sweet Abby

Oh where do I begin on this baby girl of ours!?

Two days after I passed my kidney stones, Friday July 15th, Abby got pretty sick. Everything was normal that day, a lot of laying around with mom. We went outside that night to look at a game AJ made and she then started acting all goofy. She laid under the deck in the dirt and was just not herself. We went inside for a while, and she was just pacing and being weird. AJ took her outside. He then came back in the house with his hand all red and asked me what Abby ate that was red. I freaked out, saying she didn't eat anything, that was all blood! I ran outside and couldn't believe all the blood Abby threw up. It was the biggest pile ever (I of course have a picture but would not do that to you!) Anyway, we called the vet. She said to give her pepto tablets so AJ went and bought some. The entire night she was just awake, feeling miserable. I took her to the vet in the morning. Her blood count levels were off. She had some intestinal infection and started to become anemic. It was a rough week. She was super weak. She had tried going to the bathroom outside, but was too weak could not get back up. Aj had to carry her back in the house. I am so glad he was there because me being pregnant (ok even if I wasn't pregnant) could not lift her! She had even fallen over in the hallway for me and hit her head on the wall because she was too weak. So for about a week and a half I nursed her back to health. We had to feed her while she was laying on the couch. We gave her water from a bowl from the couch. She had lost weight too which she was kind of skinny to begin with.

Finally she was back to herself again after 2 weeks. Until...

She was doing very well so we took her and Roy out on the boat on a nice Sunday afternoon! It was very hot out but felt great to be in the water. Abby can get fearful of the water, but with assistance getting off the boat and in she did it. Well after in the water she started throwing up foam. First we thought it was the heat. I had said we needed to take her back home. The whole time at home she was throwing up more foam and lots of saliva. She was crying and moaning super loud. She tried hiding places in the house- so not Abby. I called the vet, very nervous because Great Danes have a higher risk for stomach twisting and bloat. She said to try pepto tablets and if she didn't stop throwing up to come in. Well she didn't stop so we met the vet and Abby got a shot to try and stop vomiting. She advised us that if that didn't stop to call the Cedar Rapids Eastern Iowa Emergency Vet Hospital. So we did and ended up taking a trip to CR that night. Her stomach ended up twisting (a little less of the twisting, more shifting positions) then had the bloat. Bloat is when their stomach starts to fill with excess gas/fluid at such a rate that the dog can't relieve the pressure or keep up by belching or passing gas. 40% of cases this can be fatal.We were at the hospital a little before 8pm and at 10:30 we got to see her before she went in for surgery. At this time she was not doing a great job breathing. 11pm she went in for surgery. This was very difficult for AJ and I to wait. At midnight we talked to the surgeon. Abby made it through surgery and everything looked ok now. So we drove home and got back about 1:45 am. She had then developed aspiration pneumonia from sucking and breathing in all that foam. She was put on oxygen to help her breathe better. I got a call at 1pm Monday saying they weren't sure if she was going to make it because her breathing was not doing well and she was dependent at this point on oxygen. That was not the phone call I wanted nor expected. When we got there that night we didn't know what to expect. AJ brought her most favorite toy that she cannot live with out, her green football. We thought maybe they would wheel her in to the room to see us, but no.. she came in walking and came right up to AJ and took the football from him and walked around the room very proud!! They said she was doing much better!! The next day they said she was off her oxygen (from what I read in the reports after it said after seeing her owners she was more anxious and chewed through her oxygen line, therefore her oxygen was discontinued!! ha that is our Abby). So Tuesday evening we brought home our baby girl!! We then began the process of getting her all healed up. This time she wasn't as weak and could eat and drink on her own, thank goodness! She was put on 5 different medicines, it was a lot of work taking care of this girl!
This dog made July an interesting month for us, but we love her and so glad she is doing great now!
She used to be 113 lbs and now down to 99lbs, we are working on beefing her up :)

On our way home from the hospital that Tuesday night

Finally got settled in on one of the beds with her football!

Roy had to check her out to make sure his sister was alive and well!

This is how we spent our evening and days to follow...

She can even blow bubbles!

21 staples...

She is a little spoiled

Abby is back to her normal self, this picture clearly tells you how! This is what we came home to yesterday. I think she is mad at us for being gone so much at the hospital with her baby brother. She hadn't been kenneled for over a month, but she started back in there today!!

We still love her, so to end the night last night we took both dogs out on a long walk at the rock quarry by our house!