My harrowing three week road trip with my hound who got very sick! (how much, lab)
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A few weeks ago, my hound and I set off on a three week road trip to New England. It was last minute. He had never been to a kennel. Hubby was going to be working too much to leave him at home. Every time we leave him with the SIL, he gets loose. Even though she always finds him, it makes me sick to hear stories about how he was "lost" for 15 minutes or sometimes she doesn't know how long because it happened while she was at work.
The drive was two days long. We stayed in 10 different hotel rooms while we were away. Even if the room had two beds, he slept under the covers with me. I rarely left him in the room, even in hotels that don't mind dogs barking, because I didn't want him to wake anyone. He was on a leash constantly, something rare for him since we have a large yard. Since I didn't want to leave him alone for a long time, I couldn't eat at restaurants. (Fast food doesn't exist in the middle of nowhere.) I lived off of non-perishables I loaded into the trunk of my car or whatever I could call healthy at a convenience store. I lost 20 pounds on this trip.
When I was out running errands or whatever, he was in the car with me all day. I thought he had a short term memory problem because he still got all excited when I'd say "bye bye in the car" --- like he forgot it's miserable. Oh, and the weather. I'm talking 2-1/2 feet of snow and temperatures well below zero with super high winds.
When we finally got to head home, after what I considered to be camping in hotel rooms, except camping is much better because at least you can cook on a fire, he came down with diarrhea. It started at 10pm after driving all day before finally pulling over for the night. He barked at the door every half hour or hour to be taken out to have diarrhea. I got zero sleep that night and had another entire day of driving ahead of me.
I looked up animal hospitals for the area where I was staying, but it had terrible reviews, like it was a death hospital more than anything. I found a vet that had great reviews, but her office didn't open until 8am. In the morning, he seemed to be doing fine so we hit the road. What a mistake.
Shortly after getting back onto the interstate, he threw up in the passenger seat onto the floor. I couldn't pull over. There were no off ramps for 40 miles. As I drove those 40 miles as fast as possible, I got hubby on the phone to look up vets at the next exit. We were in the boonies. Then he started shivering and drooling. He looked so sad. Then he vomited again. Then he tried to climb onto my lap while I was driving. Poor thing.
I got off at the next exit and drove about 30 minutes to a small town that you would miss if you blinked while driving through it. I got to the vet office, walked in with this terribly sick dog, and the receptionist told me that they couldn't help me because we weren't existing patients. I left there and started knocking on people's doors, asking them where I could take him. Nobody that lived in this town took their pets to the vet that turned us away. (At least they were nasty to all customers, not just out of town customers.)
I was directed to a vet that was in a town that was about 45 minutes away, further into the deep boonies. All the while my hound is whining and crying. The town is a straight shot down a highway that is perfectly positioned to catch the high winds. I found out for the first time what the term "white out" means. Snow blowing to the point of not being able to see, and huge snow drifts appeared out of nowhere right in the middle of the road. Did I mention during this harrowing drive that my poor hound was whining and crying?
We get to the wonderful vet office. Thankfully they truly love dogs and care. As I'm filling out the paperwork at the counter, my hound starts to have diarrhea right there on the floor. They tell me not to worry, they'll clean it up, they need a stool sample anyway. And then the blood started. Blood just poured out of him like a faucet! It was horrifying. We get into the exam room and he just swats and pees in the middle of the floor. He has never had an accident inside in his 9 years.
Turns out he had an intestinal infection. No bloat. No parasites. The doc gives him a shot for nausea and antibiotics. He tells me there is no medicine for diarrhea, that there used to be a great medicine they called "butt cork" but it's no longer available. So we load back into the car with instructions to give him frequent rest stops since the medicine wouldn't help much with diarrhea. Every hour, I stopped the car and he squirted bright red blood.
By 8PM, I was three hours from home, but I couldn't drive another second, not even to find a hotel room. We pulled into a rest stop, the kind with only bathrooms. There was gas in the car, but probably not enough to leave the car running while I slept. I turned the car off, covered the hound with the only blanket I had, and I went to sleep, in the car, with 18 degree weather outside. You'd think I wouldn't be able to sleep in the cold, but I fell asleep right away. I probably would have slept all night except a phone call woke me up a few hours later. We hit the road and got home in the middle of the night.
The hound walked into the house like nothing had happened, looked healthy and happy as could be! Although he isn't sick anymore, he is different now. He doesn't want me to leave his sight. He wants to sleep with me every night. He barks if we step outside for a second. He cries when he's left alone in another room. It's like he's a totally new dog, very needy. He looks at me like he absolutely adores the ground I walk on. He has always loved me, but now it's super intense. After never being a part for more than just a few minutes over a period of three weeks, it seems we bonded stronger than everI just hope for his sake he can get back to his normal self.
Hopes.....what a terrible experience for the two of you. Glad he is feeling better; the emotional healing may take longer...but that should come along too. No more road trips!
I hope we never have to do that again! It was an emergency trip. One my children was injured, and I went up to see to the medical care. I ended up having to stay in the region to ride to medical centers in other states for follow up appointments. Thankfully dog and child are both fully recovered.
