WEEKENDS :: WORRIES

It's been a bit of a worrying week in the Olive household... there's been some health scares with our furriest family member. No no, not Ben – I'm talking about our rascal pooch, Juno. It all started on Wednesday night when she began acting very strangely indeed, and I fretted that she was experiencing the onset of a seizure.

While we were eating our dinner, Juno began shaking her head rapidly from side to side (she looked a bit like one of those bobble head toys!). Ben and I freaked out at this odd behaviour and tried to calm her, but her head tremors persisted. I launched onto the internet and googled her symptoms at lightning speed, finding plenty of information and videos on YouTube of a similar thing. Thankfully, it seemed like her behaviours was just a sign of having low sugar levels, so Ben gave Juno some honey. What do you know, the tremors went away! Thank goodness for that, we were nearly out the door to the emergency vet. All of the information we read and videos we watched put us at ease that it was nothing major.

However, the following night and morning, Juno began experiencing bouts of head tremors again. We were so worried – we both work during the day, and we wondered if she was experiencing them while we were out. We packed her up and took her to the vet where she underwent a thorough inspection. The vet thought that an ear infection may be to blame for the behaviour (great news for me, as I was thinking about brain tumors and all sorts of horrible things!). So now Juno is up to the eyeballs in antibiotics and ear drops.

There is still a possibility that the head tremors are not related to an ear infection, only time will tell. At the moment we need to keep her away from any 'triggers' that may cause them (closing her out of the kitchen while we are cooking or making food, etc). If her tremors persist over the weekend, we'll need to take her back the vet promptly on Monday for some blood tests, as it could be a sign of epilepsy. Oh my poor girl, I really hope it isn't that. So far, no tremors, so keep your fingers crossed for us!

In the mean time, Juno is getting absolutely spoilt. We usually have strict rules about the dog being allowed on any furniture (i.e. never ever allowed, ever) but lately she's been allowed on the couch for cuddles, and even on the bed! Get well soon, Juno-girl.