Busy Days - Beau's Belly Aching

My friend Janece is visiting from Kentucky. Her plane arrived late, about 1 am Wednesday morning so we were both pretty darned tired by the time we got her home and settled. I slept in later than usual, so didn't get the team out for their training run until noon. It was a good training run, adding to my confidence in the team's ability. In other circumstances I might have waited an additional day so that Janece could come along, but she needed to catch up on her sleep and I had appointments yesterday I couldn't really put off.

It was time for my annual physical exam and Dr. Kohen (who I REALLY like) was very thorough. By the time she was finished I had been prodded and poked, stuck and froze. It was time for a tetanus booster. I hate 'em but I feel I need to keep it up to date because working with dogs inevitably means I always sport an array of scratches, especially to my hands and sometimes my face (puppy love is exuberant love). My dogs live on an earth surface and even though I'm diligent about keeping the kennel clean, there is always a risk of infection. Better safe than sorry, especially when it comes to lockjaw.

Several little warts, moles, lumps and bumps were frozen off, so my back is feeling a bit tender under my woolen winter shirt. Then it was off to the laboratory for blood work, and then radiology to x-ray a heel that has been bothering me for the past three weeks or so.

Next was some shopping. At the big box store that requires a membership card just to enter we bought a new coffee maker, next the department store where we bought a humdifier for the house and the groceries Janece needs to cook up some delightful southern dishes. From there it was over to Coldspot Feeds for some mushing supplies, and finally we headed back to the house.

I had just a bit of break before a teleconference meeting of the Mush with P.R.I.D.E. Board of Directors. That meeting went very smoothly. Finally it was time to feed the team.

When I fed the team last night Beau refused to eat. Not a single bite. That is NOT Beau's normal behavior by any stretch. He was trying to stay pretty still, lying in one spot in his circle. That also isn't real typical for the "Boo-boo" boy. We brought him into the house and gave him a thorough exam before calling up our vet on the phone. Janece is a pro at veterinary examination, so we were able to give Jeanne a full report on her findings.

There is some sort of GI virus floating around the area, and Dr. O thinks that Beau has it. The poor guy sure looks miserable, but we were able to feed him some hamburger by hand, gave him some meds for the diarrhea (big time blow-out stuff), we're keeping him hydrated and letting him have bed-rest inside. From there we'll watch and see how he does. Dr. O says it usually resolves within a couple of days.

By the end of the day I was pretty exhausted, so it didn't take long to fall asleep.

I feel much better this morning. I'm not so sure about the Beau boy, though. I let him out to pee and then gave him some water. For the moment he seems content to lie on the floor near my feet doing not much at all. I don't think he'll be going mushing today.

Swanny