Maggie Maybell

I got Maggie around the end of March/beginning of April in 2000.  She was tiny and cute and called Checkers.  I adopted her through an organization called Angel Dogs.  They told me that she was a mix of beagle and walker hound and that a hunter dropped off the mixed puppies because they only wanted pure breeds to hunt with.  I had never owned a dog a liked.  I remember two from childhood - a female lab who always ran away so we gave her to some friends who had property and a farm and a male cockapoo who was pretty tempermental and kinda mean.  So Maggie is the first dog I've ever actually liked.

She turned 10 on February 21 of this year.  She's my first "kid" ever.  And I adore her.

So the last 24 hours has been really rough.  At 9:30 last night, Maggie threw up.  I'm sure she's thrown up before, but this seemed odd.  At 10:30 she hacked all of her dinner on the floor at the foot of my bed.  At 1:00 a.m. she'd thrown up about 4 times in the living room - one of which was huge and a dark brown color.  She got sick again a couple times and we finally put her outside around 5 a.m.  At 6:30 a.m. she finally drank some water and then by 7:30 it was all up too.  I was afraid, but not sure what I could do...it wasn't obvious what was actually wrong.  No evidence of anything she'd eaten in the yard...

At 8:45 I called the vet and got us an 11:15 appointment.  I called Jeff to work out our schedule.

Ella had her 18 month old check up at 9:30 so I needed to get to that first.  That went well - three shots and impressing the staff with her verbal and social skills.

Jeff got home at 10:30 and I got home with Ella right after him.  We unloaded the Target groceries and I covered the back section of my car to transport Maggie to the vet.

At 11:20 Dr. Taylor (the owner of the vet) came in to see Maggie - who had barely had enough energy to walk to the car, or into the vet, or even to the exam room.  He was worried enough and immediately had them set up for x-rays.  No blockages that he could see, but he was concerned that it seemed she had not gone to the bathroom (#2).  So he decided he was going to keep her for the rest of the day - overnight - and most of the day tomorrow.  She's in a cage, hooked up to IVs, and alone when she's usually asleep near my feet as I watch t.v. and then asleep on her bed next to mine.  I did run the sweatshirt I'd been sleeping in and one of her favorite stuffed animals up to the vet, but didn't go see her because I had Ella with me and I think she would've been upset and not able to understand.

So I'm really upset tonight...I'm afraid it is more than just something minor.  I'm tired from getting up throughout the night to clean up after her (Jeff did a few of those too).  I'm snippy and short and have a bad attitude.

I just want her home with ME.  It just stinks.  I'm sad.  I want my dog to be okay.

Okay - just needed to vent.  Thanks...