(My neurotic but beautiful sister, Sadie Mae)
Hi all, Lily the Corgi here. As you can imagine from last week's blog post, life has been a bit rough here at our house this week. It is strange to look around the house and not see old grouchy Claude anymore. My sister Lucy the beagle mix seems to be the most upset about his passing--Lucy's sort of sensitive like that.
It was Claude's absence that led us to this past week's adventures. For the last several months of his life, poor old Claude had been incontinent and he dripped pee on the floor. Now, all of us girls in the household tend to be bossy, sassy, alpha type girls who always feel the need to overmark, so mama didn't think much of it a couple of weeks ago when Sadie began to pee the floor to overpee Claude's accidents. But after old Claude was gone, Sadie was still overpeeing. Our daddy had shampooed the rug several times so surely Sadie wasn't still reacting to Claude's problem. Mama started to become concerned. That very night, Sadie peed on the bed!
Mama had also noticed something unusual about Sadie's drinking habits. As I've mentioned before, Sadie the weirdo is afraid of the water bowl at home--she loves to drink out of the bowl in the truck when we go on trips, but she is scared to death of the bowl in our kitchen. Don't ask; I have no idea; she's just nuts. But now, Sadie has been putting aside her fears to drink like a fish, even at home!
(Sadie loves to drink while traveling but has been afraid of the bowl at home--til recently.)
Shortly after that, mama was mentioning Sadie's problems to my Aunt Cathy. Aunt Cathy is the mom of cousin Quincy the wiener dog who has lots of medical issues; she is also a pharmacy tech and sees lots of prescriptions for sick dogs. Aunt Cathy still thought Sadie was fat, but mama insisted that she'd lost some weight for no apparent reason, too. Aunt Cathy agreed with mama that Sadie's behaviors were suspicious as possible symptoms of a large health problem, so daddy took Sadie off to the vet's office for some bloodwork and a full checkup. The vet found the problem immediately--Sadie's blood glucose read at 555 (normal is about 120 or so.) Sadie is diabetic.
Diabetes is a fairly common problem in dogs, more so in females than males and in middle-age to older dogs. The treatment for dogs with diabetes is similar to that for humans, diet change and insulin shots. So, now mama has to give Sadie a shot twice a day. Sadie doesn't seem to even notice and I've seen that the needles are super small, but I'm glad they're not sticking me! I had to give Sadie a low five because I like some of the diet changes; since Sadie needs to eat when she takes her shots, we are now getting fed twice a day instead of just once and I like that. Daddy said the vet is ordering some special food for Sadie and I'm not sure how that may impact me, so that has me a bit apprehensive, however.
Mama says that now poor old Claude is gone it will be easier for us all to go to the dog park and get more exercise. I like the sound of that because I like to go places; I am hoping they'll remember that it is August in Arkansas--hot and humid--and that I'm pretty short legged, have a double coat and have put on a few pounds. Mama says exercise will help all of us stay healthier but color me skeptical of too much movement when it feels like a sauna outside!
So, now we have Sadie who has to have an insulin shot twice a day and Lucy who has to take pills for her seizures twice a day. And there is me--the only thing I need twice a day is a good dog biscuit! (Unfortunately I don't get that. Mama does give me a nice ice cube as a treat and I love those, so I'm good.)
If your doggy starts to have changes in her fluid intake, weight, and bladder habits, a trip to the vet is needed. Our vet says it looks like mama and daddy caught Sadie's diabetes before any damage was done to her kidneys and that's great news! I love my sisters and I don't want anything bad to happen to Sadie. She's a bit crazy but she's ours. My mama and daddy have been through too much stress lately but they say petting a dog is the best remedy for stress, so I know I'm being helpful through all this upheaval. Despite my best efforts, I'm hearing them starting to talk about a vacation. Hmmmm...
Til next time, everyone.
Love ya,
Lily the Corgi
(I'm a little upset that I've not been the center of the universe for the past few weeks, so I'll just lie here and show off my awesome drummies.)
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