Just another day

( this was actually from last saturday, I just never had a chance to finish writing it)  I need to go to sleep soon as I have a really busy day tomorrow. I had such a long day, and I'm so exhausted, everything has been done, everyone has been fed, I managed to groom two of my dogs today. I made myself groom them first so I didn't get lazy at the end of the day. I'm happy my shar-pei mix isn't covered in big bloody patches anymore.
She has the worst allergies ever. I managed to go almost 7 years with no hotspots on her. I didn't want a senior dog with disgusting smelly skin. Dogs with allergies tend to have stinky skin from time to time. The kind of stink that is less than tolerable. Not to mention the annoying sound of munching and chewing of agony that is the allergy.
I've still got to groom my poodle. I don't like to groom her when it's cold, she's so ancient, I swear her eyes look like their decomposing in her eyesockets. It seems like she can see something or has adapted to whatever pinhole of shadows she can cock her head to navigate through. Trust me there's blindness, sometimes she royally crashes into something, and she's back up again moving.
Old dogs tend to do the old dog strut bounce thing. They take twice as long as they used to to stand and then take off in a whirl of bouncy legs, for about a whole minute.

So back to my long day. I had a couple nice animals today.
This is Lucky. I've been grooming Lucky for 8 years! I remember like it was yesterday seeing her come into the vet for the first time as a tiny little pup. She's one of those dogs that has always "just wanted to go home" the second she set foot in my shop.

 I will not lie to you, dogs don't really like getting groomed, but they sure do enjoy the way they feel afterwards. Even my own dogs were pouting and giving me the face. But as  soon as they were loose, they were doing their happy laps.
 A client asked me what kind of dog Lucky was and honestly I don't know. She's a well mixed dog, as she's gotta be half something that's mixed with another half something else. Papillion mixed with a sheepdog? Cockerspaniel mixed with a chow? I really don't know. Feel free to comment and guess. At any rate, I love her brown and black against the white. I love the way she looks fluffy or shaved. In this case it was good to shave her down so the owners could tell if she had fleas or not. Lucky looks great for her age.
 Another sweetheart that came into was some kind of rare blonde westie mix.  I was surprised at how beautiful and soft her coat was this time she came in and she's getting to know me so she wasn't as terrified as last time.
 I had to take a picture of her too, her owners are so attentive and loving to her. She always comes in on schedule and they really do respect her feelings as an animal.
So the last part of my day was just !!!
 A man came by with a sick puppy and pretty much said, take it or Im gonna not take it to the vet like you suggested to me at first.
 This poor little face, it's eyes were so swollen and had big conjuctivitis like boogers coming out. She was pale gums, shallow breath, lethargic, swollen muzzle with painful rash, rash inside ears, swollen vagina....
 My guess is she was exposed to some kind of chemical. Probably orally and topically. It is unusual that the vagina would be swollen and not her butt or her stomach. She is only about 9 weeks or so.
 So I wasn't able to take her to emergency, mainly because of not having an extra $400 sitting around for a sick pup. Luckily my friend who works for a vet helped me get two bags of lactated ringers, and an IV line. I took the pup home and hydrated her with fluid.

 She was so sweet. I gave her a bath in warm oatmeal water. Sometime around 3am I managed to find out via googling for hours a condition called, " puppy Strangles". A rare genetic condition where the puppies immune system is not working properly. It almost mimicks what my son has.
 The next morning she was doing much better. Her gums were pink and no longer white. I can't have a puppy, let alone a sick needy puppy with my schedule so I gave her to a friend who took over the care. We decided to do homeopathic medicine for the strangles as most articles online sited predisone was only a temporary fix and the strangles almost always returned when the dog would come in contact with a certain antigen.
 It's a horrible condition, but I'm happy to report she is on the mend and can walk, eat, poop, play and be loved.