Thursday, November 09, 2006

Sick Kids, Sick Pets

We've had a crazy week around our house. Last week was quarter end for my kids' school. There were lots of projects and missing assignments due. The weekend was action packed with a volleyball tournament and school play. Molly was wiped out and John came down with a croupy cold yesterday. I'm really hoping his cold doesn't make its way through the rest of us. My chest aches for him- if you've ever heard a croupy cough you'll know what I mean. Molly is in eighth grade at a K-8 parochial school so we're busy trying to decide on a high school for her. There are two Catholic high schools that she's interested in. They both require entrance exams and references from teachers. ACK!! The public high school that we're zoned for has had some major violence and academic issues in the last few years that eliminate it from the decision process. We do have the option of applying to a high school out of district, but there waiting lists and no guarantees.

On to the pets! Last weekend Art accidentally tripped over Gidget the dog in the middle of the night. She limped around the next day, and by the following morning she couldn't walk. AT ALL! Her back end was totally lame. She wouldn't put any weight on one leg and would not stand. I carried her around on Sunday- 45 pounds of black dog! (She's a very chubby small-size terrier mix) On Monday I couldn't stand to see her hurting and had her at the vet's door first thing in the morning. I tried to prepare the kids for difficult news. I really thought some thing was broken. Two vets and two x-rays, they couldn't find anything wrong! I settled Gidget gently on the floor so I could look at the x-rays with the vets. Nothing. John tapped me on the shoulder. "Mom, Gidget left." Huh? In the space of 30 seconds, Gidget went from lame to sneaking out into the waiting room to visit with the other dogs! We went home with a bottle of Rimidyl and $280 lighter. She limped around and whimpered all evening. I gave her one pain pill and she was out. The next morning she raced me downstairs, flew around the back yard and rolled in a nice stink. Hmm. John said it was a miraculous x-ray. I'll keep my opinion to myself.

A couple of days ago I noticed that Buddy (bunny) had a drippy eye. This morning it was goopy. Off to the vet we go! No scratched cornea (yay!), could be viral, but here are some nice pink antibiotics and a syringe to squirt them in his mouth. Bunnies like sweets so he'll probably slurp it up says vet. Yeah right! Two cc's, twice a day for 7 days. Heaven help us! I was holding Buddy, trying to calm him down while the vet prepared the antibiotic drops when I noticed two black dots MOVING in his fur. FLEAS!!! Gidget gets a once a month flea/tick/heart worm/everything else treatment but it never occured to me that Buddy might get fleas. I guess it's quite likely that he got them when he has his morning outside romp. Add on a dose of flea medication for rabbits and the bill goes up to $90. I'll go to the store for the flea-bombs for the house tomorrow.

Oh, and my 88 year old Mom is mad at me because I can't take her to the grocery store until tomorrow.
And I work nights Friday, Saturday and Sunday.
OK, I'm done now. Ranting and whining over and out.

8 comments:

Susan Gets Native said...

Oh, you just rant away.

Lorelei had croup last week, and now Isabelle is coughing. Damn.

That X-ray cured your dog! Amazing. :)

Poor "Benneh". We have been lucky to never, ever seen a flea anywhere on our animals. Of course, now that I have said that, we will get them.

LauraHinNJ said...

Hope the kids feel better soon and the doggy and the bunny!

Glad the vet was able to cure Gidget! ;-)

Do you mean 2 cc's - like two whole syringes for Buddy - twice a day? Gosh that's a lot, if so. What is the Rx?

Let me know if you need ideas for giving bunny meds - one of mine gets 3 twice a day. Of course she is a dream about it now, but it took some work to get her that way. A raisin after the meds builds positive associations!

NatureWoman said...

Hope everyone feels better soon!

Deb said...

It must be the full moon...ranting seems to be the meme of the week in blog world! Hope everyone's feeling better soon.!

Unknown said...

Rant away! Sometimes we all need a vent and blogging is a safe place to do it! I'm stunned at the miracle x-ray cure. Sometimes the excitement of being at the vet (if they like it) can push them through the pain that they've been feeling. My Rosie once had arthritis so bad that she couldn't walk without screaming -- that was delightful. Took her to the vet where she jumped out of the car and wagged her way into the clinic. Sigh. That was a $600 miracle cure!

Carolyn H said...

Sometimes I feel that if I get 1 hour to myself on a weekend to do something I enjoy, I consider it a successful weekend. I'm envious of people who seem to have unlimited time to do fun things. Take care.

Carolyn H.
www.roundtoprumings.blogspot.com

Endment said...

Ranting is good!
It sounds as if you have your hands full just now
Sending you lots of sympathy!

Lynne at Hasty Brook said...

Thanks everyone for patiently listeneing to my rant! I've finished my long weekend working nights, Buddy's eye is better and hopefully the fleas are DEAD!! John's cold has passed along to everyone but me. I'll just keep telling myself that I don't have time to be sick!