crockett: back to doggie heaven...or hell?

This summer we went back up to Seneca Lake...but this time it wasn't quite what I was hoping for. A few days after arriving, I began feeling very sick. I didn't want to eat and I was terribly lethargic. As you might guess, that had my parents worried immediately. After a few days of this nonsense they finally bought me to the vet...we travelled far away to Ithaca, home of the top vet school in the US, Cornell University. They said I was in good hands, but I wasn't so sure.

The car ride to Ithaca...I was pitiful.

I showed up with my usual happy-to-see-you, wag-the-tail attitude and the vet surely thought they were crazy to bring me there (hee hee hee, I've got it down). They sent us home. Then the next morning, I didn't want to get up. At all. I didn't want to move. Mom started crying and I could barely look up at her, much less wag my tail when she approached. When they finally forced me to get up, I ran away to hide. I just felt awful and didn't want anyone to mess with me! That day when I began having head tremors, my parents knew this was no joke. They rushed me back to the hospital. So after another visit (I tried to act normal, but it was a little harder this time), they sent us home with some meds. They thought I had a skin infection of some sort. Boy were they wrong.

The next day got worse and when my temperature went above 105 degrees, my parents knew we had to go all the way back to see the vet again. This time they left me!! It was terrible...I had to undergo all sorts of tests...ultrasound, X-ray, fluid taken from my joints. The vet finally clued in that although my tests were negative for Lyme Disease, it was still possible that a tiny tick attacked and gave me something called Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever. They don't have this tick up in New York, so the vet didn't really consider the possibility. Turns out North Carolina has the highest incidents of RMSF! The medicine they gave me kicked in pretty quickly and my parents finally brought me home after 2 miserable nights in a cage at the hospital.

A week after getting to The Lake, I finally got to start enjoying it. Let's just say I was a tiny bit spoiled the whole time. What else is new?

Getting some lovin from the 'rents