poor pico porkchop

for the last 3-4 weeks, our sweet pleasantly plump pure-bred chihuahua pico de gallo has been having "accidents". what started as a few tinkles a week in his bed at night, progressed into flooding his bed, myla's bed, and the floor around. now he can't even make it to the door (or tile) fast enough. i've had to leave him outside for 99% of the day.

i've gotten so sick and tired of washing, then re-washing, his bedding, spot-botting the carpet, and mopping the tile.

at first i thought it had something to do with his new food feeder. it is one of those automatic ones where it is almost like an endless supply of crunchies. i took that away for a week but it didn't help anything. i thought maybe he was eating too much and drinking more water to wash it down.

i did notice too that he looked like he was losing weight without any diet changes or increased activity.

i finally bit the bullet and called the vet. i have a distrust in vets. i feel like they could be making up all kinds of ailments and "upsells" because i wouldn't know better and the dog isn't gonna tell me they are full of crap.

took pico in yesterday and he did weigh a few pounds less than the last time i weighed him at home (which was probably 6 months ago).

the docs first thought was an infection, bladder or urinary. they were going to do a blood panel and urine test and i would get the results in a few days. i had them look at his back leg as well because he seems to baby it. turns out he has a torn (partial or complete) ligament back there. best fix (according to them) is surgery, but his pee problems and weight (she said he is still overweight) need to be corrected first.

so last night i barricaded the pups in the downstairs bathroom with their blankets and no water. during the night lincoln got up to let pico outside. he just propped the gate up against the door when he went back to bed. around 7ish this morning, poor pico had to go so bad that he knocked the gate over and peed all down the hallway. myla ran up the stairs to wake us up and let us know.

the bathroom was flooded. pee was everywhere. and of course, we are mad at pico. and each other. and myla (for no reason).

i finally get it all cleaned up. then i get the call from the vet.

pico is diabetic. severly. he will need insulin shots 2x a day. plus regular vet appointments. lots of $$.

now i just feel guilty. i should have just googled his symptoms and diabetes would have been one of the first to pop up.

its even the reason he lost weight. which in this case is not a good thing.

i take him back in first thing tomorrow for shot training and lots of questions. this sucks.