Update

Last night I talked to the vet and she told me that WiFi's red and white blood cell counts were very low. Low white blood cell count was to be expected, but she was more surprised with the low red cell count. They started giving him glucose with his fluids and were hoping for an improvement this morning.

So this morning I called and they told me that as far as his energy level and visible symptoms he was not looking any better. He was, however, eating some food on his own.

In my mind, that's a good sign. If he's eating food then that tells me that he's feeling slightly better and that he wants to fight this sickness. He hasn't given up on himself.

She also told me I could go visit him anytime. I was extremely excited and of course we went and visited him immediately.

They were right, he is still lethargic and not himself. I can tell that he doesn't feel good.

However he stood up to greet us and gave us lots of licks. I didn't see a tail wag, but I saw some heart. He looks better than he did yesterday and the day before. On those days he didn't want to be near us, he kept walking away from us.

But today he wanted to be close to us and interact with us.

We checked him for visible signs of distemper and so far none besides the ones that were already present and could easily be signs of kennel cough/dog flu.

No tough padding on his feet, no lesions on his stomach, no vomiting, no diarrhea, no red in his eyes and his gums look good.

Of course this doesn't mean for sure that he doesn't have distemper. Not all dogs have all the symptoms. However, at least I can still hope. As long as the calluses, seizures and tough padding don't show up... I can at least hope that something else caused his pneumonia and that he can get over it.

It was so good to see my little man. I'm going to go visit him again after work if I'm allowed and hopefully we will see a little improvement or at least no deterioration.

Maybe tomorrow he will wag his tail or nibble a little on my finger. I would be oh so happy if that happened.

Also, he's growing. He's bigger than he was. I know this is normal for a puppy but I just didn't expect for him to all of a sudden be bigger.

I don't think I would ever adopt another animal from the SPCA. I know it's not REALLY their fault and that they did give him distemper and kennel cough shots when they got him. However the vet told me that 75% of their kennel cough cases come from the SPCA and people who have just adopted. Hmmmm.

Also I'm pretty sure that they got him only a few days before I adopted him. Signs of sickness aren't going to show up that quickly if he already had it. Why wouldn't they at least warn me that he could have already been sick, despite being immunized?

I would never buy an animal from a breeder or from a stupid pet store but if there ever is a next time then I would definitely adopt from a different, cleaner animal rescue center. My mom adopted her two dogs from a center that was kept up nicer and they were healthy and happy as could be.

I also am irritated that the first vet I saw (at the SPCA) who diagnosed him with kennel cough did not warn me at all about the possibility of it actually being something else and what to watch for. It would have taken him 2 minutes to explain to me the danger of my puppy getting pneumonia or that if his symptoms besides coughing persisted he might have the flu or something else.

If he had taken the time to do that I would have been more informed and would have taken WiFi back to the vet a few days earlier than I did.

I just had absolutely no idea that it could ever be anything more serious than kennel cough or that his "kennel cough" could get into his lungs.

One thing is for certain, if WiFi makes it through this I will be a much better informed puppy parent. I've learned to do my own research and educated myself on what is most important to watch for.

Still, I feel like the doctor had a responsibility to share that information with me and he didn't.

I cannot help but feel slighted and upset with the SPCA.

The vet we're going to now is much better at actually explaining to me what is going on, what we're looking for in terms of improvement or deterioration, and what things like a low red blood cell count can mean. I am happy that we took him to a more expensive facility because I think they are providing him with much better care.

The good news?



WiFi still loves scratches behind his ears. :)