<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN">
<HTML><HEAD>
<META content="text/html; charset=US-ASCII" http-equiv=Content-Type>
<META name=GENERATOR content="MSHTML 8.00.6001.19019"></HEAD>
<BODY style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial; COLOR: #000000; FONT-SIZE: 12pt" id=role_body bottomMargin=7 leftMargin=7 rightMargin=7 topMargin=7><FONT id=role_document color=#000000 size=3 face=Arial>
<DIV>Turning to my DD family yet again ... </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>My friend's sweet 2-year-old dog is five weeks pregnant. She is
usually the bounciest, most playful energizer bunny, but now she sleeps all the
time, is uncomfortable, pants, shivers, just seems sick; low-grade sick, nothing
dramatic or obvious. It's been going on for at least a week (I babysit
her most days). If she were my dog, I would have had her at the vet a
week ago, but my friend (who adores the dog, there's no question of neglect)
insists that it's just natural for a pregnancy.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Is that true? I can understand the clinginess and sleep, but she just
seems ... sick. Not critically, but I worry that there's some underlying
thing that could be hurting her or the puppies. But then again, never
having had a baby myself, I don't know how morning sickness can really make you
feel. She didn't eat for a few days, still is not overly interested in
food (unusual for her), but she is eating most of her meals.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Thanks for any advice or insights! I've suggested twice that my
friend take her to the vet, but she dismisses me as a worry-wort (which, of
course, I am, famous for it -- I brought the dog to the vet when she was bopped
in the head during play a few months ago and couldn't open her eye -- the vet
(Blueberry's vet too, who I've known for years) took us in immediately and said,
"I looked out and saw Nervous Nellie in the waiting room and I thought -- well,
I'd better get this over with as soon as possible." Dog, vet, and Nervous
Nellie were all fine.).</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Beth H. (Duchess ATB and Blueberry ATB, who were being constantly
dragged to the vet, poor things)</DIV></FONT></BODY></HTML>