Stimulated in 2020

We got our stimulus money last week. We barely qualified, it helped that I only had one paycheck last year and Rob wasn’t eligible for his bonus (he hadn’t been with the company more than a few months at that point).

We split the money, Rob is working on house projects (he’s rebuilding the deck railing as I write this) and I was thinking of how to spend my part; but then Duchess, our Great Dane, stopped eating. I panicked, of course, and off to the vet we went. I took her on Tuesday and the doctor did x-rays and didn’t see anything odd, except some signs that she might have arthritis on her spine. She was also running a low fever. He gave her two shots, one for pain and one for nausea, and sent us home, promising to call the next day with the results of her bloodwork.

The next morning she still wouldn’t eat (I’d given up on dog food and was cooking for her at this point, but nothing tempted her) and didn’t want to get out of her crate, so the vet told us to bring her back in. Turns out her fever had spiked overnight, he had planned to give her IV fluids but first they had to bring her temperature down, so she got an ice bath. He started a barium test to make sure she didn’t have an intestinal blockage, and kept her all day. He offered to keep her overnight, but they don’t have 24 hour staff and I didn’t want her to be left in a run alone overnight, so we brought her home. She was pretty annoyed, she had an e-collar because they left the port for the IV in her leg, and we called her the Angry Lampshade all night - but she ate a little bit, and also drank a ton of water, so we knew she was starting to get better.

Thursday we took her back to the vet in the morning so they could give her more fluids and finish the barium test (it takes 24 hours to go through her system completely). They kept her all day again, but she was definitely in good spirits when I picked her up that evening. Thank goodness, because three vet trips in three days for a giant dog was VERY expensive. Guess I won’t be getting a KitchenAid mixer after all! But honestly I’d rather have a few more years with Duchess than something cool for the kitchen anyway.

It took her another day or two to get back to eating normally. I’ve started getting her Freshpet, not sure how long we’ll keep that up as she eats 6-8 cups a day; but for now it’s worth it to see her eat without hesitation.

I guess the moral of the story is hurray for appropriately timed stimulus money?