My name is Buford. I am an American Black and Tan Coonhound. I'm 13 weeks old but a thing called parvo almost killed me just two short weeks ago.
I was really scared. I just got to my new Mommy's house and I already felt sick. I had to travel all the way from Virginia to my Mommy's house here in Michigan with a really nice man who was doing Mommy a favor by picking me up and taking me to my new home. She thought I was just tired and since I was skinny and dirty when I got here on top of having such a long trip, she decided to just let me rest after she gave me a bath and snuggled me in a big fluffy towel.
The morning after I got to my Mommy's house, I started throwing up this white foam stuff. My tummy sure felt awful. I didn't want to throw up on my new Mommy's couch but I was so tired and I felt so icky, I just had to stay on the couch. Mommy didn't get mad or anything. Instead, she scooped me up and took me to see a nice lady she called a veterinarian.
The veterinarian was real nice, petting me and telling me how cute she thought I was while Mommy told her how she had bought me in hopes that I would someday be a great show dog. My dog Mommy was a grand champion show dog and so was my dog Daddy, who I never got to meet because he didn't live with my dog Mommy. I was underweight and the nice vet lady said I also had ear infections in both ears. I guess that's why they hurt.
I had to go potty real bad so my new Mommy followed a nice man who was also a vet outside to a special place where I was allowed to go potty. My poo-poo was like icky water. Oh, my poor butt hurt real bad now. But then this vet did something really mean and stuck this giant cotton swab thing up my butt until I screamed because it hurt me. He said it was to run a test for the parvovirus. They thought that was what I had and why I felt so sick. I just hoped they would hurry up and make me feel better.
In about 10 minutes the nice lady vet came back in and said “The parvo test is positive, but I know you figured as such.”. Mommy was trying really hard not to cry, I could tell. I gave her lots of kisses to try and make her feel better but it didn't work. The vet lady told Mommy that she could leave me there and for a minute, I was really scared she might leave me there. They were really nice there but I was so confused. I almost couldn't figure out where my new home was supposed to be. Mommy told the nice vet lady she didn't want to leave me behind to sit all by myself during the night time when everyone went home. Mommy then wrote a bunch of numbers on a piece of paper and gave it to the sad looking lady behind the desk. The lady was shaking her head while she looked at me with the saddest human eyes I ever saw. How come everyone looks at me and wants to cry? Everyone is afraid to touch me now, too. Am I a bad boy?
Mommy took me home and put me in this big cage thing with a barricaded area so I didn't have a lot of room to play anymore. And worse yet, I was locked up in a separate room. I could hear the other dogs playing and getting attention and I was in here. Mommy stayed with me in this room for a few days. She's a good mommy. Even if she did poke me with needles and make that cold water go into my leg where the vet lady put that needle thing in she called an IV. Man, that thing bugged me! I kept trying to chew it off but Mommy wouldn't let me. She said it was there to help me but it didn't feel good. I was trying to be a good boy but I was getting poked and prodded and I felt so icky, I couldn't even eat anything. I almost wanted to just lay there and die but Mommy always had happy words for me when she gave me my attention. She really seemed to love me a lot and I wanted to be with her so I tried hard not to go to sleep forever.
