Stress and Anxiety

Apparently that's what is wrong with my dog. Let me explain. We went to the beach and the lake last week for the 4th of July. I was originally planning on boarding Sawyer and Belle while we were gone, but I was able to find a dog sitter at the last minute for half the price. I was so excited that we were going to be able to leave them at home, and not have to spend as much money.

The girl who was watching them for us was sending pictures and updates, and things seemed to be going fine. Until Thursday....I got a phone call from her telling me that Sawyer had diarrhea all over our apartment! Ugh! Gross! I called our vet and the dog sitter took Sawyer in for an appointment. The vet determined that he may have eaten something, and she gave him some special food and medicine, which she said should help.Well, that didn't exactly do the trick because the dog sitter called me back on Friday afternoon to let me know that he was still pooping all over the place and he was now bleeding. Our vet closes at 6:00 and by this time it was precisely 5:45. I quickly got off the phone with dog sitter to call our vet and let them know what was going on. I explained the situation and the woman on the other end of the line very politely told me that the last walk in appointment was seen fifteen minutes ago, and that I was going to have to have our dog sitter take Sawyer to the emergency vet.

By this time dollar signs were flashing in my head and all I could think was "I should have just boarded them." When I called our dog sitter back, she had been to our vet, and they had already sent her to the emergency clinic. After apologizing about twenty times, I told her to call me back and let me know what they said. The diagnosis: Sawyer was stressed. Join the club buddy!

Now we have to feed Sawyer this disgusting special food and give him Imodium AD. While he is eating we have to put Belle in her crate so she doesn't eat Sawyer's "special food." Oh, Sawyer! I don't know what we are going to do with him. He's lucky we love him so much!

I paid a mere $300 dollars for someone to tell me that my dog has anxiety. I think he thought we were leaving and never coming back. I should have known better. The last time we left Sawyer and Belle with at home with a dog sitter I ended up replacing part of our couch, having two pillows remade, and getting Sawyer fixed. I'll save that story for another post. :) Needless to say, I have learned my lesson. The next time we go out of town Sawyer and Belle will be boarded!