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This all started, in ernest Saturday night
Well, I have some very sad news to pass a long.
Daisy is extremely ill. After more than 10 days of diarrhea, and 3 vet visits costing more than $400 in the past 14 days, last night at 2 am, I took Daisy to Animal Care Emergency in downtown Calgary. Daisy’s diarrhea had become progressively worse over the past 3 days, and her tummy even more distended. Indeed, Daisy looks like she is a 3rd world child, arriving to me at only 2 lbs of mostly skin and bones with a bloated belly.
After 5 bouts of diarrhea last night between 5 pm and 10 pm, some bloody, vomiting at 12 pm, we finally got to sleep. Over the past 3 nights, I’ve had my alarm clock set to go off every 2 hours during the evening because I have woken up to either desparate whining or a soiled crate and a dog covered in feces. Last night at 2 pm when I checked Daisy in her crate, she was trying to stand, as the bedding in her crate was soaking wet. When I got her out to rinse her off, I realized it was blood and mucus in addition to a watery stool that had soaked her bedding/towel in her crate.
A diary I’ve kept shows very mixed information – a spunky dog, most days, but with inconsistent appetite and explosive diarrhea. Indeed, sometime there has been so much fluid loss, I’ve started administering water and electrolytes (pedialyte) using a syringe.
My last visit to the ‘family vet’ on Thursday resulted in a prescription for a generic anti-biotic as there seemed to be no real reason for her problems. We decided to make a wholesale switch of her food to a veterinary brand canned puppy food and to stop using the dog food that she had been raised on in the USA. Naturally, she loves the canned food and was eating very well with improved appetite – until last night.
Here are her discharge instructions from Emergency:
Daisy was presented for examination dye to recurrent diarrhea which lately is bloody. She presents a decreased appetite and water consumption for the past 24-36 hours. The physical examination revealed a thin body condition and general weakness and an estimated dehydration of 5%. An in clinic Parvo test was negative and a fecal examination revealed numerous spirochetes type organism, which possibly are Chapylobacter Spp., a bacteria known to cause hemorrhagic entero-colitis. For now you declined hospitalization and treatment with the clinic and elected to treat Daisy at home. (*The first hour of in clinic treatment was estimated to be $600 and a 24 hour stay was estimated to be $2100.) Prior to the discharge SC fluids 40 ml and Famotidine (1 mg) ( a stomach anti-acidic drug) were administered. Erythromycin estolate will be dispensed to be administered for the next 12 days……..
So, presented with a potential bill approaching $2500, I decided to bring Daisy home to see if I could nurse her back to health. She is literally “bleeding out.”
I have placed her in my bathroom, on a newspaper lined heated tile floor with her crate in an X-Pen about 4’ x 2’. It’s warm, easy to clean and I’m in there a lot anyways during the day. No more walks outside for the next week at least. Everything must be sanitized daily, if not more frequently. Any housetraining or basic obedience has no importance at this point.
Since her arrival back home at 9 am this morning, she has slept on my chest wrapped in a towel and in my arms. She was offered food and water, but has refused it. I have replaced the newspaper on the floor 3 times due to either bloody diahrrea, pee or vomit. She has been given her generic anti-biotic, erythromycin and Kaopectate. At 1 pm, Daisy ate part of her (watered down) canned dog food and is now resting in her crate. I’ve washed the floor with bleach and am washing all the towels that have been used with her today with detergent, then bleach then an enzyme based cleaner to break down any protein remains. After I finish this email, I’m going to administer her electrolytes/Pediatlyte. Maybe if I’m lucky, I’ll stop crying and will find a few moments to rest. I need to make a trip to the grocery store to by more newspapers (not to read, but to lay), more enzyme, bleach and disinfecting solutions.
Daisy has been thin/skeletal and ill since she arrived at my home on July 18th. There has only been one day between July 18th and today where her stools were even close to being ‘normal.’ Despite being 11 weeks old this weekend, she has yet to gain any weight. My concerns now are for her immediate health. If she makes it through the next 36 hours, I hope we can say it was the TLC from her (human) mommy that made the difference.
One can only wonder about the health of Daisy’s own mother and litter mates and how long than Champylobacter was brewing in her system before presenting itself when I picked Daisy up from the Airport late Friday night July 18th.
Monday with Daisy....
Update on Daisy
Well we made it through the night. There was a time yesterday when I thought it was the end. I honestly thought she had lost so much blood and fluids that I had almost lost hope. We spent more than a couple hours asleep together, with her on my chest wrapped up in a towel, her heart going like crazy and her breathing sharp and shallow.
By mid-afternoon her energy had picked up and so had my routine! It was virtually constant, either changing the newspaper, feeding her, medicating her, sanitizing all the syringes, bleaching the floor and her crate, washing all the towels in an antibacterial solution, then changing the newspapers again and again and again. (so much for recycling my papers this week….)
I can understand after this why the Vet emergency Hospital wanted to change so much money for a 24 hour stay. I was utterly exhausted by the time I went to bed last night. My entire home smelled like bleach and other assorted cleaning products. I had gone though 2-3 weeks worth of newspapers. My bathroom had been turned into a nursery of sorts and me into a nurse. The washing machine was going constantly (I need more ‘worn out’ towels and rags if this keeps up.)
This morning’s routine took about 45 minutes. I then am either giving her water, Pedialyte, Erythromycin, Metronidazole, and Koapectate on alternating schedules but at least one of each every hour on the hour. The newspaper gets changed as it gets soiled. The bowls, syringes, toys, everything she touches is being washed down with an antibacterial solution probably 2 or 3 times today. My clothes also needs to be changed and washed frequently to prevent any accidental bacterial transfer.
Out of all this, one thing is good (and funny!), she loves the taste of the Erythromycin solution and the Kaopectate! (YUCK!!!!) The minute she sees me with a towel on my lap, treats in one hand and the syringe in the other, she gets so excited it’s hard to calm her down enough to swallow!
I have however had to totally change my life. On Sunday, I was supposed to start a family vacation at Fairmont Hot Springs with my brother, sis-in-law, niece, nephew and the parents. I can no longer go. I am now a full-time nurse for my puppy and my one week of summer vacation is now gone. The puppy that was gong to bring joy and fun to a 9 and 12 year old is now resting in her crate, confined to an indoor, sanitary environment. No walks, no play time with children or other dogs. Even her toys have been reduced to plastic or rubber so that they can be cleaned during the day. Her life is now the inside of an exercise pen and my life is taking care of her. My absences from her life are limited to one hour at the most. Barely enough time to get to the grocery store.
Until she pulls through this, the schedule of meds and routine of feeding, cleaning and hydrating will continue. My book that was being saving for vacation time by the pool is now being read as I either sit on the floor with her or have her on my lap.
Such is my holiday Monday…..
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