Further adventures with Merlin - Tummy trouble big trouble

[CarolC]

Merlin apparently ate something in the back yard (cat mess?) and he began having loose stools, then diarrhea. It didn't seem like that big a deal at first, but he clearly wasn't feeling good. Last Friday I decided to run home during my break and check on him, and I couldn't wake him up. He was lying on his bed, I could see he was breathing. I rubbed his front paws and dug into the toes, I rubbed and squeezed his hind paws and dug in, and I rubbed his legs, and finally went to drumming on the side of his chest, slapping him with my palms hard enough that nobody should be able to sleep through that. All the other pets were watching me "beat on Merlin". Finally I sat back on my heels and looked up at the ceiling and thought, "I-need-to-call-the-vet-I-need-to-call-work-and-say-I-won't-be-back". Then in desperation I tried one more time, and grabbed his ear and was hollering into it and kind of jerking his ear back and forth, and at last he opened his eyes.

He couldn't sit up. Even when I physically wrestled him into a semi-sitting position he couldn't hold it. I got him water and he wouldn't drink. I splashed it on his muzzle but no interest. Then I laid him back down. I was ready to call the vet, trying to figure out how I was going to get a dead weight dog into the car, but I had some Gerber babyfood in the cupboard. I got out a jar of turkey and held it to his nose and he began licking it until it was gone, so I gave him 2 more jars. Then I went back to work and called the vet. She didn't know if he'd had a stroke or what was going on. I mentioned the diarrhea and that maybe he was dehydrated (he has some kidney trouble) and I had some fluids at home I use for one of the kitties, and she said I could give him a whole bag, divided in 3 locations. So when I got home 2 1/2 hours later I gave him the fluids. In addition, the next morning I got some diarrhea tablets from the vet.

So he recovered gradually for the next 4 or 5 days and he is back to normal. Lots of TLC and baby food and Pro-Pectalin. I think what happened was he got dehydrated. It wasn't that he lost a lot of fluid through diarrhea, it wasn't that bad and had only been going a day and a half. I had cleaned up after him maybe 3 times. But I guess with his upset tummy he didn't feel like drinking, and with his kidney trouble he needs more fluids than normal, so it took very little for him to become dehydrated and faint. This is just my interpretation of what happened. In the future I will know how little it takes to really knock him down, and I don't know, but possibly if I hadn't come home on my break to check him, he might have been even worse by 5:30, so we have a lot to be thankful for. I am so glad he is still here. And they gave me a new bottle of Pro-Pectalin to have on hand if we notice lose stools again.

[Christine]

Thank goodness you came home when you did and thank goodness you are his mom. So glad everything turned out okaye.

[GabrielDeafBlindPupFamily]

Oh, CarolC, my heart stops reading this! How awful for both of you!
I am glad he is eating again.
You can also pick up OTC petpectillin from Petsmart. Gads, what an awful time.

[CarolC]

You know what? That's exactly what I did--went to PetsMart and looked at the Pet Pectilin. But what they have at the local PetsMart is a liquid and the Pro-Pectilin from the vet are big coke cap sized chewable flavor tabs that he liked even when his stomach was upset, so I am sticking with them. I wish they had tablets at PetsMart. Wow! Does anybody know what size a coke bottle cap is anymore?

[Dianne]

Your intuition was really working inorder for you to come home. Thank goodness he's OK.

With dehydration, did you notice any vomiting, dry mouth, or eyes sunken or dilated?
It must be kinda' hot down there in TX. It's only 40's here.

