Just over a week ago, my Luigi peed a couple of blood clots first thing in the morning.  This was followed by some reddish pee a few minutes after.  I knew what that meant.  After 7 years, his oxalate crystals were back. I took him to the vet, and after the x-ray, we were told Luigi had a lot of crystals and he needed surgery.  I remember saying, “Oh no,” and when looking at Luigi, his eyes were so big and pleading.  Ugh!  He could sense something, and I couldn’t stop feeling awful.  I had to leave him there overnight, which made things worse for both him and me. I knew I’d been getting more and more lax on his special diet.  It’s not the food I was making, so much as the dog treats he was getting and shouldn’t have been.  But it got to be so fun having Luigi back as a “regular” dog and not having to watch everything, including treats, that he ate.  That was a mistake on my part, and he is very good at making faces to get me to do the wrong thing.  I have to be stronger. Last time he had surgery, he was a much younger dog.  I have to admit I wasn’t ready for the following 7 days after I picked him up from the hospital.

On the way home, he was still coming out of anesthesia, and was not having a good trip out.  He was agitated in the back seat, and I was driving Alligator Alley, and couldn’t pull over to soothe him.  And I didn’t know if he could even be soothed.

I stopped at the next rest stop and found Luigi was wedged between the floor and the seat.  Being the state he was in and the fact that I had to find a way to get him out of the truck on my own, I decided to leave him in this position.  It worked well.  When I got home, I put a dog blanket on the ground and slowly opened the door.  He slid out and onto the blanket.  Lucky me that he was able to get up and walk with some help.  I got him in the house and into his ex-pen where he stood for over 24 hours.

That’s why his paws swelled.  By the next day I could say I was panicking when I saw his big feet.  I had to *tell* Luigi to lie down; otherwise, he stood.  He was still out of it, glassy-eyed, and not “in there.”  But when I got his attention and helped him, he laid down.  I am sure it was sore.  Not only sore, but the pain medicine he was on was underprescribed and he didn’t need the lamp shade on either.   When I finally got a hold of a vet the following day, Saturday, I was told I could give him twice as much as they prescribed.  When she told me that it “may make him sleepy, though,” I was thankful. That’s what he needed.  Sleep and pain relief.  And it worked.

He still pees in his sleep and it’s been 11 days.   But it is a slow heal this time, so I hope he will be able to hold it in as he becomes stronger.  Until then, he has to sleep in his padded cell – the ex-pen.  That’s hard on him and me.  He’s slept in bed for over 10 years.

The good news is he’s already back to bringing me his toys to play fetch with.  I ease up our game a lot, so it’s a rolly game of fetch, but he’s still happy.  Luigi’s a fetching maniac.

As for my mistake, I am going to watch his diet a lot more closely again.  No more dog treats or other foods that aren’t on his safe list.  I have been following the Fuzzer diet and for all these years it’s been working until I got lax and started adding foods that were not on the list.  He and I both got into that “eat whatever he wants” feeling.  It was fun till it wasn’t.  And this is so not worth the risk.  Lesson learned.

Now onto playing ball!