It started from the morning, exact what time we don't know but when Shiva was brushing his teeth at 7am, he noticed the vomit on the shower mat. Lulu woke up several times during the night, sounded a bit more unrest than usual. I thought she wanted to potty, 2am, 6:30am, took her to the backyard, strangely she didn't pee or poop either time. 6 to 7am in the morning it's her routine potty time with big poops.
I quickly cleaned up the vomit, herded my kids downstairs for breakfast, Lulu followed around, a bit low in energy though, compared to before. Then came the second vomit, 7:30am while we were packing lunch and eating breakfast. The first vomit was solid, whatever she ate last night didn't get digested, the second one was orange liquid, on the kitchen floor. I cleaned it up again, started feeling a little uneasy. Amidst the chaos of rushing kids to school, I asked "Ok Google", "What to do if my dog throws up?" Google replied, "If a dog throws up multiple times, it could be the indication of serious illness, even fetal, you should see a vet right away." "Holy Shit!" I started panicking, "I don't want the doggy to die in my hand!" I immediately called an animal hospital which was open. The receptionist suggested me to call the dog owner first then find an animal hospital that they use. So I called Chantelle, no answer, then Sravan, no answer. Then Sravan called me back, by then my fear was a bit escalated.
Sravan first asked me if it was orange liquid, then told me that Lulu had such episodes before. From his tune it sounded quite normal. He said it could be many reasons, maybe she ate something she shouldn't from the floor, maybe she caught cold or some kind of virus, and Lulu throws up when her anxiety is out of control. Because she was abandoned before, she gets anxious every time when her group of people leaving to go somewhere, she is afraid that they are leaving her behind. He asked me to stick to her can food for today, no treats. If she stretches her hind legs then it means her stomach is aching. If she stays with us instead of isolating herself, that means her illness is not that serious. Because if a dog is seriously ill, he/she is going to isolate him/herself to let the pack leave him/her behind. It's a pack mentality. That gave me a lot of comfort actually, because no matter what state Lulu was in, she never stopped following me by the steps. She still got up every time when I was moving from this end of the table to the other end. But she didn't eat anything at all, we brought her can food in front of her face, she couldn't bear the smell of it, turned her head around and walked away.
I took her to office as usual, on the way from my parked car to office she had such low energy, she didn't smell anything! I kept asking if she was okay, if she was feeling well, did she need to pee, did she need to poop, and why she didn't smell anything. "Do you want to smell this?" "Are you sure you don't want to smell that?" "Ya don't want me to hold ya?" "Sure you are not tired? Want me to hold ya or not?" She didn't respond to any of my inquiries, kept on walking with her head down, ears on the side, small tumbling steps in the middle of the road, next to mine. As gloomy as a poor kid from a poor family with beaten-up shoes that have three holes each side, no food in stomach and constantly being bullied by boys, girls and teachers. Right after we passed "Lulu's Cyclery", it was an apartment building, 5, 6 construction workers resting or waiting outside of the entrance. The first man sitting on the floor, as gray as a man can be, the others standing against the wall. A standing man saw us and initiated friendly chat with us, "Nice puppy!" "Ya, thank you! Morning sir!" Preciously at the same time, Lulu stopped her steps in the middle of the pavement, squatted down, head even lower and pooped. "Oh, she is pooping right in front of us! There she goes!" "Oh, I am so sorry, she's not feeling well. She vomited this morning two times, very low energy, something got to her. I am so sorry, usually she poops in those bushes. Let me pick these up." "Oh, poor little thing, hope she recovers soon, you both have a great day!" "Thank you sir, bye!"
I arrived in the office earlier than prof. Tried again to feed Lulu, opened the can a little, let her smell it, she turned her nose away immediately as if it was something disgusting. That's how I feel about your canned turkey rice stew each time Lulu, that's how I feel. She was resting on my lap when prof arrived at the door, where did she get all that energy to bark so hard? "I'm sorry, she's a bit sick, luckily her owners are coming to pick her up tomorrow." "She is not yours?" "Oh no, I am just babysitting... (I thought I told ya so)..." Anyhow, what a reassurance that my prof will have absolutely zero problem if I'm bringing my own infant puppy to work. For the half an hour when prof sitting next to me for a recap and a quick thought exchange, Lulu snored like a 80-year-old bad-tempered sailer man. She was on my lap and it made the snore extra loud. But prof and I conversed through the thunder and storm, without no one getting agitated, no one, at least not me.
The walk from office back to my car was a little improved, because Lulu smelled something on the road. What a relief, as joyful as any parent seeing his/her new-born having ten fingers and ten toes. "Wow, what a good girl! You are smelling the pee on the root of the tree!" "Yes yes, smell that corner please!" "Oh, no no, that's someone's cupcake, it's not healthy for you. And whoever threw the leftover in the middle of the walk!" "If you are smelling, does that mean you are having the appetite to eat?"
Turned out that Lulu didn't eat anything for the whole day, nothing! My mother-in-law started to get worried too from afternoon onwards. "What dog huh? So much work, and see, not eating. Not good, no eating. Not feeling well..." Chantelle suggested us to get some water in her, the kids and I thought hard and came up with ways to put water into this poor little puppy. I updated Chantelle and Sravan a very detailed report on each pee, poop, and smell Lulu had from today morning. "You know what, today afternoon when I was away, Lulu ran to the garage, sat on my car's spot, and waited for me to come back home!" "Awww, she's so attached to you! She knows that she can trust you and rely on you completely."
"I told you not to feed her all those human food!" Raj made fun of me. "She grew up eating only canned dog food, she is not going to be used to homemade!" "Oh right, maybe that's the reason... but my 'stinky egg' was eating the same food as us, I always smuggled my own food to him... Lulu has been trembling the whole time, maybe she caught cold, it was raining outside last night when I asked the kids to take her for a walk, let her poop out all that food she ate... She loved it so much, okay? She chased me everywhere, always asking for more, how can I say no? I washed all the flavors away okay? Not much of human taste anymore, you can't 100% be sure it's my homemade that caused the problem. She has anxiety okay? Maybe somehow she can sense the energy in the room and gets to know that she's going back very soon and she really really loves me like a mama! Oh no, maybe dogs are not fated to survive under my care, my poor 'stinky egg', my poor puppy that I only got to hold for one day, they all dies, now poor Lulu, oh no, luckily she is not mine... maybe in my fate I can't have a dog!" "You and your dog..." "See, it's all your fault alright? You've been so down for days, feeling homesick, missing us... we hadn't been able to properly talk for days... and I hate to see you being sad, then my energy went down, so it affected Lulu's... It's all your fault, alright?..." "You and your dog..."
Hopefully after tonight's rest, Lulu could gain some energy back and start eating some food. My poor sick puppy.... Guess what, now I am 100% assured, Lulu baby loves me regardless of the food or treats, it's just me, just me.
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