Update on Chelsie's Health

As some of you know, Chelsie has been battling some sort of stomach bug for the past few weeks. She has really not been the same since early July - she was on a course of antibiotics to help clear up a skin infection, and just really has struggled since then. After competing at a trial in early July, she was quite ill - threw up 4 times (one of them all over my car as we were about to leave Cleveland - I nearly had a meltdown in the parking lot, this happened 5 days after I was laid off) and had an upset stomach all week. Initially, I chalked it up to the antibiotics wreaking havoc on her sensitive little belly. That worked for a few days, but when her belly was still upset 5 days later, I called the vet. She spent that weekend on a canned food diet and seemed to returns to her normal self. Until last Thursday...

I was able to get some more canned food and more medication to help the situation, as well as a visit with our regular vet on Tuesday. The food and medicine has not been nearly as successful this time, as she still continues to have an upset tummy. Additionally, she has lost 4 lbs in the last 4 weeks - 6 months ago, she was weighing in at 74 lbs, and on Tuesday, she weighed in at 64, 4 lbs. Six weeks ago, she was a trim, svelte 68 lbs and looking great - now, she is a little "ribby" as my vet says.

Other than the weight loss and upset tummy, she is her normal bouncy lab self. We had a significant amount of bloodwork done on Tuesday, all coming back very normal. Dr. B is quite perplexed, and is mildly concerned about the weight loss. I feel much better after this visit, because I was able to get her some dry food - the canned food was not enough and my girl was hungry. I have been able to adjust her food to her activity levels and she does not appear to be as hungry as she was. But we still have no apparent reason for her upset belly. To add insult to injury, the brown dog is spending the night.

I am hoping that my return to work will ease her situation - she is very sensitive to all aspects of me, and it is quite possible she is reacting to my stress. We had a pretty regimented schedule, and I am hoping that once we get back on that, she gets better. We had some nose to nose bonding time this morning...I had to butter her up before I got out the nail trimmers and gave her a pedi. Her poor mom is very worried about her, so if anyone has any other suggestions, I am all ears!!!