Well, this last week has been much more eventful than I expected, and not in a good way! We took Merla in for her spay op last Monday. I was pretty anxious about it, but knew that was what made sense for us long term. Collected her later that day, all had gone well apparently, took her home and she survived a night in her crate with the Cone of Shame (soft one, thanks for the reviews, Julie). Great, on the home run I thought. Not quite. All Tuesday and Wednesday fine. Bit of a runny poo (sorry, it's one of those stories!) late Wednesday night, thought nothing much of it, however. Woken up at 1am by a little dog who had broken out of her crate (first time ever), had a massive explosive poo incident on the doormat and then come to find a human, cone and all - bless her, trying so hard to do the right thing :-\. I must have been dead to the world as I'm sure she must have cried before breaking out Runny bottom all Thursday, but we had a vet check up and she thought it might be the metacam (painkiller) and advised us to just discontinue that as everything else was ok. Poos got runnier and runnier. I slept downstairs with her Thursday night and got up,with her about three times. Poos getting some blood in them. Friday morning, egesting pure liquid with lots of blood and then started throwing up with blood in also. Started to panic and got emergency vet appt. The vet took her back in to go on a drip, antibiotics etc etc. Worryingly wanted to send off a sample to check for parvovirus, as she said they'd had incidences in vaccinated dogs (I was pretty much in pieces by this time, and had to rely on OH for everything practical - I genuinely thought I might not see her again :'( :'( ) Sooooo, there she stayed at the vet's all day Friday, and then we transferred her to the out-of-hours vet for the weekend. They kept going with the drip, antibiotics, antiemetics, tummy settling drugs etc and were great about letting us phone for updates. A gradual improvement over the weekend, until we were allowed to collect her at midday on Sunday - hooray! Poos quite squidgy still, but she had her wags back . Vet check this morning, all promising, loads of tablets still but importantly the parvo test was negative- phew! And I think we're out of the woods now. I'm cooking chicken and rice like it's going out of fashion, lots of small meals, and have a dog who is happy, happy, happy to be back with her family. Thanks for being there, forum people. I kept reading in the Dark Times, though couldn't find the words to post and it was good to know there were sympathetic souls out there for when I needed them. Fingers crossed for recovery now.
Re: A worrying time...... Oh no! Such a worry! Gosh, just a nightmare for you. I was so glad to get o the end of your post and read things are looking up. Hugs and (gentle) tummy rubs from us. Did the vet say what it might have been?
Re: A worrying time...... Oh Kath , you poor soul , and poor Merla too , what a horrendous time you have had , so very sorry to read this I know that some dogs do get upset tums with metacam , or maybe this was a bug and completely unrelated , but whatever caused it , I am so pleased for you that she is now home and on the mend
Re: A worrying time...... Oh Kath you and Merla have had a rough time. So pleased to hear that progress is being made and the wag has returned. Alice
Re: A worrying time...... Oh dear, you poor things, what an awful week. Hope Merla makes a swift recovery now.
Re: A worrying time...... Thanks so much for the good wishes - and that's why we all love the Forum! 10 minutes after a distress post and there's people right there As for what it might have been.....well..... Too severe for just a metacam reaction, so we're left with a particularly severe reaction to a bug, due probably to compromised immune system as a result of the op, which then led to infection setting in. My cynical side says she picked it up at the vets, as obviously her life was pretty dull on Tuesday and Wednesday with only the shortest of on-lead walks and very few sniffing opportunities. I don't think it's possible to prove the cause though. It's a bit of a shame vet-wise, as in all other respects they've been fantastic with both Merla and the elderly cats we adopted when my mother-in-law passed away last year. Mmm, well, come to think of it there's two possible causes of transmission right there! Maybe I'm being unfair on the vets. And at any rate, no one could get the waiting rooms etc completely bug free. Probably just very unlucky.
Re: A worrying time...... Oh Kath,your tummy must have been turning over too with the worry,I'm so glad she's on the mend,she was really poorly :'(.... I bet the bug has totally overshadowed the spy recovery,hope she's doing ok with that too Best wishes Angela x
Re: A worrying time...... Oh dear that is a worrying experience! I hope she's feeling better and on the mend from her Spey too! My first instinct when I read this was a reaction to the metacam, but you're right, it does sound too severe, especially as the symptoms continued and got worse after she came off it. I agree it must have been a stomach bug she was already fighting off and her immune system just couldn't handle it with the operation as well.
Re: A worrying time...... So so sorry to hear about this horrible and frightening time for you. I really hope Merla is ok now. Xx
Re: A worrying time...... Kath I am so very sorry you and poor Merla have had such a scary time and I am keeping everything crossed for a speedy recovery. I can understand how you feel as when I had Hattie spayed she was very poorly for 7 days and was within a few hours of being taken back into the vets to be put on a drip. I was so frightened I can tall you but all was well thank goodness :'( Please take care xxx
Re: A worrying time...... A very frightening and stressful time for you both, hope Merla continues to improve and get back to her normal, happy self soon!
Re: A worrying time...... What's horrendous time, you poor, poor thing. So glad that she is on the mend now.
Re: A worrying time...... Glad all is turning out okay, tummy rubs from Otis and Maggie, how scary for you, hope the spey is now healing nicely, and Merla makes a full recovery XX
