Saturday rhe 29th
5 pm
We did dinner at the old time. As planned, I had my mother come over to prep dinner. Her first order of business: finding an ant.
I went over the counter area with a flashlight, but was only able to find the one ant that she saw, which was on the cutting board. There was no food around for it to get into. I doubled checked the lids on all of the dog food and treats to make sure someone (read: me) didn’t get lazy on making sure the lids were air-tight.
Dinner prep went off without a hitch. Not that it’s an extremely difficult task, but my mother can now easily step in if something happens and I can’t be here to take care of dinner.
After the dudes ate a bit, they both wanted to walk. Bubba changed his mind as soon as we stepped outside, and wanted back in badly. I let him back in, and Buddy and I walked alone. Buddy let himself run a bit. We could hear some barking, so we ran across to the dog park. Elroy was doing the barking, but it was Dave heading in home, who stopped a moment to talk to Jessica. We wanted no part of that, and Dave finished his chat and continued to his condo. With Elroy gone, Buddy didn’t even look Jessica’s way, or want to visit with her dog, and we continued on. Buddy stopped to poop, then we headed out the upper path to the park, and headed home.
We walked all the way across the lot, to the grassy area along the fence between the complex and the path to PCH, and he pooped again – his 4th time today. We know there’s no digestive problem causing the breathing issue, which still seems to be getting better. The breathing is rapid, but his mouth isn’t hanging open, panting. When he lies down, the breathing is slower.
4 pm
I’m back at Bubba’s house. I was having a tough time staying home. On one hand, I wanted Buddy to get some undisturbed rest. On the other hand, I hated not being able to monitor him for some change.
I woke him up again, I think. Or at least, he didn’t hear me coming. It might be all the white noise from the fans drowning out the sound of his Barrel Buddy clumping up the stairs. Whatever the reason, he started barking when I put my key in the door. He was at the door on guard duty when the door was opened, and ran to get his bunny when I came in. He immediately dropped the bunny for me to throw so he could chase it. He’s still not showing any symptoms apart from the breathing. The tail wags, he runs, he chases, he eats and drinks. I’ve checked the home and deck 3 times for a sign that he’d been sick, and he hasn’t. I had forgotten that I was out on the deck with a flashlight at 2am looking for dog vomit – I’m surprised nobody called the cops.
After playing some games with the bunny, I sat down to update the log, and Buddy jumped up on the couch to lie down on the perch behind me. It seems like the breathing issue is bothering me a lot more than it’s bothering him.
12:15 pm
I went home. Buddy had moved into the recliner, after an hour of lying on the floor. His breathing had slowed. I thought maybe the cooler AC and coolness of the floor had made him feel better.
I was sitting on the couch, laptop open, getting some work done. Buddy moved up to the recliner. He kept drifting off to sleep. The poor guy had to be exhausted, after being up past 2:30am, then woken up at 7:30am and rushed off to the doctor. But every time I shifted – moving my mouse, flipping pages in my notebook, etc – it disturbed him, and he had to look and see.
So I came home to let him get sleep. Bubba had gotten, and was actively getting, plenty of rest. Buddy badly needed it, and the rest my help his body deal with the issue.
10:10 am
Bubba wanted to walk as soon as we got back, and Buddy was excited about going out. We walked across the street, with me intending to keep it short. It was already too hot. When we got to the memorial, Buddy moved into the shade and wanted to go home. I wanted to give Bubba a chance to poop and then we’d head home.
Bubba looked like he was going to poop in his usual spot, but didn’t. When we got to the first set of stairs, Buddy turned to head home. Bubba followed. His tongue was already hanging out. Buddy’s panting got heavier. I decided it was just time to get inside. If Bubba had to poop in the house, I’d rather deal with that than have the dudes get heat stroke. Bubba pooped out on the grass on the island, so we managed to take care of business and keep the walk short.
It was a short, but still somewhat brisk walk. We were only out about 15 minutes, and both guys pooped.
When we got back I dropped the AC temperature down to 70. If Bubba got cold, he could burrow under blankets, or if necessary I’d put on his coat. I was putting more focus into keeping Buddy cool, though the vet said his temperature was normal. His breathing was more normal on the ride home from the vet. We drove with windows open (fully in the front, cracked in the back where Buddy was). He was enjoying sniffing the fresh air the whole way there. But we drove with the windows up, and the AC on during the ride home, and Buddy’s breathing seemed to slow down.
9:40 am
The doctor didn’t find anything dangerously wrong. He said the heart and lungs sound fine, no crackling or fluid. He said it could be anxiety and he could prescribe meds for that, or do full blood work and xrays but he didn’t see any danger.
He said Buddy was about 5 pounds overweight, described Buddy as “a barrel” and it could be that Buddy was just having a hard time cooling because of the fat – hence the panting. I felt bad for Buddy, because the doctor probably looked at MY shape and thought, “they over-eat as a team”.
I decided to hold off on any extra procedures, that he could wait until tomorrow for that. And his roommate could make the decisions on that, if necessary, and maybe have Dr. Cori look at him.
So we paid, and then we couple of barrel-shaped dudes waddled out to head home.
8:43 am
We are at VMSG. Buddy seems fine – happy and playful, but the rapid breathing was still going on. The dizzy guy (me!) was able to wrangle a driver, so we could get here safely.
This is – hopefully – a Better Safe Than Sorry visit.
Apart from the non-stop panting, he seems totally fine. We walked to the mailboxes for a bathroom break before jumping in the car, and he peed – a lot – and pooped – a lot. He’s eating, drinking, peeing, pooping, tail is wagging, runs to me when I offer a treat – all absolutely-normal Buddy behavior. But the breathing looks like he just played chase with neighbor dogs for half an hour, even after just lying on the couch for two hours.
I got up just before 7:30 and went straight over to check on him – disheveled and with jeans and t-shirt thrown on. He started barking when I put the key in the door, and Bubba joined in. Protective aggression turned to happy tails and excitement when I walked in. It took a bit time for him to calm down long enough to where his breathing should return to a normal pace. His breathing was still rapid like last night, so I hopped next door to finish dressing and secure a ride. All I asked was, “can you drive us to the vet?” and my mother was up, with urgency. She assumed it was Bubba and that it was bad.
He doesn’t look like something is wrong, but with that much panting, something is clearly not right.
Buddy has gone back with Gwen, the tech, to get his vitals checked. I was able to answer the tech’s check-in questions surprisingly thoroughly. I couldn’t remember the name of the meds the guys get every month. I was able to relate the details of the bee sting episode.
I’m tired, pre-coffee/breakfast, so this is log is probably chaotic-sounding and full of mistakes & sloppy writing. Sorry.
I will update as soon as we know anything.