A Pain in Tomas's A**

Many of you know that Tomas had quite a week and he certainly gave new meaning to having a pain in the ass. On Wednesday morning he woke up with Lily for her early morning puppy potty run which is basically unheard of. Tomas isn't fond of early mornings (much like his owners!), so he usually sleeps through Lily's first potty break. A.R. noticed he had some diarrhea and was straining a big but didn't think anything of it. Sometimes when Tomas gets too many treats or an extra table scrap he gets an upset belly.

He's too embarrassed to look at the camera.

When Lily asked to go out for the 2nd morning potty run Tomas immediately wanted to come along again. I'm in charge of the second run and right away I could see something was wrong with him. He kept trying to poop, but only a teeny bit came out. I noticed his hiney looked funny, so I took a closer look and it was raw like he had been licking it and swollen. I called the vet and they squeezed him in for a late morning appointment. I decided to work from home to be with him until his appointment, but I had to run into the office to get some paperwork. By the time I had showered and dressed Tomas was lying on the bathroom floor shaking from the pain he was in. I rushed to my office and was halfway there when A.R. called to tell me Tomas was bleeding from his hiney.

I rushed back home and by the time I got there Tomas was dripping blood although he wouldn't let me close enough to see where it was coming from. He had just been groomed on Sunday, so I immediately thought of his anal glands. Once I saw the blood, I said the heck with his appointment time and rushed him to the vet where they saw him right away. The nurse made me feel like an overreacting fur baby mommy upon initially examining him by saying she thought he just had a hot spot that he'd licked raw. Then the vet took him to the back room for a closer examination and came back right away to tell me she suspected a ruptured anal gland and that he would need surgery to drain, clean, and pack the gland. I was speechless.

A very sleepy Tomas when he got home

I signed the release for surgery and then the vet (LOVE her!) let me say goodbye to our Little Bit before he was put under. A long 4 hours later I called and found out he had done well in surgery and was just waking up. We brought him home a few hours later and set him up in our bathroom (so he wouldn't bleed/ooze on the carpet) for the night. He now has one of those totally "hawt" collars so he can't lick the healing wound and is on two pain killers and an antibiotic. We (insert "I" here as A.R. has been a bit squeamish) have to apply hot compresses and hydrogen peroxide twice a day to keep the wound open so it drains and heals from the inside out.

Today, Tomas is doing MUCH better! He has enlisted Lily to chew on his collar to bust him out of it (I swear they are going to gang up on us one day and take over rule of the household...) and is starting to try and play again. Watching him with the collar on is painful and funny. He walks into walls and furniture constantly (I cringe with a 1/2 smile every time- poor guy!) and when he sniffs the ground outside he gets caught as the terrain shifts. We had to switch his original collar out for a larger one because he managed to maneuver and still lick his boo boo. While he was at the vet, she took a look at his wound and said it was healing perfectly.

Thank God my baby boy is feeling better and also I'm completely relieved that just last month A.R. and I got pet insurance through VPI, so his illness and surgery is covered after a small deductible. Pet insurance is by far one of our better investments and I'm so thankful our little guy received the best care possible!

H