Jesse

I broke down and took Jesse to the vet after work today.  I'd called early this morning and made an appointment, but I'm telling you, everyone and their dog was there when I got to the office.  No pun intended.  It was an absolute madhouse.  

Be that as it may, the vet couldn't find anything physically wrong with him.  She checked for constipation and blockages, and checked him for parasites.  She found no evidence of either, but added the qualifier that she couldn't get a good stool sample because it was all just liquid.  She also told me that they'd found a pretty significant heart murmur when I took him in Christmas Eve for boarding, but that it wouldn't cause diarrhea and loss of appetite.  She mentioned that he'd lost 5 pounds since then, as well. 

She'd wanted to keep him there for observation, but decided not to because he's such a nervous dog.  Her speculation is that between losing Rylea and being boarded just two days later, his neurosis has set him off.  Well, she didn't put it in quite those words, but that's the gist of it. 

For now, she gave me some medication designed to sooth the inflammation in his gut, and some special dog food that's very bland and easy on the stomach and intestines.  She said not to give him anything but that food, and if he doesn't eat any of that within 24 hours, she wants me to bring him back for bloodwork, because of his age.  I've already put a can of that food down, and he picked at it a bit, but didn't really eat any.  If he hasn't eaten any by the time I get home from work tomorrow, I'll have to call them back and see what they say. 

So, that's where we stand there.  

Funny thing...there are several animals that live at the vet's office.  They have free reign of the place, and just wander around at will.  While I was checking out, one of them -- a dog -- wandered over and lay down beside me.  After a few moments, he growled.  I didn't even think.  I just reacted, and said, "Ah!" like I would to one of my own dogs.  I apologized to the receptionist, saying, "I'm sorry.  I just "ah -ed" your dog."  She said it was all right, because he knows he's not supposed to be growling anyway.  Besides that, it worked.  

And now for a bit of bad news.  Well, bad for us, but good for him.  Today, one of my favorite supervisors told me he is retiring at the end of the month.  Sigh...Have fun fishing, while the rest of us are up there working.  

And finally, I know I said I wasn't going to be doing a year in review type of post, but from time to time, I'm going to share some of my favorite memes from 2020.  This is one of them: