Any positive stories of dogs making a miraculous recovery?
My 8-year-old Shih Tzu became critically ill very suddenly yesterday. One day he was completely fine, and the next he was vomiting profusely, lethargic, weeing his bed, and refusing both food and water.
We took him straight to the vets, where they told us his body temperature was very low and he was extremely weak. Despite that, his tail was still wagging, he was happy for the vet to stroke and examine him, and he didn't whine when they put him on an IV drip. He looked so sad and was in such a sorry state, but the vet was adamant there was still a possibility of recovery because of his age and because he was still responding positively. His tail was wagging, and he was happy to see my partner whenever he left the room and came back.
The vet said it's likely he'd been unwell before he became obviously sick, but that dogs are incredibly good at disguising illness and the signs would have been very subtle. I can't help feeling guilty and wondering if I missed something, but he genuinely seemed absolutely fine until he suddenly wasn't.
The vet called this morning to say they had ruled out a blockage, but his blood tests showed his kidneys weren't looking good. They believe it's either kidney failure or an acute kidney injury. He was also dehydrated, but they aren't sure whether the dehydration caused the kidney problems or whether the kidney problems caused the dehydration.
At around 5pm today, the vet called again and said he was looking much brighter. He had regained enough strength to stand and was drinking water again. He still wasn't interested in food, but she wasn't concerned about that because he'd been so poorly. She told us to be cautiously optimistic and sounded much more positive than she had this morning, which gave us some hope.
But then at 6pm they called again to say he'd vomited a large amount of bile despite being on anti-sickness medication, and suddenly she no longer sounded positive.
They want to keep him on the IV drip until tomorrow and then repeat his blood tests. The vet said that if there's no improvement in his kidney values, or if they've worsened, it would be cruel to continue treatment and it would be kinder to let him go.
I'm absolutely devastated. I'm trying to stay positive, but that second phone call completely destroyed me. He's never been ill before, and this has all come so out of nowhere. I honestly don't understand what happened.
The thought of that phone call tomorrow with his blood results is weighing heavily on my mind. Knowing that it could bring either good news or the worst news possible is absolutely heartbreaking.
Has anyone got any positive stories of their dogs pulling through against the odds?