EPTA few weeks back, she and my father were playing catch in our back yard. The part of our yard that wraps around the side of our house is perfect for playing fetch as it is long, flat and narrow. The procedure is fairly simple between them, my dad would throw whatever object he happens to be holding and Juno would furiously chase after it and return it to him panting and waiting at a heel anticipating the next throw. This had been going on for about 10 minutes when I could hear my dad outside saying in his concerned and caring voice "You okay, Juno? Hey, are you okay?"
Wondering what had happened, I got up from my seat at the kitchen table and rounded the corner on our deck thinking of the different possibilities of what had happened to our dog. I walked over and saw my dad holding a tennis ball in one hand and rubbing Juno's back with his other. I knelt down next to him and asked what happened. He doesn't know he said. I glanced at Juno and saw that she was shaking a little bit, her eyes were half closed, and she looked like she was about to throw up. My dad suggested that we take her inside, and so we did. Gently leading her by her collar I brought her inside and had her sit on the carpet, while my dad went upstairs and got my sister. I stayed there and pet Juno for a little bit as my sister walked down the stairs. She calmly came over and asked me what happened. I told her that I didn't know, just that she and dad were playing fetch in the back yard and then all of a sudden she started to act weird. With a concerned look on her face she said okay, and I went back to my seat at the table. About ten minutes later I heard my sister start to shriek while Juno started to make terrible noises. I ran over to see my sister back away from Juno as Juno started to puke uncontrollably. Her whole body undulated from the tip of her tail to the snout of her nose as she heaved up wave after wave of vomit, after she finished vomiting she lost control of her bowels and started to poop everywhere. This lasted for about 5 minutes as my sister and I stood back in utter horror not knowing what the hell to do. After Juno was done she collapsed on the floor and started to shake, wasting no time my sister ran over and picked Juno, then screamed at me to get mom so that we can take her to the vet. We all got in the car and speed over to the vet. My mom was driving and I was sitting in the front seat while my sister sat in the back, holding her limp, lifeless dog, crying and begging her not to die. Juno was barely breathing and a small part of her now grey tongue was poking out of her mouth. I had never seen my sister so utterly devastated over another living being before, human or animal. The words she spoke barely made it passed her tear soaked lips. It only took us 10 minutes to get to the vet's office, and even though they had been closed for 30 minutes already, they agreed to let us in after having saw Juno's condition. When they asked what had happened, my sister managed to get out that she had pulled several bee stingers from Juno. The vet nodded and took Juno to the back room.
While we waited my sister had calmed down a little bit over the reassurances that they would take care of her dog. As the sobbing quieted down she started to reminisce with me about memories she had of Juno, about how she and her boyfriend were not really planning to buy a dog when they walked into the shelter, about the first time she met Juno, how she was all curled up in the corner looking depressed while all the other dogs barked and screamed, about how not even the shelter knew anything more about Juno other than the fact that her previous owners had just dumped her off a few weeks earlier only having scribbled the name "Princess" on a the forms as they briskly walked out, about how when they took Juno out for the first time in front of the shelter she fought with all her might leaving pee puddles on the concrete as they tried to bring her back in, about how my sister's heart had completely melted the first time she held Juno in her arms and they made eye contact, about how they used to cuddle every night in bed for the first few weeks after they adopted her, about how Juno had finally warmed up to her new mom and dad and started to act like a normal, happy dog again. An hour after we let the vet take Juno, he returned to tell us that we needed to take her to the animal hospital because she needed more serious care. They had given her some medication but she needed to be monitored in a way that they were not capable of. My sister, much calmer now, thanked the vet and picked up Juno once again and we all headed to the animal hospital.
After we dropped Juno off at the animal hospital looking just as limp and lifeless as she had just an hour before, we headed home, knowing that there was nothing else we could do. Juno's life was in someone else's hands now. As we got home my dad tried to apologize to my sister for not being more careful with the dog, only to have my sister brush past and walk straight to her room and shut the door. We all spent the rest of the night alone. I could hear quiet hiccuping weeps as I walked past my sister's room to go to bed.
What worried my sister the most was the fact that neither of the Veterinarians that we had visited that day could give her a straight answer as to whether her puppy would be okay. They would just look at her with a reassuring expression and say that they would do everything that we could.
My sister was practically dead to the world for the next few days, calling in sick to work, and only coming out to eat something once a day.
After a couple of days the animal hospital called us to say that we could pick Juno up and that she was doing much better. Upon hearing this my sister had a complete 180 degree turn around and rushed off to pick up her once again healthy dog. My sister was by Juno's side for the rest of the day looking the happiest I had ever seen her. Juno was still recovering and had not gained all her energy back so she just slept mostly, only reacting when her name was said, in which case she would lift her head a little and thump her tail on the floor with contained excitement. That night as I was about to go to bed, I stopped by to check on my sister and Juno only to see them both on her bed with my sister's arm resting on Juno's side as the dog's belly rose, and then dipped, breathing ever so gently, as the both of them slept completely content in each other’s presence.
