Dixie & Meg

While Meg and I were watching SYTYCD, I looked down and noticed that Dixie had curled up next to Megan and Meg had covered her with a blanket. 

Meg and Dixie have had a difficult relationship.  Dixie isn’t much for kids.  She likes her own space and doesn’t like to be bothered.  When we brought Meg home from the hospital, Dixie didn’t know what to make of her.  She sniffed her, but didn’t go out of her way to know her. 

 

However, after a few weeks of adjusting to a new way of life, we would find Dixie sleeping in the doorway of Meg’s room.  It was every night, but it happened more nights than not.  It was a cute little thing that made me think Dixie was finally coming around.  As Meg has gotten older, Dixie has tolerated her more and more every day.  I have loved watching their relationship develop. 

A little know fact about Dixie – she has Addison’s Disease.  Addison’s Disease is a condition in which a dog’s adrenal gland doesn’t produce enough adrenaline.  Dixie was diagnosed on July 2, 2004.  I was 7 months pregnant with Megan.  Addison’s is misdiagnosed almost 100% of the time.  The day I took her into the vet, she was throwing up and wouldn’t eat.  She was diagnosed with Renal Failure. 

Dixie had to spend about 3 days in the hospital getting fluids and being observed.  We brought her home on a Friday evening and everything seemed to be fine.  Friday night, she was her adorable perky self.  Saturday she was starting to get sick again…I even remember telling Jarrad that I thought she was “trying to die on me”.  Keep in mind I was 7 months pregnant – Jarrad’s response was “I think you’re right”.  It about pushed me over the edge.  She stayed pretty stable thru Monday night…

On Tuesday, she started to throw up, so I helped her out of the house as quickly as possible.  When we got to the front porch, she collapsed.  I didn’t take any chances, I loaded her up into the car and headed straight to the vet.  I called them ahead of time to let them know I was on my way and that Dixie was very sick. 

 

Dixie’s vet wasn’t working that Tuesday, so she was seen by a new vet.  The vet immediately put her fluids and told me she had an idea of what was wrong with Dixie and would cal me with the results.  She tested for Dixie for Addison’s and it came back positive.  So, we had a diagnosis and it was treatable! 

Dixie gets medicine every day, and blood work every 6 months.  If you were to look at her today, you’d never know she is sick.  We have had one relapse where she had to spend 24 hours in the hospital, but other than that, she’s been her normal perky self.