Scott’s Scribblings

It was about 12:30 this afternoon while watching the White Sox game that I realized that Boo! hadn’t gone out or eaten breakfast. He was sitting near the television rather than his usual place next to me and Deb on the couch. That Boo! hadn’t alerted us to these facts was very unusual. I asked him if he was hungry and immediately his head perked up. So I went to the kitchen and put his breakfast in his bowl. Boo! struggled to stand as if his foot was asleep. He took a few awkward steps before sitting down again. I carried him to his bowl so he could eat, figuring he’d be fine in a couple minutes. But several minutes later, he continued to have trouble walking. Deb mentioned that he hadn’t jumped into bed with us the night before which is also unusual.

I jumped in the shower thinking we might have to take him to the hospital. There was some concern that he had eaten some of the recalled food that’s been scaring pet owners recently. The food we had was not in the original recall and he’d already eaten several pouches without ill effects before the recall happened. (He only gets the wet food as a treat once or twice a week.) By the time I finished showering, Deb had checked the internet and found that the recall had been expanded and now included the wet food we had.

In record time the three of us were in the car and tearing down I-88 to the animal hospital. On the way, Boo! seemed to have some difficulty breathing. After checking in at the hospital and while waiting for a technician to look at Boo!, all sorts of nightmare scenarios entered my mind. What if they say it’ll cost $5,000 to treat him? What if he ends up having medical needs for the rest of his life? He only shaking like that because he’s nervous, right?

The technician brought us into an examination room and took Boo!’s vitals. Shortly after, the vet came in. I told him Boo! had eaten some of the recalled food and described his walking difficulties in a manner that suggested that clearly the two facts were related. The vet looked at me with what I’m sure is the same quizzical look I give people who make computer statements that are non-sequiturs. He didn’t seem very concerned about the food Boo! ate. Instead he wanted to see Boo! walk. Boo! had only taken a step or two when the vet noted that Boo!’s left, hind leg was lame. The vet asked if Boo! had been overly active yesterday. In fact, Boo! had. We went to my grandparents and Boo! loves to visit people. Boo! ran around their house as well as their fenced yard.

The vet felt Boo!’s spine, pushing down on it with the front of his fist. He started at the tail and worked his way forward. Around the middle of Boo!’s back, Boo! turned his head sharply to glare at the vet. Then the vet examined Boo!’s hind quarters. The verdict was that Boo! was sore from too much exercise and muscle stiffness made it hard for him to move after lying down for an extended period. Like the rest of us, Boo! isn’t as young as he used to be.

Then the vet took Boo! to the lab to draw blood to test that the food Boo! ate didn’t contain the chemical that has been making the other animals sick. He wanted to give Boo! an anti-inflammatory, but that wouldn’t be good if Boo!’s kidneys were being affected. I was going to tell him to do the blood test regardless, just for my own peace of mind. When the results came back, everything was normal. Boo! was prescribed the anti-inflammatory and 7 to 10 days of rest.

I swear, this dog gets better care than I do. Tonight, Boo! is fine. If you look closely, you can tell Boo! isn’t walking quite normally. To Boo!’s chagrin, the rest of the wet food has been thrown out.