This week is my mom’s retirement from teaching so Ella and I made the trip back to Maryland to throw a surprise party for her. Though the trip from NYC to Maryland is not too bad, it was potentially a nightmare for us as Ella is a stressed out traveler and a car sick pup. We learned that the hard way on our trip home for the Christmas holidays about 6 months ago. I don’t think that car will ever be fully aired out from the mess. Having learned my lesson, I shelled out the 50 bucks for doggie dramamine (Cerenia) in the hopes it would ease Ella’s tummy on the ride.

The first hour or so was touch and go as she paced around the car, dipped her head low, and gave me an “uh-oh momma” look, but she pushed through the wall with flying colors….and an unbelievable amount of drool.

a mysteriously inflamed colon and bloody diarrhea. Anyone think they can top that hand?

Poooooor Ella has had a rough week. As I mentioned in my last post, the trouble began last Friday with an in-crate explosion while momma was at work. It continued on Sunday when she somehow managed to scrape the black off of the top of her nose! I still don’t know how she did that…all she ever gets into is toilet paper and paper towels…perhaps I need to start buying some softer tissue to prevent nose chafing?

Anyway, things only got worse from there as Ella’s bowel issues worsened and, by Tuesday, there was another crate incident and the loose stool had turned entirely to blood. It may sound strange but I actually found myself WISHING she had a parasite – at least those critters can be banished relatively easily with some antibiotics. I rushed a sample to the vet that evening for testing, hoping to get a call back informing me that the worms were back in town (she had coccidia when she was just a baby). No such “luck” – it was negative.

At that point, I was already anxious enough about Ella being sick, but it didn’t help to have incredibly insensitive and overly dramatic neighbors who were saying things to me like “Look at her…she’s crying inside”, and “See how sick she is? She’s not even jumping on people”, or “Blood? My dog lived 13 years and she never had a problem like that.” Great, thank you, that helps, I appreciate the optimism. Or there was my personal favorite…some lady walking by who witnessed Ella leave a puddle of gross on the sidewalk and made a point to say entirely too loudly “Ewwww, that dog is SICK”. Tempted to rub her nose in it – literally – I simply rolled my eyes and secretly hoped that someday she’d get the runs somewhere in public where other people could gawk at her.

Anyway, I took Ella to see Dr. Jackson last night who, after examining her, said “Well, I didn’t see anything scary.” So that’s something, I guess. She prescribed Ella some Metronizadol and a bland diet for the next week or two, so we’ll see how it goes. If she doesn’t improve or if the symptoms return after she stops the medication, then we bring her back in for further testing for allergies or IBS…and in the meantime, it’s rice and baby food for my little one. (As an aside…baby food…who knew?! Ella is already a fan of the vegetable chicken and turkey rice blends…)

Aside from my anxiety over what Dr. Jackson would find in Ella’s colon, I must admit I was also a bit worried I might be questioned about the boo boo on her nose. When a pediatrician sees a child who has a noticeable cut or scrape or bruise, you just KNOW the mother is going to be questioned…as Ella’s furmomma, I was equally worried. On my way to the vet’s office, I was trying to think of excuses…”Geez, how did that scrape get there? It must have just happened!” or “Um, she bumped into a wall while chasing after her toy”…those excuses sound so bad I’d be inclined to charge myself with suspected animal abuse. Fortunately, the nice doc had no intentions of calling CPS (Canine Protective Services) and simply said “looks like that nose scrape is healing nicely, that’s good…”.

Whew. Close call.

Ella and I have been laying low for the past couple of weeks, trying to recover from her recent spaying and subsequent piddling problems. Just when her UTI seemed to have cleared up (and I was almost caught up on laundry), she developed incontinence of the other kind and has been having “issues” for the past few days. Momma came home on Friday to the stinkiest shoebox on the planet as Ella had an accident of monumental proportions in her crate. And momma was nauseated for the remainder of the weekend after having to clean up that mess.

One thing I have to say about Ella, though – no amount of uncontrollable poo or pee can dampen her spirit! She has been feistier than ever this weekend, and every time I turn around she’s found something else to get into (you might see us on The Dog Whisperer soon – i think only Cesar Milan can cure her of her shredding fetish…toilet paper…plastic bags…cardboard boxes…envelopes (usually containing bills or other important documents)…).

Anyway, Ella tried on something new for size yesterday – a hanger. While I was trying to tidy up my closet, she thought she’d borrow a hanger or two and experiment with a new look. Personally, I think the white plastic asymmetrical necklace doesn’t do much for her, but you know you can’t tell adolescents anything.

And for those of you concerned Ella may have been in some sort of discomfort here, let me first say that fashion trumps pain when beauty is at stake – she’s seen momma wince after a day of wearing high heels enough to have learned that sometimes a little pain is necessary when it comes to sporting a fashion-forward look. That said, my Ella’s a lean little lady so she had plenty of room to breathe. Also, those cheapo hangers weren’t around for long. A minute after I took these shots, Ella flexed and the hanger popped off into pieces.

Ella’s UTI took it’s toll on more than just Ella and momma this week…in particular, the bedding was virtually wiped out. She hit my bed twice, her doggie bed once, my featherbed once…and then there was that mysterious wet spot on the sofa…

After peeing on my bed for a second night in a row (fooled me twice – shame on me), I vowed not to let Ella up there ever again. I put her bed right next to mine, assertively stood my ground through her protests and barking and sad-eyed pleas, and she ultimately gave in and laid down. Some time later after I’d fallen soundly to sleep, the little stinker jumped up onto the bed and in record time nuzzled herself between my left arm and my body and laid her head on my chest with a big sigh/grumble. I woke up and looked down to see her staring up at me, clearly slightly nervous as to what I would do but also thinking to herself “If I lie very still and look cute, momma can’t possibly kick me out, can she?”. Totally unfair. I melted, of course. Totally caved. Does the proverb state what sort of shame is appropriate after letting myself be fooled three times?

The good news is that Ella seems to be getting better by the day. We’ve had two pee-free nights inside of the apartment in a row now, and her constant squatting has dwindled considerably. I suspect in a couple more days she’ll be totally back to normal. Which is good. Because I’m on my last set of clean sheets and it’s going to take days to get through all the laundry I just dropped off.

Anyway, here’s one last tribute to Ella’s conehead before we hopefully put it and the urinary week from hell behind us. Here she is, resting like an obedient puppy a couple of days after her surgery…