Life With Arlo: A Scary Emergency

My little Airedale Arlo hasn't been feeling well for the past few days. His appetite seemed to decrease with each passing day and yesterday he started vomiting. When he vomited again first thing this morning, turned his nose up at chicken baby food, and didn't urinate or defecate when he went outside this morning, I reached out to my dear friend Victoria, who just so happens to be a veterinarian.

Because Victoria is one of the kindest folks on the planet, she dropped what she was doing and met me at the animal hospital, where she examined Arlo and ran some bloodwork. I think we were both expecting him to simply need an antibiotic that would help with a GI issue, but when Victoria started looking at Arlo's bloodwork results, her opinion changed immediately. "We need to get him to the emergency clinic," she declared. "This isn't good."

Victoria called the emergency clinic in Frederick and spoke to the doctor. She explained the situation and stressed that Arlo needed to be seen quickly. She gave me the fiercest hug ever and sent us on our way, but continued to do research about his condition on her day off because she continued to send me information about it. She's just a gem of a person; I am insanely lucky to have her in my world.

In Frederick, the staff was so nice and patient. The doctor explained what Victoria already had, saying that the results of Arlo's bloodwork were indicative of something called Addison's disease. When I used to work as a veterinary technician, my boss at the time had a standard poodle with Addison's disease, so I am a little bit familiar with it. Until today, however, I did not realize that Airedales are prone to Addison's disease too.

Although the official diagnosis isn't in quite yet, I did just talk to the doctor in Frederick and he said that it's looking very much like Addison's disease is the culprit. Fortunately, this is very treatable, but despite this, both Arlo and I -- along with the rest of our four-legged family -- would appreciate any positive energy you're willing to send his way. He may not be a perfect boy, but he is a really good boy, and as my friend Emily says, "That whooooooooosh of relief in the pit of your stomach" is a very real thing when you hear a bit of promising news in regards to a loved one. I experienced it a few minutes ago and now the tears keep happening. The house feels weirdly empty without Arlo and I can't wait to have him back among the chaos... ideally creating much of that chaos.