Yesterday morning, I was glad to see that Kate was much better. Then I discovered that Jack was very sick. In fact, he was. With.....pancreatitus. To the vet we went, for IV fluids, antibiotics, and so on. Dr. Stout agreed that it was no coincidence that both dogs had the same thing just days apart. Louie remains the last dog standing, so to speak.Could be something they got into in the yard, but, since I can't determine what that is,I am uneasy that this will happen again.

Today the weather suits me.Cold and rainy. There are very few people who prefer rain and cold to hot and sunny, but I am one who does. March and April are great months in Ohio for this kind of  weather. Even May can be counted upon for a few cold and rainy days. I suppose it is too much to hope for that my visit to see family in Southern California 10 days from now will provide similar weather!

This has been a pretty full week. On Thursday we got a present from the local paper. In followup to an front page article written earlier in the week to highlight National Library Week, we were featured in the Opinion/editorial page. If you click on this link, then click on the message just below the link, I think you can read and see the photo from the newspaper. I sent a copy to my mom and she asked if we had written it and just sent it in to be printed. Ha. Well, it sure doesn't work that way, and I don't think we could have written it as well actually. I did ask who wrote it and it was by the Register webmaster. Nice.

http://digital.olivesoftware.com/OLIVE/ODE/SANDUSKYREGISTER/LandingPage/LandingPage.aspx?href=U0RTS1kvMjAxMi8wNC8xOQ..&pageno=NA..&entity=QXIwMDQwMQ..&view=ZW50aXR5

Kate comes home!

While Kate naps, I will fill you all in on what I learned about canine pancreatitis from a printout Dr. Socha gave me from Veterinarypartner.com

The pancreas (and who knew it didn't have an "e" at the end) breaks down food by the secretion of digestive enzymes and provides the secretion of insulin and glucagon to regulate sugar metabolism. In pancreatitis, digestive enzymes are released prematurely where they digest the body itself. The living tissue becomes further inflamed and quickly causes damage to the liver.  (Kate is still snoozing away as I type this). "Specific disasters" and yes, that is the next paragraph heading) are:lung tissue damage with respiratory failure,fats in the body are destroyed, which has painful and disastrous results,massive uncoupling of normal blood clotting leading to abnormal simultaneous bleeding and clotting throughout the body,and brain damage

Even if these areas are not invaded, pancreatitis can be painful and life-threatening and can be acute, chronic, mild or severe. Miniature Schnauzers are predisposed to pancreatitis as they commonly have altered fat metabolism.

So, resting the pancreas (no food) is the first, with IV fluids, plus pain control and antibiotics, then low fat/high fiber diet.

Ok, end of information sharing on that. I'm going to take a quick nap with Kate before I head back into work this evening. Tonight is Knit One, Library Too and we usually have about 10 knitters that gather to help each other out or teach new knitters. The photo above isn't a project we are working on, but, we could be!



Vigil

Kate became ill around 3a.m. and at 6:30 a.m. we piled into the car and headed to the Lorain AnimaHospital-, about 40 minutes away-the same place we took Kate on Thanksgiving Day.She was vomiting foam and excreting pure blood even as we drove there. Acute pancreatitus is the problem but the underlying cause is not yet determined. It was 7:45 am by the time we were settled in, and we were surprised to learn that the emergency clinic closes at 8:00 am. Dr. Talbot gave her some injections to calm the episodes down enough for our 30 minute drive back to Huron to home base, the Firelands Animal Clinic which opened at 8:30 am. Mary Ann Socha, our vet, met us at the door.

Kate is being carefully monitored and is hooked up for pain meds and antibiotics and they are giving her fluids.  She'll be there for several days. Apparently, Miniature Schnauzers are known for a problem of high cholestrol and a low fat diet and other medications can help ward off these bouts of pancreatitus, which if severe enough, can be  deadly. Our Alex did not suffer from this at all, so we are surprised about this inherent problem. It is too, too quiet in the house. The boys, Jack and Louie, seem overly mature without the antics of Kate in their midst. I know she'll be in good hands with Mary Ann, Cindy and Lisa, three awesome vets, and, I'm confident that Kate will survive this bout. Prayers to St. Francis are in order, however, and that's that.