Belle Update

We've been calling several times a day to see how Belle is progressing at the hospital.


Can I go home yet?

So far they've tried several times to ween her off of oxygen, but she's just not able to breathe easily on her own yet. She's in isolation both to prevent spread of any respiratory ailment, as well as because we have STILL yet to get her shot records from the rescue group, so until we get her Distemper test results back as negative (which can take 5-7 days), she's a danger to other dogs.

We visited her last night, and could definately see signs of improvement. Her eyes are clear now, and very little discharge from her nose. She still seems lethargic but definately was interested in us. She's still on IV fluids/meds so her little front right paw is all bandaged up. It didn't seem to bother her except when she sat up and tried to shift herself.



Oh Hi

Because she's in isolation, you have maintain the Clean Room, so we had to put on plastic gowns and rubber gloves to be able to enter. Petting a puppy through rubber gloves really sucks, it doesn't feel like you're really comforting her, like you're not really making a connection. It reminded me of the TV series Pushing Daisies where the guy has to pet his dog with a fake articulated hand so he doesn't touch it.

Yeah! That's the spot! Scratch!!

We have yet to actually hear Belle bark, through all of this she has only whined once, otherwise she has been silent, and stoic, and pathetically sad looking. She was still coughing periodically when we saw her.

I see you..

The vet tech told us that Belle has been a total sweetheart, she may not have a lot of energy, but when they bring her food and she stands up to eat she's a champion tail-wagger.



So bored. They don't even have Animal Planet in here..

You can tell she's lonely, her eyes follow you wherever you move, and if you put your hand in to pet her, she tries to snuggle on you and go to sleep.

It's my hand now, you can't have it back.

It was so hard to leave her there, I can't wait until she's well enough to get off oxygen and start taking oral medicine so she can come home!