Close Call

Miss Emma is my Chinese Crested Hairless Foster girl that weighs in at 17 lbs. That's about 10lbs more than she should weigh. She's also had a life of laying in the sun because she's burnt brown and her hair is sun bleached white. Neither of these things are good for a Crested, especially one that's 10 yrs old. Yesterday, I'm sitting on the floor working on whats left of our back door after years of dogs chewing through it, when I see Emma try to stand and fall down. My first thought was the old gal didn't think about it before she tried it. Then she tried again and fell to her side..... legs straight out. That's when I jumped up and grabbed her. Carried her to a blanket and began to assess her condition. She was foaming at the mouth, thrashing about, throwing her head back and I could hear her barely wheezing air into her lungs. That's when she stiffened, peed herself and the eyes rolled back in her head. Perfect symptoms of a seizure, except she had quit breathing. Years of training kicked in and I went into action. Check for object in throat. Tilt head back and make sure airway is clear. Pinch nose and administer CPR. Breathe... one.... two.... three.... four. Breathe... one.... two.... three.... four. Breathe... one.... tw She coughed, spit her tongue out at me, rolled to her side and continued wheezing. At least now, although she seemed a bit out of sorts, she was calming down. I grabbed a large towel, wrapped it around her and we were out the door. This girly was NOT gonna die on my watch. By the time we got to the vet, she had calmed down almost back to her normal state of fidgety. They did blood work, checked every vital and decided she could have had one of three things. A Seizure, A blood clot that passed, or a heart attack. Emma has a Heart Murmur and yesterday they said her murmur was Very Loud, so based on that they were going with a heart attack, even though her symptoms were very much like a seizure. So, whatever it was that happened, I now have refrigerated suppositories in case she has a seizure-like episode again. I still can't seem to brush and gargle enough to get the old dog taste out of my mouth. She slept last night a little rough and is still asleep this morning. She didn't even want breakfast, so she MUST be sick. I'll just keep my eye on her and hope for the best and if she does pass on my watch, I hope it's peacefully. The things we do for our four-legged friends!! btw... thanks for the pic Miriam!!