Sweet Baby Sept 2008

Oh how we love our pets – some of us go over the top but my feeling is that our pets become part of the family.  Gracie had me at Hello, she fell asleep in my arms in the car after we picked her up at Puddleduck Retrievers and I was done.  Love at first sight puppy breathe and all.  Gracie is a Chocolate Lab and we have all heard horror stories about Chocolate Labs.  None of them are true of Gracie, she is smart, calm and above all sweet.  Gracie has not caused us one moment of stress since we brought her home.  Until Saturday.

I was all packed up getting ready to spend the day making pillowcases for the Battered Woman’s Shelter in York County.  Sewing machine, scissors, iron, lunch and a snack all loaded in the car, time to take a shower and get moving. Gracie always comes upstairs when I am getting ready to go out, she is trying to figure out whether or not she is coming me, she seems to be able to judge by the clothes that I am wearing what her chances for a ride in the car are.

I heard a strange noise and turned to see her having what appeared to be a seizure.  It was very disturbing – I dropped to the floor and tried to still her.  The trembling did not lessen in fact it seemed to intensify.  Chuck was in the basement – in my biggest booming voice, I called him to come quickly.  I didn’t dare mention at this point that I was concerned for Gracie – that would have scared him too much.  We quickly came to the conclusion that we needed to get her to the Vet.  Gracie was unable to walk, Chuck had to carry her to the car.  We were very frightened!  First we brought her to our regular Vet who thankfully has Saturday hours and then unto the Emergency Vet.

Gracie had to spend the night in Hospital. They were monitoring her for more seizure activity.  There are still a lot of questions.  Did Gracie actually have a seizure?  What caused the seizure?  Was it something she ate?  Is it the onset of Idiopathic Epilepsy?  The Vet did blood work so that we know it was not caused by a metabolic disease.

Happy dog! Christmas 2012

Gracie did not have another seizure.  We were able to pick her up late Sunday morning.  We still do not have a confirmed explanation for the seizure.  If she continues to have seizures we will do more tests, to get confirmation of Epilepsy we need to have an MRI and a spinal fluid analysis.  These tests will cost almost $2000.  If the seizures continue we will have these tests done.  Thankfully Gracie has been seizure free since 10 am Saturday morning.

We love our dog in a way similar to the way we love our family.  We have committed to taking care of them and to giving them the best life we can.  They bring us endless joy, they make us laugh, they comfort us and they always seem to know when we need an extra bit of affection.  Gracie seems like the same wonderful dog, companion that she has been since the day we brought her into our family.  Hopefully the seizure was a fluke and she will be seizure free for the rest of her wonderful life.  We will watch her carefully and get her the medical attention that she needs, hopefully it will not be needed.

Gracie brings joy into our life she is a sweet, gentle, smart little dog.  We will continue to give her the same joy.

Be Kind….

Faith