Millie

Meet our new puppy, Millie!    

She is the puppy formerly known as "Duffy," the one we were waiting on from the SPCA.  We got a call from the SPCA at about 5PM on New Year's Eve saying that she was healthy enough to come home.  An amazing amount of excitement from the kids ensued! :)  So we scrambled around and picked up the house real quick (good thing we had a crock pot dinner that night) and hustled up the road to get her.  She was still quite sick and her breathing was labored.  We were assured that it was just the last of the kennel cough and that the meds she was on would carry her through.  We got home, set up her bowl, crate, bed, and played a little.  She was incredibly sweet and SO cute.  The rest of the evening she just laid around dozing, presumably because she was still sick.  She did eat and drink some, and she was pretty good about heading for the door when she had to go potty.  Millie and I rang in the new year together because everyone else was asleep.  :)

New Year's Day was much the same.  Elsie and I went out shopping for dog stuff and Millie slept A LOT.  Her breathing was very heavy and she was definitely no better than the day before.  We were starting to get a little worried.  The next morning her breathing was even worse.  The poor little thing couldn't even get any sleep because her breathing was so heavy and short.  We decided to call our own vet and try to get her in because it seemed like her condition was actually getting worse.  Thankfully I was able to get an appointment that morning and so Millie and I headed up there.

The doctor was VERY concerned about her breathing and decided to do a chest x-ray and it is a good thing she did.  Millie had a "RAGING" case of pneumonia!  We had specifically asked the vet at the SPCA if she had pneumonia and were told that she didn't!!!  This explained a lot of things about the way she'd been acting though.  The doctor said that she would need to keep Millie in the hospital overnight and possibly for two nights to do an IV, electrolytes, antibiotics, and other treatments.  We agreed and sadly I left Millie with the vet hoping we'd get to see her again soon.

Later that evening the doctor called and said that Millie's condition was much improved and thought she could come home the next morning.  This made Elsie's day because her birthday party was the next day and she wanted to show Millie to all of her friends and grandparents who were going to be coming over.  Thankfully, we got the call yesterday morning that we could come pick her up.  The doctor explained that it was going to be a LONG recovery because her lungs had essentially been burned by the pneumonia and they would take potentially months to heal properly.

She was definitely in better shape than when we dropped her off, but she still slept much of the day.  However, the times between her naps, while few and far between, are more energetic than before and she's also started to cough and you can tell the gunk in her lungs is starting to break up.  We are also giving her steam treatments in the kids bathroom.  We turn the shower on really high and get it all steamy for her.  Doctors orders... :)

We are hoping and praying for a speedy and full recovery.  I will keep you posted.

Ryan