Buttons, Buttons, Who’s Got a Buttons?

This is a personal tale of dealing with my son’s sick dog this week. If that’s not what you came here to read and you’d rather not, there’re plenty of other posts below. Otherwise, CLICK the “read more here” and read on.

Time at last for The Saga of Buttons. Those of y’all who are familiar with the Animaniacs characters Mindy and her dog Buttons will have a nearly perfect image of my son’s dog, Buttons, who is, of course, named for the superlative animal who saves Mindy from all sorts of disasters.

Well, this Tuesday I decided to make sure to check on my son’s dogs at lunch, since the temps were in the 90s, and when it’s hot they go through water like there’s no tomorrow.

Buttons looked bad. No, really bad. His affect was too low to even be called distressed. You know the word “hangdog”? It was coined for exactly the listless, way past depressed look Buttons was showing. Staggering gait, glazed eyes. Refused water.

Checked and these and other symptoms seemed consonant with heat prostration, so my afternoon was completely reordered. Progressively cooler baths until he finally seemed to perk up. Water adulterated with milk? He drank plenty of that. Seemed more comfortable as time progressed.

Although he’s been an outdoor dog (a very active outdoor dog) all his life, I kept Buttons in Tuesday evening and reordered my Wednesday to just stick with him. He got better Wednesday to the point of almost demanding a walk. Was almost his old energetic self again, but still had some occasional stumbling and inexplicable yelps of pain. Still, animated, comfortable and relaxed, his old self, for the most part. Good news, thought I.

When we awoke Thursday, he was laying outside our bedroom door, imobilized with pain.

*sigh*

Called the vet to report the regress, then took him in as soon as possible. X-Rays, etc. A lesion occluding a portion of his spine and occiput area. Either an infection or a neoplasm, possible cancer–in what the vet said he would consider an inoperable area, and little positive prognosis with other treatments–IF the neoplasm.

But. The lesion was also in an area where I had detached a tick. A dead one, killed by his collar, but large and firmly embedded. Liklihood it was an infection very high.

So, antibiotics prescribed.

As I was paying out, the drugs reversing the anesthesia started kicking in and Buttons awoke… sorta. Taking him out to the car (all 50 pounds of him–Buttons is the smaller of my son’s two dogs) I set him down to open the tailgate, so I could place him inside. He was still apparently feeling no pain (waking, some, but enough of the anesthesia still running through him, I guess) and took off at a trot… across the hiway.

So I did too. “If that dog gets hit by a car after I’ve just spent a few hiundred bucks on him, I’m just taking him back in and having him put down!”

Yeh, I really thought that. *sigh*

Finally caught up with him and carried him back to the car, laid him on the mats I had placed for him, and shut the tailgate.

Am I stupid or what?

Stupid.

Arrived home. Opened tailgate and retrieved the dog. Set him down to shut the tailgate (*stupid-stupid-stupid!*) and he took off.

Had I mentioned we live just about 300 feet from the city limits and that it’s not all that far to a creek and some “piney woods”?

Yup. After a quarter of a mile I finally caught up with him. He’d gotten in water too deep to handle in his stupified condition. The anesthesia was finally REALLY wearing off and he was starting to feel imobilized by pain as well.

Waded in, picked him up and carried him as far as the nearest house, crying, whimpering and snapping all the way. No, that was Buttons doing the crying, whimpering and snapping. I was outa breath from running on loose rock through underbrush and water.

Neighbor came out and gave us a ride home in the bed of his pickup.

After things calmed down a bit, and his eyes were well and truly unglazed, I fed Buttons his first dose of antibiotics in a gob of peanut butter. He rested well Thursday night.

Friday morning: we were greeted by a thumping tail and a request to go outside. No whines and whimpers from movement, just a little stiff and unsteady. Good enough to leave him for the day and get some things done I’d deferred all week.

Back Friday afternoon with a harness for him (vet suggested not using collar and leash because of the location of the lesion).

Oh, boy! Did he ever want to go for a walk!

After five doese of his antibiotics, Buttons seems entirely his old self. I tossed him a treat a bit ago and he leaped up to catch it.

If he’s still doing this well by Tuesday or Wednesday next week, I’ll believe he’s well and truly recovering, but he’s for darned sure getting the full course of his anti-biotics.

There. The Saga of Buttons. That’s all. For now.