Welcome back after a long Thanksgiving weekend! I’m going off topic today because of something that happened over the weekend. I’m hoping to reach other pet owners out there to be alert for signs of change in your pets and to never hesitate if you think something is wrong.
This past Saturday morning, Deke, our Goldendoodle, woke up and 630 and threw up some yellow bile. This is not really a sign of concern unless it’s daily or fairly often. Goldendoodles have sensitive stomachs and Deke also eats at strange times which sometimes causes him to do that because of an empty stomach. Point 1: know your pets.
I was off to the hockey rinks with our son all weekend but received a text with a picture of Deke’s poop around 11:30AM from my wife. Any parents of either young kids or pets knows that conversations around poop is completely normal. However, there was nothing normal in this picture. It was a brownish red liquid and I knew that wasn’t normal. I immediately said to call the vet office.
By the time I got home between games around noon, Deke wouldn’t eat his lunch which is very unusual for him. He wanted to go outside and play a bit but the energy level was low and after a few rounds of fetch, he laid down in the grass and his eyes were getting heavy. I immediately knew something was off and got him inside, told my wife to call the vet and say I’m on my way. At this time, my son also noticed that Deke’s gums were extremely pale.
The next point is something very important! The vet office needs to be utilized like a primary care or family doctor office. Normal stuff is when you go there, NOT for emergencies. Make sure if you own pets that you have an emergency hospital to rely on because they are not only better equipped to help, but also have longer hours and are open all weekend.
To jump to the conclusion, Deke was in systemic anaphylaxis. We have no idea what from and luckily this is a rare occurrence. I’m glad we noticed the signs of distress early and did not hesitate to get him treatment immediately. Deke received epinephrine, antihistamines, steroids, fluids….and luckily only had to spend 8 hours at the hospital. We felt great to get him home that same day because he responded to treatment so well.
Deke is doing better and acting normal with no ill effects of the episode. He’s finishing up his 3 day rounds of Benadryl today and still has to taper off the steroids over the next several days.
Last note, make sure you have your pet insurance!!! We use Lemonade pet insurance and they have worked well for us but there are many options. This would have been a fairly substantial out of pocket cost but it was covered. Obviously I would have paid anything to make him healthy, but having the insurance makes it a bit more palatable when handing over the credit card.
Here is a picture of Deke being himself and another one of his sister, Delaney, keeping an eye on him. Notice his front right leg which they had to shave for bloodwork and IVs.
