Zorro to Emergency Again -- Probably Nothing

SUMMARY: Poor Zorro's tummy--

I opted to take Zorro to the emergency vet late last night (WHY is it always nights or weekends? Usually nights?!).

Yesterday evening I wrote:

Poor Mr. Zorro. Lying around, drooping around, like he’s miserable. He might be. I realized after I gave the dogs dinner that he was still eating his very, very, very slowly long after Chip was done. He’s usually done in a flash.

He had no trouble whatsoever about 8:30, when he heard a squirrel, racing at several miles per hour over the speed limit out of the house and all the way across the yard. But then right back into the house drooping and lying miserably and walking slowly, head kind of down.

I did notice him earlier out in the yard eating plums. I’m hoping that he is merely overfull of plums and then just forced dinner in on top of it because it's a law among dogs to eat the food if it's in front of you because otherwise the other dogs might get it.

I hate when my pups aren’t feeling well. Things could go wrong, even though all eight of my dogs have always eaten plums every summer, pits included. And I’ve never had trouble. It’s just sometimes figuring out: how long do you wait and watch before you drive your wallet over to the emergency room?

 (I wasn’t really aware that plums were coming rip until late this afternoon when I was out in the yard and saw both dogs munching on them. I need to go out and pick up fallen ones a couple of times a day now. To reduce this sort of happening.)

Poor little guy. Just drooping around the house.

This morning, post-Emergency room visit:

(P.S. the branch of the emergency room that has been just around the corner from me for the last 19 years has closed permanently, apparently. So now I have a 20-minute drive to Campbell, which the one that's there used to be around the corner more or less from where I lived before this. Very sad.)

I think that mostly he overate, plums coming ripe, then took forever to eat dinner, and then lethargic and looking unhappy, wanting to drink and not doing so. Chewing a treat I gave him! That never happens. Took twice as long as Chip to eat his dinner. After 4 hours and no change, I worried, and when he chewed a treat lethargically again at a late bedtime (because I was staying up late, periodically walking him around the yard, hoping I'd see him poop then gave up) I called them.

They said I could be right but they could take a look just in case. They saw nothing obvious but gave him some fluids and antinausea meds and he seemed perkier at that point (midnight-12:30,) of course. I opted not to do an x-ray to see whether plum pits were blocking him, because they felt no sign of it. So my bill was quite reasonable. Whew! So sleepy I had no trouble almost literally falling into bed and asleep. Did sleep maybe 6 hours but still feel groggy.

He’s fine this morning, pooped fine, ate normally, doing his usual activities. The only thing that I found interesting was that, usually, after a dog has been given subcutaneous fluids, they want to pee maybe sooner than usual and also a lot. Zorro had no particular urgency to go outside this morning after being in bed for over over 7 hours. Didn’t wake me up to go, didn't rush downstairs, etc. When I finally let them out, he peed a fairly small amount. So maybe a little dehydrated, although vet said no signs of it so it’s all based on behavior.

But as I said, seems fine this morning, eating and drinking normally. It’s always something.

[And this was stream of consciousness so long & repetitive. Too tired to fix now! Sorry.)

Zorro's Breed Results Are In!

SUMMARY: Biggest part is as expected, but then --

... much unexpected!

My guesses were, in order: 1. Cattle Dog 2. Rat Terrier 3. Border Collie 4. Basenji.

And here's the big reveal:

• To the ACD, I say, well, duh!  
• Beagle: OK, has a non-ACD bark, I've always thought. 
• But Chihuahua?  One friend said, while guessing her own breeds, "Including  Chihuahua because around here these days *everything* probably has chihuahua."  
• And I expected terrier, but Boston Terrier?  I don't know enough about BT traits to say, "no way," or, "well, THAT explains it."
• German Shepherd Dog: I sometimes wondered whether those were Shepherd ears. Should've added to  my guesses.
• Supermutt: Additional breed ancestry so diluted that all they can do is make guesses. "We cannot be sure, given how little of their DNA has carried down to Zorro, but we thought you might like to know our best guess anyway!"
  • Smooth Fox Terrier
  • Shetland Sheepdog

So much for his original rescue posting as "Border Collie Mix"! Not a whit of that.

It also includes a list of physical traits. Here's the summary:

• Coat color: Gives a fairly broad range, but not incorrect so far--I'll have to wade thru the "but if the dog has xxxx gene, then..." material. It is correct that he is not merle.
• Coat qualities: Short or medium fur, straight not curly, sheds a lot seasonally.  Yep.
• Other:  "Likely to" have medium or long muzzle, normal-length tail, normal muscling. "Unlikely" to have hind dew claws or blue eyes.   Yep.
• Genetic diversity: Inbreeding 0%. Well, that's pretty interesting!

Relatives?!

They list 30 dogs whose DNA makes them "Close relatives: As related as human first cousins." They are ALL listed as ACD, while Zorro is Mixed Breed.  All those who have photos are clearly ACD as claimed. And although 2 are named Truckee and Cali, almost all of them live on the east coast except for an enclave in Nebraska. Intriguing.

As long as we're here--I also asked for the health screening. They tested for 181 things, and he's all clear except:
       Carrier for "Progressive Retinal Atrophy, prcd" and "Progressive rod-cone degeneration (PRCD Exon 1)"
No worries about him ever carrying that anywhere. I'll have to look  up what breeds commonly carry that. Later.

Now can hardly wait for Chip's to arrive, because I had no confident guesses at all!
And here they are!