Fighter

Is the only word I can find to describe Zoey. Sunday Chris, Camryn and I went to visit my grandpa before heading to church and then enjoyed breakfast together at Panera. We came home to a MESS! We had forgotten to put the trash up and the dogs destroyed it to say the least. I guess all the yuckiness of the trash got to Z because she had gotten sick while we were gone as well. While we enjoyed a lazy early afternoon, I noticed Zoey was moping around and not acting like herself. I was worried about her, but we had planned to go to Chris' mom and dad's house for the rest of the afternoon and we had to leave her. When we came home for the evening things were even worse than earlier. Brohdi clearly got bored while we were gone and decided to pull anything and everything off the kitchen counter. The dogs got into marshmallows, Cheese-Its, bananas and graham crackers....YIKES! Huge mess and even worse for our Zoey girl. In a nutshell, because of the dog's activities on Sunday Zoey did not eat for 2 1/2 days. She was also sick for 2 1/2 days. If you have seen her recently you know she can't afford to miss a meal, let alone 2 1/2 days worth. Unfortunately her new vet doesn't work on Mondays so we had to wait until Tuesday to take her (she is also such a puzzle I try to keep some consistency with who sees her now). After spending 6 1/2 hours at the vet, I walked out at 9:30 p.m. not knowing if I would see my dog again. :( She was extremely dehydrated, down to 29 1/2 pounds (she should weigh in the low 50's) and sick to say the least. The vet told me a number of times there was no long term care for her and we need to prepare ourselves for knowing every day she is with us still should be cherished. The last thing they knew to do for her was treat her with iv fluids to rehydrate her and test her thyroid to supplement her diet if it was low. I left the vet Tuesday a complete mess.... Surprisingly enough she fought back. She responded to the iv. She responded to new puppy food. She was able to keep 3+ cans of food down in a day (more than she had eaten in months). She responded to a few new feeding strategies. She responded to a thyroid supplement. She gained 4 pounds. She did all of this in 2 days. She is amazing. Our life these days revolves around feeding the dog or taking the dog to my mom's to be fed because we are busy. She eats 4 times a day and is on 5 different medicines, some of those she will be on forever. I question if we are doing the right thing every day. One side of my heart tells me she is just a dog. The bigger side reminds me she is more than just a dog....she is part of our family. When I picked her up from the vet on Thursday my heart melted. She ran to my mom and I like a puppy. Her tail was going like crazy, she was jumping in our arms and doing everything she could to give kisses. Thankfully she is continuing to do at well home. She's only gotten sick twice and both of those were after car rides and we believe they were motion induced. She is continuing to eat between 3 and 4 cans of food per day. She is her happy, excited perfect dog self :) I would be lying if I didn't say things are tough. Financially we have and are spending a ton of money on the dog. It takes a huge time commitment to ensure she gets medicated and fed all day. But I choose to do it to watch that dog wiggle happily around the house and remind me why I said I would always have dogs in my life. I know I'm completely crazy for it too :)