Harley

I didn't blog about this before but for a while there, I was really worried about Harley.

I came home last Friday and he had a slight limp - very slight limp. I might not would have noticed except that he kept holding up his front paw when he sat or stood for any length (and not necessarily long length) of time. I gave him an aspirin that night, which seemed to help.

Saturday, I considered taking him to the vet but I'd given him another aspirin and he seemed to be okay so I decided against it, thinking he'd be fine.

By Tuesday, when I returned to work, not only was he still limping (and it was more pronounced), his energy level was falling. If I could get him to eat he would empty his bowl but he didn't seem to have any real interest in eating, except to make me happy. The biggest indicator for me was that he had no interest in my used kleenex either (and that was a big deal! believe it or not). I started to get really concerned.

Wednesday morning he seemed to have energy so I thought he was getting better. He didn't eat breakfast though, but then he really hadn't been eating much for the last couple of days so I didn't get too alarmed, just from that.

That evening though, he ate his dinner - for me - and then threw it up. He still wasn't interested in used kleenex and when he jumped off the bed (he hasn't had any problems jumping up during this whole ordeal), it was like he didn't have any front legs at all. He came down chest first.

Thursday morning he didn't have energy and didn't eat so I called the vet and scheduled an appointment for that afternoon. When I came home for lunch it seemed like it was an effort for him to open his eyes. By now I was really freaking out. Oh, and someone had mentioned that I needed to watch to see is if was doing his business or not (I don't usually see that because they let themselves out), so I'd gone out the night before. Sure enough, one of my dogs was having diarrhea - I assumed Harley.

I took him to the vet and he would notice the house cats and other animals there but if they moved outside of his eye-line, he didn't see what they did...he wouldn't even move his head. I was hoping for some miracle drug that would help my baby.

Anyway, the vet had me walk him around a bit and commented that his back-end seemed stiff when he walked. He noticed that he seemed to be favoring his front leg but he also thought the rest of him was stiff. Of course, I'm thinking it's because he's not moving much at all but I didn't say anything.

He told me that it was probably one of two things...a virus that is going around that attacks their joints and muscles, or he was injured. He said that all the other symptoms - his lack of interest in food, throwing up, diarrhea, lethargy - were all consistent with an injury. But he wanted to treat for both - just in case.

So he gave him a shot of an anti-inflammatory and sent me home with an anti-inflammatory drug and an antibiotic.

Within a couple of hours of the shot, he was like a new dog. Which of course made me wonder if he wouldn't re-injure himself...I still wonder about that. Anyway, I came home with a week's worth of drugs and just a few days in, he's almost back to 100%. First thing in the mornings he's limping because the medicine has worn off but his appetite is back, he's as curious as ever and he's back to jumping at the sound of me pulling a kleenex out of its box.

Life is good.