One sick puppy

First it was SO, then it was me, then Chancey had to go to the vet, now Robbie had to go. It's a trickle down thing.

He was acting funny last night. He whined extra long when I came in, but I figured he was just very talkative. He is a big mouth, which I am happy about. My first Schipperke was a "talker;" I trained her to sing and she vocalized fairly frequently. Chancey is quiet, and never would learn those tricks, but Robbie's a talker too. So when he whined, I just asked my mother, as is our little joke, what on earth she was doing to my son all day that he had such a sad story to tell me.

He was snuggly last night, but he's always snuggly when I am watching TV. I think sometimes he gets mad that I go to SO's as much as I do, so I try to give him all the snuggly time he can get. But he was quiet. I noticed last night he is starting to look like an older dog, but I didn't think anything of it. He's been pulling hair out of his legs, but I watched those and they didn't seem to be infected, so I figured when he was acting funny, the booboos stung or he was just annoyed because I keep telling him to quit it. I was planning on taking him to the doctor tomorrow to see if it was something to be concerned with.

I woke up this morning at 4:00 and he was at the foot of the bed, where he never sleeps. So I cuddled him up to me. He didn't seem to want that. That should have tipped me off that something was up, because Robbie worships me. But again I figured, "Oh, it's that leg, let me look at it in the morning and I'll put peroxide on it if it looks yucky."

This morning, he went potty, but he came in and sat down. No water, no food. If you remember, when he was sick in April, he did the same thing. Warning bells started going off in my head. I thought I would take a look at his gait and see what was going on, so I took him out with me. He did the run and sit, run and sit. Which is pretty much the universal, "Something is wrong" move. He started scooting. I've never owned a male dog before. I don't know what scooting signifies. All I knew was my son was NOT acting like he is supposed to act.

Brought him back in. He went for a drink of water.Chancey wandered in the living room. She smelled his hiney. And then looked at me with a disgusted look. So I figured he had a hanger-on--that makes sense for the run and sit, cause Chance does that (life is not easy when you lack a tail). I got me some paper towels and took a look.

He had a huge swollen area right under where his tail would be, if he had a tail. It was so huge and red, I thought it was a tumor that had ruptured, and started getting upset, because how could that happen to MY dog? I watch the twins for things like that, like I watch for coughing or the other things that happen to Schips. And I haven't had him long enough to feel, in my heart, that the love I've given him was given long enough to make up for his travels down the broken road. I know that's silly, but I worry about things like that. But my mom calmed me down, because she said tumors don't come up that quick, and they aren't as sore as his seemed to be, at least not until they are late-stage, and he probably didn't have butt cancer.

I got the appointment for him--I couldn't take him because I had to work--and mom took him. He had an infected anal gland. I am glad that I didn't go, because Mom said he screamed when the doctor touched it and I can't bear to hear my furbabies scream. She said it was so bad that he had to be put to sleep to get it cleaned out. And the vet cleaned his teeth. Great, they got him coming and going, LOL.

I feel relieved, but I still feel horrible. Even though I know I couldn't have seen this coming, part of me feels like I should have seen it sooner, or done something so it didn't happen. He was in pain all night at least. My poor widdle man. I feel wretched about it.

He is spending the night at the vets'. And I have to go get him tomorrow.