Serious this time folks, and not a goofy Sparky post!
Some may know that both Sparky and Myndi have heart murmurs, and Sparky's is much worse - now a grade 4 (5 being the worst). We have been socked with a mid-summer like heat wave with temps in the 90's since Saturday - and the air conditioning unit is dead in the water. Needless to say - the house is stifling hot even with lots of fans running, and the dogs and myself are totally miserable. Neither dog has eaten much at all, and Sparky has had diarrhea to add to his misery.
Last night we went in my bedroom to settle down early and watch t.v., but it was a murderous 92 degrees in there. I had 2 big heavy duty high velocity blower oscillating tower fans running, and it wasn't doing much other than to blow hot air around! Sparky was laying at the foot of the bed with one of the fans blowing on him, when he started coughing (not unusual with his condition), but it didn't sound like his "regular" cough - more like he was about to barf up the little bit of supper that I managed to get him to eat. He kept hacking, and he stood up - and then passed out and fell off the bed! When he hit the floor he started yelping like he was in pain, and right away I thought he was having a heart attack and was going to die. I tried to pick him up and he yelped some more (as I'm totally freaking out), and then he finally stopped - but he was alive!. I picked him up and he was somewhat limp, but not totally so. I took him to the other end of the house where the addition was put on and has a separate a.c. unit, and we turned it on and also turned on another high powered fan and I sat holding him for about a half hour till he cooled down. By then he is getting antsy and wanting to get down, so I put him on the floor and he acted like nothing had happened. No way we were sleeping in my bedroom, so I brought the 2 big fans out and set them up in the living room where it was already getting cooler, and the 3 of us slept there last night - pups in front of the fans and me on the sofa. Well - I kinda slept, but every time he let out a little cough, my feet hit the floor and I was checking him out. My sleep finally ended at 3:30 tho when I just couldn't get back to sleep.
So this a.m. I called his vet and she had me bring him in. She said it was definitely heat related and most certain that he actually passed out when he stood up and that he didn't just loose his balance. She thinks the yelping was because he scared himself, or maybe slightly jammed or hit something wrong in the fall. No sign of any injury tho. I still need to watch him very closely tho until we get some cool air in the house. The good thing, is that there is a cool down just ahead, and temps will be back in the 70's by Thursday.
But on a sad note - the a.c. is really dead! Repair was out just a while ago, and it would cost $1400 just to get it running, and no telling how much longer the compressor will hold out. It's 20+ years old, so it deserves to go where all dead a.c.'s go. A new unit will be installed sometime tomorrow!
Anyway - that's the story from here - not the greatest - but my silly boy is still with me.Please keep him in your PT prayers, that he will be with me for a LONG time to come!
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Originally Posted by Freedom
Lilith Cherry
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