My sweet little Kobe gave us a scare earlier this month. It was a normal evening with our two doxies. I took him for a quick walk, but something was off the moment we got back inside the house. The first odd sign, he climbed the stairs in a complete diagonal and with some difficulty. This is weird considering he usually leaps up three steps at a time like a gazelle. I went to the cookie jar to give them both a treat and these treats are usually consumed in 2 seconds flat, but Kobe stood there frozen with the treat in his mouth, not eating it. That was strange too. But as I looked closer at him, frozen with a treat in his mouth, his head was bobbling uncontrollably. I have never seen a dog's head do that. He tried walking away from me but its like he forgot how to walk and did know how to use his legs and was not my dog anymore. Kobe is an athletic dog who leaps three feet clear into the air and jumps from furniture piece to furniture. He can jump onto the sofa and the bed all by himself. So if my dog could not walk and his head was bobbing, I knew something was definitely wrong.
Never google symptoms, all it does is make you panic. The first thing that pops up for these symptoms was a stroke. OMG!!! My dog is having a stroke, what do I do?!?!?! Thank god for Miguel who can always calm my panicked mind. We got in the car and went straight to a 24/7 animal hospital. During the car ride, he was just limp in my arms. He was not holding himself up and his head was constantly bobbling. Now to further understand my breaking heart, you should know about a year ago, my bulldog puppy was hit by a moving car outside my house and we rushed him to the hospital just like this moment and he did not make it. He died en route. So I was having terrible flashbacks and did not want to loose my Kobe now too.
When we were at the hospital, the vet diagnosed him with toxic poisoning. Many people asked if he came in contact with a toad. Kobe had completely dilated pupils, he could not walk straight and he barely could sit without falling over. His vitals were normal and no foaming at the mouth. He was not aggressive but very larthargic. The vet ask mulitple questions about toxins he could have encountered like drugs, cleaning products or back to contact with a toad. I felt like an awful parent and could not recall if a toad crossed our path on our evening walk with it being dark outside. Because there are no drugs in our house and I use green cleaning products, so he could not have digested anything in our house. In order to make sure he made it through the night, we decided to leave him overnight for observation, a fluid flush, and a few injections to combat any nausea he may experience. I cried. We rescued this little guy and I have already fallen in love with him and the slight thought of loosing him broke my heart.
So we went home at midnight from the hospital and I was up worrying all night. Did not any sleep at all. I even called the hospital at 4am inquiring over his condition. I was informed he was stable with no change. I went back at 8am to pick him up. The vet bought me into a room and went over the improvements in his symptoms and that he was back to normal compared to last night. I was relieved but desperately wanted to see for myself. When they entered the room with him, he instantly knew who I was. He jumped into my arms, his tail was wagging, he was furiously licking my face and seemed to be back to normal. The car ride home was 'same old Kobe', jumping, looking out the window and sitting in the back windshield. Miguel and I were relieved. I fed him as soon as we got home and hung out for about an hour before I went to work.
It was a scary night. I thought the worse of the event. I feared he might not make it through the night. I realized how much I love this little guy and how he has embedded his place among our little family here.
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