THE GOOD SAD, REDUX...
In our last episode, der B and I returned from upstate Delaware, where we had left little Benny with his new family. And we thought all was well.
Wrong.
The following evening, we got a call from the Mother. Aparently, little Benny (now little Baxter) had blood in his stool. Mother was very concerned, and needed help.
With a severe case of butterflies in our stomachs, we drove back up to Dover, where we met Mom and retrieved little Baxter...Benny...uh, the pup. Mom's problems included not being able to afford big vets bills, not being able to take time off from work to take the pup to the vet, and having a very distraught Daughter to deal with as well. Der B and I promised to do everything we could to make sure the pup pulled through.
Our biggest fear was Parvo. We lost a pup ourselves because of this nasty disease. But Benny/Bax, upon being picked up by us, showed no signs of the lethargy we associate with Parvo. In fact, he was quite happy to see us. When we got him home, we put him in the crate, just in case, but that didn't last very long, what with the upset noises he made.
I ended up with Benny/Bax in my bed for the night, which included hunting him down when I realized that he'd slipped away. He'd gone into the bathroom to poop (sensible pup), which I scooped into a baggie to show to the vet. There was no blood in the stool.
We weren't able to get Benny/Bax to see Dr. Chris directly, but were able to drop off the stool sample for him to check. Meanwhile, B/B was back to happily wrastling with his brother and with Uncle Fletcher.
Der Brucer got on the phone, to find out what else might have happened. Mom confirmed that she had put B/B in their own crate for the day, which B/B hadn't appreciated. Der B then contacted Dr. Chris again, and confirmed a theory: what B/B had faced was a very stressful situation, much like any young kid faces on their first overnight camping trip away from home. And, like any young kid, B/B had suffered from diarrhea, which in turn had caused the bloody stool.
We ended up keeping B/B for an extra night, in case Dr. Chris came up with anything else from the stool samples. Nothing turned up.
So we drove back up to Dover this evening, to meet with Mom and Daughter. Daughter was particularly happy to get little Baxter back in her arms, and little Baxter was wagging his tail the moment he saw her. She thanked us both for having helped make him well again.
So, once again, we drove home with one less pup. And once again, that sadness mixed with happiness flooded over me. Der Brucer likened it to what we mean by "a good cry," that strange mixture of feelings for which we don't have a single word. The Germans probably have a word for it, but they make portmanteaus out of everything.
There was one catch. Peggy, the pup's mother, was in the back seat of the car on this trip. But thats another story.
