Worried Mommy

There's nothing quite as nerve wrecking as having a sick child, especially when you have no way of easily getting in touch with their daddy.  Now, my husband and I do not have any actual children just yet, but our pets are our babies (as I'm sure many others can relate to).  We routinely refer to them as our kids and treat them as such.  Yesterday our oldest "child" Kiba starting showing signs that she wasn't feeling very well.  In the morning she threw up, but it didn't worry me immediately as this sometimes happens if she's got an empty stomach.  However the worrying began when I gave all of the little ones breakfast and she hardly touched her kibble.  I got home from work to find she had gotten sick a couple more times, and still hadn't touched her food.  Then when I took her outside to go to the bathroom, her stools were liquid and kind of pink in color.  She was also rather lethargic.  I kept a close eye on her during the night, and then decided to take her to the vet first thing this morning when she showed no improvement and actually appeared to be getting worse.

My baby and her usual happy self

After giving her an exam as well as running some blood tests, the vet diagnosed her with a mild case of hemorrhagic gastroenteritis.  There is no precise known cause of this disease, though they do say a contributing factor that can bring it on is stress.  Our baby already has some anxiety issues as is, which has been made worse by her daddy being gone for BCT.  She's 4-years old and has had plenty of time to develop deep attachments to the two of us.  Thankfully the vomiting had already stopped last night, and the diarrhea should go away on its own, but she had to receive fluids by IV in order to counteract the severe dehydration that occurs (approximately 90% of dogs who are untreated and do not get these fluids, or who do not receive treatment soon enough, do not survive).  The vet also gave her some antibiotics as well as some steroids to help her body fight and get rid of any bacteria that she may have in her system.  Thankfully I was able to bring her home today, and the fluids seem to have helped her a great deal as she has more energy, and she also seems to have her appetite back as she got jealous when Saki got dinner and she didn't (Dr.'s orders!).  I just hope this upward trend continues and she doesn't have a relapse.