Eventful
Woke up this morning feeling super lazy. The dogs didn’t agree, so after a few minutes of listening to the frantic clicking of nails on the floor as they rushed back and forth from the bottom of the stairs to the kitchen and back, I got up, let them out, and then climbed back into bed. About 20 minutes later, we heard attack-dog sounds from the backyard. That’s occasionally a sign that Roxy is having a seizure, but since they were in the backyard, it could have been their response to a dog right outside the fence or something. Either way, we didn’t like it, so we rushed outside. The sounds had stopped, but Roxy was having a seizure and Riley was slobbering/chewing on her neck. He does that sometimes (and has since the beginning). The good-dog interpretation is that he thinks he needs to hold her still or hold her down or something and, lacking hands, he uses his mouth. The bad-dog interpretation is that he senses weakness and goes in for the kill. We’re 99% sure we can go with theory #1 (partly because it’s pretty clear that Riley loves her most of the time and partly because he always slobbers/gnaws at the back her neck, not her throat), but we don’t like it, so John grabbed Riley away from Roxy. (Also, I’ve seen the attack-dog sounds come from Roxy, not Riley, who’s in mid-seizure, has no idea what’s going on, and quite naturally doesn’t want anyone chewing on her.)
Anyway.
Roxy convulsed, stopped, and then convulsed again (cluster seizure), and by then it had started snowing. The poor thing looked tiny and pathetic out there, on the frozen ground with snowflakes falling on her. After the seizures stopped, I helped her to her feet and walked her to the deck (I had to help her walk), carried her up the stairs, and got her in the house. She was wet, seriously smelly (there’s a smell that goes with the seizures – not the fear stink, but it’s really unpleasant), and totally out of it, so I wrapped her in a towel and sat down on the kitchen floor with her. After a while, she came around and headed for the food bowl (always a good sign).
About a half-hour later, we decided it was okay to leave her (and Riley), so we went to Dunkin Donuts for breakfast and then went to the book sale at the library. And did I mention it was snowing? And sticking. The book sale was great. Not all that organized, but lots of books. We ended up with another 30 books and 7 or 8 CDs.
We got home to find dog hair EVERYwhere, way worse than when we left, and Roxy out of again and soaking wet all the way around her neck. She had a seizure while we were gone (leaving evidence by way of an accident in the kitchen), and Riley had done whatever it is he does to her. So we threw him into the yard, John went out to shovel the driveway and sidewalk, and I swept the first floor. Roxy used the time to recover. Now she was all slobbery and gross AND she smelled bad, so we decided to give her a bath. Actually, I did that while John mopped downstairs. John took the doors off the shower so I could reach her better. She behaved much better than usual during her shower. She usually spends the time trying to escape, but she held pretty still for me. Now she’s curled up on the dog bed in the dining room, Riley’s on the one in the family room, and John and I are both clean and hungry. And it’s only just past 2pm.