The Dog Days are Not Over!

Since bringing Sylvie (now almost seven months old) home last November, our household has been turned upside down, shaken about, and tumbled down again into a beautiful new pattern, like a kaleidoscope. She's a gentle, playful, sweet, funny puppy and she's quickly become an intrinsic member of our family, even for the cats.

Last Friday evening was proceeding much like every other. Sylvie has a solid bedtime routine. Last thing at night Matthew takes her out to do her business and then they come up to our room. But it all went sideways.

She had been out in our garden and came bounding back in as usual, but after a minute she threw up. Suddenly Sylvie couldn't stand on her legs anymore and her head was shaking. Matthew thought she was having a seizure or a stroke. He carried her up to me and laid her on our bed. She tried to stand but she fell over. Her eyes were sometimes open but unfocused. There was a horrific moment when I thought she had died. All of this happened so much faster than the time it takes to write or read this.

In tears and trembling, I called the out of hours vet service. With the video call the vet was able to see Sylvie and coach us through some emergency treatment. She told us to rub honey on Sylvie's gums to raise her blood sugar. Getting that honey into her blood stream helped stabilise her enough to give us time to get her to the out of hours vet. I called ahead and let them know that Sylvie was coming, so they were ready as soon as she arrived.

It killed me but I knew I'd be a liability if I tried to go to the emergency vet with my husband and son. With my disability I have to quickly calculate the costs of every action I take. I was already in poor shape after a really difficult month - in fact last week I'd hit a hard low and had decided I needed to take a break so I could avoid another major health crisis and collapse. I knew Sylvie was going to need me when she got home and I trusted my boys and the vet to take care of her.

Matthew and Alex texted me every few minutes to let me know how she was. I prayed and prayed. I messaged my cousin and close friend and asked for their prayers. I didn't want to even consider the possibility that I'd lose her so soon, after finally being able to have the dog I've spent all my life dreaming of having.

The vet we'd had the video call with had already sent me a copy of her report which I forwarded to the emergency vet. Sylvie's heart rate was low on arrival but under observation she stabilised. The vet said that it was pretty certain that somehow Sylvie had eaten something toxic, like a pesticide. We spent the next 48 hours giving her liquid charcoal and nursing her. With all my heart I'm thankful she has recovered and is now back to her usual self. Seeing her like that was traumatising. I want her to be a grand old dame one day, I love her.

We don't use pesticides in our garden and neither do either of the two neighbours we share a border with - one of whom also has a dog. There is a public access alleyway at the end of our garden. It's unlikely, but something could be thrown over the fence into our garden. My mind couldn't help but go to the times I've heard of poisoned meat being left in local dog walking areas.

The other possibility could be that she ate some aluminium foil. Earlier that night the cats had knocked some onto the floor. We picked it up when we saw it but we don't know for sure that she didn't have some before we got to it. Unfortunately we'll never know what she ate that caused this nightmare. That's pretty maddening because of course we want to protect her from anything like this happening again. We do know that tin foil will be securely put away and we're going to add some height to our fence with garden screening.

Needless to say, all of this took its toll and I was already in a pretty rough place, so I'm proceeding with my plan of prioritising rest. It's hard for me to rest, it always has been. Honestly I've almost forgotten how to be at leisure and I need to find that again. I'm so grateful I still have Sylvie and I want to keep myself and all of my loved ones as healthy as possible for as long as possible.

I hope that sharing this experience will serve as a reminder that we all need to put our wellbeing front and centre in our daily lives. It's all too easy to get caught up in domestic chores, work, and the multitudes of political wrongs happening before our eyes every day. The health and happiness of the people - and animals - who we love is the most important thing. Keep your eye on the prize and remember, rest is resistance.

Take care,

Erin

a break from some of the work I've been doing.