Having a Sick Pet

One thing about the Crescenta Valley: we love our pets. Take a stroll down Honolulu Avenue and it’s not uncommon to see water bowls set out for our four-legged friends and dogs enjoying patio dining with their owners or “pet parents.” Over the years it was not uncommon to see the Goldsworthy bunch walking our dogs (we’ve always had dogs) whether in the foothills near where we live or along Honolulu Avenue. One of our boys – Little Bear – was a party on four paws. He was social boy, always looking for a good time – even if it was outside our backyard. When I worked at another local paper I can’t tell you how many times I’d get a call that would begin, “Do you have a dog named Little Bear?” Seems the boy had the urge to go wandering and he would end up in the yards of the nicest people. I’m just fortunate that, with all of his wandering, he never got eaten, lost or hit. Of course, he wasn’t a tiny dog; Little Bear was a Chow mix who was named “Little Bear” for a good reason.

A couple of years ago he suffered a stroke and within 48 hours was on the Rainbow Bridge.

His buddies were Riley and Kona. Riley, a senior pup, was adopted by us after his owner (a local resident) came down with dementia and couldn’t care for him any longer. He was a good boy; we were lucky to have him for a couple of years before he, too, died.

On Monday morning this week, Kona woke Steve and me up around 5:30 a.m. He was throwing up and couldn’t walk straight. I immediately was afraid that he, like Little Bear, had a stroke though he didn’t look as altered as Little Bear had.

I eventually lay down on the couch to keep my eyes on him and before long both he and I fell asleep. When I awoke a couple of hours later he was still wobbly so I called our vet at Crescenta-Cañada Pet Hospital. (Side note: we have been going to the professionals at CC Pet for decades. I can’t say enough about the level of service and the kindness shown to our family by their staff.) I took Kona in and left him for a battery of tests.

I was able to pick him up on Monday late afternoon/early evening with a bagful of medications. Rather than a stroke, our boy may have vertigo caused by an inner ear infection. That’s fixable and I’m cautiously optimistic that in no time he’ll be back to normal.

Now to get those medicines into him…