Everyday Ramblings

It's been a tough few days. My parents' border collie is in the ER trying to pull through. It feels like losing a sibling. I grew up with that guy.

For my theory class we have been studying format of fairytales. I had a dream last night where I met with Walt Disney. He told me I need to consider taking a public speaking class. Odd dreams happen when you study fiction....

Here is the email I sent to my dog trainer and classmates about Pablo:

I wanted to let you all know about a disease called leptospirosis.
The weekend before last (8days ago) I took my parents' border
collie/aussie, Pablo, and my puppy Jaime for a walk on the north davis
greenbelt. For those of you who walk the greenbelt, if you walk all
the way north there is a "ditch" where dogs can run and play.
I walked the two dogs down there and they ran through the water and
played. At the beginning of last week Jaime started picking at his
food and sleeping more. This was not like Jaime. After Dolores sent
the article about the recalled treats I thought that might be it. I
took Jaime into the vet and after blood tests that showed nothing
wrong, he seemed to get better on his own.

this last Sunday, my parents' border collie mix became really ill. He
showed the same symptoms as Jaime, but more sever: He refused water,
food, or to get up to go to the bathroom. Yesterday, they immediately
took him in to UC Davis and he was diagnosed with kidney and liver
failure. He currently is on an IV with antibiotics. He has not shown
any improvement in the past 24 hours, but we are still hoping our boy
will pull through.

The vet is almost positive it is a disease called Laptospirosis. It is
something that dogs pick up from standing water, like the water at the
ditch. I wanted to tell you all, if you walk there, not to let your
dogs in the water there. There also is a vaccination that you can get,
but is not usually given. I highly recommend this for your dogs. You
can read more about this disease at this site:
http://www.peteducation.com/article.cfm?cls=2&cat=1556&articleid=454

Pablo is our family miracle dog. When he was 4 years old he was hit by
a car and dragged to a dumpster. A wonderful citizen found him, days
later, and took him to UCD. He fought through an intense surgery that
saved his leg and his life. 7 years ago, when Dolores had the Cultured
Canine store in downtown Davis, she helped raise money to pay for his
surgery at ucd. With four screws in his leg, Pablo has brought joy to
our family for the past 11 years. He loved Dolores' agility classes
and camping in the wilderness. We hope this will be a second miracle
and our Pablo will pull through.

Hug your dogs and please stay away from standing water.