Sadie the Fatty

A couple of months ago in October was Sadie's yearly check-up and renewal of vaccines, etc. Andy was the one who took her to the vet and I had told him to ask them to check her urine because she had been having a lot of pee accidents recently (which she never has-she was potty-trained quickly as a puppy and never has accidents) and I had investigated online and it said that they could have a bladder infection if they start having problems with accidents where they normally wouldn't.



Anyway, after her exam and shots, they took her outside to get a urine sample and found a bladder stone in her pee. They took her in to get x-rays to see if there were any more and sure enough there were. Some of them were too large for her to be able to pass which was causing a bladder infection, which was causing her to have accidents. They also told us that in the dog world, she would be considered obese. I knew she had gained a bit of weight since we spayed her the year before (which is normal for a female dog to do-especially because we don't walk her nearly as much as we should :) but when Andy told me she weighed 18 1/2 pounds, I was shocked! A her appointment last year, she weighed 12, which was in the normal-high range. She should probably weigh about 10-11. They said that could be contributing to the bladder stones, but also that some dogs are just more suseptible to them.

They gave us an antibiotic and also some special food for a new diet she was to start so we could see if we could get these bladder stones broken down. If they didn't break down with this course of treatment, she'll have to have surgury.... which would cost $1600. WHAT?! Andy told me that this new diet of special food and antibiotics better work because there is no way we are spending that much money on a dog. He kind of doesn't like her much... can you tell? :)

Anyway, we've been doing it for nearly 3 months. She has lost 5 pounds and is down to 13 1/2. She is so much more active and wants to play all the time, just like she used to when she was a puppy. I can't believe how much more energy she's had recently. Before, she would just lay in her bed all day long (as seen in the picture above :) She was so lazy! And now we can hardly keep up with her!

The vet called the other day and told us it was time to bring her in for her new x-ray to see if the diet worked and see if the bladder stones have been broken down and disappeared. We will probably wait until after the new year to go get that done, but I'm hoping it worked! I'm not quite sure what we'll do if it didn't. We love our Sadie dog and hope she gets to be with us healthy and happy for many years to come!