The Pointy One is at the vets, am very very worried... handholding please...

[BehindLockNumberNine]

On Friday and Saturday our lovely rescued whippety cross, Sam, had a bit of diarrhea. Still playful and eating, drinking etc.
On Sunday he started to be a bit lethargic and felt sorry for himself. I had decided to starve him for 24 hours from Sat night as diarrhea was not clearing but he was off his food anyway on Sunday. Had rang lady at rescue where we got him from for advice (she is fab like this, always ready to help and was a vet nurse so a bit knowledgeable too). By Sunday night there was a steak of red blood in the diarrhea. Rang emergency vet who said Sam had probably burst a blood vessel due to contstant pooping. Keep up giving him water and keep an eye was the advice.

Early Monday morning Sam was pooing pure blood and looking very very unwell. We rushed him to the vets.
He was admitted, put on a drip and IV antibiotics. Severe Gastroenteritis or Hemorraghic Gastroenteritis was the diagnosis.

On Tuesday morning he was still no better. They decided to put him on a second type of antibiotics as well as the first one.

This morning he is a bit brighter and whilst he still has diarrhea there is no more blood.
However, his liver enzymes have rocketed to over 1000 and he is jaundiced.

We are going to visit him this evening and the vet will tell us more then.

Please please knowledgeable mumsnetters, can you give me an idea of what is happening to my lovely boy. Am very very worried.

We only adopted him from the rescue centre two months ago but we love him to bits.

Oh hurrah!!! Wishing you all snuggles and a restful night back together again - this is very very good news, so glad

That's lovely news. Hope you had a restful night back together again

Well, we had a restfull night but the floorboards in the hallway did not - rivers of wee, rivers of it!!
And then this morning (in the garden thankfully!) chocolate milkshake poo.

And just now, when I got home from work, more rivers of wee in the hallway and a massive chocolate milkshake poo in the garden. Really really runny.

Sob.

He is eating well though and appears bright enough, but am worried about the poo... and my floorboards... and getting him to stop spitting out his meds... and if I am feeding him enough / too much.... and AAAARGH...

Ho hum, onwards and upwards...

Poor Sam and poor, poor you. Must admit I love the description of chocolate milkshake poo - that's an excellent way to describe it. At least he is eating well and being bright - that's a tiny piece of good news. Big sympathy for the med-spitting - we have an elderly arthritic girl here who is a world champion in spotting meds cunningly hidden in tempting morsels. You think you've managed to get them down her and then find a damp, slightly battered tablet on a rug somewhere (and a greyhound lying nearby with a gimlet eye and self satisfied smirk).

Arm yourself with a large bottle of gin and industrial quantities of chocolate - you've deserved it.

Oh goodness, it's hard to stay positive when you're dealing with all that. I had similar many years ago when we lived in an upstairs flat and our doggle had catastrophic gastro problems. Had visions of poo running down the walls of the downstairs flat

Sending as many positive thoughts as possible. Agree about the Gin - not so convinced about the chocolate given your earlier description

Well, went back to work at 1 and got home at 3.15 to a very bouncy doggle and NO WEE in the hallway! I let him out in the garden where he did a small-ish wee. No poo. None at all, milkshake or otherwise.
I did leave a message for J at the kennels at lunchtime telling her about the chocolate milkshake. Not because she can do anything about it but because I feel better if she knows. (if that makes sense...)

Have just given him his afternoon meds and a small meal and he is now lying on his bed in the kitchen snoozing.

Hope the poos settle down and he starts putting on some weight slowly.

Scuttle, yes, the tablet thing is funny. He makes all the correct swallowing motions, I say Good Boy, he laughs at me as he spits the tablet out of the side of his mouth. Honestly, he pricks his ears up and grins!! Cheeky monkey! (but I would not have it any other way!)

Copious amounts of chocolate have been purchased. No gin. Not so keen on gin. Love Baileys but dh will only buy it when it is on offer. And we missed the last two offers which were on locally. Oh well...

Dear me. Bailey's is currently half price at Tesco's. And I have to say, if anyone has earned the right to a large bottle of it, that is you. You've had a pretty horrendous few weeks (and months, actually).

