So, get up this morning, feed DaNiece, I see Skippy in the office waiting for food. By the time I make her egg, he's gone.
I went in search of him and gave him food. And the right side of his face is swollen. Crap. Crapcrapcrap.
Opie had a vet's appointment at 10:00. Geriatric checkup and he's been doing this thing where he kind of hitches his breath when he exhales. I call the office to see what to do about Skip.
"Take some pictures and show them to the doctor when you come in."
Good thing I hadn't taken a shower yet. Skip didn't get fluids yesterday because he was doing so well. But this morning he wasn't. I got his fluids ready, got his meds ready and had to get him from under the pool pump. He wasn't falling for the Greenie trick this morning. I had to move a gate that Brian had resting against the fence and because Skip was too far back for me to reach, I had to go get something to push him out with. An old leaf rake, with the light weight tines would probably work. I got down in front of where he was, positioned the rake behind him and kind of pushed him out. I was able to get to the other side where he came out and grabbed him.
Took him into the bathroom, checked his nose, it was covered in goop and I put warm water on a folded up paper towel, squeezed most of the water out and started wiping off his nose and around it. Got a nice lump of snot. Figured I should save it and take it with us when we took Opie in. I then gave him the meds and the fluids and took a few pictures with the Kindle Fire. I let him out and he went into the office and drank some water from the fountain and I took video of him.
I was very hot and sweaty. I took a shower. Then it was time to go. Opie didn't go crazy this time, I think Brian was a calming influence on him. The vet said his heart sounded good. They took him into the back for blood work and the results were really good. They're supposed to call with the RBC and WBC since that machine wasn't running properly. She said he may have a slight case of COPD, but at this juncture, there's nothing to be done. If it gets worse, then there will be options.
She looked at the pictures of Skip and took the snot back and tested it. No white blood cells. The line of thought at this point is something bit him. I'm supposed to take him in and they'll give him a shot, diphenhydramine and steroid, to help with the swelling.
I almost forgot to ask about DaNiece who has run her first month of phenobarbital. The vet wanted to recheck her values. So, I'm supposed to take her in for blood work, just a drop off. I'll be taking both Skip and DaNiece in between noon and two this afternoon, since they don't have appointments then.
I'll be glad when I'm home for the day.
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