my sweet edgar has been ill. i came home from my evening with naomi last night to find edgar unwell. diarrhea that he couldn't control and couldn't get himself up and outside before there was a mess. this happened every half hour or so until 5 a.m. although the mess was horrible, the worst part of the sleepless, stressful night was the worry about bloat. great danes often die from stomach torsion, a condition where gas and bloat cause the stomach to twist, cut off blood supply and create a gangrenous mess in their gut. all night i was checking his stomach, his color, his discomfort level. diarrhea isn't usually associated with bloat, but i'd never seen anything like this. and i didn't want him to sense my worry and stress. he didn't sleep. i didn't sleep. i called the emergency vet at 1.30 but since the hardness in his belly would come and go, i felt better waiting until my wonderful vets opened at 8 a.m.
and although we showed up at 8 a.m. without an appointment, they were wonderful, bringing us right in, getting a bag of iv fluid into him, giving him an anti-gas treatment, and we were assured that he had a virus of some sort. so we are home. he is finally sleeping. heavily asleep. and i'm lying on the couch while we wash loads of laundry full of his soiled quilts and bedcovers. it sure is a sleepy house today. and relieved. happily sleepy and relieved.
