Bama... The Wonder Dog... Part II

A little over a week ago now, I came home to see Bama over in the side of the yard crouched down looking like she was eating something. I figured it was yet another tennis ball that she managed to tear apart and honked the horn at her. She jumped up and no, it was not a tennis ball. Out of the side of her mouth, I saw a tail. And not just any tail, a rat tail... I happened to be on the phone with Nana and said, "Nana, Bama is eating a rat! I'll call you back!". Not the smartest thing I could have said to her, but I panicked. I drove my vehicle straight at her thinking she might drop it as she ran from me. No such luck. I threw it in park, jumped out and just as I lunged to try to grab her, she swallowed the dang thing whole! I could have died. I immediately flipped out my phone and called Trey. "Your dog just swallowed a bleepity-bleep rat!" He just laughed and said something about living in the country. That night, she stayed outside and we made sure Maison did not get any Bama kisses. I thought it was over... but oh how wrong I was.

Over the next few days, I thought she seemed sluggish and not herself. I told Trey, but he thought I was crazy. I told myself it was just the medicine we were still giving her for her ears. Then, Wednesday night, we had another night of her wanting to go outside numerous times in the middle of the night. Thursday night, same thing, plus Maison was on her 2nd night in a row having screaming nightmares. I finally got her settled and laid in my bed right before 5:00 to catch about 45 minutes sleep before I had to get up for work. Trey was already up and in the bathroom when I heard this odd noise and then smelled an awful, awful stinch. I turned on the lamp and Bama was crouched by the door standing over a pile of doggie puke. I got up and there was another, even bigger pile at the foot of our bed. I just burst into tears. I was so tired from two nights of toddler nightmares and a barking dog, that the last thing I needed right then was to be cleaning my carpet at 5 am. Trey helped me get the mess cleaned up and left for work as I was spot cleaning the floor. That was when Maison woke up again screaming for me to lay down with her. It was definitely a Calgon moment.

I got to work and could not shake the feeling that the odd behavior and vomitting were not from the ear medicine, but had something to with that dang rat. My thought was that the nasty vermin was carrying some disease and infected my sweet puppy. I called the vet and they said to bring her in because she may have an obstruction. I got Bama to the vet and the vet predicted a few different scenarios:

1. There was an undigested rat in Bama's stomach. (Eww...) Would need surgery to remove rat. ($$$$)
2. Her digestive system was irritated from digesting the rat or it still being there and she had pancreatitis and might need to be hospitalized and put on IV fluids. ($$$$)
3. The rat had ingested poison and therefore, Bama had ingested poison.

I noticed the vet did not say what we would have to do for Option #3 and when I asked, she said "We'll talk about that later if need be." So, I burst into tears. They said the $230 worth of tests they need to run would take a couple of hours and they would call me when they were finished. I proceed to go to Wal-Mart for my weekly grocery trip and cried my way through produce and the meat department. By the time I got to dairy, I had finally stopped crying. Which was good, because my fellow Wal-Mart shoppers were beginning to stare...

When the phone rang as I was unloading my groceries, my heart sank... Please don't be Option #3, PLEASE!!!! The x-rays showed that she had actually digested the rat (again, eww...), but the toll it took on her digestive tract caused pancreatitis. And her blood work showed she had some signs of poisoning, but it seemed mild. So, I could go get her and as long as she did not throw up again, I would not have to put her in the puppy hospital. They sent us home with three prescriptions and some special "easy on the tummy" dog food. I gave them $398.55... that's a fair trade, right?

She did pretty good that night. Went out a couple of times. I thought we were in the clear. Saturday afternoon, Maison and I were playing on the front porch and I noticed a pile in the flower bed. I gave her the anti-nausea medicine because I did not want to have to take her to the after hours emergency vet ($$$$). Sunday, she seemed a lot more like herself. She still rested a lot, but I saw some spunk coming back. Last night was the first night in almost a week that my entire family slept through the night! Of course, my internal mommy clock woke me up at hour to hour and a half intervals, but at least I did not have to get up to console a screaming child or clean-up a nasty mess!

I have learned a lot over the last couple of weeks:

1. If the dog is acting weird, take her to the vet.
2. I should have gone to vet school... $$$$!