Burton is holding steady ...



Burton Hospitalized 10/10/10

  I visited Burton again this afternoon and though he did vomit a small amount this morning, the tech in the isolation room said "He's doing pretty good for a parvo dog."    Still no eating, but no diarrhea.  I clarified it with the tech if Burton could even HAVE diarrhea if he isn't eating and he told me he definitely could so it's really good that he doesn't have that particular symptom.    This is a picture of Burton today, all cuddled up in one of the gowns one of the workers gave him.     Yesterday they had to clean his cage and he was without one.   He seems so much happier to have a little extra cushioning.   He seems happy to see me.    Today he seemed very aware of the tech's presence.   He was the same one in there yesterday and just an all around nice guy.    I don't cry in front of him because I want to keep as much positive energy around him as I can.    Today, I almost cried while I was there.   But I didn't - it probably helped that the tech was with me all the time working on getting Burton's new IV ready.   Burton's IV "blew" which is apparently common when they have it in for multiple days.   It sounded like a normal situation.



Burton Hospitalized 10/09/10



The sad news is there's a new little puppy in isolation as well who has tested parvo positive.    He looked to be in really bad shape - he's very little and that makes so much of the difference.    As I said before, parvo doesn't kill the dog.   It's the effects of the virus - the body becomes totally depleted and it's just too much stress on a dog's body.    Throwing up,  diarrhea and not eating for days really ravages the body of a small dog.     I'm so hopeful for Burton.   He is a fully grown male and he might, by some miracle have had a parvo vaccination at one time in his life.       I was hoping he'd be home tomorrow.   He's expected to be in the hospital 4-10 days.    Tomorrow will be the 5th day.

I also attended an event for Proposition B sponsored by Best Friends Animal Society this afternoon.   I'm really glad I went even though all of my friends had other commitments so I had to go it alone.   I'm very passionate about Prop B and it can just drive me crazy how uninformed people are and how much lying is going on from the opposition.    Today was a good, centering reminder on what this issue is about and it re-energized my enthusiasm to get the word out.   I got some QDoba on the way home, and I had my "Vote Yes On Prop B" tshirt on that was  made by one of our group's volunteers and the guy behind the counter asked me what a puppy mill is.    So ...  I told him and told him to make sure to vote yes.  :)   My shirt is like a traveling billboard because it's in bright red letters and let's just say, I don't have a small body or mannish topside.  ;)