I didn’t go to sleep until 3am today. Honestly, I don’t know how I was up so late. I was working, but I only worked until around 1am and then I just couldn’t fall asleep! I think it might have been the hot tea I drank – I forgot about the caffeine! Anyways, Wynston woke me up at 5:30 this morning (yes, 2.5 hours after I went to sleep) which was VERY unusual. He never wakes me up. My herd of animals followed me downstairs as we prepared for our morning breakfast ritual. Well, Wynston didn’t want to eat…
Wynston is a vulture. He’ll eat anything I offer him. He stared at his food for a brief moment, before finally taking some small, slow bites. Normally he devours his meal, after we do some training to work for it.
When we went back upstairs, Wynston went into the corner of our bedroom and just sat there shaking. I evaluated him for a minute, before picking him up and putting him under the covers in the bed. I wrapped him up and laid with him until he stopped shaking and went to sleep.
Okay. So now’s it’s 6:30am and I’m wide awake despite my lack of sleep. I stayed up until 8am so I could call the vet and make an appointment. They were able to squeeze me in at 12:30 so I took it.
I managed to fall back to sleep for an hour, but spent the rest of my morning stressing out about Wynston. When he’s not well, I feel so helpless. I was even feeling guilty, like “Why didn’t I catch this sooner? Why didn’t I see the signs? I’m such a horrible mom.”
The whole time, I was thinking that perhaps Wynston’s anal glands needed to be expressed and/or he got an infection. It’s happened before because one anal gland fills up, while the other one doesn’t at all. In January 2014, he was literally sick in bed for 5 days while I treated the infection. So I’m thinking, “Oh boy, here we go again. And right before his agility trial this weekend.”
The vet tech offered to just express the glands, to see if they were super full, and if they were, that was probably the case and we didn’t need to pay for an office visit. Well, everything was normal and they weren’t abnormally full, so we opted for an exam.
Wynston’s heart and lungs are good. Teeth, ears, eyes, under the tongue, joints, range of motion – everything checked out great. Except for his abdomen. When the veterinarian pressed on it, Wynston showed discomfort.
Matt and I noticed the other day that Wyn’s stool was softer than normal, but we looked at it and didn’t see anything unusual. He also wasn’t being himself yesterday, which leads me to believe maybe he’s been dealing with tummy problems for a couple of days.
As the vet asked us a series of dietary questions, we can’t think of anything that Wynston could have ingested that would make him sick. He doesn’t chew up toys or eat random objects. We haven’t made any changes to his meals or treats.
I had two options: blood work and x-rays, or tummy meds and see how he does over the next day. I’m not going to put him through x-rays and blood work unless it’s absolutely necessary. I just don’t want to cause him the stress. I will if I have to, but right now it’s doesn’t seem urgent.
When we got home, Wynston went to the bathroom and his stool was completely normal. Thank God. But he was still following me around like he’s been doing the last two days, almost as if he’s trying to tell me something. I can’t figure it out. It’s so unlike him. I’ve been trying to play with him more (although we play a lot) and just lay with him, but it doesn’t seem to be doing the trick. He didn’t even want to play yesterday.
Then it got interesting.
After Wynston’s afternoon nap on my lap, it was our scheduled time to feed the dogs. I figured the reaction to routine words “Who’s hungry?!” would be a good indication of how Wyn was feeling. Well, he jumped right off my lap and ran downstairs.
Okay then.
He ate his whole meal with no problems.
Well. Jeez. Next obstacle (no pun intended) was deciding on whether or not it was good idea to go to agility class. We have a trial this weekend so I was really nervous about missing class tonight for mine and Wynston’s sake. I went back and forth for an hour with myself saying “He ate his meal and he seems to be doing better but maybe I shouldn’t push it.”
So I let Wynston decide.
The time came around to pack up for agility, and again I said the words. “Wanna go to agility?!” His ears perked up and he ran to the door. Well, there’s my answer. I let Wynston decide.
