The Scare....

Okay, let me stop you before you get too excited, especially those of you who know me personally. NOT a pregnancy scare (though we have been getting an OVERWHELMING amount of suggestions that we have children since we are so established, but I digress) but a scare of all scares concerning my puppy dog. Now, as many of you can sense from some of my blogs, I am OBSESSED (yes, the caps are necessary because I admit I have a problem) with my pup pup. He will be turning five in July and I have had him since he was just a few months old. Hubby and I have raised him and he has become like a family member/child. I know some of you parents out there are probably shaking your heads that I am comparing a dog to a child BUT, don't judge me :p

He is a large black lab mix, who stands taller than me (at 5'6) when on his hind legs. Despite his size, he still thinks he is a lap dog and will climb on top of me if I make the mistake of sitting on the ground. He is the biggest love bug you will ever meet.

Monday night I curled up in our enormous new king size pillow top (aka a cloud smack dab in the middle of heave) bed and fell asleep. In the middle of the night I heard a strange noise, but was so tired I thought it was a dream. I quickly fell back asleep only to wake up to the same noise at about 5 a.m. That sound was very distinct, the sound of vomit coming up and hitting the floor. It was not hubby, as he was still asleep in bed, but my faithful pup companion. He looked at me in horror, probably thinking he was going to get in trouble for doing something bad. Poor little guy.

I will spare you all of the disgusting details though. Long and short is this is the first time he has thrown up since he was a puppy. When we first adopted him he was not in the best condition and stupid amounts of money later, he was fine. He HAS been fine until that night. I had hubby check on him yesterday during the day since I was at work. When he got home he discovered he had been sick more and I asked that he take him to the vet immediately. He was one sick pup.

Diagnosis? After running every test under the sun, we discovered his enzyme levels in his kidney are slightly elevated. We were told once the enzymes raise like that there is already damage done and the kidney will never operate to the exact full capacity it did before. Solution? Prescription dog food for the rest of his life. Real kicker? low in protein but high in fat. Should be interesting trying to exercise him MORE than we already do.

All in all, it was worth the money to find out early what was going on with pup pup AND it made me appreciate him even more than I did before.