Katy Sick Again

Yesterday afternoon, after I got home from work, I let the dogs out of their kennels for their afternoon "recess" in the back yard. About half an hour later, I let them into the living room for their first evening meal (see September 1 entry for detail of our routine). Katy was breathing heavily with some wheezing and seemed really tired and worn out. I thought maybe she was nauseated, so I gave her half a Reglan, but it didn't seem to help, because while Max was wolfing down his food, Katy refused hers. I figured it might be another round of Aspiration Pneumonia (When a Mega-E animal throws up, they might inhale some of the um, whatever it's called. It ends up in the lungs and causes an infection that leads to pneumonia). So, I called the vet. They were swamped at the vet and I asked if I needed to take her in or just stop by to pick up some meds. The office manager said she would ask the doctor and call me back. Well, I started getting nervous, as there was only about an hour left in the time they allow for appointments, rush hour was almost here, and Katy was starting to look really uncomfortable. Logically, I figured I would end up at the with vet either option I presented to them, so I decided to take the dog with me.

We had to wait a little bit for the vet, since they were fitting us in. Katy was not happy to be there, as usual, which caused more stress on her breathing. She was running a bit of a temperature, and the vet heard raspy noises from the middle lobe in her lungs, meaning it was probably pneumonia. The good news is that she hasn't lost a lot of weight (32.9 lbs), something else we were worried about.

He gave her a shot of Baytril to get her started, and we have pills to crush up and mix in her food. She's supposed to stay inside for the next couple of days, and he suggested we use a steam humidifier to help relieve the coughing. If she doesn't feel good by Thursday or Friday, she has to go back to the vet, but I don't think that will be necessary, since she was feeling 100% better about an hour after getting home from the vet. She slept through the night last night, and was coughing a little this morning, but was energetic and shot across the yard when I let them outside for "recess" before breakfast.