Mystery Of The Screaming Puppy

Eight a.m., and I woke abruptly. In the other room, Sparky was screaming at the top of his fluid-clogged lungs. I jumped out of bed and ran over to see what was going on.

When I got to Sparky, he stopped. He was coughing, as he always does now with his chronic heart disease, but he didn't seem to be in unusual distress. Had he been dreaming? Did he have a cramp? Did he have a heart attack? Clearly, it was time to make a visit to the vet. So, this afternoon, it was off to Rancho Cordova (where Sparky's vet is located).

A new woman vet looked at Sparky. The first thing she noticed was his bright-pink crayon of a penis. "Is it stuck?" she said, meaning his foreskin. It didn't look particularly stuck to me (but I'm not a trained vet). "I have some lube that might help with that," she added with a slight smile.

She had blood tests done, and X-Rays done, and carefully checked Sparky out for anything that might cause acute or chronic pain. His lungs contain too much fluid; particularly the right lung. Sparky's kidney function is increasingly-impaired and the heart medications require working kidneys to be effective. So, the vet suggested a regimen of antibiotics in case a kidney infection is at work (I vetoed a urine culture, however, to pin down exactly what bacteria might, or might not, be at work). She also prescribed increasing the heart medication dosages, in a more aggressive effort to contain the coronary disease.

I hope this $315 effort is enough to keep the puppy from mysterious night screams.