Alpha says it's great to be alive!!!

A couple of you caught on that Alpha needed a lot of good wishes last week. 


Last week, Alpha suffered acute renal failure. We are so lucky that this happened when we were back home because the vet who literally wrote the book on urology and nephrology is on the staff at the University of Tennessee College of Veterinary Medicine where our regular vet is. It all started with Alpha throwing up and not wanting to eat food - which is actually not that uncommon for a dog to get an upset stomach every once in a while. But for some reason this time I decided to take her to the vet to get her checked out and I am so very glad that I did. Alpha stayed in the ICU for 4 days - and a couple of those first days they couldn't even tell us if she was going to make it. And then they didn't know how much damage her kidneys had sustained (and kidneys don't really recover). Luckily they got to her soon enough that it looks like she will regain full function of her kidneys!! 


Here is how Alpha is doing less than 1 week after getting out of the ICU: 





She's almost back to her crazy self - except she has a silly shaved belly now! 


Alpha's x-rays and ultrasounds all came back normal and her initial lepto test was negative. The vets do not know why she went into acute renal failure but they suspect she had a kidney infection. They said that 85% of acute renal failures have an undetermined cause. 


We are so thankful for all of the people who helped our little Alpha and took care of her at UTCVM. And we are so very thankful for Dr. Raditic, our regular vet, I have no idea what I would do without her! 


So give all your puppies lots of kisses and I hope every moment you spend with them is full of happiness!