Below The Fold

Tough week.

Lulu had a grand mal seizure last Thursday. It was four in the morning, and this amazing ruckus came from her kennel a few feet away from our bed. I jumped out and flicked on the light switch and there she was, rigid as a board and convulsing uncontrollably. She lay on her side with the tip of her tongue sticking out slightly, and I swear if she wasn’t shaking, I’d have thought rigor had set in. She looked exactly like the animals we used to lay next to the door of the crematorium before we cremated them at the shelter. I didn’t enjoy the recollection.

The event lasted a minute at most. Then she calmed down and spent the next half hour looking scared out of her wits. Eventually, a rib bone helped her find her center again, and I brought her in to the vet’s office the next morning. They ran a full spectrum blood analysis that showed her to be in top notch health, which is good. The downside—we can’t figure out what triggered the seizure. She’s not a purebred, so a genetic issue is less likely. Our best guess is she may have lunged against the kennel door to scare the cat—she does that from time to time—and hit her head. We’ve watched her very closely since then, and there hasn’t been a repeat performance, so that’s good. The whole episode cost us $200, but then, my vet—not an assistant, mind you—but the vet herself called Saturday afternoon—just to follow up. Which she has every single time we’ve had one of our animals in for care.

In my previous life, I had the luxury of working with some of the state’s (and, given Colorado’s penchant for attracting the finest vets in the country, country’s) finest vets, and I couldn’t be happier with our current vet—Dr. Tyler at the animal hospital at Hampden and Monaco. The woman is engaged, brilliant, knowledgeable, thorough, caring and dedicated. She takes a personal stake in the health of the animals she sees. She also boards and has a grooming service available. I can’t recommend her and her lovely staff enough. If you have any reason to seek out a vet, you would be remiss not to at least consult with her. She’s at 6461 E. Hampden Ave, Denver, 80222. Her number’s 303-639-9595.