Tonight at class we ran a gamble course, which I will be competing in on Saturday. Guess what? We nailed it. We got all of our points and Wynston had a flawless gamble sequence to end the course perfectly with 2 seconds to spare. Wow. We had never done it before and my son went from not feeling well to looking like an agility all star. I admit – I was so stoked. Wynston got the zoomies because I was jumping up and down cheering for him. Now let’s do that again on Saturday! We only ran the course once because I didn’t want to push it, AND since we had such an amazing run, I wanted to end on a positive note.
Phew. What a day. But it’s coming to a close and I bet we will both feel much better tomorrow. I also feel better prepared for our trial this weekend which takes place at Club Doggie!
I’m going to bed.
Amy says
I’m so glad Wynston is feeling better. Good luck on your agility trial!
Amanda says
Thank you Amy! I am feeling better about the trial since we had a great class and Wyn is feeling better.
Cathy says
Poor Wynston! Glad he’s feeling better now. I hate when our fur babies are sick and can’t tell us what is wrong.
Amanda says
It really is the worst!
Jessica Shipman | Beagles and Bargains says
I’m so glad Wynston is doing better! I know how scary it can be. About a year and half ago, we had a similar scare with Luna. She was vomiting and just not acting normal. It turned out she was just really dehydrated. I learned that she doesn’t drink water as much as most dogs, so we started putting some water in her food to keep her hydrated!
Amanda says
Wow how interesting! Sad that you had to find out the tough way, but at least you did!
Kitty Cat Chronicles says
Hey Amanda, thanks for dropping by our blog yesterday and commenting on Sophie’s video. I saw your comment about your cat with radial hypoplasia and wanted to extend an invitation to you to participate in our #WobblyWednesday hashtag party every week. We’ve been hosting it the past few weeks and inviting people with special needs animals to share photos/videos/stories about themselves or even highlight adoptable special needs animals. You can do this on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, anything, and just use the hashtag #WobblyWednesday. We’ve seen our biggest participation on Instagram. We sure would love to see and hear more about your kitty!
Sorry to hear that your day was a stressful one yesterday – glad Wynston is feeling better. We will be sending purrs and he continues to get better!
Amanda says
Oh yay thanks so much for the invite! I will definitely be participating, as Joey’s condition is extremely rare and not many people know about it. I have a very big place in my heart and life for special needs animals. Wynston is feeling so much better today. Thanks for stopping by!
Abbie Rose says
Oh, poor Winston! Glad to hear he is feeling better! I can so relate to what you were saying about blaming yourself and feeling guilty that you didn’t catch it earlier…I have so done that! Our dogs have done that out-the-blue-sickness thing, too, and it can be so scary. We had a random sickness thing happen last year, and it still bothers me that we never figured out what caused it. (The vet tech was convinced they “got into something”, but with the number of people around in our house, plus the kind of dogs they are, I’m convinced that wasn’t it.) Good luck (and have fun) at your agility trial on Saturday!
Amanda says
Yes I really struggle with blaming myself and feeling like a bad mom! We know our dogs better than anyone, so it’s tough. Thank you for the well wishes at our trial!
Ron Tenney says
I am sorry that I was out of the office yesterday and today. I will be there in the morning if Wynston is not better. Let me know.
Dr. T
Amanda says
He’s doing much better Dr. T! I actually made an appt. to see you next Friday (4/24) for his updated vaccinations! See you then!
Cathy Armato says
I’m so glad Wynston is doing better! It’s so scary when that happens. Good luck this weekend in your Agility trials!
Love & Biscuits,
Dogs Luv Us and We Luv Them
Amanda says
Me too. I get sick when he’s sick because I’m so upset! Thank you! I’m sure we’ll have lots of fun!
Denise Gruzensky says
So glad Winston is feeling better! It’s so hard when they are sick and can’t tell us what is wrong! Keep us posted on how tomorrow goes! Paws crossed!!!
Denise Gruzensky says
Oops Wynston, sorry for the typo…
Amanda says
No problem 😉
Amanda says
I will! I’ll be posting about the trial!
bailey unleashed says
aww, poor wynston. maybe it was just nerves because he knew the agility trials were coming up. BOL. whatever it was, i’m glad he’s feeling better. hope the trials went well.
btw, even though he’s not feeling well, that first shot is adorable.