Poor Little Dulcinea

On Wednesday, the vet came to our house at lunch time (well an hour late to be honest, she was running really behind, but that is beside the point) to perform Dulcinea's third check-up, which includes some shots and other medicine. This vet was recommended to me by the breeder as she has already seen the puppies because she gives them their shots out in Lampa, where the breeder lives. We thought it was great to use her because she's already seen Dulcinea and she comes to your house. Why is this important? Well, if I can't take my little baby outside because of all the things that could make her sick, imagine taking her to the vet office where sick animals are all of the time! So this was definitely a good thing--except for her being super late.

She was really nice and saw my list of questions and told me to start firing away while she got busy checking over Dulcinea. She cleaned her ears and cut her nails (thank god! they were like a cat's claws). We had to hold her down of course to get her nails cut, but she actually did ok. Then she took her temperature (in her potito, the poor thing!), but it was normal which is good. Then it was time for the shot. This was no fun. Christian held her and I cooed her and tried to giver her cariño while the vet gave her the shot. Then she put an anti-parasite pill down her throat and I have her some food to wash it down. Once we put her on the floor, the poor thing did not want to be picked up again and with good reason!

We had to head back to work right away, so we left her bundled up as usual in the bathroom and I checked in on her via the doggie webcam various times throughout the afternoon. She just slept. When I got home in the afternoon, she was happy to see me, but I could tell she was still wary of being picked up and kind of tired. I tried to pet her, since the vet told me she didn't need any special treatment after the shot (this was one of my questions), and she cried because her back was hurting her. It made me sad. She was in pain and I couldn't do anything to take it away.

So we moved on to giving her dinner. The vet said we should start to increase the amount of food we give her so I dished out her kibble with a bit extra, mixed it with some water as always, and gave it to her. Needless to say she was hungry and scarfed it down. But then....all of the sudden....she was like choking or something. She kept walking away from me when I tried to see what happened but in my mind, a bit of food was stuck in her throat. Whether that is really what happened, or if that is just what dogs do when they are going to hurl.....she then proceeded to throw up. At least after that I knew she wasn't choking anymore. And it didn't seem like she had an upset stomach cuz she wanted to eat her vomit. TMI, I know, but well these are the things that happen with children (be they human or not). Anyway I did not let her eat it, and instead gave her just a tiny bit to quench her hunger.

The rest of the night, we just tried to rest with her since she wasn't feeling good. She did not sleep well that night which in turn meant we slept like crap too. But thankfully the next morning she was all better, we could pet and pick her up without her crying and all her energy was back.

Lesson learned? The next time the vet comes, we will make sure to give her little bits of food at a time in the afternoon and obviously avoid touching her back where the shot is. She has 3 more shots to get before the frequency is annual, so unfortunately for her more torture down the road. After the next shot though, she will be able to venture out into the real world!

The vet said she is in great shape and is adorable. The only thing not normal is that her eyes are watering a lot which is not supposed to happen. However the vet said it could be because of the pollution in Santiago and that we should clean her eyes with a wet cotton ball daily. I am going to keep an eye on it (no pun intended) just to make sure it isn't something more serious.

This weekend she gets to be the regalona since she was so brave with the vet and because I hardly got to play with her this week. I've been super busy not to mention super tired. So I didn't get to come home for lunch much and then in the evenings, I play with her and go to bed and she stays up with Daddy. Now it is girl time while Daddy is painting the living room!







P.S. Please don't forget to Help Us Choose which picture we should blow up and put on our wall and which other pictures are worth framing! Thanks to everyone who has left comments already! We really appreciate it.