Trips to the Vet and Groomer

We had to take our dog Mo to the Animal Hospital in Palm Springs yesterday to have him looked at by a Vet. Mo hasn’t been eating like he normally does and he had been acting lethargic for about a week or so. Yesterday morning he wouldn’t even touch rice and hamburger which he normally loves. We were trying that because he wouldn’t eat his dry food at all – he even refused to eat cookies and treats!

From Sands RV Park - March

The Vet, and all the staff at the Animal Hospital, were absolutely terrific. They gave Mo a full battery of tests and procedures – physical, blood work etc. etc. We got a phone call this morning to bring him back in as the blood tests showed he has kidney problems and needs fluid therapy. So, Mo will be going every morning for the next 4 days for an IV to try and flush his kidneys and get them working properly - it’s similar to dialysis. The Vet also put Mo on a special diet for dogs with renal problems.

The good news is that Mo’s kidneys haven't shut down all together and hopefully he will respond to this treatment. The Vet told us that, other than the kidney problems, Mo is in exceptionally good shape for a dog 13 years old. All of his other vitals are good and he appears to be quite strong. After the IV’s are finished, the Vet will run another full series of blood tests to check and see if his kidneys are functioning normally – or, at least a lot better. Until then, we’ll just have to wait and hope for the best.

Today, we were very encouraged to see that Mo loves the new dietary dog food – he has eaten more today than he has for the past several days so that’s great news. He has been a bit more active today too even though it has been extremely hot here in the park – over 30C.

Molly has had her own traumatic experience this past week as well – she now knows what sheep feel like when they get sheared. Here’s a pic of Molly before and after her grooming appointment last Friday morning:

From Sands RV Park - March

The really short hair has worked out well for Molly as it has been really hot here for the past week – around 30C every day. So she would have been really sweltering if we hadn’t got her hair cut really short – she really flies around the park when she’s chasing her ball right now. She probably feels about 10lbs lighter!

We lost some more visitors here at the park this morning. Tom, Donna, Roy and Dianna all left this morning for the trip back home to Victoria. So, it’s going to be a bit quieter around here for the rest of our stay plus Paulette has lost another couple of shopping partners.

As for us, we’ve extended our stay here at the Park Sands RV Park for an extra 10 days -so, we won't be leaving Desert Hot Springs until April 1st!!. Our curent plans are to head over to Sedona, Arizona for a couple of days and then carry on to visit the Grand Canyon. This planned trip will depend entirely on the weather – hopefully, the snow and cold weather will all be gone by April as we’d really like to see the Grand Canyon.

There's sure no problem with cold weather here - it's been very, very hot for the past week. Today, it was over 30C and not a breath of wind, so Paulette and I just took turns this afternoon going to the pool for a swim to cool off. It looks like it's going to be the same type of weather for the rest of the week too - great!

We'll keep you all posted on how Mo's doing.