We drove up in two days as we usually do, staying at Alençon overnight this time. During the night Pogo threw up a couple of times and as the next day progressed it was clear that he was not feeling at all well. He was breathing badly and when we stopped for a break, he could barely be bothered to get out of the car. From Belgium, Kaye called to make an appointment with our old vet in Amsterdam at 6pm. We got there just in time. At first it seemed Pogo had just a bit of gastritis, possibly caused by each of us giving him a chewstick the night before. But his difficult breathing lead to an xray which showed what appeared to be asprirational pneumonia. (It's really not healthy to breathe your puke, is it?) He got a drip for liquid, antibiotics, a painkiller, and anti-nausea medicine. We took away a sackful of pills for him. More surprising, though, was that the xrays revealed he has been shot at some point! His little body has at least 5 pellets in it. He's never away from us, so we suspect that he might be been shotgunned while he was running loose. Poor doggy!
He was feeling perkier within a few hours and was pretty much back to normal by the time we left, although he did tire quickly for the first days. On the trip back he was his usual self, mostly napping but eager to get out and explore whenever we stopped. We had an unpleasant drive back through rain and high, gusty winds. We were happy to find the house dry.
Of course it really wasn't a surprise to find that the application for Ed's Carte Vitale was not waiting in the mail when we returned.
There was lots of rain while we were away, and the rain continues. Leaves are dropping from the trees so the fall looks damper and less colorful than when we left. Ed's busy chopping up the wood we've gotten for the winter. (The pieces have to be 50cm or shorter to fit in the wood-burning stove.)
Poor little Pogo. Glad he's feeling better.
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