Monday I thought she had something that had caught in her throat and had damaged it...so did her vet. He put her on antibiotics. Wednesday night she was really ill..not eating or drinking and seeming like she was in distress. Thursday morning I took her back to the vets.
He knocked her out and looked down her throat and saw nothing but great masses of white cells (puss cells). He x-rayed her and saw her lung was full of masses of white cells. Once she woke up and we were there she was back to her old self. He removed some of the mess and it made her feel better. He changed her antibiotics and told us to take her to Washington State University if she didn't get over it on Monday.
She looked really chipper when we left the vets on Thursday. There was a Border Collie in the waiting room and the two of them looked like they wanted to herd something together.
Friday night she coughed and coughed. Saturday morning she had lost all her vitality and was in a sad state indeed. We took her to W.S.U at Pullman.
Here she is at W.S.U. A dog came into the hospital who was bleeding out and so it was all hands on deck and we had to wait a bit...which was fine..I hope that other dog made it.
Teddy is very nervous around other people. I have never seen such a timid dog. She piddled all over our regular vets examining table and floor, so when we went into the W.S.U. hospital I warned everyone to stand clear because she was a piddler...they got a chuckle out of that. I was being serious.
W.S.U. veterinary teaching hospital is the best equipped in the nation. Teddy was in the best place she could be...all though Teddy could think of many other places she'd rather be.
Brad received his animal science degree from W.S.U. in 1976 and so he asked if he could get an alum discount..lol..answer..NO...more lol.
I couldn't control myself. What else could a professional artist (which I am) and an authority on dogs (very debatable) do with time on her hands and a big white board in a vet teaching hospital?
I put my artistic talents and canine knowledge on display.......
I should have signed it....could be worth something one day. (I wonder if some poor innocent student got a lecture for putting that back arrow too low).
Teddy was examined first by a very nice vet student. He's going to make a wonderful vet when he graduates. Then an Australian vet came in and examined Teddy as well. W.S.U. has students and residents from all over the world and I thought it marvelous how they had an Australian vet come in and examine an Australian Shepherd. I started thinking of all the different breeds and what nationality vet they'd be paired with...German Shepherd - German. Irish Wolfhound and Irish Setter - Irishman. A Great Dane - Great Dane. Italian Greyhound - Italian. Old English Sheep dog - Old English bloke. Welsh Terrier - Welshman. Did I ever mention my mind wanders?
At W.S.U. they discovered the white cells were eosinphiles which indicate parasites like lung worm or an allergic reaction or asthma. Further tests will be done. In the mean time she has been wormed, just in case. Lung worm is very rare in this area, but our dog Blondie came from Oklahoma. Blondie was wormed before she came here but I'm wondering if she might have been a carrier.
We will pick Teddy up today. We have been informed that she is very frightened there...poor shy doggie.
After our visit to the vet hospital we ate at one of Brad's haunts from his student days at Pullman.
No more drunken debauchery for old Brad...here he is studying the menu.
3 comments:
Oh no, I am so sorry you had to go through all that. Poor Teddy! I can imagine she wasn't very happy around all those strangers. Blue would be the same. I wonder if he would piddle too.
I hope it gets all straightened out and Teddy is good as new soon. I'm sure she was happy to be going home.
Have they looked into grass seeds as a problem? I know having a hunting dog, people are always talking about cheatgrass...
"Grasses like foxtail barley, cheatgrass, Canada wild rye and speargrass (needle & thread) produce some of the most hazardous mean seeds around."
They embed themselves and can work their way through the body into a dogs lungs... Just an idea?
Read your blog on occasion and hope the pup gets better and all is figured out!!
You are so right about cheat grass being so dangerous. That was the first thing our vet and W.S.U. thought of...a cheat grass seed had worked it's way into her lung. When Teddy was a pup she had a cheat grass seed in her ear and the vet had to take it out. We have had them cause big abscesses in cows jaws. I hate cheat grass!
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