My pup, Bruiser, had to be brought back to the vet. (His normal vet, not the emergency vet, thank goodness.)
He was peeing blood again after a long walk last week with lots of marking, so we booked an appointment. He also lost a tooth while rolling around in the grass, of all things.
Initial findings were:
- he lost a pound since his last visit, from 6.5lbs to 5.2lbs
- his gums appeared to be pale, to which the doctor assumed he's anemic/losing blood
- his temperature was normal
- he has a heart murmur (which may be because of the anemia, or may be a new issue)
- his pee is unusually yellow despite access to water at all times
- his tooth likely fell out because of continued periodontal disease
They did a blood draw and are doing a full blood panel and urinalysis. We'll get the blood test results back tomorrow, and we'll know whether he needs a bladder/heart ultrasound based off of these results. The doctor is also concerned that there might be something wrong with his liver.
I am fucking seething because I know that most, if not all of this, is because of his past life before he was dumped in the shelter and pulled by the rescue we adopted from. After owning him for almost a year now, we've figured out some things about him that hint at his past.
- Sometimes when you touch his ear he will yelp. Nothing is wrong with his ears. I think his previous owner used to pinch or pull his ear when he did something wrong, so he yelps preemptively in fear.
- We think he may have lived in a hoarder house because he does things normal dogs would have to be trained to do. He is an insane acrobat. He jumps from furniture to other furniture, squeezes through small spaces, squeezes under things, nests in weird places, can climb over crazy obstacles by balancing on them... He climbed over a 3 foot tall cardboard partition by leaping up, balancing on the edge on all fours, and leaping off. It was impressive.
- He's terrified of sinks. He obviously had bad bathing experiences. I tried to help this by bathing him in the tub, but he hates it. It's a necessary evil.
- His teeth were so bad when we got him, that he must have either been eating human food scraps, the worst dog food on the market, who heck knows what. He needed a full teeth cleaning and 5 teeth pulled. I know bad food also affects organ function, so... Yeah...
- When we got him he hadn't been washed, and he was COVERED IN FLEA DIRT. Flea dirt is basically flea shit, which is basically blood. The water ran red when I bathed him for the first time. He was also underweight and had to be on puppy food for a while.
SO FUCK YOU, PAST OWNER. Bruiser is the fucking sweetest dog, and you fucked him over. Now we have to pay to make his life manageable. But you know what? We will pay what it takes, because we love Bruiser. We love him so damn much. We will try our best to undo the damage you've done to his tiny body.
