Laurie Ishii and Daryl Bargy

Well, because Pablo got pretty sick all Saturday night – vomiting and diarrhea with mucous and blood in his stools – I was very worried. Especially because he lost his appetite – he LOVES Cheerios and we give him a couple for a treat – and he wouldn’t even eat one when I offered one to him in the morning. But a few hours later, he seemed much better, ate the Cheerio and started chasing Ziggy, biting him and chasing him around the room. So, instead of running Pablo to the emergency vet (it was Sunday) I decided to wait till today and see how he was doing.

Pablo seemed fine, had firmer stools but still with mucous. Then when I took Ziggy out to go potty, I noticed that Ziggy’s poop looked the same. Two Sundays ago, Ziggy had an accident in the house TWICE (which he’s never done) and pooped (BUMMER, 6am on Sunday before church) and also vomited and has had diarrhea for two or three days in the last two weeks. So – I kind of figured that Ziggy might have given Pablo whatever ‘bug’ he might have had. Then I looked online and read a whole bunch of stuff – I never knew that dog’s and cat’s can get worms or parasites from eating BUGS i.e. fleas or even flies, etc. Pablo seems to be a carpet sweeper and has to put everything he sees on the ground – so anything could be possible. I also noticed a flea on Ziggy the other day which concerned me too.

So, I decided to call the vet and make an appointment. Thankfully, Daryl was able to get off work earlier than usual (which means he’ll be slammed the rest of the week) because he just postponed some of his deliveries so he could come home and drive us to the vet.

They were good boys at the vet. Ziggy is always so submissive and so we let him go first to show Pablo how it’s done – with no drama. It kind of worked – Ziggy didn’t make any noise or flinch when he had his temperature taken in his butt – whereas Pablo screamed at first for a minute but then he was okay – I think because he didn’t want to wimp out in front of Ziggy. See, the first time I vacuumed when Ziggy was not with us, Pablo screamed and yelped like I was torturing him and ran and hid – but the next time Ziggy was here and I vacuumed and Ziggy didn’t even care – Pablo still hid behind the pillows on the bed – but didn’t cry at all. So I thought if Pablo saw how Ziggy is a big boy, Pablo would act like a big boy too. It kind of worked – I think…

Well, they both had their butts flushed or whatever they do to get a stool sample (not in front of Daryl and I – they were taken in the back somewhere) and then the doctor said he’s gonna send the samples to the lab. In the meantime he said that he thinks they both have an infection (intestines) but he’s testing them for parasites and he gave us two different kinds of medicine and special food for them to eat for a week. (Good luck) Needless to say, they both refused to even taste the food (which contains their medicine) so I guess they’ll just have to starve until they get hungry enough to eat. Dr, said no treats, no bones, no greenies, no NOTHING! The doc said that if one has an infection, most likely the other has it – so he’s treating both of them the same in different doses, and in different forms… We have to give Pablo his medicine through a dropper twice a day – Lord help us – he growls and bites and is NOT happy about that at all.

As the doctor was examining Pablo, he also discovered that Pablo has what is called Cryptorchid – which means that he only has one testicle – the other one hasn’t ‘dropped’. Which means that it is SOMEWHERE else in his body, could be in his abdomen, groin, by his kidneys – he couldn’t feel it at all. He said that this means that it is a problem, because dogs with that condition have more tendency to get testicular cancer and have other problems – and they recommend dogs with it do not breed because it’s genetic. He recommends that we get him neutered and also the surgery for him is more costly because they have to go in and “hunt” for the other testicle. I looked online and it looks like this particular surgery costs around $600 or so, and everything I read recommends that it be done for the dogs health. 

Poor Pablo!!! It’s a more complicated surgery – he would have to be away from home for two nights!!! So – I’m asking for people to PRAY – the doctor said that he doubts it because it should have already happened a couple months ago – that God would supernaturally cause Pablo’s testicle to drop!!! Or that He would provide the money for the operation, and of course that it would go smoothly – that they wouldn’t have a problem finding it… The doctor said we could wait till up to a year to see what happens.

All in all, the visit today cost us $218 and we have to go back next week and get the results. Ugh. Hopefully, everything will be fine and if they have anything it will be treatable and not too expensive. Oh – the vet also said that Ziggy needs to be on a diet. (Duh) The receptionist said that he remembered Ziggy – that this Russian guy brought Ziggy in – and the Russian guy also has a Husky that he feeds ALL people food too – milk, cheese, chicken – he said he even thought the guy gives him Vodka (!!!) he said that’s what made Ziggy fat. Poor Ziggy! That’s what his old owner told us – about having Ziggy stay with the Russian guy and Ziggy getting all blown up cause he was being served five course meals… !!!

Anyway, these guys are like our kids. It’s crazy. We won’t even pay this much money to go to the doctor ourselves – instead we’d wait till we absolutely “have” to go – but with the doggies it’s different cause they’re so helpless and they can’t tell us what’s wrong with them…

Oh well. We’ll see what happens. I don’t know what I’d do if anything happened to either Pablo or Ziggy. I pray for them all the time, and thank the Lord for blessing us with them.