The Elof update...

Well, I guess we scared off another potential Guardian of Elof. I don't know how we manage to do it, but we do it every time. And then something else even worse happened. Elof got very sick.

After Friend Husband left for work yesterday, he called and said that he though Elof had diarrhea, wasn't eating, and was very lethargic. Indeed, when I went out to check, he had bloody diarrhea and hadn't eaten or drank anything that we could see. I called the vet and made an appointment with my very favorite vet of all time, Dr. Moore. (This is the one that started crying when we put Ronald to sleep.) In the meantime, I looked stuff up on the Internet. After looking at a few pronouncements of dire ill health, I decided to just wait until 5:30 when Dr. Moore could see him.

The good news was that he 1) didn't have parvo and 2) didn't look like he had worms (although they weren't totally able to tell). The bad news was that he obviously didn't feel well, that his gums were dry (meaning that he was dehydrated) and that he'd lost weight that he didn't have to lose. Oh, other good news was that he's been neutered within the last 4 months, which begs other questions about how someone could pay to have a dog neutered then abandon it, but that's another story altogether.

So, she sent me out the door with 2 packets of meds and sent Elof out the door with a skin full of fluids (which made him look like a lopsided camel or a dog with a very oddly-placed goiter) and instructions to call tonight and give her an update so she didn't worry about him on her day off.

The fluids seemed to help him some. His "lips" (he has these floppy jowls) were warm instead of cold. He still didn't eat and he just flopped back on his bed in the garage when we came home. Later on, Friend Husband took out a leftover waffle but he had no interest in it.

When I went out to give him some meds and to put the dogs in their crate for the evening, Elof had the whole waffle in his mouth and would not put it down. Good news! He's got food in his mouth and he's guarding it! He ended up eating that while I put Lucy the Wonder Dog in the crate, then settled down to sleep with her in the heated crate.

This morning he was perkier but still not interested in eating or drinking. I'm going to go out there in a little while (in the pouring rain, no less) to see if he'll drink a little something for me. Poor little guy.

It begs a lot of questions, doesn't it? Why help a stray dog which is going to end up costing you a lot of money? (Answer: Because you can't let animals suffer, you dolt! Plus I didn't think we'd still have him 6 weeks later.) Any why in the world can't we find a non-flaky person to take him?

Thanks for the nice comments about Sarah and my missing her. I still miss her and her siblings are going crazy with the need to connect with her. We can't get her to answer her cell and they aren't answering Skype. The other option is to call the house but I don't want my in-laws thinking we're stranger/needier than we are, so I guess we'll wait until later on. David was in tears this morning, wanting me to "Go get Sarah!"

I guess the other thing I was thinking about yesterday is that, while it's hard to let any child "go" when the time comes, I think it's more difficult with children who have issues which might make it harder for them to cope with life. With Sarah, it was the letting go plus the fear that my in-laws wouldn't acknowledge Sarah's own specialness and her special needs. I guess that's always a fear for parents with "different" children. What will happen to them when we aren't here to run interference? I know that we try to train all of our children to deal with life as it comes but there comes a time when they have to do it on their own and that takes a tremendous leap of faith.

Well, that wasn't exactly what I wanted to express but it seems that my son has decided to play with pancake syrup in my absence so I must bid you a fond "adieu".