Apparently I'm Sick

Yesterday morning, Mommy went to let me out of my kennel to go outside to potty. I'd spent the night with Kody, and I must have slept on my paw funny cause when I got up, it hurt. So I hobbled out of the kennel, and Mommy freaked out.

She made some phone calls and talked to Daddy, and next thing I know, I get to go for a ride in the car! Mommy put on my car harness and carried me out to the car, where in the backseat she had the big cushy bed waiting for me. I was a perfect angel of course, and when we got to the vet I was really excited to say hello to everyone! Mommy kept telling me to stop wiggling around cause I would hurt myself.

The vet gave me some medicine that made me really sleepy. I'm told that they took some pictures of my insides to make sure my leg wasn't broken, and it wasn't. Then they took a blood sample and ran some tests.

It turns out that my platelets are really really low. The vet told Mommy that they're at 75 which is much lower than they should be and that at 50 I could start bleeding spontaneously. My heartworm test came back negative, and so did some tests they ran for Lymes Disease and Ehrlichiosis.

My vet thinks I have Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever. He doesn't have a test for that, but since the other tests came back negative, he thinks that's what it must be and has started me on treatment. I haven't had ANY symptoms besides the limp (and the low platelet count). After I woke up and the drowsiness wore off, even the limp is gone! I have to take antibiotics and steriods for a while so that I can get better. Hopefully we caught this early enough that I will be ok.

Daddy picked me up from the vet because Mommy had to work all day, but then he took me to the store to say hello. Mommy gave me lots of hugs, and I just laid in her lap, cause I was still pretty doped up. Mommy's boss and co-workers all gave me lots of lovins too, which usually makes me really excited. Then Daddy took me home, where I went back to bed and napped until Mommy came home. I was awake and full of energy by then - back to my normal self.

Mommy is beating herself up over this. She's been doing a lot of reading on tick-borne diseases. She cries a lot and says she's worried sick about me. I feel fine though! Even the vet told Mommy not to blame herself, because Mommy goes above and beyond when it comes to taking care of us pets. We get Interceptor every month year round, Advantix during the spring/summer/fall months and Frontline Plus during the winter (to avoid resistance), and Daddy treats the yard against ticks once a year as well. Mommy is worried about my siblings too, because if I could have been bitten by an infected tick, so could they. Apparently I'm gonna have to go see another vet and get more blood drawn, because Mommy wants to know for sure that I have Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever, so she's gonna shop around for a vet that can do the test on me and all my siblings.

Please keep us in your thoughts. We could use some Power Of The Paw.

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