When I called Trenton to see what he thought about bringing home a new beagle puppy, his first reaction was, "You've got to be kidding me." I took that as a yes, and so he became the newest member of our family.
We agreed on the name, "Red" because Trenton loves the Husker's so much, and because he is a little red head with freckles.
Unfortunately, while we were at the park playing with the new pup, he started violently vomiting. He threw up 7 times before we got him home and he continued getting sick throughout the day. Later that afternoon we got a call from the humane society suggesting we take him into the vet because his entire litter had been diagnosed with Parvovirus, which is a very contagious and deadly disease for dogs. We did take him in and he tested positive for parvo. The vet said that without hospitalization and iv treatment, he only had about a 6% chance of survival. But we were told that it would be $1500 a day and he would most likely need to stay in for 10-15 days. We obviously didn't have money for that, so we chose to take our chances and do everything we could for him at home.
The vet sent us home with an IV bag full of saline and antibiotics. We gave that to him subcutaneously twice a day. We also force fed him water, pedialyte, and puppy formula through a syringe every 15 minutes 'round the clock. We took shifts through the night and barely slept for several days. It was heartbreaking when we pulled the kids in to explain the situation and that Red might not make it. We had all fallen in love with him in such a short amount of time, it was all so heart-wrenching. We felt helpless. But it turned out to be one of the most precious teaching moments about life and death and how all that relates to Heavenly Father and our faith in him. We prayed over Red and asked for the strength for all of us to do what was needed to help him heal.
Each day I tried offering him foods I thought he'd enjoy. Eggs, chicken, soft puppy food covered in gravy. And he just pushed it all around without taking bites. He was getting so weak and skinny. There was one night I remember in particular, thinking that he might not make it until morning. We just snuggled and loved him the best we could.
But then our other dog, Charlotte took over. Up until this point, we had kept her quarantined, but then we learned that she had been vaccinated for it and was less susceptible since she is an older dog. We decided to let Charlotte work her motherly magic.
And of course, the kids gave him plenty of love too.
Miraculously, Red began to improve. His appetite slowly returned and he had a little more energy. Trenton and I couldn't have done it without Emma. She was also instrumental in Red's recovery. She rarely left his side and talked gently to him, telling him stories and singing lullaby's to him.
Before we knew it, he was completely better! It only took a few weeks for him to completely regain his strength. And he hasn't looked back.
I think all of our other animals were happy with his recovery too.
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