The shivering began a few days prior to our latest holiday.
The weather was still fairly cool...
so we assumed that being a southern California girl...
that Roxy was feeling a bit chilled.
It seemed confirmed that evening once we went into the house.
The following day was her trip to the vet for booster shots
and the obligatory heart worm test.
She was very good for the vet and the office visit went well.
No heart worms detected.
She didn't bat an eye at the shots.
Off we trundled home, preventative meds in hand.
That night the shivering returned.
I thought...
okay, my babies used to have reactions from shots,
why should the dog be any different?
It would pass.
The weather turned hotter and we thought this might help.
Pup would wake up happy and energetic
but by evening she was back to quaking.
She stopped eating treats...
but her food always vanished in the night
and her water dish continued to need a refill.
Then it was the 4th of July.
We knew from a previous shooting outing that Roxy does not like gun fire.
As the little crackers began early in the day...
she moved into the bathroom and jammed herself
between the tub and the toilet.
So I removed the toilet rug and replaced it with her favorite blanket.
The man set up the boom box and after trying several
stations settled on soft Christian rock...
cranked up to drown the sound of rockets.
Roxy managed to survive the celebration with continued quakes,
and remained glued to her safety zone.
We had already decided to make a vet appointment on the following day.
A fierce pig bull should not shake and shiver.
But Tuesday morning she came out of her bathroom and greeted the day full of happy wiggles.
She was still turning her nose up to pig ears... he favorite treat...
but accepted the vita bones from her cookie jar
with her usual dainty and careful bite.
She seemed so much better!
Around 4:00 PM the quivering began anew.
Damn.
This continued for a few days with the shakes growing dimmer.
Two days ago she once more began accepting pig ears...
and happily ran out to the lawn to devour them.
The crisis had passed.
Last night we were out in the shop enjoying the evening.
The shop door... a standard garage door... was up.
My happy pup wedged herself under my chair and began to shiver.
About that time we heard a very faint, very distant soft thud
of a firework.
I never imagined that her hearing was so good.
Poor thing!
As it turns out, it is only fireworks that make her quake.
Her hearing is so good that she hears crackers that we can't.
So please people... now that the celebration is over...
would you please stop shooting off fireworks until New Year?
It would mean the world to one very fierce pig bull.
Thank you!
My greyhound had the same disorder.
ReplyDeletesecret agent woman- Poor things! I felt really bad for her.
ReplyDeleteOh poor thing. I hope she feels better soon.
ReplyDeleteI noticed your lovely icon and wondered if you had a pet rabbit. Guess not. But the picture looks a lot like my bunny. So I wanted to take a look.
Shopgirl- Hello! Welcome here down the hole! Thank you for visiting.
ReplyDeleteActually I did have rabbits... house rabbits who were cat box trained and gave us many years of interesting fun. They are wonderful pets. But it would not be safe to have one with Roxy. I do miss them though... they have such funny personalities.
ruby does the exact same thing. she goes crazy with fireworks.
ReplyDeletethe first halloween she wedged herself between some furniture and the wall and chewed her front leg raw. any little noise will cause her to seek shelter.
billy pilgrim- Oh no! Poor Ruby. So far Roxy has not chewed on herself. That would have freaked me out. So much for all those stories about how horrible pits are. I'm starting to think that if you stomped really hard that it would scare Roxy away. Give Ruby a good pat for me.
ReplyDeletePoor pup...imagine her hearing those noises that in their fainter forms we don't give a thought to.
ReplyDeleteOkay, people...call a halt to the explosions until New Years or whenever you simply must have them again. Geez.
My sister's pit bull does the very same thing. Pumpkin becomes a quivering mess during thunderstorms too. She won't even go outside if she hears some faraway thunder claps.
ReplyDeletelaura b.- I felt truly sorry for her. =:(
ReplyDeleteCube- Oh no! Thunder storms! I hope she doesn't have that problem too. Poor things. Its kind of like having a one year old with an ear ache. You don't know how to fix it without the doc's help. All you can do is love on them and try to let them know how much you care.
ReplyDeleteAw, poor little pup! Their ears and other senses can be very sensitive. My mom's cat hears thunder before my mom does and cries to get into the walk-in closet. He wedges himself in back of the chair she has in there, and that's his favorite hiding place.
ReplyDelete