Our New Girl

We finally got a dog!!! After many debates and votes we landed on the name "Chili"! We like this name for several reasons: We live in Cincinnati and Chili is a big deal (we are the "Chili Capitol of America", she is brown and as soon as we said the name her ears perked up and we both agreed on the two syllable word and think this is unique to Cincinnati dogs:)

I am sure I will write a ton of blogs about her as time goes on, but I'm going to tell the story about how we got her first.

So, we had gone to several websites and a few shelters looking for a great dog to adopt. We finally ended up at the SPCA and had lots of dogs to choose from. Jim really fell in love with this beagle, but he was unavailable and already had someone interested in providing him a good home. So we kept testing out dogs, some were too wild, too shaggy, mean and then their was Chili. She was cute, playful and pretty calm. It was a big scary decision, but we took the leap and adopted her.

So home she came but as the night went on she started to develop a pretty bad cough! We kept her through the night Saturday but it got much worse come Sunday morning and she was beginning to leak mucus out her nose. Being that it is a Sunday, we had to make an emergency visit to the Pet ER.

I originally went alone, thinking it was not going to be a big deal and we'd get meds and be on our way. Well, I was sorely mistaken. The vet encouraged me to get X-Rays and test for pneumonia and worms. She warned me it was pricey, but I felt it was worth the investment.

Sure enough, the poor little girl has severe pneumonia. Her lungs a completely filled with fluid and that is why she is hacking up mucus and having trouble breathing. The vet also encouraged us to test for Parvo, cause with both her chances of survival are small and would most likely need to be put down (yes, I immediately was crying and called Jim and made him come up)! Luckily, she did not have Parvo and we developed a treatment plan.

We walked out of the ER with a $500 pet bill for a dog we had less than 24 hours. I am taking her to the vet today to figure out our next steps and hopefully get her back to normal. I am so excited to see her grow and what her personality is like. Right now, I think she's acting a little different than normal due to the infection.

She is just too cute and I hope we make good parents!