Thur 19th Jan: Cato in hospital
Entry posted by Crinkly ·
3,496 views
Mum: Been a bit quiet lately, for reasons about to be explained... 
We got back from Grandma and Grandpas, and had a relaxed day on Monday (well, the paws relaxed, anyway) and had a nice short beach walk, which they both enjoyed.
Then on Tuesday we went for a longer walk, after dark, on the street. Because Cato was clearly on the mend, and was up to it. Only he wasn't really. He obviously loved being out and sniffing, and so on, but was totally wiped out by the walk, and slept like the dead all evening and night.
So Wednesday we didn't walk (Tara going a bit stir crazy, by now). And by the evening, Cato hadn't eaten, and was distinctly floppy. He had also made a couple of weird yelping noises. The kind of noise he makes when Tara hurts him during their play-fights. Only he was sitting in his bed when he yelped. 
Growing a bit concerned, I hand fed him some home-cooked chicken. Very reluctant to start with, but then he got the taste for it, and gulped it down like he was starving.
Half an hour later, more yelping. Including some head turning as though he wanted to fuss with his back end, but couldn't reach.
So we rang the vet and got an emergency appt (at 8pm). The vet was lovely, and gave him a good inspection, and decided it could be impacted anal glands (which surprised me, but then he HAS had an upset tum, hasn't he?). So she expressed them, but didn't get much out. She also gave him morphine, low dose, because she didn't want to choose other pain killers which can be hard on the tum.
Went home. 5 mins after we got in the door, he starts yelping again (in a slightly stoned way!), and it got worse and worse til he yelped and whined and tried to reach around behind him, and moved restlessly for a whole half hour. Very distressing for all of us. Tara especially!
Rang the vet again.
Another trip down to the surgery (9pm), and this time she did a lot of back and nerve tests, but didn't find a problem. His yelping eased off, but that could have been the strange environment.
Vet decided to keep him in for observation, so we came home with a VERY WORRIED Tara.
I rang them at 9am this morning, and they report that he didn't have a bad night. One bout of diarrhoea, but he is drinking. They want to see how he is when the morphine has worn off, and see if he will eat something. I told them NO GLUTEN OR GRAINS. They have started him on some antibiotics. And am to ring at 3pm.
Only spoke to the receptionist so couldn't really cross-examine her properly. I wonder if he has a raised temperature, which is why they have gone for antibiotics? But I think that the last time he had antibiotics he stopped eating, so I doubt if he will have an appetite for strange food, in a strange environment, while queasy from the antiBs.
Meanwhile, Tara is acting like her world is ending. She spent the night looking down the landing, waiting for Cato to come home, hasn't peed, hasn't eaten, and is missing him DREADFULLY.
***UPDATE***
It is now 11am, and just had a call from Lovely Vet. He didn't eat his breakfast, and she is more inclined now to think it was tummy pain, and she wants him home and relaxed (there is a lot of noise there today with barking dogs, and apparently he ISN'T IMPRESSED. Hahaha!)
So Tara and I are off to fetch him now! Yippee!
37 Comments
Recommended Comments