The Burkett Bundle: Bella

Bella gave us quite the scare the other night.

Thursday night, she was very lethargic. She wouldn't come down the stairs and couldn't even get on and off of the couch by herself. For those of you who don't know Bella, this never happens. For those of you who do know her, you know there aren't words to describe how upbeat and hyper she usually is.

So, we prayed about it and Jason took her to the emergency vet that night. Her vitals were ok, but they said they could do some more tests. We prayed about it some more and decided to just have them give her some pain medication and he brought her home.

She woke up Friday morning with more energy and was able to get on the couch (even to the back of the love seat where she likes to sit and look out the window), but she still wasn't quite herself, so I brought her to her regular vet.

They kept her all day and did x-rays and some blood work. The blood work showed that everything organ-wise was ok, but the x-ray showed a serious flare-up of arthritis in her back. We never knew she had arthritis, and the vet said she was surprised that Bella had been functional up until Thursday as bad as the x-ray showed. She's a tough girl! She's on an anti-biotic for a week (just in case she had something else going on) and a pain-killer/anti-inflammatory for two weeks, then we'll go back in for another check.

The vet said she has seen very old dogs be very functional with this type of arthritis, and that within a few weeks the kids can even go back to climbing all over her. She's not sure what caused this flare-up, but she did give us some warning signs to look for in the future.

That dog can drive me batty sometimes with her barking and eating anything that sits out on the counter, no matter how much packaging she might have to tear through first. But she's family. She is Kyran's and Karyssa's big sister, and I truly believe she would rip the limbs off of anyone who tried to hurt them. She is gentle and patient with them and I love watching how they love her.

Thank you, God, for letting her be ok. I love her so much.

I was looking through pictures Friday, and was in awe of how much she is in them, and how much they hug her. Not to mention the videos we have of them playing together. Here's some Bella highlights from the last six years.

Adoption Day! She was sweet and wonderful until the second I signed the papers. Then she peed on Jason's hand, climbed up his arm and bit his ear. She hasn't slowed down since!