Thursday, 10/1/09

So right now Cody is at doggie daycare, which he loves more than anything in the whole world (even more than playing outside I think). He goes to this place called the Doggie Playhouse on Tuesdays and Thursdays because I have class from 9:30 am to 8:45 pm so I don't want him to be home alone that whole time. Around 8:45am when we turn left onto the street that this place is on he starts to get so excited he can't even handle himself. His starts to whine and wag his entire body and sticks his head as far out the window as he can (since I keep closing the window a little more the more excited he gets so he doesn't fall out). This place a section for little tiny dogs (like chawawas (i don't know how to spell that)) and another section for larger dogs (basically from spangle and bigger). Cody obviously goes in the big dog section, which is in the back. They don't let doggy mom's or dad's go in the areas with the dogs for liability reasons, but they have a monitor so you can see your dog if you want (at least for the big dogs, the little dogs are in the front area and you can just see them over the gate). The employees there tell me that Cody's best friend is names Noah and they play all day. As soon as Cody walks in he picks up a toy and never puts it down. My favorite thing is that from 12pm-2pm the place is closed. Why you ask? Because it is nap time (hehe), all the doggies go in their own designated area and take a nap and have to be quiet. The employees don't even answer the phone during this time (I love this so much, it is like ciestas in Italy). The best part is that when I pick him up he is so exhausted that he just chills out for the rest of the night. Usually he wakes up between 6:30am and 7am to go to the bathroom and eat breakfast and then he comes back to bed with me. On Wednesdays and Fridays (the days after he went to daycare) he sleeps in until about 9:30. I think it is hilarious that he is so tired he sleeps in. I love him so much and I love this place and I wish I worked there because it is so awesome. I get so excited for Cody to go there because it is obvious how much he loves it. (check out the website http://www.thedoggieplayhouse.com/)

Friday, 6/12

Well it has been about 3 months since Cody has been in the hospital and he has made a 100% recovery. When we got him back he weighed 18 pounds, now he is 45 YIKES. He still looks like a floppy puppy, but he is already bigger than my full grown Australian Shepherd, Riley. He has had all his vaccines now so we don't have to worry about any more scary diseases. Next month he is getting neutered (shhh don't tell him). His favorite things to do are play with Riley, snuggle, and sleep, which he does most of the day. He is even friends with my nana (which if you knew her you would be very surprised since she is not a dog person.) His sitting skills are perfect, as soon as someone says sit his butt hits the ground so fast! Lay down and come are another story; it's not that he doesn't listen.. it just takes him a little longer. He is very good at waiting to be told to eat his food and at doing his business on command. He doesn't have accidents anymore and he has finally learned to bark at the door when he needs to go outside. We love him tons and he is so much fun. He loves Riley and has to do whatever she is doing. The other day my mom couldn't find the dogs and she went in the laundry room (where Riley's cage is) and both of them were lying in there. The cage is almost too small for Riley so both of them in there was a very tight squeeze. CUTE!

Thursday, 3/26, 6:30 PM

Yay Cody is so much fun. He knows how to sit and lay down and he is doing pretty well with come and stay. We are still having some trouble with barking and biting which is to be expected since he is only a puppy. (and a cute one at that). Tomorrow will be his last day of his medication and tonight we are going to start the process of switching him from his prescription diet to regular food. I'm sure he won't mind since if it smells like something edible (even if it isn't edible) he will try to eat it. He is doing so well and just acting like a crazy puppy. Today he met the Delaware field hockey coaches and some of my friends from school, and tomorrow he will meet my crazy nana and pop and my mom. He secretly can't wait. 

Monday, 3/23, 5:00

So right now Cody is chewing on his bone which is awesome cause it means he is not attempting to chew on me. He woke up real early this morning and decided he wanted to be an attack dog and got in big trouble. After he did his business and ate breakfast he calmed down a bit and went back to sleep (and so did I). We got up a couple hours later and played for a while :) We also worked on some training. While I was at class Jim came home and played with Cody again and he taught him how to fetch. Now we are just lounging around. I'm going to cuddle Cody now!

Sunday, 3/22, 7:53 PM

Hey.. Sorry for the lack of updates lately. We have had a bit of trouble with the internet since we moved to the new place but now it is up and running. Anyway, Cody is doing wonderfully. He is eating all his food (and really quickly at that). He seems like a normal puppy that was never sick (other than the shaved spots on his legs where the IVs were). We have started training sit and down and doing business (aka going to the bathroom on command) and also walking on a leash. As of now he has sit down perfectly. He doesn't even need a treat anymore to accomplish the sit position on command. He comes with us basically everywhere we go, except to class and student teaching. Then he has to stay in his crate. He barks like crazy when we leave and we work on crate training while we are at home, but as soon as we aren't in the apartment he goes nuts. He is like a little kid being left at school. Our other problem is that while we are preparing his food he barks like crazy. We won't feed him until he stops but sometimes it takes a while. We have yelled at him, we have said no, we have made him sit, we have tried a bunch of things, but nothing seems to work when it comes to his bark. If you have any suggestions post something on the discussion page. Other than that he is our perfect cute little baby of love and we are so happy to have him back! 

