Bode Update

So, where did I leave off?  Oh yes.  Saturday morning, VERY EARLY, we awoke to a really really disgusting smell.  Bode was sick in his kennel, which is in our bedroom.  Eewwww!  I won't go into details but he was showing some signs of an intestinal blockage (pretty much the same stuff coming out both ends) so I ended up taking him to the vet.  The vet agreed wtih my worries and x-rays showed that he had a partial obstruction.  We could not tell what it was he'd eaten, but it was NOT food.  That did not come as a surprise to me as he is ALWAYS trying to chew and eat anything he can find.  You wouldn't believe some of the things we have found when we scooped poop in our yard... like an entire, freshly pooped out, plastic shopping bag!  I will be so glad when this phase passes.

Anyway, since he wasn't totally obstructed the decision was made to just give him fluids, as he was already dehydrated, and treat his symptoms while watching for signs of further distress.  Instead of IV fluids, he was given subcutaneous fluids.  That means they just put a lot of fluid under his skin, between his shoulder blades, and let his body absorb it from there.  As the tech said when they brought him out to me, they installed a camel hump!

Doesn't that look weird?

Can you see those streak going back from the hump, where it looks wet?  Well, it was wet!  As time passed he squished fluids out his skin.  It was like petting a sponge!  He slept most of Saturday but livened up by evening.  I was directed to hold his regular food and cook some easily digestable foods for him.  I cooked rice for him and gave him just small amounts... no problem.  Hours later, I boiled hamburger for him.  The vet explained to me that boiling it would get the grease off it.  So, after boiling and draining it I gave him a little of it mixed with rice.  That seemed to go well also.  I was glad that I took the time to avoid giving him all that grease. 

Not long after this I heard him in the kitchen and it sounded like trouble so I went to investigate.  This is what I found...

See that suspicious stuff on his chin?  I found him with his face buried in a margarine container, a previously FULL container!  Like I said, I'm so glad I went to all that trouble boiling the hamburger for him so he wouldn't get all that grease!

Sunday, Bode seemed to feel fine and was C-R-A-Z-Y with energy!  He was running from one naughty adventure to the next.  I spent the afternoon chasing him from one thing he was chewing...

...to the next...

I'm so glad that he is feeling better but I am really exhausted!  Did you see the movie, Marley & Me?  Well, we are LIVING it!  When I am chasing him down, pulling yarn from my current crocheting project out of his throat while screeching at him that he needs to show me more respect, I imagine that I look just like Jennifer Aniston, so it's not all bad.