A Guardian Angel

There are benefits to having a vlecro dog. Sure, I may not be able to go to the bathroom alone, or walk into another room alone, or do yoga or shower alone. I have to say that I like not having to eat, sleep, or watch TV alone though. However this post goes beyond just having a velcro dog. This post talks about a dog's sense of what goes on around them. They know when something is wrong.

A time when my dad fell ill, and his blood sugar dropped, Danni laid on the bed with him the whole day. Really, she laid on his belly. She kept looking at the rest of us with worried eyes. He was alright a day or two later. The whole time he was sick, Danni stayed by his side. Dogs are the best companions when you're sick.

I've always known Danni could sense something wrong. She even went so far as to avoid me a few times when I started crying. On purpose. If I was physically ill, though, she'd stay with me all day. She does love to snuggle, and who better to snuggle than a sickly captive audience?

Fast forward a few years, and I'm in Chicago, having just adopted Roxie the Greyhound 5 months ago. She is my little velcro dog. We haven't had any major illness or incident up to this point, so I never really thought about a dog's sixth sense. Until I came into contact with a cross-contaminated cupcake. Grab your tissues, now, you're going to need them...

This particular story I shared with Roxie's foster mom, and ended up putting Roxie Hart in the American Greyhound monthly newsletter. Here's what the little write up about her said:

It's always good to hear from our adopters after our dogs go into their forever homes. Knowing that we have made a difference, not only for an unwanted greyhound, but also for the family who adopts them gives you a warm feeling and validates what we do.
Recently, we received this message from Mary Hildebrandt, who adopted a little Lurcher named Roxie, earlier this year:

I have the sweetest story to share with you that happened just last night. This pretty girl helped me out last night. I had eaten a cupcake that had been cross contaminated with peanut-something (I have a very severe allergy). After my first dose of medication wore off, I headed to the bathroom in extreme pain and by the time I got there I could hardly function. Roxie followed me, then left and woke up Rhett, and came back to the bathroom. Rhett followed her, found me, and was able to give me the next dose of medication then take me to bed. I was so grateful she was there and could sense that something was wrong. I'm just fine today, and she's been by my side everywhere I go. She's been a blessing in our lives in more ways than just this. I wanted to share so you remember what a sweet dog you saved for us :)

Now if that doesn't cause a lump in your throat, I'm not sure what will. But, let me add a little more to the story. You may remember hearing about Roxie before. We featured her and another lurcher named Bob she arrived with in our year end mailing. When she arrived she was extremely shy and reserved. About the only thing that gave her any comfort was Bob. And she clung to him like a magnet. He was her guardian angel. Gradually, she came out of her shell and now lives with Mary and her husband Rhett in Chicago. Now when Mary needed some help, Roxie has come full circle and is Mary's guardian angel!

Mary, thank you so much for sharing that wonderful story. And, Roxie, GOOD GIRL! 

So there you have it. Our pretty girl, Roxie Hart found me help in my time of need. She didn't whine or bark at Rhett, but she went in the bedroom, shook herself off (flap-flap-flap of the ears, and makes her collar jingle), then left. Rhett figured while he was awake he may as well use the bathroom, then started to think about how odd it was that Roxie didn't just jump on the bed, since bed is her favorite place in the whole world. When he found me he got some benadryl in me right quick, and let me lean on him as he walked me back to bed. We let Roxie sleep in our room at the foot of our bed that night so we could all be near each other. 

To read the monthly newsletter where Miss Hart is featured please click here. Roxie, the guardian angel greyhound animal. A good girl.

Affectionately,

Roxie's mom

P.S. (De-worming treatments continue, and seem to be going well. Not many relapse symptoms of worms for awhile now. Just a few more weeks of medication, and we can retest. Poor wormy-butt Roxie.)

Worms!!!

Well you know Roxie was a sick little puppy awhile back. Just as it seemed she got better, we left her with some greyhound sitters for a week long vacation. I was nervous. Her last full day at their house she ate part of their palm plant and threw up again. 4 days later she was back to dehydration, vomiting, etc. I was so nervous. We took her into the vet. They ruled out any sort of blockage, so we tested for worms.

She had been dewormed when she entered foster care through American Greyhound, but sure enough, the test came back positive for both types of worms she had before. That is, hookworm and whipworm. It was a relief to at least have an answer for why my baby was so sick. Stress can trigger symptoms of parasite infections, and lets face it, Roxie is chronically stressed. We did a round of worm medication, and a bolus of fluids inserted subcutaneously for her dehydration. They also sent us home with an anti-inflammatory and some forti-flora packets to give with her dinner to help her symptoms improve by restoring her gut to it's natural state. The medication got rid of the whipworm. We're still working on hookworm.

She's got 12 weeks of medication to take, the vet said it's the best way to kill the worms short of taking a blowtorch to them. She's not allowed to eat dirt (ew), not that we let her anyway, but she will occasionally try to eat some of the thick grass at the park. Since starting treatment, her symptoms have pretty much disappeared! Hooray! The only thing that still concerns me is her poop. It's pretty mushy. Although that's not uncommon of Greyhounds, so who knows if it's her or the worms at this point.

Hookworms and whipworms are non-transferable to humans from dogs. We're halfway through our 12 weeks of worm treatment. I'll keep you posted.

Let's all strive to live a worm free life!

<3 Mary and Roxie