My sick little princess

I am beside myself right now. My little girl (border collie), Costa, is in the hospital. She was throwing up all day - to the point where there was just foamy water coming up. In the evening, I gave her a bath to clean her up and afterwards, she would barely move. I tried to brush her and she just laid there in a catatonic-like state.

Because she's a border collie, she's usually full of energy - always wanting attention. She loves to stand up and give my husband and I hugs and more than anything, she loves to be in the house with us.

I tried to get her to come inside the house and she wouldn't move. I had to carry her like a baby into the house to lay her down on the couch. She was hot and her breathing was raspy. I panicked. I called my husband and could barely tell him what was going on, I was hysterical.

Yes, she's a dog, but she's also my baby. I can't tell you how much I love this animal. Most children in this world should be so lucky to have someone love them as much. If something were to happen to her, I'd be devastated. Broken.

I took her to an emergency vet and they ran tests. They called a little bit ago to say that she has acute pancreatitis and is severely dehydrated. She said there were some other things that came up in her blood work that were of concern so they were going to take some x-rays. She will have to be on an IV for 2-3 days so as soon as I pick her up tomorrow morning, I'll have to take her to the vet and keep her there until they say she is better.

Yes, I did experience sticker shock when they gave me the estimate... and I was always one of those people who said, "It's just an animal - I would never pay that much if they were sick." But being that it is Costa, there is no way I wouldn't do what I had to do to take care of her.

The vet said she should be fine, however if left untreated she could have died. There is a lump in my throat waiting to burst just thinking about it. She's not just a dog, she's my princess.