Know what you mean about the grin - somehow hard wired to get past any and all defences!

so glad to hear he's back home :) not so good about the milkshake poo, but hopefully it's a short term thing due to the excitement of coming home?!

hope you can get to tesco for the baileys!

Argh, no Tesco's within a half-hour-drive radius. And am supposed to be playing badminton with the ladies from work tonight. Can't really drop them in favour of Baileys-hunting... (or can I???)

J rang back regarding the milkshake. She did sound a bit concerned but then brushed it off as Sam settling back into family life...

She said his blood test results were back from the vet and there was hardly any change from last week. I would have hoped we would be seeing an improvement but apparently not. But again, she said not to worry as it was early days.

And so we lumber on....

Have you tried creamy cheese such as Dairylee for getting the tablets down?

My poor old boy had to have loads of meds and would spit them out, or chew around anything I hid them in, but as soon as I used Dairylee he was an angel and gobbled them down Had to be Dairylee though, if I tried to use a cheaper supermarket one, he'd go on strike!

I used to have a scoop of cheese on my other hand without any tablets to shove in his mouth straight after the last one, so he was more intent on getting that, than spitting out the last tablet.

Glad Sam is now home with you, and gettng all bouncy.

No, I can't. He had severe haemorrhagic gastro enteritis which lead to acute liver failure and septicemia. He very nearly died and still now has a very very sensitive stomach. He is not allowed anything that is not bland and boring and low fat and dry.
Cheese apparently is a definate no no.

On the upside, he seems to be getting a good appetite and will now take the tablets hidden in a dollop of his diet food and hand fed to him. Am happy with whatever works

We now (well, earlier tonight) had brown milk - consistency poo. So evern runnier than milkshake. Sob. Am getting worried but will give it until tomorrow just in case it is just the excitement of being home. He is certainly very bouncy and tail waggy and seems pleased to be here... But also not quite right just yet. Will take a while.

Am just sooo frustrated - at the kennels they were getting solid-ish formed poos. Why am I not???

so glad he's home. so it was HGE the same as m terrier had. So frightening. fingers crossed. sounds like you are doing all the right things. he's lucky to be so cared for!

OldQueenie, they arrived at that diagnoses by a process of elimnation. We think it was HGE, which in turn caused liver failure and septicemia and has left him with a very irritable bowel.

Tbh he seems quite chirpy. But the protein levels in his blood have not significantly increased over the past week and he is now pooing brown water again when at the kennels he was doing formed poos. Am starting to panic again.

Firstly, please don't panic. He has been very, very ill and a condition like this is going to take a while to get settled. Don't forget, his poor intestines/digestive tract have just been through the equivalent of World War 3. He's still on meds (presumably including ABs). You hadn't had him long before he was ill. So being back at home, with a very sensitive tum, and all the excitement, is almost bound to cause a little bit of a flare up. See how he is in the morning, talk to Jane, even go back to the vet, but remember this is going to be a LONG HAUL. Getting everything calmed down and working again is not going to be an easy job, and there will be setbacks along the way, but keep thinking long term.

Hi Scuttle,

He is on metronidazole which is an antibiotic, prednisolone which is a steriod and prokolin which is a probiotic. All three times a day apart from the pred which is twice a day.
Yes, I think it will be a long haul thing. It just feels very disheartening when the kennels were saving up perfectly formed little poos in baggies to show me and as soon as I get Sam home I get brown soup!

When I told J she did seem a little concerned and immediately asked me is he eaten / has he had all his tabs. Yes, of course he has, I would not do anything to set him back. But of course she had to ask, I know that. But it made me feel, er, crap I guess.

Shit am crying again.

I just want him well. Or at least a smidgen better. I need to know that I too can keep him healthy, not just J at the kennels. Because I am doing everything she told me to do. But it is not working, his poo is getting runnier. Why?

And I am doing my damdest to now show him I am upset. So I don't think for a moment that is it. (J said if I get stressy Sam will pick up on it. So I am not. Am so fucking horizontal the kids think I have died.)

Fuck.

Don't want this.

Sorry, ignore self indulgent whinge. There is far worse going on in the world than a poorly dog.

