Button Sunday

Since April is National Poetry Month, I chose this button.

After a very long and sleepless night of looking after Jack, I figured he was entitled to use his artist voice with some Wood Words (same company that makes all the Magnetic Poetry kits). Here’s his perspective.

I spent most of the dark hours of last night trying to keep him company and clean up after him. I think I fell asleep around five AM, and Tom was up by 6:30 AM. Jack was still feeling bad, but there was a lot less bloody diarrhea that needed to be cleaned up, which was great. I did laundry all night, and that continued throughout today. Gastroenteritis is hard on a little dog. He did finally start drinking water, which was a huge relief. He was badly dehydrated yesterday, and that can lead to shock and death. Twelve hours of IV fluids helped his body get on the right track; now drinking water holds another crisis at bay.

Be assured, the bed in this photo has since been washed, but this was Jack refusing food for at least the dozenth time today.

I mean, that bed… Ugh, but it doesn’t even begin to show how the house looked like a crime scene. In only minutes, Jack could leave five to seven puddles of blood across a room. It’s awful to imagine what his belly must have felt like.

He spent most of the day lying on a “pee pad” in Tom’s lap, sleeping while Tom watched TV, and we both kept laundry going. When all the other dogs ate dinner, Tom finally put the little bowl of food in a crate with Jack and closed the door. I went to check on him a few minutes later and…

Success! That was around 6:30, and again after 10 PM, he ate another small helping of food. So we are hoping very much that everyone sleeps tonight, the floors and dog beds are still clean in the morning, and Jack has indeed gotten his wish that “feeling good will come with time.”

Thank you everybody who texted and messaged and checked in on him today. We needed the support. Now we need sleep.