Oscar the (possibly) epileptic dog

Arrrrgh
Originally uploaded by jeredb.

He's gonna be okay. We picked him up from the vet yesterday at 5 and they said that there is a 95% chance that he is epileptic. We hadn't observed him having any seizures until after his surgery on Wednesday, so I still think the two are somehow related. Maybe he had an allergic reaction to the meds? Who knows. It could also be a corn allergy. All I know is that Oscar is acting fairly normal again. Knock on wood- he has not had a seizure since we brought him back from the vet yesterday. They gave him some phenobaribitol to control the seizures, which we are picking up today.
Oscar is the sweetest dog, and when he's not seizing things are just about as good as they could be with a new dog in the house.
On the knitting front (for once!), I am officially re-committing to Madli today and am going to try to get her done by graduation at the beginning of May. I have my counselor certification exam coming up at the end of April so I'm pretty busy studying for that and getting group projects done, so I think May is a realistic goal. I honestly have not knitted since the beginning of March! It's hard to believe, but life has been pretty darn crazy.

Thanks for the kind thoughts, I'll post more about Oscar as we learn more. And of course, there will be more pictures :)

Sadness...

Well, Oscar was neutered on Wednesday and everything was going fine until Thursday afternoon. He had a seizure at the vet's office yesterday and they told us to watch him as he might be reacting after all the anesthetic. He had another seizure last night at 6:15, and another one at 11:05 that was terrible. He convulsed and lost complete control and didn't come out of it for minutes. It was the most terrible thing I've ever seen happen to an animal.
This morning he had another small seizure at 7:30. So I decided to take him back to the vet. They are running tests on him all day today to try and figure out what is going on. Apparently his glucose levels are fine, so we are now just waiting on the bloodwork to come back.
I started crying at the vet's office. I couldn't help myself. I never cry! Seriously, only when I am really really upset, but here I was crying because I'm stressed over the bills and how quickly they are adding up (first a neuter and a teeth clean and a full physical, now bloodwork and bajillions of other tests). He started as a $50 dog, and now has already cost us upwards of $600. Needless to day, we don't have that kind of money. I hate to bring money into a discussion about my feelings but it has been extremely stressful knowing that he might be really sick and we might not be able to care for him.
The SPCA didn't tell us anything about the fact that he might be epileptic! The vet is saying that there is a 95% chance that he is. I just want to get everything figured out so that we can get him well and start to enjoy having a dog.
Today has been extremely stressful. I didn't sleep much last night because I wanted to be sure to hear him if he had a seizure, and then today has been very very emotional. I'm feeling sad because the poor little guy is just helpless when he has these seizures and there's nothing we can do but wait for him to come out of it and clean up after him afterwards (they can be very messy), guilty for indulging my impulsive side and adopting Oscar, and ashamed that I'm even worried about money...
It has been a rough day.
I think I will be doing some therapeutic knitting this weekend. I haven't picked up Madli's Shawl in over two months, and I think now is a great time to focus on something that really will grab my attention and put my mind on something other than worrying.
I also was able to get through the first 5 pages of a 10 page paper. I guess worry has fueled me to get things done. Might as well do something with the nervous energy. We pick Oscar up tonight at 5. I'll try to post an update later. Keep him in your thoughts.

Oscar Part Two

Poor Cow...
Originally uploaded by jeredb.

The first night of having Oscar at home went off without a hitch.
We are keeping him in our upstairs bathroom for a few weeks to get the cats accustomed to the scent of him and to get him used to the smell of the house/cats/us. We have a little fenced in back yard that we let him out in for a few hours today and we've been on lots of walks. The cats were pretty upset when they saw him in the back yard, lots of hissing and growling! It is going to be a while before we're going to bring him in the house and introduce him to the cats face-to-face.
I've read a lot about Cairn Terrirs and most of what I've read says that they are hunting dogs, which worries me a little because I don't want our cats to die! I think the slower we go with the introduction the better things will work out in the long run.
Oscar pees, a lot. All over everything. When we walk him he pees on every bush, every patch of grass, everything! We're having a hard time with him in his "den" too since he misses the newspaper sometimes. He's an adult dog (as far as we know) and he's not housebroken which is anxiety producing. Tomorrow is his vet appointment for his "snip" and rabies shots etc. I'm hoping after his alteration he'll cool it a little with the peeing on things. Maybe we just need more toys? :)