Sick Dog

$407.00 later - "Whew!  We don't ever want to do that again..."

Poor Riff.  He was really, really sick.  The refusing-to-eat-and-etcetera-for-days kind of sick.  He lost so much weight it startled my husband, who doesn't usually notice such things.  All of the sudden, Riff was too skinny.  Bony, like a cover girl.  And all he did was lay around the house, looking....sick.  Sweet Riff, who normally doesn't stop moving all day (unless he settles down to watch a Giants game on TV), just layed on his side.  Didn't even follow us from room to room.   

We still don't know what made him sick.  The x-rays showed some "unidentified granular material" in his tummy.  His intestines were "gassy" but okay.  He had a slight fever.  He came home from the vet's with a "camel-back" thingy for hydration, after going through x-rays, an anti-nausea shot, and some bloodwork and fecal samples.  He's been taking flagyl all week.  Thank god he stopped vomiting, etc. and doesn't need stomach surgery after all.  The vet seemed pretty certain she would see us again.  Not!  Yay!  (FYI: The vet techs really liked Riff...they kept saying he was a sweetheart and a trooper.)  Thank god he is eating again.  Thank god he has perked up.  Rascal Riff is back!

:-)   :-)    :-)    :-)    :-) :-) :-) :-)    :-) :-) :-) :-)

Occasionally, as we relax in the backyard, we catch Riff eating acorns.  We tell him to "drop it" but more often than not, he drops it right down his throat (while perfecting his "guilty" look).  Keeper eats acorns too....has all ten years of her life...but the difference is that she'll only pick up a certain brown acorn, of a particular age and consistency, and she chews it thoroughly. The other difference is that if we ask her to "drop it" she'll always spit it out onto the ground.  Riff will eat the little green acorns...and he never chews anything.  GULP.  If you called Keeper a thoughtful cement mixer, you'd have to call Riff a thoughtless back-hoe. 

So I thought maybe it was the acorns.  The vet couldn't say for sure, but I'm not taking any chances.  Now I sweep, sweep, sweep the patio under the oak trees - even more often than I did before Riff got sick.  I used to sweep once a day, during "acorn season." Now it's at least three times a day.  Good physical therapy for the old arm.  [Must admit to you (privately) that I swept our patio six (6) times yesterday.  Is that obsessive?  Maybe.]  There's nothing we can do about the rest of the property.  No blower, broom or rake can get rid of all the acorns dropping in the dirt around the other plants, up and down the hill.  We just do what we can.  We have three oak trees that are well over one-hundred-years-old, and several youngers.  Sometimes the whole acorn thing feels absolutely overwhelming.

Currently I am against the procreation of oak trees.  I think the male trees should wear a million little condoms and the female trees should be on birth control pills.  (Or, um...however it works...)  In the current political climate I guess that puts me "left of left."  (And proud of it!)

I'm also on Hyper-Vigilant Mushroom Watch....even though it hasn't rained here in quite a while....you just can't let your guard down.  I found eight (8!) mushrooms hiding under groundcover way back in the lower corner of the yard.  Two of the mushrooms were as big as a plate.  How could I have missed them before?  So.  Yeah.  As much as I love our backyard, sometimes I dream about living in a small, simple, clean condominium....

In the meantime, we thank our Lucky Stars that Riff has recovered from...whatever that was. 

And I'm trying to figure out how to train him to NOT EAT any foreign stuff in the backyard.  What do people do?  Other than watch their dogs like a hawk?