Mood:  caffeinated

I walked into my house last night and was immediately hit with a horrible stench. When I walked in to let Potter out of his crate I saw what was causing the horrible odor. Potter had had diarrhea at some point yesterday. It was all over his crate, his fur, the wall and the carpet. I just stood there for a moment not knowing what to do or where to start. I finally decided to start with Potter. I took him outside to use the bathroom and he still had the runs. I then brought him back in and tried to give him a bath. It is hard to get 70lbs of dog in the tub and keep him there. I was finally able to get all the crap out of his coat and sent him off into the living room to dry while I tackled the rest of the mess. I bleach his crate and scrubbed the carpets and walls. Amazingly everything came out. Potter seemed to be feeling better and played most of the night. I took him out about 11PM and his stool wasn’t hard but it wasn’t like the watery stuff that had come out earlier, so I thought he was okay.

At 1AM Potter came in and got me out of bed in a panic so I rushed him outside. He still had the diarrhea but this time there was some vomiting. So I packed him up in the car and headed to the Doggy ER. I don’t know if it was the vet or my lack of sleep but I was a little snotty with the doctor. She immediately accused me of giving him table scraps. My dog ONLY eats dog food. He might get an occasional egg but Dr. Darth said that was good for him. Don’t assume I am a bad pet owner just because my dog is sick. She sort of looked at me like she didn’t believe me. She said, “Well something is making him sick.” You think? Maybe you should do your job and figure out what the problem is instead of standing there staring at me like an idiot. They ran some tests which took two hours and wasn’t really able to find out much. He had a slight temperature and some tenderness in his stomach but said the x-rays and fecal didn’t show anything abnormal. She said he might just have caught a stomach virus at the dog park. They gave him some bland food, a shot for the vomiting and told me to give him some Pepto Bismal every 6 hours and to watch for dehydration. We got out of there around 4AM and headed home where I crashed for an hour before having to get back up and come into work. I brought Potter with me so I could keep an eye on him. So far he seems okay. He is sleeping now but was walking around the office playing with everyone.

So with only about 2 hours of sleep I am not focusing very well. I have a stack of stuff on my desk and I just can’t get organized enough to start on anything. I feel useless and if I wasn’t taking off Friday I would just go home. I leave today at 3:30 so I am hoping with 7 cups of coffee and 3 chocolate chip cookies I will be able to make it that long.

Mood:  caffeinated

 I got a call Friday from the volunteer who was bringing Potter to Raleigh. One of her new volunteers had driven down to Columbus County to rescue 11 puppies. Two of the puppies were sick but the volunteer didn’t think much of it. When they got to Raleigh, Shannon opened the back of the truck and said she could smell it immediately…Parvo. She separated the other dogs and called me to come and pick up Potter ASAP! Of course nothing went smoothly. There was a 7 car accident on 40 that had everything backed up. Two hours after leaving the office, I finally got the dog and ran him to the vet’s where we had met up with Lennie. The did some blood work and a fecal then the Vet came in with the news…he tested positive for Parvo. *sigh* The vet told us that treatment would consist of IV fluids and lots of medication to the tune of $1400. Lennie and I were given a minute to discuss what we should do. $1400 is a lot of money and there was no guarantee that he would pull through. Potter got up off the floor and walked over and placed his head on Lennie’s leg and looked at him with those big brown eyes and that is when we decided we had to save him. We were able to take out a loan with this company called Care Credit, so that we can make payments for the treatment. They put Potter in isolation and we were given some time to spend with him. He was such a trooper. The staff there was so nice and believed that the best way for him to get better was to have something to fight for. I hated leaving him there. Saturday we went for another visit. Potter was up and about…tail wagging and trying to give Lennie and I as many puppy kisses as we would allow. He vomited some and had some diarrhea but the vet said he was happy about his progress. Sunday morning we got a call that Potter kept down his food and that they thought we could take him home that night. I don’t think the vet staff wanted to part with him. He is such a sweet dog. Just wants to be with you all the time and loves to be petted and doesn’t have an aggressive bone in his body. He came in to the house and ignored Fenwick but Fenwick was determined that this puppy would know his place. I thought the cat would run and hide but all he wanted to do was fight the dog. He got Potter a couple of times on the nose and got Lennie and me on the leg. This morning was a little better. Fenwick stayed in my room and growled as he watched the dog. I think it is just going to take time. Sorry the picture isn’t great.  I hope to get more soon. He just won’t stand still long enough. LOL  Hope you all had a good weekend.

Mood:  happy

I have a crap load of work to do today but they only thing I think about is that it’s PUPPY DAY!!!!  I haven’t heard yet from the volunteers so I am hoping they were able to get him out on time. If all went well they should be back in Raleigh at 1PM and I can go pick him up after work.

I went last night to pick up the crate and I got to talking to the woman at the register. When she found out I was adopting a dog she gave me a booklet with $160 worth of coupons. Most of them were for free 5lb bags of dog food. SWEET! Oh and for those of you who have a PETCO near you…I am not sure if all of them have it but ours does…it is a self dog wash. It is set up like a regular grooming area but you do it yourself. For a fee they provide you with all the supplies. You make the mess and they clean it up and no more bending over your tub at home they have a big wash bin with steps so it is easy to get your dog in there. What an awesome idea.

