Last Sunday night, we had a bit of a scare with Sloane. We’ve been very blessed with healthy pets, so it was a shock when she became so sick. Before I go into details let me give you a brief background on each of the monsters that live with us. All three of our animals are rescues.
First, we have our cat. Gracie is a Russian Blue. Basically, she is a really pretty gray color. We have been blessed with Gracie’s presence for close to 8 years. I found her in a brush pile when she was very tiny. She was precious. Her eyes weren’t even opened. Honestly, we weren’t sure she would live. I carried her in a basket to work with me for weeks so I could feed and care for her.
She sounds adorable, doesn’t she? Well… at some point in her life, she was recruited by a spy organization. At least, that is what Aaron and I have decided. When she was younger, it was nothing for her to climb a doorframe or even better was when she would jump off a chair and land on your shoulder as you walked by.
Gracie has settled down in the last few years. Now, she just likes to torture Aaron when he is asleep. She waits until the middle of the night to make sure he is sound asleep. Then she jumps up on the bed and begins to walk down the length of him starting from his feet. She then walks as slowly as she can while putting all her weight on each paw until she reaches his chest. Once there, she settles down for a moment before finding his fingers and chomping down on them. It’s a love/hate relationship with them.Kiera informed me tonight that Gracie is mean but kind of cute. That hits the nail on the head. She did mention that her favorite thing about Gracie is she kills bugs.
Sloane was rescued when she was a just a puppy. My husband found her in Abilene under an overpass about seven years ago. Sloane is part Char-Pei, part Lab. Basically, when she was a puppy, she was protective and a chewer. We actually nicknamed her “The Shredder.”
When Sloane came to live with us, we did not have a fenced back yard. We had a brilliant idea to leave her in the house, confined to the living room while we went to work until we could do something about the back yard.
The end result of that brilliant plan was the loss of two work phones, multiple mutilated DVD cases, one couch, one coffee table and the legs of an old piano.
We quickly went to the store and bought a dog run for her. Thankfully, she grew out of that phase… after about three years. I was so proud of her when Kiera came along.
Sloane had always slept on the bed with us. After Kiera was born, she stayed close to the bassinet in our room. If Kiera was on the bed, she would curl close to her. When Kiera cried in the middle of the night, Sloane would jump up to investigate what was wrong.
She’s beginning to gray a little around her nose. She is still the protector of the group, constantly on watch to protect our family. The first glance at Sloane, you would think she was a little bit dainty. Then you notice her large chest and massive leg muscles. Kiera describes her as cute and fancy with great kisses.
Our last rescue is Ziggy. He is a large brindle Boxer. Ziggy has lived with us for almost two years now. We have rescued him twice and he is staying with our family for good now.
Ziggy is… in Kiera’s words, “a silly head.” Once again, she gets the description correct. Ziggy is a big, lovable baby. Although, there for a while, I was fairly certain there was not anything he would not hesitate to chew and destroy. Two bicycles, a pool cover, makeup… thankfully, I think that stage is finally over.
He doesn’t understand personal space. If there is a tiny bit of room, then he can fit. He also loves our bed. It never fails, I can get up in the middle of the night to check on Kiera and come back to find a 70 pound Boxer lying in my spot. I’ll be honest. There have been some nights I am too tired to fight for my spot and I will wiggle into bed. He will sigh and toss his long legs over my body. Don’t judge! When he goes to sleep, he is dead weight! Kiera loves that she can cuddle up with him and he just lies there.
Now that you have been properly introduced to our menagerie, I’ll tell you about our scare.
Sunday night, I called the dogs inside so we could all go to bed. Sloane did not come in. I went out to see where she was and found her under a tree. She would not stand. I finally coaxed her up and noticed she would not put any weight on her back left foot. I then scooped her up and carried her in the house.
I laid her on the couch and begin to check her for signs of bites. Her back legs were swollen and she would not let me put any pressure on them. Within a few minutes, she began to shake uncontrollably.
Kiera, not realizing how worried we were, ran for her doctor bag. She brought out her stethoscope and listened to Sloane’s heart. Before I could stop her she had grabbed her pretend syringe and given Sloane a shot. I was so proud of Sloane. Even thought she felt horrible she didn’t fuss at Kiera. I began to call around trying to decide what we needed to do for Sloane. By this time, it was 9:30 p.m.
Dr. Geeslin came to our rescue. He was so nice. He agreed that he should meet us at his office. After a thorough check, we found that Sloane had a 104.5 fever and was going through toxicity. He gave her several shots and sent us home with medicine.
I’m happy to report that she is doing great and is back on her feet and acting like she never had a problem. That can all be attributed to great care from a local veterinarian and the prayers of a concerned four-year old pet lover.
A huge “thank you” to Dr. Geeslin with Small Animal Medical Center for taking care of my family!
