I've been sick...

Penny here. I've been sick this month. Not to worry, because I'm ok now, but I want to alert you to what was wrong.

I had some tummy troubles -- wasn't feeling so well and threw up several times. The last time had blood in it. Mom and Dad took me to the Emergency Vet. Mom was scared that I had Hemorrhagic Gastroenteritis (HGE), which was something my brother Oscar had a number of times. I had had it when I was only 8 months old. All I knew is that I didn't feel good at all.

The emergency vet was very nice even though they had to stick me a couple of times and take some blood. They measured something called Packed Cell Volume that measured how thick my blood was and it turns out it was too high. I did indeed have HGE again. They told Mom and Dad I'd have to spend the night there to get fluids. Mom was pretty upset about having to leave me, but I knew she'd come back to get me. They shaved my pretty fur off my front leg and put an IV in it to give me fluids, but I still kept throwing up more blood. Took awhile but they got my tummy settled down and I went to sleep.

The next morning, Mom came to get me and I went to my vet and I had to stay again to get more fluids. I guess I was pretty sick since they kept me in the hospital. I got to go home late in the afternoon. Mom got a roasted chicken for me to eat since my tummy was still tender, and she gave me my medicine in pieces of Velveeta cheese. Velveeta cheese is very yummy!!

I wanted everyone to know about HGE because my mom has really researched it on the internet, and it turns out that a lot of dogs die from it because their folks think it's "just an upset tummy" or "just a little diarrhea." They don't take their dogs to the vet in time to get medicine for them. So I want to let people know if their pet doesn't stop having these symptoms after a little while, they need to get them some medical care. It's very important.

I want all dogs to have a long, healthy life so they can boss their people around just like I do!