White Shaken Dog Syndrome and Stupid Vets

My BFF and I had stopped in Las Cruses for the night.  That is the half way point, if you are driving to Texas and you are not driving all the way through.  Anyway, that is how I do it.  That is how I have done it for years.  I don't know how anyone else does it but that is my way and I really don't care, if you have some secret driving tips for me.  This is how I like to do it.  So, let us leave it at that.  

Anyway, I call my husband to tell him we are safe and all is well.  He asks me, if I forgot to put Pookie, our little white dog, back inside after we left.  He told me that he found her outside, when he got home.  That she was all sketchy and hiding on the side of the house.  He then told me that she was vomiting, loosing her balance, shaking and urinating uncontrollably.  

I was like what?  How could this have happened?  I told him that I knew she was behind the door after I closed it because I heard her barking.  Our back gate is made of steel tubing and latched shut.  We also have these really big rocks that we put in front of it and in back of the gate.  My husband has also put a screen in a spot where one of the tubes had broken off.  When Pookie was a baby she had slipped out.  She was so tiny then.  

I know, we need a new gate.  To be honest the gate thing just slipped our minds.  I also, haven't picked a new one out and the one we have seemed just fine.  It was way down on the list of things to replace or fix.  What?  We are normal we procrastinate.  Who doesn't?

My husband took her to the Vet.  We always say that he is maintenance only.  Meaning that he doesn't do things like Vet trips and the such.  However, I was in Texas and Pookie needed him.  So my husband took one for the team.  

The Vet couldn't decide what was wrong with our baby.  OK, lets back track our Vet was in Korea.  We had a stand in Vet.  I had met this Vet before, when our first Vet had died.  She had took over his practice.  This Vet was the worst Vet I had ever seen.  She was so money driven and I think the meanest person with animals I have ever seen.  I was really upset when I found out that it was her...this devil Vet taking care of my Pookie.  

I did not tell Art that this Vet was this wretched Vet from hell.  She could not tell  my husband what was wrong with her but she wanted to keep her all day and then have my husband take her to the Vet ER and then pick her up in the morning and bring her back to the office for more IVs, Valium and dilantin.  

My husband was not amused.  He was scared to death to transport a teeny tiny dog with an IV to the doggy ER and then pick her up in the morning.  He was upset that this Vet could not diagnose nor treat our Pookie appropriately.   He was angry very angry and he let this Vet know it.  However, he did take her back the next day.  He took her home that night not knowing what else to do.  I suppose he did just fine by Pookie in his own way.  

The staff at the Vet's flushed her out and she had a small improvement.  The Vet sent her home with muscle relaxers.  My husband called me and had no idea how to give Pookie medication.  A brief over the phone inservice and he was all over it.  Pookie was happier with him than all alone in a cage all by herself.  

I called the Vet the next day and talked to her.  She was just as horrible as I remembered.  I told her I googled my pets symptoms and in less than thirty seconds came up with White dog shaken syndrome.  I told her that she needed steroids to shrink the swelling in her brain that is causing the darting of her eyes and the constant shaking of her body.  She, of course dismissed me.  She then gave me a referral for a doggy neurologist.  Sigh.  

So, here we sit.  Watching our dog shake, rattle and roll.  We finally started to give her some steroids and are seeing another Vet.  We might never go back to the other one.  

Time will tell, if our Pookie will recover or not.  Some times she just stands there and shivers.  Other times she seems almost normal.  We love our Pookie and life without her would be unthinkable.  

I do apologize for going on and on about our little dog and her sickness.   Sometimes it is helpful to let it all out.  We are hopeful that she will recover and live out her life as best and healthy as we can get her.