She's got an appetite? That's always a good sign.
Yeah, it is a good sign! She is a lab, so it's like the sign of imminent death if a lab isn't hungry. Sigh. Before I got her, she ate a toy at the shelter. No one knew until about two days after I had her. She was at the shelter for awhile before she was remote meant tested for service dog work and adopted by me. She was just 4 months old, and I had roommates back then. One of them dropped a pasta dish, the dish broke, and my roommate didn't clean it up right away. (I dunno why...) My sweet pup ran up and took a big bite of the pasta and broken glass. I grabbed her rushed her to the vet. I felt like the worst dog owner... Everyone told me it wasn't my fault. She was in my sight, but I didn't see the food and glass on the floor until it was too late.
She had to have major surgery to pull out the glass, and we discovered she had the old toy in her belly too, with the shelter's name still on it. After that surgery, the vet said it would be days before she would want to eat again. It was about 3 minutes before she was begging for treats.
I have done a lot to train her to not eat stuff, and she does well now. But I was still initially worried she had eaten something else now and it was causing GI problems. I worried we were looking at another "forgein object" surgery. Vet said it doesn't seem like that's the case. We will do x-rays down the road if nothing improves.
The vet said that 8 times out of 10, suddenly sick Labradors have eaten something that's making them sick.
This might be a stupid question, but is it possible she's just tired? Maybe she was hunting a bug all night?
That's what I thought at first, and I asked the vet about that. My dog walks funny, very hunched over with her tail tucked and drags her back feet. It looks like she is in pain. Vet said it might be that she strained her back and is coping by sleeping it off and walking funny. So it's a strong possibility that she is tired and sore and simply needs some rest. Dogs tend to listen to their bodies better than humans, and if they need rest, they rest. :)
It's all stirring up a lot of feelings I have about the fact that she's a working dog. She goes with me lots of places and she lives a pretty full life. She's throughly spoiled and has better health insurance than even me. Still, she has a tough job.
I also wonder if maybe she picked up on some extra stress I have been feeling and is somehow stressed out. the vet said stressed out dogs tend to have more engery, not less.
I'm hopefully overthinking it and after a bit of rest she will be back on her feet again. I want her to be ok.
