I’m Writing from the Hospital Cage

I am not feeling well. You wouldn’t know it to look at me because, outwardly, I am still my happy, lovable self.

Mom knew, though. She tool me to the vet because she said I was acting “off.” She said she knew for sure when I didn’t go crazy and bark at the Fed Ex truck. Ok, so she’s right. But it was only Fed Ex. It wasn’t like it was my arch-nemesis, the UPS truck. Fed Ex brings my Chewy orders, so sometimes they are ok.

You’ll never see it again, so there it is. Me NOT barking at the Fed Ex truck.

Mom was right to take me to the vet. She had been worrying about me looking skinny since the recall on the kidney disease food that she was feeding me.

I have lost another ten pounds.

And look at me, I am skinny now. Getting sick was NOT how I wanted to go about it. But here I am, and I have to make the best of it.

When making the best of something, sometimes it is a good idea to make a list of good things about it. I’m going to try that.

So I’m in a cage, but I have a mattress so it is a nice soft cage.
I fell and hurt myself at my regular vet’s so my hindquarters are very sore, but since I’m staying here I get the good drugs.
The vet techs are very nice. One of them even let me use a computer so I could tell all of you about my stay. Mom didn’t pack my laptop in my suitcase. Do you believe she forgot to pack my laptop? I’m a writer! How could she forget that?

It sucks being here though. Mom isn’t here. She had to go home to feed the cats, so I’m stuck here all by myself with a needle in my arm. My kidneys hurt and they aren’t doing very well.

See those arrows on my bloodtests? That means those levels weren’t able to be read by the machine. The top two are my kidney measurements and the one in the next section of blocks is my liver. We are hoping my hospital stay brings those kidney value numbers back into the readable range.

I really want to get better so I have to be a good patient and take a nap, but I want to show you one more picture first. This is me and Mom when she brought me to the veterinary hospital. We love each other and I miss her.

Oh, no. My food is bad.

When I got sick with that kidney infection, Mom listened to the vet and added this into my meal rotation because my blood test showed the beginnings of chronic kidney failure. I didn’t mind. It is a nice stew and tastes good. I ate it all, every time Mom fed it to me.

Mom is freaking out now because she gave it to me. But she listened to the vet! He said it was ok. In fact, he said it was better for me than the food I was eating all the time.

Mom wouldn’t feed it to me for every meal though. She said she doesn’t eat the same thing for every meal and probably neither does the vet. So she didn’t think I should have to either. She found another brand designed for kidney problems at Muddy Paws (see my interview with Snicker) and just added those two brands to my current canned food rotation. She said she was balancing my fat with my new health issues. I am not fat!


Speaking of fat, do I look thinner to you? Mom says I look thinner. Normally she is happy about that, but not this time. I’m sure I look great, I always have. But Mom thinks it is a symptom. She is hoping that I wasn’t too badly affected by what was wrong with the food because it was only part of my diet. She feels very bad for all the doggies out there who ate only the food that was recalled. I know I ate at least a whole case of it.

That’s all that’s left. The numbers on the plastic case wrapping. Mom was just about to call the vet to order another case when she found out about the recall. Here is the link, in case you or someone you love was one of those other doggies who ate this stuff: https://www.hillspet.com/productlist

Mom grumbles that I already have renal dysfunction, and that’s why I had to eat that food in the first place. It was supposed to be specifically made to help with that and it turned out to be causing more problems. I have been drinking more water lately.

And there have been times in the last few weeks that I haven’t cleaned my plate. Mom mixes my food, she puts the canned food on top of my kibble. But my kibble is too dry and I’ve been thirstier so I have left my kibble. I never leave food so Mom knew something was wrong. She just didn’t know what and neither did I because the canned food didn’t taste bad.

Are you sure I don’t look thinner? Mom is worried. I’m afraid she is going to start measuring my waist. She’s crazy enough!

I think I’ll be ok though. Mom is going to get me another checkup blood test soon. Oh no. Needles. But I’ll get a pretty bandage on my arm like I did last time. My vet has pretty bandages! See…