Pingo spent the day at the vet. She just hasn't been Pingo all weekend. She hasn't eaten since Thursday night. I did convince her to eat a bit of cheese on Saturday, but nothing else. She's a good little eater and usually the first one to grab her dinner. She always eats in her doghouse, but she always eats!
She didn't wooo when a loose dog came to fence; when my neighbor brought over some meat; when the other neighbor's little kids were flying kites on the road. That normally would have driven her nuts. She loves little ones and the kites would have to be woooooooofed at!
She loves being in the house and I had to coax her in every night all weekend. She slept on the floor. She claimed ownership of the couch five years ago. She hid in her doghouse all day. I even brought out some new tennis balls. Pingo has just enough border collie in her to make her mildly ball obsessed. Enough husky that she doesn't always get the bring it back part of fetch, but she always chases her tennis balls and runs the other dogs off if they try to steal them. Brand new tennis balls are the ultimate treat to Pingo and she didn't even lift her head when I threw them!
The clinic didn't have any appointments open today, but I'm thinking she needs some tests anyway. So I dropped her and spent the day trying not to freak out!
The vet called a little while ago. He's quite taken with Pingo. She is a sweetie. He said he has moved every joint in her body, poked and prodded her all over. The only problem he can find is some athritis in her hips, which I already knew was there. Possibly a back problem without neurological deficits, but that's hard to check for without doing x-rays. Her kid has spondylosis so I wouldn't be suprised if Pingo does too. No sign of a blockage or foreign object snack.
Her bloodwork shows an elevated white count and mild dehydration. She hasn't been drinking well and she gets very stressed at the vet and pants excessively. He said the dehydration isn't clinical yet. He thinks the elevated white count is either from a mild infection, likely in her intestional tract since she won't eat or it is a sign of inflammation. He suspects that all of Pingo's sypmtoms mean she's in pain, although she won't yelp or tell us where exactly! Dr. Kim said he never trusts a sled dog to tell him where it hurts.
She's going on a short course of amoxicillian to knock out any infection and starting tonight on a big dose of Metacam, tapering down in the next couple days. Kim says if he's right and it's pain, she should be acting much improved within 24 hours. He wants me to call tomorrow with an update. If she doesn't respond, then he'll do some more diagnositics(aka the really expensive stuff!).
I am so relieved!
