Shower and Winston

So, the two things in the title of this blog have nothing to do with one another but both deserve to be talked about. First, I had my Alamosa baby shower yesterday at my friend Renee's home which was great. As it was probably my last chance at a social event before Wesley arrived I very much enjoyed it. When you know that staying at home for an indeterminate period of time is looming ahead of you it is nice to have something to put on makeup and nice clothes for. The food was yummy. The games were silly and fun. The presents were very appreciated... and most importantly the company was great. I will try to upload some pictures sometime soon.

And Winston... this afternoon I was laying on the couch with Winston behind my knees when I felt him twitching a lot. I sat up to find that his eyes were still open and that he had his legs pulled up really tight to his body. He was shaking a lot and it was clear that he was in distress. Reid came running into the room and we got Winston onto the floor. It was clear that he could not support himself on his legs. I called the emergency vet number and in the two minutes it took to get a vet to call us back he had started to relax. He was still shaking some but the muscles of his legs were relaxing. We described everything to the vet and he agreed that most likely it was a seizure. He told us to keep a close eye on him and if he has any more this evening we'll take him in on an emergency basis. If not, then we can take him in tomorrow to have some tests run to rule out a few causes of seizures in dogs. If all of those come back negative then chances are good we'll never know exactly what caused it.

We scoured the house and couldn't find anything he had gotten into (the first thing you think with a beagle!). Plus the fact that he isn't showing any gastro-intestinal discomfort makes me think it unlikely that he ingested a toxin. After we cuddled him for fifteen minutes or so he got up and wanted to go out. Reid took him out along with my mother's westie... and the two of them were bouncing around the back yard wrestling and chasing one another just like they always do. You would have had NO idea that twenty minutes before Winston was effectively paralyzed. He came in and has been peacefully sleeping on the sofa for most of the afternoon (minus one quick run to the kitchen when I offered all of the dogs a "t-r-e-a-t" to make sure that he was willing to get up and move around... for a treat, you betcha!). So... Reid will take him to the vet tomorrow (so long as this evening goes smoothly) and we may or may not ever know exactly what happened. But, if you wouldn't mind keeping Winston in your thoughts (along with Wesley and myself), I'd appreciate it!