Can I catch a break ?!?!

As some of you know, I spent my vacation in the Santa Fe, New Mexico area last week.  Although it was fun to see a new town and get out of Seattle for a few days, I missed my little Spuzz ball while I was gone.  It was his first trip to a kennel.  I knew there was a possibility he could get stressed out being away from home, in a new and strange environment, but it never really crossed my mind that he might actually catch something while he was there.  Enter kennel cough.  Ugh.

Remember a year or so back when I had the great idea of starting a new, recurring blog segment called "You Know What Really Grinds My Gears?"  a la Peter Griffin from Family Guy?  And it lasted, uh, like, oh, one post (not surprising, sometimes I have a difficult time with follow through in my personal life, especially with the blog). Well, I'd like to change this blog post title to the aforementioned grinding of gears.  Seriously!!  Can I catch a break on the sick animal front here folks?  Thank you, my 5 readers, for sticking with me this last year because it has been a tough one as far as my pets are concerned, and I've written about it in depth.  I thought I was done with that part of my life for awhile.  I thought I was done with vet visits other than the annual check up and vaccination schedule.  Nope, I had to go on vacation and send my sweet lil' Spuzz to the hoosegow*, leaving him alone in a warehouse full of barking dogs.  Leaving him alone to contemplate his fate.  "Where did she go?", "Is she coming back?", "Is this my new home?", "Why can't I get some goddamn shut-eye in this frickin' joint!?!", "Quit coughing on me Baxter!", and "No I will not make-out with you Maddie!"  Pretty soon the stress wore his lil' immune system down and he caught kennel cough.

So anyway, I'm a little irritated, to say the least.  I know, I know, things in life could be a lot worse, I understand this.  But sick animals have been my reality for the past year and I'm ready to put it behind me.  Don't get me wrong, Spuzz could have caught kennel cough anywhere (groomers, dog park, greeting another dog, etc.), but it just so happens that he started showing signs of it literally the day after he came home from the kennel.  Coincidence?  Not really.  And I feel terrible that he is not feeling well.  We were up at 3am this morning to him coughing so hard he was gagging then eventually throwing up.  He couldn't breathe without wheezing.  He looked so incredibly miserable.  His usual appetite was gone.  So I decided to take him to the emergency vet at 6:30am because I didn't want to wait any longer for my scheduled vet appointment at 10am.  I know, paranoid animal lover over here.  Well, I didn't know for sure he had kennel cough, that was just what was suspected.  And when your dog is wheezing, vomiting, and looks like shit?  That's when the emergency vet is a good idea.

We were home by 10:30am with a confirmation of kennel cough.  He doesn't have a temperature, his lungs sound great, and his oxygen saturation levels are where they are supposed to be.  Meaning he is breathing fine, and getting enough oxygen circulated to all his wee vital organs.  I was sent home with some antibiotics in case it is bacterial, and some cough suppressants so he can get some rest.  He fell asleep immediately when we got home for an hour or so, and did me a solid by eating an entire can of his wet food.  Yay!!  I was worried he wasn't going to eat and it would be difficult for me to give him his pills.  After the struggle I had giving Frank his pills this past year, I am not ready for another pill battle with Spuzzers.

So send some positive vibes Spuzz's way, okay?  He could really use it.  And I could also use some positive vibe-age.  I'll quit being cranky about the whole thing soon.  As soon as he's close to being back to normal, I'll forget what my heart felt like as I looked at his miserable little post-coughing-fit-and-vomit-wheezing like a 90 year old man with emphysema-face.  Keeping my fingers crossed that he is on the mend, and he'll be back to his cheerful self in a week or so.
*did not know hoosegow was spelled that way, thought it was like hoozkow, learn something new every day!