So, now that I’ve had some sleep, I can almost remember what day it is again. This has truly just been an insane week. Starting on Monday, everything looked like it was normal. About 1:00 in the afternoon though Bryn started vomiting. She threw up her breakfast and then didn’t want dinner, but then by 11:00 pm she drank some chicken broth and perked right back up. Tuesday she ate breakfast and dinner and was playing like normal. I figured that she must have snagged something that upset her stomach on Monday and that was it.

I took Dare up to Salt Lake on Tuesday afternoon and met with the rehab therapist and it went great. I really like her a lot! We had an appt. to get some xrays done on Wed. morning in Salt Lake. I thought initially that I’d spend the night up in Salt Lake, but later decided that I needed to drive home instead to take care of the kennel. If I’d have had a different combination of boarders and stuff my mom could have helped out, but I just thought it was too much to ask. That meant that I’d be driving back to Salt Lake Wed. morning. The problem was that at 6:00 am I hear Bryn gagging in her crate. I let her out and sure enough she’s thrown up what was left of Tues. night’s dinner. Then she threw up again at 7:00 am and just kept vomiting. The regular vet down here doesn’t even open till 9:00 am, and I needed to leave sooner than that. So, I opted to go to the other vet in town and see if they would let Bryn stay there and they could keep an eye on her and make sure she was ok while I was gone. I really didn’t think it was Parvo at this point.

Well, Dare and I got to Salt Lake and her xrays went smoothly and we headed home. I called the clinic and they finally had been able to take a look at her I guess at about 1:30. They said that it could be parvo, could be corona virus, could be giardia, or some gastro-intestinal infection. Randy got off work before I got home, and he was anxious to get Brynja home, so he picked her up along with meds for the vomiting and diahhrea. There was some confusion in the clinic talking to me on the phone as I was traveling, and when they talked to Randy in person, and so they didn’t do a parvo test. I know from everyone’s reaction that I’ve told that to, that’s unheard of in other places, but in rural Utah….it’s not. People are always trying to do things as inexpensively as possible and most are used to doctoring their own animals, so vets down here are often willing to send people home with the meds and just hope for the best.

Anyway, when I got home, she still wasn’t looking good and even with the Cerenia for vomiting, she wasn’t holding down the water she was drinking. The vets here aren’t staffed all night. Once they leave at 6:00, they aren’t going to check on the pets again till morning. So, I knew we’d be able to monitor things better from home no matter what she had. A friend of mine that I’ve worked with in rescue for years came over and we gave her sub q fluids just to make sure she didn’t dehydrate. She used to work at the vet’s office where Bryn had spent the morning and between the two of us, we’ve seen plenty of pups with Parvo. She didn’t think Bryn had parvo, there wasn’t that horrible smell for one. If you’ve never been around Parvo, it’s hard to explain, but it’s a smell that’s forever embedded in your brain.

About 11:00 pm she is still having trouble holding down water, even though she’s still drinking on her own. Then she seemed to have trouble finding a position to rest in that was comfortable for her. She was up and down and up and down. Drinking water, vomiting water. I couldn’t take it anymore. I was getting scared by then, and after calling and leaving a message on the emergency number at the vet here and getting no response…I decided to drive to Salt Lake again to take her to an emergency vet.

Well, I should have looked at the weather before I left, but I didn’t. Things were fine at first, but about 45 min. into the 2 1/2 hour drive, it started snowing. I drive a Honda Fit and while I love it, it’s horrible in snow. I figure I can still make it though, I’ll just drive slow. I had no idea what I was heading into. It was one of the scariest drives I’ve ever made. There were big long stretches where I couldn’t go over 15 mph, and even then I was fishtailing, and other cars had slid off the road. I really wondered if I was going to kill both Brynja and I on the way to try to get her help. Eventually we did make it to Salt Lake, but it took us 4 hours.

I don’t know if I could have made it at all if I hadn’t had the help of my oldest friend Katie. Despite having to work the next day, she stayed up with me checking road conditions as I’d get from one town to another, and eventually calling the different emergency vets when I got close to find out which had the shortest waiting time. She even got dressed at 3:30 in the morning to come to the vet with me. I really can’t thank her enough.

Once at the vet’s office they examined Bryn and did a Parvo test, and it came back positive. Poor little girl, I felt aweful that I didn’t realize it was Parvo. I just kept thinking that she’s had 2 vaccinations already, and if it was parvo she’d have the bloody stools that I’ve always seen, and that would be accompanied by that distinctive smell. Well, I was wrong. I was really glad that I’d risked the drive though to be able to get treatment started. I hate to think how much worse she would have been if I’d tried to wait till morning to have her seen at home. Besides the fact that the vet in Salt Lake is staffed 24/7 and I had a lot more confidence in them.

As of tonight, she’s doing much better. The vomiting stopped while I was driving to Salt Lake and hasn’t recurred. Thank goodness. The only bloody stool she had was at 6:30 Thurs. morning and nothing since, so she’s not dehydrating which is the biggest thing. I’m super grateful we caught this when we did. Today, (Friday) she ate a tiny bit on her own, but they were continuing the liquid diet and IV’s too. If she keeps progressing like this, I hope we’ll be able to have her home this weekend.

So…now with all the time I am spending pondering vaccination protocols now. I was really convinced that a more minimal approach was in the puppy’s best interests. I am not so convinced now. I think this is going to be another thing that I’m going to be questioning for some time to come.