Off to bed, tomorrow is another day.

Night xx

I know it's easy to say but please don't panic... what has it been agreed you should do if worried? I know you've been keeping Jane posted but whose job is it to seek further vet advice if neeeded? Perhaps someone should contact vet in morning and ask their view? We did have a few ups and downs with our ddog as she recovered... it wasn't plain sailing bit she is completely fine now. I was told with her that one problem was that the massive doses of antibiotics in themselves really upset their digestion and are quite likely to cause diarrhoea (?sp) so cause and effect gets a bit mixed up, even with the probiotics. fingers xed for you both.

It helps to get it off your chest though BLNN, so don't apologise.

I hope you all have a better night and that there are some signs of improvement very soon x

Erm, that is NOT a self indulgent whinge. You are rightly worried about your darling Sam, and you've just gone through a major bereavement. Keep thinking long term, and we are all here for you, and rooting for Sam. Have a chat to Jane in the morning, and see if she recommends a trip to vet, or even a phone call.

And you have definitely EARNED that Bailey's.

i xposted with you blnn. it didnt read as whinging... but why shouldn't you whinge? as has been said you've had the most awful time with your sudden bereavement and the worry about sam. whinge away if it helps. take care.

I've only just somehow seen this thread.

Can I say first off, you have done so much for your boy, which is even more impressive given your recent bereavement (so sorry about your dad, you are really going through it)

regarding Sam (gorgeous boy he is), it does sound like his liver isn't making sufficient proteins, or that he is losing protein via his gut, and both are understandable after his horrible illness. The good thing is that the liver has great powers of regeneration, given time, and that the gut can also heal, so there is still hope of a reasonable recovery, although he may always have a sensitive gut.

Will be watching this thread to see his progress. And you have more right to whinge than many, so "whinge" away!

Hello again, well we made it through the night without any wee or poo rivers.
I woke up at approx 3am and went for a wee. Normally Sam moves and acknowledges me, but this morning ... nothing. So I panic and stroke him. He felt cold on his back, warm on his tum and did not move. So I panic more and give him a little shake. He looks at me as if to say 'what did you do that for?' Phew. So I rush downstairs to make him a new warm water bottle and fetch another blanket...
To be fair, the bedroom was cold even for me last night, have told dh (who is a skinflint, more so now we are absolutely broke) to please finally relent and put the heating on. Am also condidering buying Sam a fleece housecoat. J laughed at me when I asked about getting one last month (before Sam fell ill). Now I wish I had bought one...

He was bright this morning, his poo can now only be described as korma sauce. And there are bits of undigested rice in it. So slightly thicker but undigested rice (a few grains).

Strange to put my finger on it. Sometimes he is 'all there' and is definately the Sam of old - the way he pricks his ears up, the way he follows you round the room. But in so many more ways he is a geriatric version of my Sam. He walks like a little old man. He thinks twice before jumping on the bed or sofa. His tail is tucked between his legs.

Sigh.

We will get there, we simply must.

Oh, btw, his next vet appt (on Friday) is with J's vet. Which is in a nearby big town. One where I don't know my way around. One which is very busy. One where the town centre at rushhour is a no go zone. Guess where and when my appt is [worry]

Lordy me

Just catching up with the milkshakes and wee rivers...what a time you've been (still!) having. It does sound as though its going in the right direction? Hard going though. I do know what you mean about the mix of having your old Sam back, and the little old man version....I felt like that about dd2 when she was just 24 months old and recovering from illness and op. She was half dd, and half a delicate little spider - it used to really upset me, and can just imagine seeing Sam like that does the same.

But you made me smile with the looks he gave you when you shook him awake (again, reminds me of dd2 as a baby!) and the smiling pill-spit. That sounds all Sam

Here's to ongoing convalescence, slow and painful as it may be...and hopefully no more rivers or milkshake or even, soon, korma sauce. FWIW, I'd guess that the change of surroundings - even though its back to his lovely home - would probably cause a wobble in the digestion department. If you think what its like for a human, coming out of hospital and re-adjusting to normal life, its a really big deal...

Kiss to Sam, hugs to you.