Update with a Bang

Okay....
Since I haven't been updating this blog for a while....
Let's update it with a Bang, shall we ?

Bang !
This is what I found in front of my door this morning
yes...that's her, the curly perpetrator



she doesn't do this a lot so...it's kinda cute actually ;p
*cute? is there something wrong w my brain ?*
she knows it's bad coz I called her, well, I yelled at her and she had her tail tucked under, but came anyway, so yea...that makes it kinda cute ;)


Anyway.......Bangs aside,
Reasons for not updating this blog :

1. Fleas
eeewwwwww
I know right, after 10 years of flea-free, seriously, 10 years !!!
We had an outbreak of flea about 2 months ago, or was it 3 ?
I suspect those stray cats out there who brought the fleas, somehow the fleas managed to travel to chika n pochi. But I've been told that cats and dogs have different fleas.
If not the cats, it must be the next door chihuahuas......
Anyway.... I gave em flea baths.
I was reading about fleas online and they say flea eggs can stay on the carpet, mats, whatever for up to a year or so. And they're covered with this waterproof thingy (dunno the correct term ;p) so they'll stay alive even tho you spray them w anti-flea solution.
that got me paranoid, so I vacuumed everything in the house.

Everything is ok now, the girls are flea-less again.
I hope I killed all fleas in the house, no more fleas please.

2. Pochi got sick
Pochi gave us quite a scare when she got sick
At first, we thought she just had a flu coz she was not running and jumping around as much.
and She didn't bark at all, she just kept quiet.
At first we thought she choked on a piece of meat coz I gave her meat the day before and she didn't chew them, just swallow it whole.
She can still run around, but not as much, But then she started walking like she was tipsy and kinda collapsed , not fainted, just really weak.
We thought she's tired from running around, so I gave her vitamin C.
She was still eating well, but just weak
The next day she was still weak and could only walk a bit, like she was drunk and fell flat on the floor again, and when she opened her mouth, we could she that she was very very pale.
Her tongue was kinda grey !!!!

So we rushed her to the only nearby vet. (a stupid vet I might add, read on)
The vet took a quick look at the inside of her hear and was surprised that it was very pale.
Then she looked at pochi's gum and tongue, pale pale pale
She said this could be fatal, we got more worried.
She gave her injection, probably Vitamin C
Took her blood sample for a blood test.
and prescribed some Anemia syrup and some pills, I forgot what they were.
I asked whether pochi needed a blood transfusion considering she's really pale and the vet's prescribing her anemia syrup.
Stupid Vet responded, the blood may not be a match, no further explanation.
and told us there's nothing she could do and told us to give pochi her meds and see how pochi does in a few days.
Until today we never got pochi's bloodtest result, Stupid vet said she doesn't have a fax machine at her clinic and will send us the result from her fax at home the next day. She never did.

So the very next day, early morning, we went to another Vet at this 24 hour pet clinic.
Luckily the Head of the Vet was the one who examined pochi.
The vet wasn't even supposed to be there that day, we were lucky, she had the most experience among all the other vets there, we'll call her Smart Vet.
Smart Vet was also shocked seeing pochi very very pale.
Took her blood sample, pochi was weak but was angry coz the vet and her assistant was poking needle at her, so she started growling and tried to bite them. Pochi's a feisty thug :)
But she doesn't really bite bite, she's only scaring them.
Smart Vet started pochi on an IV asap and will do a blood transfusion the next day.
She told us we could lose her, I started crying, a bit ;p

Smart vet then explained to us that dogs have 12 blood types
(or was it 13 ?) I wasn't really focus at that time.
and she has donors from healthy golden retrievers, but since she doesn't have a machine to exactly match the blood, she had to to it the old-school way, mixing the blood manually and see if they don't clot, then it's a match.
Anyway... pochi got her blood transfusion, once only coz apparently dogs can only have 1 blood transfusion every once in a while.
We visited her at the clinic and she was getting better by the day.

Long story short, pochi was at the vet for 2 weeks, then we still have to give her meds for another month. One meds was called Sandimune, it's a liquid that we need to give her in very little amount, it's an immunosupressor, so pochi's system won't fight the new blood and so that pochi's immune system won't attack her blood cells.
The vet diagnosed it was :
Acute Autoimmune Hemolytic Anemia
which can be very fatal
Smart Vet said Autoimmune Hemolytic Anema could come back, and if it did, we have to rush her back to the clinic for another blood transfusion.

Pochi is fine now, I was looking at the internet for that condition and some people've lost their dogs in a matter of days, so I was lucky, but some dogs who were diagnosed with that condition have to stay on meds for life.

Pochi is very healthy now, and the vet doesn't prescribed further meds, so probably it's not really Autoimmune Hemolytic Anemia ? I'm hoping the smart vet was wrong in her diagnosis and it's gonna be a one time thing, Please let be that one time thing.

Anyway........
pochi is back chewing chika's ear and running away with socks and jumping up and down now
So peace and happiness and chaos is restored here :)
I'm just so relieved.

Here she is on a bed that's not hers
actually it's a cushion for this big rattan chair that grandmomo's making the cushion cover for.
Pochi instantly made herself comfortable on it ;)



Important :
If your dog isn't barking, it may be a sign something's wrong.
Check your dog's inner ear, gum, tongue !!! It's supposed to be a healthy rosy color.
Check now to see it's healthy natural color so you'll notice it if it's not pink enough.
If it's pale pale pale, it's a bad sign
Go to a Smart Vet ASAP !!!
Don't go to a Stupid Vet !!!