we took loki to the emergency vet last night at 4am. he has been kept in overnight on fluids and pain relief and by the head nurse’s accounts he had a comfortable sleep for a few hours.
we’ll get a call back in half an hour once he’s been properly reassessed.he will need to have his operation today - the biopsy, but if they do find anything it will be removed at that point, if possible. they have now completely ruled out any inflammatory disease, and they think that the obstruction has either moved or grown, requiring immediate surgery.
last night he wasn’t deemed fit for surgery - but the vet hoped that with fluids he’d be okay by this morning. after his handful of food at 7, he was sick about 6 times - and at 2.30 his breathing became incredibly laboured - he made a wheezing, honking sound every time he breathed in and out, and he was also not responsive to his name at all.although ‘treat!’ got his attention!
he was very dehydrated and running a temperature- allan and i had to help the vet insert a catheter into his vein so that he could go onto the fluids immediately rather than wait for a nurse in the morning, as it was critical at that point.
apologies for the half information - i could’ve waited half an hour but i feel like the minutes are dragging and typing passes the time! i’ll post again when we know more.
the plan for this morning is to rerun his blood tests to check his electrolyte levels and proteins etc, and they are also going to take another xray to see if the obstruction is now visible.
at the moment, loki is not a candidate for anasthetic, and they wouldn’t be able to operate without a lot of risk. he’s better than he was, but still wobbly on his feet, panting and generally looking as if he feels terrible. as the medication and fluids have brought some improvement, they will continue with this in hope that in the next few days he will be able to have surgery and be strong enough to pull through and make a recovery.
i’ll hear from them at lunchtime once the tests have been completed, however for now it does look as if he’ll be an inpatient for the next few days, at least.
my poor boy we can go and visit him later if we want, which i would really like to do. however, i just don’t want to break his heart when we have to leave him behind there again… although i don’t think he’s in a fit state to make any kind of fuss anyway. fingers crossed the treatments show more improvement…
Kate my thoughts are with you and Alan it’s heartbreaking to read how sick poor Loki is. Really hope that there is more improvement in the forthcoming days so Loki can recieve the surgery and come out fighting
i got a call at 1pm to say that loki’s xrays showed up as abnormal over his abdomen. they decided to operate, as despite the risks they didn’t know whether whatever the blockage was was going to prove to be more harmful than the surgery itself.
thankfully, after the surgery loki pulled through- they didn’t find anything inside him, but took all necessary biopsies and hopefully we’ll get the results back early next week. he’s still at the vet, on lots of painkillers and fluids, but they’re observing him for 48 hours so fingers crossed that he keeps okay. they’re trying him with a small portion of food tomorrow morning - the first challenge is him eating it, and the second is him keeping it down. we’ve to phone at 11 for an update.
after i was told surgery was the only option earlier, i went to see loki in the vet’s kennels - just in case. he has a large crate, with a very cosy fleece blanket - and he seems very comfortable in the kennel, so it definitely helped me to see where he was. i do feel better tonight knowing that at least he’s somewhere with a nice warm bed!
if he manages to keep food down tomorrow, and stays stable for the next day or so, we might be able to bring him home on monday night. the biopsy results, due to the bank holiday, wont arrive until tue/wed, so we can keep him with us and treat him symptomatically if necessary until then - at which point they’ll be able to advise ofthe main problem and the best course of treatment.
hopefully tomorrow will see more improvement - at least we know he’s in the right place for now. we can go to see him again either tomorrow or monday (dependant on vet opening hours) so it’ll be good to see his progress for ourselves…will keep you all posted, and thank you so much for your thoughts, it’s so much appreciated xx
loki has managed to keep down his food so far, and even had a waggy tail yesterday morning when it was breakfast time!
we went to see him in the afternoon and he was a bit dozy, but he was stil quite heavily medicated. he has quite bad bruising, but the pain relief is helping. he did look really miserable though - he has a cone on, which i know he hates - it’s probably worse for him than the surgery itself! he just stood with his head down - too tired to lift his neck up to see out of the cone. but when we went down to his height he seemed really pleased to see us
i phoned in this morning and he had another good night - they’re tapering down the morpine based pain relief, and all medications are being orally given - so that we can care for him at home. i’ve to give them a phone at 4 to find out how he’s been - if they’re happy that he’s hydrated enough, and that he won’t need his IV drip, then we can take him home tonight! they’re confident that he will recover much better at home, with allan and i - and being back to normal as much as possible. so, fingers crossed!
our main focus will be to keep him comfortable and to help him heal properly, and when the biopsy results return hopefully we can take a course of treatment that will help the problem to be solved permanently…
Hi, not been around for a few days, so just catching up with this. So sorry to hear about the tough times you’ve all been through, here’s hoping that Loki makes a speedy recovery now.
Malc
loki is back home - he arrived on monday evening, and despite a little sickness through the night, he was on great form. i’m pleased to say he’s not been sick since though - despite snaffling some meaty treats yesterday when my back was turned!
during the day he stays in his crate (which is right next to mia’s) and has his cone on - but as soon as we get home he follows us around until we take it off! he’s very good with not licking his stitches - he’s quite badly bruised so he has figured out that it quite hurts when he cleans it - but we’re only happy for him to be cone free when we’re around, just in case. he’s definitely much happier without it.
he is absolutely on top form - still very sleepy, and very hungry! but waggy tails all round, and he’s definitely glad to be home. we’ve to feed him a quarter of a tin of ID, 4 times a day, but when we’re happy we can increase this - so we gave him an extra quarter last night, which went and stayed down, so hopefully we can increase this further over the next few days.
he’s not quite up to his usual “adventurer” level, and won’t be for the next few weeks i think - he’s too tired easily to walk far, and with his stitches taxi journeys are out of the question (some cars are too high for him to jump into, and a seatbelt clip would dig in to his tummy) - however, he’s definitely getting there, and i’m confident he’ll make a good recovery. on another positive note- i passed my driving test yesterday, so once i’ve sorted out my insurance, when back to full health we can finally come to gal events easily!
the biopsy results are expected either tomorrow or friday, so hopefully they will give us an answer - for now i’m just so glad to have my loki back
Great to hear Loki is home and doing well - and congratulations on passing your driving test, soon you’ll be able to ferry him to his favourite walks in style!
we can go and visit him later if we want, which i would really like to do. however, i just don’t want to break his heart when we have to leave him behind there again… although i don’t think he’s in a fit state to make any kind of fuss anyway. fingers crossed the treatments show more improvement…
