We're off to the States at the weekend for our first holiday abroad since we got Barney in 2009 and first 'big' holiday in a long long time (we're going to meet my penpal of 51 years for the first time and stay with her for a few days then head south to Nashville, Memphis and New Orleans). We went through a lot of soul-searching about what to do with Barney - homeboarding, housesitter or kennels. Then in January he needed emergency surgery for a blockage and ended up in ICU in Bristol and we put all holiday plans on hold because we were afraid to leave him with anyone.
We eventually decided on kennels because he would have less opportunity to forage and eat something he shoudn't. Everything was really going really well, we were on countdown and so excited then on Sunday Barney started vomiting and going downhill. Spooked by our previous experience we took him straight to the emergency vet - nothing obvious to her but she gave him painkillers, antibiotics and we had some stuff to squirt in his mouth. He spent yesterday at our vets on fluids and had the most disgusting wind all day. He's much brighter today, blood tests all fine (pancreatitis was a worry) and after 48hrs without food is gradually having solids.
At one point we thought we'd have to cancel our holiday - our holiday insurance didn't cover us for Barney being ill and the maximum on his own insurance was nowhere near what we'd paid out but given the choice between our dog and a dream holiday, our nose to the ground scavenger would win every time.
