For the love of the dog

I was all settled in to watch the Grammys, upstairs where the big-screen TV is, knitting in hand. I watched the red carpet show on E! and was about an hour into the awards program when my husband came upstairs and said Hershey was sick.

We'd noticed earlier in the day that she was shivering, which was odd because it certainly wasn't dog-chillingly cold yesterday. In fact, we enjoyed temperatures in the low 50s most of the afternoon. When the shaking hadn't stopped by mid-evening, we began to get worried enough to consult Dr. Google.

Hershey

I looked up "shaking," "shivering" and "tremors" under Dog Symptoms in the Pet section of WebMD. Out of all the possibilities, she either might have the sudden and inexplicable "White Dog Shaking Syndrome," which was identified because it originally affected small white dogs but can affect all breeds, colors and sizes. OR she could have eaten something outside that has made her sick. Because the only thing she eats inside is kibble. (Chocolate, for instance, is a people food that is poisonous to dogs and shaking is one of the symptoms of poisoning.)

She hasn't eaten any kibble since yesterday morning. Another symptom. She might be drinking more water than usual, it's hard to say. Maybe we're just looking for Things Out Of The Ordinary. (She reluctantly and slowly ate one of her favorite treats last night, but refused the less-favored ones we keep upstairs.)

At any rate, I abandoned the Grammys and Hershey and I went to bed early. I just wanted her to be comfortable, and I could easily find out if Mumford & Sons won anything in the morning. (I did get to see them perform, and was delighted that Adele won for Best Pop Solo.)

And so here we are, waiting until 8 a.m. when the vet's office opens and we can take her in. She hates-hates-hates riding in the car. She shakes like a leaf the entire time, and I dread making her go through that on top of the already continuous shivering she's experiencing anyway. I hope she knows we're doing it so that she'll eventually feel better again.

The weigh-in this morning was great, as I knew it would be. I compulsively checked my weight on the other scale as well. According to it, I've lost a total of five pounds since Christmas. According to the body-fat scale I've lost 7.5. I'll be sticking with the body-fat scale from now on. My body fat percentage is shockingly high (43%!), but no more so than it was when I bought the scale. So there's that. Jen, I will take your cautions about it under advisement, with many thanks. It will be a good lesson in treating these numbers as information only.

This is the part of being a dog-mom I really don't like. They can't tell you what's wrong, but you sure do know something is. Here's hoping Hershey will be feeling like her old self sooner rather than later.