road with mixed success. The snow won out once, but most of the time he came. So now he’s on leash more. Something we will have to keep working on.

Our best mental image at the cabin is of Pat, Kruiser, and Chloe on the sofa. Unfortunately we don't have any photos of it, but we did get a great picture of Kruiser on Glen's lap on the back porch and then alone on the sofa (photo at top).