I talked to Lennie last night and kind of got upset/nervous by the time I hung up. I thought he was as excited about getting a dog as I was but when I asked him last night if he was looking forward to it he just said in a non-enthusiastic way, “Yeah I am…as long as you’re happy then I am okay with it.” What kind of answer is that? The main reason I was getting this dog was because of him. I was happy with life the way it was. I mean I am excited about getting Potter don’t get me wrong but I could have waited a few years until I was a little more stable. He had agreed to help with expenses and when asked last night if he would cover the vet costs since I am paying for all the doggy stuff he said yes but then started to list off all the bills he has to pay and hoped this wouldn’t be too expensive. I have bills too but WE agreed to this. I asked him before I got Potter if this is what he wanted. Maybe he had a commitment phobic moment. I have certainly had those. Maybe he realized how life would be different. It won’t be as easy to travel. It was easier with the cat and bird. They were fine with 2 visits a day but the dog will need to go out several times a day. I am hoping that once Lennie meets Potter he will fall in love with him. I really hoped that he would be honest with me instead of thinking, “well if it will make her happy I will say yes.” If he had said to me, “You know I just don’t think we are ready for this. Let’s wait awhile.” I would have said okay and been fine with it. Now I am just worried that I am getting in over my head and that I won’t have the support that I need from him. I am just hoping now that everything will work out. Both with the dog and with Lennie.

I think everything is set up for tonight. I figured since I am meeting Shannon at PETCO I will run in and get him bathed and deflea’ed then head home. I am hoping that Fenwick will take the new addition in stride. I made sure I played extra long with both he and Merlin. I don’t have too many toys yet. I got him a Budda Bone, a Kong, and a stuffed Hedgehog. I also got him from doggy treats. I figured today after his bath I will let him pick out his own toy at the store.

I probably won’t post this weekend seeing as I will be busy with the dog. I hope on Monday I will have some pictures to post. Hope everyone has a nice weekend.

Update!!!

Just got word from the volunteer at the shelter in Columbus County….

Mood:  happy

Well if all goes well I will be the proud new owner of a Golden Retriever. I am just not sure which one.

What a morning it has been. But to set up the story I really need to start from the beginning. Last week I took out an ad on Craig’s List asking if anyone had or knew of a Golden that needed to be adopted. I wrote about myself and what kind of life the dog would have if he came to live with me. Any animal that lives in my house is very spoiled.

Well all the sudden I got emails from these 4 really sweet women and they sort of adopted me and were determined that they were going to find me the perfect dog. They are apparently part of a network called Furry Friends Rescue and started searching kennels, pounds, Rescue Orgs, and Craig’s List.

First there was Max. He was a beautiful 15 mo Golden Retriever. The owner just didn’t have the time to spend with him. I wrote the guy a huge email about why I would be the perfect owner. Well he wrote me back and said sorry he had a new home already.

There was then the little puppy I mentioned in Monday’s blog. After several attempts to get the dog from the NRGRR I gave up. They are not putting him up for adoption yet but said that the puppy already had an interested owner.

Then another ad from Craig’s List was sent to me. Another Golden named Max…15 months old…could this be the same dog? So I email the woman about me and the type of owner I would be and I wait and I get no response. That was on Monday.

Okay so today I get into work this morning and have emails from two of my 4 new friends. There are two puppies at a shelter in Columbus County. Gufus (soon to be Potter if he comes to live with me) who the volunteer thinks is a pure bread (I think he is a mix but who cares) the other is Brewster who is a Golden Mix. They both appear to be about a year old and just as cute as they could be. They are in a high kill shelter so I called them to see if they could hold the puppies till this weekend (Gufus is due to be put down on Friday). The woman stated that they aren’t open on Saturdays and they can not hold dogs. F**K! What the hell am I suppose to do now. I can’t take off this week? So I emailed Amanda (one of my new doggy friends) who put me in touch with Shannon. Shannon heads up Furry Friends and is making a run to the shelter tomorrow. She would be glad to pick him up for me all I had to do was fill out the application. I sort of cringed because I haven’t had luck with rescue orgs and their “applications.” This one called for 8 references. I filled it out and sent it back and within the hour I had my response. I had been approved. She called one reference…my petsitter who gave me a glowing review. So now I have to meet her at Petco and give her the money for the adoption fee. I have asked for Gufus but if he is gone then the woman will get me Brewster. She said she called the pound and they have held both dogs for me. I am so excited. Here are some pictures. They aren’t too good. I had the volunteer run over to the shelter and take some pictures.

This is Gufus:

This is Brewster:

In the meantime the woman emails me about Max. It is the same dog. They got him Friday and decided he was too much for them so she needed to find him a home. She was hoping to get rid of him by Sunday. I was angry when I heard this. Animals are not disposable. I almost took him but figured that I would better off getting the shelter dog. Yeah I am sure Potter (aka Gufus) will have some health issues and will probably have to be neutered and will cost a fortune but he deserves this chance to be a great dog. Max I am sure will have no problem finding a home. So I told the woman no thanks. Broke my heart but I think I made the right decision.

So I guess tonight I will be shopping for the dog. That part I am not looking forward to. I am looking at having to spend around $200. I am hoping Lennie agrees to cover the vet bills. Keep your fingers crossed.

A little nervous now....