#2963 dogs get UTIs too

I was supposed to be in southern California this weekend. Things changed because of T's deep muscle contusion and the fact that he was having a hard time walking and seemed downright miserable, so I cancelled the trip and stayed home instead. After I made the decision to stay home instead of go on my trip, I had myself a little pity party for ten minutes or so, then I decided to make the best of it. I made a list of things I wanted to do: make art, write, clean the kitchen, read, and relax. It seemed like it would all be okay until Harley, the lab, got a urinary tract infection. 

How do I know she had a UTI? Well, she was leaking pee. Where? On my bed. Yeah. It was gross.

Thursday night I noticed she was licking her privates a lot, which is not pleasant to witness. She was up on my bed, lickinglickinglicking. I told her to stop, and she did, but the damage was done. There was a big, stinky wet spot . I stripped the bed - this was around 2:30 a.m. -- and stomped into the spare room, closing the doors. Mac howled. Stella scratched at the door. Harley felt ashamed. I laid in the bed obsessing about how to get the stains and smell out of the mattress. I googled how to do it, then I got on Amazon and ordered a waterproof mattress cover and a new pillow top for the mattress for good measure. I fell asleep around 4:30. 

T woke me up around 6:30 am because he needed something, so I got up and moved around slowly, thinking about having a nice cup of coffee. I never did get that coffee because stuff kept coming up, and I was tired and dragging. I called the vet around 10:15 to schedule an appointment for Harley to get some meds. They had an opening at 10:30, could I make it? HECK YEAH! We'll be there. The vet's office is just a few blocks away. 

The thing is that Harley gets way amped up when she gets to go anywhere. I always give her a doggie downer before going to the vet or the groomer, but since we only had 15 minutes to get to the vet, there wasn't time to give her the downer, and she was bonkers hyper. On top of that, Mac managed to slip out the door and run straight to the car because she wanted to go for a ride. Stella also got out and ran to the car, but she came back in with the offer or a cookie. Not Mac, though, so she just came along. 

The hour I spent at the vet was a total shitshow. The vet was busy, and I didn't want to wait too long since Mac was out in the car. I waited about 30 minutes and told them I'd call to reschedule. Harley and I got out to the car and the tech came running out and said she'd put us in a room right away, so we went back in. The plan was to extract some urine from Harley and test it to make sure it really was a UTI.. They were also going to draw some blood to check her thyroid because she lost four more pounds since we were there a month or so ago. (She's skinny - just 64 lbs now). However, no urine or blood was able to be drawn because the dog was so hyper five techs could not  hold her still enough to get any samples. The tech came back in, covered with Harley hair, to give me the news. We now have an appointment at 9:30 on Wednesday morning. Doggie downer will be given before the visit.

The new bedding arrived, and I made up my bed all fresh and nice. Ooh, that new pillow top is decadent! I'm happy to say the waterproof pad works nicely, however my sheets got leaked on and I again was stripping the bed in the early morning hours, laying in the spare bed, shopping Amazon for doggie diapers and UTI chews. 

Saturday I dutifully did a bunch of laundry and again made up my bed nice and fresh. The doggie diaper didn't fit. She liked the chew, and I think it's helping, but I decided that no dogs would be allowed to sleep with me. (I know. Why didn't I do that before? I don't know.)  I'm happy to say I had a delicious sleep last night, and I haven't even had to have a nap today. 

Between caring for the dogs and caring for T, the staycation wasn't everything I'd hoped it would be, honestly. Today has been a good day. though I spent the morning drinking coffee and reading, then I cleaned the house. It really needed it and I feel glad that I took the time. It's just much better. I've been reading, drawing, writing, and eating cookies I got from Crumbl yesterday. I've only left the house once today to get some ice. 

AN UDPATE ABOUT T:

The quad muscle has relaxed significantly, although T says that he now has pain in his calf muscle. I do feel a little tightness there, but I think he's mostly better. I don't know what will happen with his work at FedEx. I think he is worried about re-injuring that quad muscle. More to come on that.

AN UPDATE ABOUT MT:

My husband has been hiking the Colorado Trail for two weeks now. When I spoke to him earlier today, he was on mile 170.6, and he is a happy hiker!

Have a great week!

xo