[the kropfs]

i thought my dog was going to die this week.

she threw up saturday afternoon and we thought it was just a result of exhaustion and too much fun with my brother's dog, nellie. she threw up again once we got home, and then again every hour saturday night. it was a loooong night.

she was still acting weird on sunday. she hadn't eaten since friday and could hardly move. she had no interest in everything she normally loves: food, treats, her ball, socks, and barking at the neighbors. so we did what any normal person would do: started reading about her symptoms online to figure out what was going on. anyone who's tried to diagnose an illness online knows that this is NOT a good idea. it applies to animals as well as humans. the conclusion was she is dying and we must get her to the vet ASAP.

of course there are no vets open on sunday in our little town. the closest one was about an hour away. mike, who is very good about sticking to the speed limit, was driving faster than he's ever driven before. we followed the directions on our phone trying to find the vet, but our trusty map led us to an apartment complex in the middle of nowhere. in the mean time, coco started bleeding and throwing up again. after a dozen calls to the vet trying to figure out how to get to their office, we made it.

a few hundred dollars later, they sent us home with four bottles of pills and the conclusion that she had some kind of gastrointestinal infection but her blood work was normal and she should be just fine. we've had to force the pills down her throat and i'm pretty sure she hates us for it, but today she finally ate a little something. she also dropped her ball at my feet, begging me to throw it and started growling at the mail man. glad she's back to her normal self.