Last night Cocoa the Cat caught a baby ground skink lizard over by our fireplace. For several years now, a family of skinks has made our patio its permanent residence, and they all hang out on screen door sunbathing on bright, sunny days. Somehow one of the babies got into the house yesterday and Cocoa the Cat did her best to catch and eat it. Fortunately, I noticed it before she could do any permanent damage, and was able to catch the skink and release it back onto the patio. Live long and prosper, baby skink! I love skinks because they eat spiders, so they can live on my patio as long as they want.
Dobby the Dog has been suffering a bit this week. I noticed last last week that he might be having issues urinating, and by Saturday he was unable to pee at all. The poor pup would stagger around the yard, stopping every few feet to make futile attempts to empty his bladder. By 11 a.m. I called the vet and asked to bring him in. The vet determined via x-ray that it was a UTI but merely required meds, not surgery. I was told that by Monday Dobby should be mostly back to normal but to give him the full bottle of meds to knock out the infection completely.
Starting Saturday we began faithfully giving him the meds, and sure enough – by Monday he no longer needed a diaper and could go 4-5 hours between the urge to go outside. Victory! The meds were working!
Last night (Wednesday) I got home from work and he was agitated and panting, desperate to go outside. I went out with him and sure enough – he squatted several times around the yard, trying to go to the bathroom. Ugh. I let him out again a bit later and let him try to go, to no avail. I brought him back inside.
I went into the office to do some work and about ten minutes later, CG walks into the room and announces, “Dobby just peed on the rug in the TV room.” Sure enough – he had. I let him out again while I steam cleaned that area of the carpet. Once done I let him back inside and promptly put a diaper on him. A few hours later when I was going to bed, I checked the diaper and it was full. I swapped it out, put a towel on his bed, and prayed that the diaper would hold and if it didn’t, the towel would keep his bed from getting wet.
This morning his towel was dry, and when I took off the diaper it only showed one small spot of yellow. I took him downstairs to let him out and followed along behind him to take a urine sample to provide to the vet should he ask for it. I then put him in a fresh diaper, gave him his morning meds and went back upstairs to get ready for work.
Upon arriving at work this morning, I looked up the vet’s hours so that I’d know when to call to inquire about getting more aggressive meds. I was shocked when I saw that this vet’s office is CLOSED on Sundays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays. WHAT? I had no idea those were the hours for this particular vet’s office. I’ve only been using them for nail trims in the past year and left my previous vet because their prices kept going higher and higher for no apparent reason. So apparently if I want continuous care for my ailing pet, I can’t count on this place to field phone calls every other day. Looks like I’ll be on the hunt for a new vet again.
In the meantime, I’m hoping that this step back is an anomaly and that maybe the symptoms will try one more time before giving into the meds? Is that a thing? Please say yes.
