Yesterday, when I was getting ready to leave for work, Tilly coughed. I stopped with my shirt halfway over my head twisting around trying to figure out if she was eating something or had just inhaled a dust bunny from underneath the sock drawer. She didn't continue so off I went to work, la dee da.
Got home and D informs me that she's sick and has been coughing and gagging and hacking most of the day. Well, hell. Pull up the symptoms of kennel cough and sure enough, she's doing all those things. Touch base with my neighbors and they both say that yep, their dogs have it too and our on meds.
Call the vet, leave a message asking if they'll just give me a prescription since I bet they don't want me bringing my highly contagious hacking dog in and turn the shower on and sit with Tilly in the bathroom hoping the steam helps her lungs.
She slept ok last night, I heard her have a fit around 430 and when I woke up this morning I found her like this
Poor puppy. The vet calls me back and says that not only can they not give me a prescription without seeing her, they don't have any openings till Monday. I ask whether or not it's advisable to wait that long and she says 'not really, the recommendation is to get her seen today.' How exactly would you like me to do that oh unhelpful person? I get the number of the clinic they recommend and am able to get her in there. Of course, it's heading into downtown and the girl on the phone tells me they have a 'tiny' parking lot so I'm near hyperventilating about the parking but force myself to suck it up. Manage to find it and park without problem and as soon as we got to the door TS started pulling and not wanting to go in. And since any pressure on her throat from the leash starts a coughing fit, she was basically spasming after a few seconds. I lug her in, probably flashing the office my undies, thanks pants that I forgot were super low rise till I bent over, and we sit to wait. TS is freaking out and hides under my chair and shoves her head in between my feet.
We get called back and while we're waiting for the vet she hacks something up on the floor. As this is a key symptom and she'd been doing it all night, I grabbed some paper towels to clean it up but figured I'd wait till the vet walks in so I can be all oh, look what she just did, I'm cleaning it up right now but now you can examine it. Tilly is uncharacteristically pressed up against my legs giving me the eyes of can we pleeeease leave here, I promise to be good, please? Vet comes in, takes one look at the floor and says, yep, 5th case I've seen so far, there's an epidemic in the city.
Oh, well, good to know I guess that it's not just my dog. Bad in the sense that this seems to basically be like Contagion for the canine set?
No pneumonia, ears are good, hooray! Lots of inflammation and general misery, sad. She gets a course of antibiotics, some cough suppressants, and I agree to get a harness before walking her again. He tells me their protocol for dealing with contagious dogs and how he's going to change his scrubs after seeing her and they'll decontaminate the room and take us out the back door to avoid other dogs, the whole bit. They kept her in the room while I went up front to pay and poor baby, I could hear her whimpering all, but why did you leave me in here, come back. $87.50 and 2 pill bottles later, we get back to the car and head to the apartment. Give her the first dose of pills in a nice peanut butter/potato chip sandwich and sneek out while she was drinking water to go back to work.
Vet said she should be feeling much better by Monday and I can exercise her but that she's contagious for at least two weeks.
How exactly am I going to manage that in the complex?
POOR BABY! Oh the photos just kill me! I would assume that you're okay walking her around the complex, just try to keep her from direct contact with other dogs. I mean, damn - if people walk up to you, tell them she has kennel cough and she's not the only dog in the complex that does so in an effort to stop it from spreading, stay away. If people don't understand, screw them.
Poor Tilly - I feel so bad for her! (And you of course!).
Posted by: TUWABVB | 22 September 2011 at 05:15 PM