[CarolC]

You know, his eyes frequently look sunken. It's hard to tell about his pupils, his eyes are dark brown. His skin seemed OK so I guess that's not such an indication with a dog? But you are making me think I probably need to take him in to have his kidney values checked again. He's been dyspeptic for several months--that's why we started him on Pepcid. The other thing I'm noticing is his male wrap is having to be fastened smaller, so he is losing weight even though he's eating his normal amount. The thing I look back and realize should have been a red alert was when I changed his male wrap and it was pretty dry. I'll know next time. Then after I gave him the full liter of fluids, I was thinking, "Oh, boy, we're going to be changing male wraps every 2 hours." Wrong...which is very telling. He did not pee that liter out. Can you imagine? Thank you for saying something, I will make an appointment for him. I'm just thinking, if I have to do fluids with him, too, I don't mind but that's going to be expensive if it's a bag a day. I hate doing the drip bag, it takes like 20 minutes, whereas I can do Betsy with syringes in about 30 seconds. But if it will help we will do it. Also, he is on k/d but I think there is a food for more advanced stages, so we may need to change that.

As for the weather, ha! Must be some other part of Texas. We finally got our rain here and it's been cold, 40's here, too. It seems more like Boston! But this is the price we pay for Spring flowers.

[critters]

When you do his SQs, do you just let it drip naturally? I don't--I lean on or sit on the bag to speed it up to firehose level. As the bag empties, I roll it up and keep squashing to maintain that speed. I then ease off before withdrawing the needle.

[CarolC]

AHA! Will do!!!

[CarolC]

Merlin is doing poorly and he needs to be seen. He doesn't keep his food down as well the past few days. I'm going to try to schedule him for tomorrow. He's been eating less of his usual kibble. I stir a little canned into it to make it more tempting and he still doesn't clean up his bowl. He will eat 3 jars of Gerber turkey. I'm not sure how much of anything he is keeping down. He doesn't spit up little by little. He seems like he's keeping it down, then after a day or so he upchucks a large amount, like the amount a child would throw up, so I wonder how much went the rest of the way through during that time. He's done that twice. He can still walk if you help him up. His stools are semi-OK, but small and not twice a day like they should be. You can guess what I'm thinking, I hope it is "just" pancreatitis. He was on Pepcid, then he needed something stronger so they put him on Pro-Pectalin which he liked, but this past week he began not accepting the Pro-Pectalin tablets.

He was born around January 1995. He was 6 1/2 when I adopted him and we're his third home. He was treated for heartworms twice. The first owner let him get them and he was treated with the old harsh medication. Then the second owner let him get them and turned him in to the shelter, so he had to be treated again when I got him. I was afraid his kidneys would go because early because of it. He does have kidney trouble but has been holding his own on the renal diet. I have a list of reasons I wish I'd done better for him. He's a good person.

[Dianne]

Guilt! You shouldn't have ANY guilt. Put away that whipping stick. You gave him the best home in his life and he loved it. Stop beating up on yourself! Go to the vet and see what he/she says. Then go home and treat him like the special boy that he is. We're all here for you.

[GabrielDeafBlindPupFamily]

My head swims with your journey. I am so sorry your beautiful boy is winding down. You are the ONLY reason he is still alive today. YOU, EVERY DAY OF HIS LIFE! He has needed you every day of his life, CarolC and had anyone else been there, he would not be here today.

I wish you and Merlin were closer, so one of us could 'spell' you.
Merlin & Angel sound an awful lot alike. I just traded Angel & Albin's appointments, Angel needs to get in asap.

[critters]

One good thing about multi critters is being able to swap out appointments!

Ya know, I wonder if Merlin's stomach is emptying; it sure sounds like it isn't. Can you get him in soon? It might be nothing, but just in case...

[CarolC]

Thanks everybody, I appreciate it more than you know. Critters I wonder the same thing, the volume that comes up is too much for the number of hours elapsed.

[Christine]

Chiming in with the rest of your cheerleaders. Don't you dare think you have anything to feel guilty about. You have dedicated your life to your animals and they are all the better for that. When you make a commitment, you don't mess around and your mind never stops trying to make things easier for them. Prayers for you and that precious boy. I totally agree with Karen in that I wish we all lived closer together so we could help physically too.

Love,