Cause I'd like to, you know.
Here goes my personal little misery resolved.
My dog's been vomiting. Quite a lot and for quite a long time. In addition, he started to refuse eating. The consequences were quite foreseeable... he lost almost half his weight and currently looks somewhat scary.
The vet was notified, and consulted, and visited. The dog was injected with various types of medications twice daily for a week. The dog continued vomiting and not eating. Serious measures were required. First, a full blood work. Which was bloody perfect. Don't ask me why, I'm still trying to figure that one out.
So, with a normal lab work, a presenting complaint of vomiting and a history of bowel issues, including an obstruction last year, we all decided the diagnosis was obvious. Obstruction. Most likely, and hopefully, in his stomach. Follows a gastroscopy, with much anxiety on our part, as he could easily have had cancer. Nothing. Nada. Zero. Actually, I'm lying, there was a bit of grass in his stomach.
Follows an explorative laparotomy. Yes, my dog has had his abdomen sliced open just so the vet could have a look. No, this is not needless torture, but I'll get back to that. Anyway... nada. Nothing. Zilch. Wait, I'm lying again. His kidney's are twice as big as they should be. AKA... leptospirosis.
Which can be proven serologically, if you think about it. But to think about it, you obviously need more than throwing up in a dog with a bowel history.
Anyway, he has leptospirosis. Treatable with antibiotics. And he's way more up-beat today, 16 hours after major surgery, than he was yesterday. Which brings us to the suffering part.
Think laparotomy on humans. Bad, very bad. Painful, they have trouble being upright for quite a while, indigestion issues, weakness. But, apparently, not in a dog. He's had a walk today, which he hasn't had in two weeks, he looks quite happy if a bit sleepy, he's eating like a maniac and just generally looks unharmed by the whole experience, if you neglect to look at the rather large wound on his stomach. In fact, the anti-stich-tearing collar seems to be by far his largest problem at the moment. Not comfy, but not too bad. And the alternative was putting him down for wasting and looking like he's about to die anyway. So yes, it was worth it and no, it was not unneccessary torture.
Here goes my personal little misery resolved.
My dog's been vomiting. Quite a lot and for quite a long time. In addition, he started to refuse eating. The consequences were quite foreseeable... he lost almost half his weight and currently looks somewhat scary.
The vet was notified, and consulted, and visited. The dog was injected with various types of medications twice daily for a week. The dog continued vomiting and not eating. Serious measures were required. First, a full blood work. Which was bloody perfect. Don't ask me why, I'm still trying to figure that one out.
So, with a normal lab work, a presenting complaint of vomiting and a history of bowel issues, including an obstruction last year, we all decided the diagnosis was obvious. Obstruction. Most likely, and hopefully, in his stomach. Follows a gastroscopy, with much anxiety on our part, as he could easily have had cancer. Nothing. Nada. Zero. Actually, I'm lying, there was a bit of grass in his stomach.
Follows an explorative laparotomy. Yes, my dog has had his abdomen sliced open just so the vet could have a look. No, this is not needless torture, but I'll get back to that. Anyway... nada. Nothing. Zilch. Wait, I'm lying again. His kidney's are twice as big as they should be. AKA... leptospirosis.
Which can be proven serologically, if you think about it. But to think about it, you obviously need more than throwing up in a dog with a bowel history.
Anyway, he has leptospirosis. Treatable with antibiotics. And he's way more up-beat today, 16 hours after major surgery, than he was yesterday. Which brings us to the suffering part.
Think laparotomy on humans. Bad, very bad. Painful, they have trouble being upright for quite a while, indigestion issues, weakness. But, apparently, not in a dog. He's had a walk today, which he hasn't had in two weeks, he looks quite happy if a bit sleepy, he's eating like a maniac and just generally looks unharmed by the whole experience, if you neglect to look at the rather large wound on his stomach. In fact, the anti-stich-tearing collar seems to be by far his largest problem at the moment. Not comfy, but not too bad. And the alternative was putting him down for wasting and looking like he's about to die anyway. So yes, it was worth it and no, it was not unneccessary torture.