Should I just do a kennel next time? He has never been in a kennel, except probably before he was rescued. He went once with our old lab, but they had a family cage so they were together. I'm not sure he could handle being all by himself in a kennel. I guess I should drop him off at a local one for one night here and there to get him used to it in case we ever need to leave him somewhere for an extended period of time. After his getting loose at my SIL's house, I'd feel better if he were kept in a cage. I just don't know if he would feel better that way.
That's a horrifying story, Hopes!
Would a pet sitter be out of the question? If so, the idea of taking him for a one night test run is a good one. I've done it myself, partly to see how I liked the place and partly to let them understand how it works- you stay there, and then Mom and Dad come back for you. I wouldn't do it for awhile though, until your dog (hopefully) starts feeling a little more secure again.
Wow, what a rough trip...poor doggy, poor you. Glad it all turned out okay...except for the velcro dog behavior..he knows you saved his life!
A suggestion..next time why not find a dog sitter who can visit your home to tend to your doggy's needs?
Or, find a dog lover who sits dogs in their own home. That's what I do--One Dog at a Time.
I love dogs and we lost our 16 year old dog last year, so now I dog sit a dog at a time in our home. It's lovely. I get to be temp dog Mom for a time, and dog gets 24 hour tlc...
I hated putting our dog in a kennel, though he always did fine after a day refusing food. But I felt guilty...
There was a "dog walker" in California who offered to come by our house a couple of times a day while we were gone to play with and walk our dogs. We didnt think that would be enough....as they were used to much more....almost constant companionship and frequent outdoors time. He then asked us if we would be interested in bringing the girls over to meet his dogs (three beagle pups and an old terrier and his wife and grown daughter--to see how everyone got along.
He had a really nice house and big fenced in yard.....with shelter and trees. The dogs all got along fine and his daughter fell in love with our older dog and she slept on her bed...It worked out wonderfully. We left them there when we went to japan....twice....for a month at a time. They were extraordinarily reliable loving people. That was the best boarding arrangement we ever had.
They even suggested we drop them off for an afternoon a couple of times so our girls would know we would come back!
A suggestion..next time why not find a dog sitter who can visit your home to tend to your doggy's needs?
Or, find a dog lover who sits dogs in their own home. That's what I do--One Dog at a Time.
How nice! That's a great way to get your dog fix!
I'm really afraid to do that after his getting loose at my SIL's house. She's a dog lover, but she doesn't do a good enough job keeping track of an escape artist hound. How can I know anyone else would be better?
I fear if I had someone visit here, they wouldn't show up when they're supposed to. I did hire someone to stay here once, but my old lab had accidents in the house, which means that she wasn't here often enough or on an attentive enough schedule for the dog's needs.
The people I trust most are my neighbors. If they are available to stop at my house, I'll definitely use them. I feed and let their dogs out when they are away. I know they would be attentive, but they're not always available because they have jobs that require travel.
We didn't think it would be a big deal for him to travel with me. We've taken him on vacations in the past. Never in my wildness nightmares did I imagine that we would have a medical emergency so far away from an animal hospital. Scary stuff.
That's a horrifying story, Hopes!
Would a pet sitter be out of the question? If so, the idea of taking him for a one night test run is a good one. I've done it myself, partly to see how I liked the place and partly to let them understand how it works- you stay there, and then Mom and Dad come back for you. I wouldn't do it for awhile though, until your dog (hopefully) starts feeling a little more secure again.
I haven't had luck with pet sitters, but I could do some more research. Thanks for the support in giving him test runs at a kennel. If I can't find an alternative, that's the direction I'll go. We don't travel often, but we need to be prepared for when we do. And we do have three week vacation planned in the Spring. We're taking an Alaskan cruise and then driving down the west coast from Seattle until at least San Fran but maybe farther depending on how much time we have left. I'll need to figure out doggie care soon because our trip is the end of May.
Quote:
Originally Posted by elston
There was a "dog walker" in California who offered to come by our house a couple of times a day while we were gone to play with and walk our dogs. We didnt think that would be enough....as they were used to much more....almost constant companionship and frequent outdoors time. He then asked us if we would be interested in bringing the girls over to meet his dogs (three beagle pups and an old terrier and his wife and grown daughter--to see how everyone got along.
He had a really nice house and big fenced in yard.....with shelter and trees. The dogs all got along fine and his daughter fell in love with our older dog and she slept on her bed...It worked out wonderfully. We left them there when we went to japan....twice....for a month at a time. They were extraordinarily reliable loving people. That was the best boarding arrangement we ever had.
They even suggested we drop them off for an afternoon a couple of times so our girls would know we would come back!
It would be awesome if I could find an arrangement like that!
Hope we also used a boarding situation when an emergency trip was necessary.....it was a bit more expensive than our regular kennel....but it worked great for my two girls. It is a franchise called Camp Bow Wow.....locally owned and run in accord with the high standard of the corporation. Camp Bow Wow Premier Dog Daycare and Dog Boarding Facilities
That is AWFUL, oh my god poor baby and poor you!! I can't even imagine how worried you must have been and what kind of evil vet would turn away a dog that is obviously really sick???
I've never boarded my dog. Thankfully I have friends that will usually watch him or when I go back to the east coast he flies with me. I'm so glad your pup is okay and you made it home safe!
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