Wednesday, 3/18, 10:22 PM

Sorry I haven't updated in a while. I haven't had access to the internet until now. So I picked up Cody at the hospital last night and we were out of there at about 8. They gave me a smorgasbord of different medicines to give him to make sure if he had an infection it would clear up and also to get rid of his cough. (They think he has a cough from throwing up so much). When we got home he did his business on command (i was worried he would have forgotten that training we were working on but he didn't). He smelled so bad from being at the hospital so we gave him a bath which he didn't appreciate. He was very tired so we didn't play much, just had some dinner and medicine and lounged around. This morning he seemed back to his old self. Barking like crazy, running around, trying to bite everything. Because of his cough we have to basically create a steam room for him so he can breath humid are, so this morning we put the shower as hot is it would go and sat in the bathroom for 10 minutes. It was very steamy. Throughout the rest of the day we ate some food, played, had some training sessions, and went for a couple of walks. He seems to be doing really well. He eats all his food right when we give it to him (I wish we could give him more. He seems hungry). He is also drinking on his own and he really isn't having any trouble with his medicine. As for the cough (which is horrendous) it seems to only come out at night. Next Tuesday he will go pack to his primary vet just to see how he has progressed, but he's looking good to me. (Our bill was 6,102) which is less than I was expecting. All around it was a great day and I can't wait to watch Cody grow and learn and hopefully gain back some of his weight.

Tuesday, 3/17, 1:00 PM

YAY!! I am picking Cody up tonight at 7:00. He ate some one his own but not a lot, so we will have to force feed him if he isn't eating enough. He has also been drinking some water on his own which we will also have to keep track of. He hasn't thrown up or had any diarrhea in over a day now nor has he had any sort of injectable medicines. We will have to keep a close eye on him and bring him to the vet for frequent check ups, but as of right now it looks like we are in the clear. (p.s. I am nervous to see what the total bill will be tonight when I pick him up) 

Tuesday, 3/17, 10:28 AM

I JUST CHECKED MY VOICE MAIL AND THE VET SAID THAT CODY ATE ON HIS OWN!!!!!! SHE WANTED TO TALK ABOUT TRYING TO BRING HIM HOME! I called back and she was in with another patient so I am waiting for her to call me back! EXCITED! 

Monday, 3/16

YAY! Good news again! So Cody is still not eating on his own so they are still force feeding him. He did not throw up last night or today nor did he have an diarrhea. They took him off the pain medication to see if that would help him be less doped up and less nauseous. They also stopped the injectable antibiotics and switched to oral which is "really really really" good (said the vet). (this will save us about 200-300 dollars a day, plus it is a very good sign that he is getting better since they are confident he won't throw up his medicine). Also, he was even more alert today and he moved around some more. He drank some water on his own as well. Hopefully we will be able to bring him home either tomorrow or Wednesday. He is taking steps in the right direction and seems to be doing a little better every time we talk to the vet. I know the site was down today and I am not sure why, sorry to everyone that tried to check up on Cody and thanks for your support. 

Sunday, 3/15, 6:30 PM

Still no feeding tube. The vets have been force feeding Cody all day and he is keeping it down! YAY! He has regurgitated a couple times (which is just like throwing up but not from his stomach contents. Just liquids in his esophagus.) He is still on a fluid IV, but today he started to drink from his bowl on his own a little bit! That is good news too, he has enough energy to do so and it shows that he is not as nauseous. Our new expected release date is Tuesday which will increase our expenses obviously. We are considering having him moved to his primary vet if they can care for him there, but if not we will just have to suck it up. thanks so much to everyone that has made a donation so far. They are helping so much not only in paying for Cody to get better, but to relieve a bit of stress off of our shoulders. 

Sunday, 3/15, 11:30 AM

The vets were able to force feed Cody and he kept most of it down. Hopefully having some food will give him more energy. They probably won't give him a food tube if they can keep force feeding him. That sounds harsh, but a tube is much harsher. They estimate that he has been through the worst of it. I HOPE THEY ARE RIGHT! Hopefully he will be home by Tuesday (which is much later than we expected). 

Saturday, 3/14, 10:30 PM

His fever has gone down a little bit, but he is still not eating on his own. They have tube fed him twice tonight and he has kept the food down. He still continues to have diarrhea. They also gave him a little bath and he didn't like that (which is good news. It means he at least knows what is going on and has enough energy to express his discomfort). The vet will call again in the morning with another update  

Saturday, 3/14

Cody has taken some steps backwards. Since Friday morning he has been throwing up pretty regularly. He is still on a fluid IV and is now on a constant stream of pain medication to keep him comfortable and try to keep him from throwing up. His blood work still looks ok, but they have started PLASMA injections to make sure that it remains ok. His antibiotics have been changed since the others did not seem to really be getting the job done. There is a risk however with this medicine which makes me even more nervous. There is a 5% chance that this could cause cartilage problems for him as an adult, however, I think it is more important to try to save him now and hope that he is in the other 95%. As of this morning Cody had incurred $4,000 of medical bills. 

Thursday, 3/12 PM

He has not eaten since breakfast. Blood work still looks good. His white blood cell count is normal, his protein levels are a little low, but that is not really anything to worry about. 

Thursday, 3/12 AM

Cody made it through the night with the help of a fluid IV and some antibiotics to prevent secondary infection. This morning he ate his breakfast (first time he has eaten in 2 days). He is also moving around a bit more and seems to be more happy. The vets said he has been barking in his cage. (This is probably because he is in isolation since Parvo is so contagious and he is most likely lonely). The vet also told us not to get our hopes up, but if he keeps progressing at this rate we might be able to bring him home by Saturday.  

Wednesday, 3/11

Cody is admitted to VCA Animal Hospital around 11 PM with Parvovirus. The vet thinks the he has a pretty good chance of survival (about 80-90%). We are told that he will probably have to stay in the hospital for 3-5 days at an estimated cost of $4,052-5,052. So far Cody has had a fever of about 103 (101 is normal), has thrown up 6 times, and has not eaten since the day before. He is also very lethargic and inactive. 

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