Poison!

Sweet Pea's update this week lacks a weight, because we were all too traumatized to take her to Petsmart.

Sunday afternoon she got into some rat poison at a neighbor's. We called the Emergency Vet, who referred us to the ASPCA Poison Control line. They walked us through the process (induce vomiting with Hydrogen Peroxide 3%) and we called our vet this AM for a 30-day Vitamin K1 prescription.

The type of rat poison she ingested is an anti-coagulent, which means she could literally bleed to death if enough of it got into her system. The Vitamin K1 helps restore the blood's clotting ability. She'll have a blood test in 30 days to be sure she's clotting again. In the meantime, I'm not going to encourage roughhousing, so her weight loss may slow this month. That's OK with us.

Hang in there, Sweet Pea. We love you!

83 pounds

SP has been doing amazingly well! Her activity level is way up, as she chases balls and plays at the dog park, as well as jogging daily. I'm her Jillian Michaels and she is the biggest loser!

The vet came Monday for her official weigh-in. She came in at 83 pounds, down from 88.4 last checkup! Hooray hooray! Good job, SP!

This morning after the dog park she ran a mile with me and then happily trotted home.

Here are some awesome videos to enjoy. Our girl is really coming into her own!

85.2

Sweet Pea has been getting more and more active. Not only does she prefer to trot now (rather than saunter...) she has been getting very crazy in the mornings, chasing a ball or toys like a puppy. Sunday night, when we arrived home late and she missed her third walk of the day, she was a ball of energy, chasing a tennis ball with hysterical enthusiasm. I must video that next time!


She's been better at the dog park, though she hasn't yet recreated the energy she showed in the last video. Fewer dogs are coming now that it's getting chillier, so perhaps the lower energy is contributing to her mellowness while there.

She does love Lewis and his squeaky ball toys. She will follow him around and sneak in and steal the ball when she can. She will actually fetch those and bring them back, so today I got her a 4-pack of her own. We'll see how those fare tomorrow at the dog park.

First Run! 

Today we began her new morning routine. Besides a brisk walk to the dog park and some (hopefully) romping with other dogs, we return home via a half-mile trail. Starting today, we jogged the trail! She stopped a lot to sniff, but when she wasn't sniffing, she was trotting! Hopefully after a few weeks we can add on another half mile until she can run the full 3 miles with me along Bobolink.

I took her to Petsmart today and she weighed in at 85.2 pounds - another 2 pounds down! Hooray! She is doing so well. She is a total couch dog now, ignoring her dog bed on the floor. She also sleeps with us in the bed at night (good thing we have a King size bed!) She is a great dog and we are all loving watching her get healthy!

Keep up the good work, Sweet Pea!