Our new dog Zoe has pancreatitis.
She has been throwing up occasionally, which doesn’t worry me too much. Dogs do that, especially dogs like Zoe, who put the omni in omnivore. But after three times in a short period, I took her to the vet. He did blood work, but didn’t find anything at the time. Then a couple of days ago she really let loose, and I decided to take her back. This time they did a test specifically for pancreatitis, and she passed. Or rather, failed.
Aside from vomiting, the other symptoms include loss of appetite, lethargy, and stomach pain. The night before the vet visit, she refused her food. That was uncharacteristic. She has also told me several times that she wanted to cut our morning walks short, which is really unusual for a dog. She has also been whimpering some, but she’s normally a very vocal dog.
Pancreatitis is a serious condition in dogs. It can be fatal if it gets bad and isn’t treated. Zoe’s case seems not to be too bad. The vet gave me an antibiotic (two pills, twice a day), something to settle her stomach (once in the evening), and an antacid (once a day in the evening). He also put her on a special gastroenteritic diet, which is three or four times as expensive as our regular dog food. Oh, and she has a yeast infection in her ears, so she gets drops twice a day. That means I have to give her four pills every night. That’s a lot of peanut butter.
She’s also not supposed to have any table scraps. She’s used to getting our leftovers, so she won’t be happy about that.
However, there is some good news on the health front — we are scheduled to get our initial Covid-19 vaccinations on Friday, March 5. On Tuesday evening we got an email from the hospital where Leah had her surgery. They are setting up a vaccination clinic for employees and people over 65. Apparently they emailed anyone who has had treatment there.
Such sad news about Zoe. I hope all the medications and interventions work for her and that she recovers well and fully.
GREAT news about the vaccine there. I just found out yesterday from conversations with neighbors that our county has expanded vaccinations that includes my age group, finally. Of course the county NEVER notified me even though I filled out their stupid “interest” form on their website weeks ago. I went to schedule the vaccine at the local CVS and found that they were already FULLY BOOKED. I’m going to keep trying, of course, but I sure wish this competition for vaccinations wasn’t part of the dynamics.
Part of sharing our lives with dogs is coming to terms with their illnesses. I’ve been down similar paths with the dogs in my life. I wish you well.
Libby is scheduled to get her first round of the vaccine next week, but I am “too young” still.
Robin — I was surprised when I checked the signup page online Wednesday night that less than half the spots were taken. I haven’t checked lately.
Paul — Zoe acts pretty normal so far. It seems not to have been a very serious case of pancreatitis, so I hope she recovers soon. At least she isn’t vomiting.
We are both “lucky” to be old enough to qualify for the vaccine.