My sick dog another UPDATE

Will be thinking of you all! Better days ahead, hang in there.

I'm home. Thank you for your thoughts and wishes..it is much appreciated.
My step dad had a lesion that was caused from an aneurism he had a few years ago. All is well, he had it removed and no more blockage. He is back home and seems to be doing well.
As for Sam, they took him in and started another IV, Gary was going to hang around until 3 or 4 this evening and talk with the vet. He isn't back yet, and I couldn't stop by since I had to get my step dad back home. The vet is in the same town as I had to go to this morning, so Gary came to the hospital for a bit, but left before we did.

Gary just called me from the vet's office.
She says his liver is looking better, but his kidneys are shutting down. She insists that he was poisoned. How? I do not know. If I hadn't known he was already sick, I would have thought he had gotten it when he got out the door. We keep our dogs on a leash when we walk them, I don't know if maybe someone had maybe spinkled something beside the sidewalk or what. But we don't let them eat or drink anything while we are on a walk. She says he has a 50/50 chance of survival. Gary is bringing him home, and she wants us to give him Maalox 3 times a day. That's all I know at the moment until he gets home.

OMG buzznut, I am sooooo very sorry ((((HUGS))))))

I pray he gets better

Oh my, I do hope he pulls through. Sounds like he is having a rough go of it. Glad to hear your dad is out of the woods.

I'm so sorry Buzznut, hoping for the best for him

(((((hugs))))) I am so sorry. But there is still hope. I will keep praying for him.

She said that we need to give the Maalox. It has something in it that helps disperse the poison out of the blood stream. The liver is better, which is great news. She says the kidneys can take damage, and still heal, we just need to make him drink as much as we can get in him to try and help the kidneys heal. She left the IV cath in, so we can bring him back in and get fluids pumped back in for a few days. She said she wasn't too concerned right now about him eating. She told Gary that a dog can live a month without eating, as long as they drink.
He's feeling good this evening, but she said he would because she gave him an anti-inflammatory med. She told Gary that if we decided not to bring him in for another IV that I could take it out. She said that she did think he would be okay, but she didn't want to give false hope.

I've been meaning to reply to this all night!
I'm sorry to hear about Sam and your step dad. I hope they're both resting comfortably tonight and are doing better in the morning.

My step dad is doing good. He still has blood in the urine, but they said it would be normal for at least 48 hours. He isn't allowed to do anything for a few days.

Thank you all again, it certainly is appreciated. It's been a hell of a week.

BuzzNut, hang in there. I'm sorry you're having such a rough time right now. It's easier to handle when it doesn't all happen at once.

Poor Sam. I wonder if lawn sprays and pesticides that people may have put on their lawns are strong enought to cause so much trouble. He could have walked through something and then licked his feet, but it wouldn't have been much.

Sam went back for another IV today. I asked if I could bring a bag home to give over the weekend, and she didn't want to do that. I am not sure why. I have started human IV's, I think I am capable of hanging a bag for my dog, he already had the cath in, so it wasn't like I'd have to do that.
She did give me a bag to bring home to inject 150ML under his skin once a day. She told me if I thought he was getting worse to give it twice a day.
She also told me to give him Amphojel three times a day instead of Maalox. Well, the drug stores around here says they haven't carried that in 10 years. I can't find it, and have an email into her as what else to get. The Maalox has been reformulated and doesn't have what she was used to.

She probably is thinking if you think he needs an IV in a matter of days, she would rather see him herself to monitor him. I didn't know they changed that formula...maybe that's why I used to never be able to take it, but a couple years ago, I did, and it didn't bother me like before.

I finally got Sam to eat. He loves boiled eggs, and why I didn't think of it sooner, but I boiled three eggs. He usually goes nuts when he sees me putting them in the pan to cook. When I got them done, I yelled at him and asked if he'd like some eggs...he came running. He barked and carried on until I got them cut up and put down for him. That is the most this dog has ate in almost 2 weeks. He wolfed them down. I had saved one back for Holly, but when I put hers down to her, he had ate his already and got that one too. lol Gary wanted hot dogs done in the crock pot this evening, and Sam ate one of those too. I really do hope this is a turn around for him. I didn't want to give him too much until I see if he would hold it down.

As for the meds that I can't find, she is calling in a prescription for basically the same thing as the over the counter med.

That is so great!

That is good news! Maybe it will help him pass whatever is in his system. The Malox type stuff will probably neutralize whatever is rolling around in there making him feel icky.

The Maalox she wanted to give him is to neutralize the poison in the blood. It somehow absorbs the poison.

wow, didn't know it would actually pull it from the bloodstream, I just knew it was a neutralizer. I do hope it makes him feel perky again, he seems like he WANTS to.

The med that she is going to call in when she goes to the office tomoorw is Phos Lo. I called the pharmacy this evening to see if she had called it in from home, but she hadn't. I talked to the pharmacist and they do have that medicine, and he took all the info so it won't take long for them to get it ready once she does call it in.

Sam is eating me out of house and home...and I don't care! I fed him some boiled chicken a little bit ago. He kept following Gary around, and he couldn't figure out why. I said well maybe he is hungry. We have had chicken cooked for him, and he wouldn't eat, so I took out some of that and sure enough he downed it.

While he was getting his IV today, I stopped in Dollar Tree and got him a toy. I put it in the carrier with him, and all the way home he sqeaked it. He grabbed it up when Gary came home from work tonight and ran thru the house with it. I so hope he keeps feeling good. This is the most movement from him in a long time. I keep remembering my hospital days, and patients (the real sick patients) would get better right before they died..I keep trying to put that out of my head and not think about it and think more positive that he is getting better.

That is just so wonderful. I am SO happy to hear that he's eating real meals and not just forcing down a bite or two. I bet he'll make a full recovery in no time.

I hope he continues to improve. It sounds like he might pull through now though! I'll keep my fingers crossed for you!

I pray your doggy fully recovers BZZNUT,I just read all the threads.

BuzzNut wrote:
While he was getting his IV today, I stopped in Dollar Tree and got him a toy. I put it in the carrier with him, and all the way home he sqeaked it. He grabbed it up when Gary came home from work tonight and ran thru the house with it. I so hope he keeps feeling good. This is the most movement from him in a long time. I keep remembering my hospital days, and patients (the real sick patients) would get better right before they died..I keep trying to put that out of my head and not think about it and think more positive that he is getting better.

A frisky dog is a happy dog! I'm so glad to hear that he's feeling well enough to romp around.

Thank you all. He is still doing good today.

WONDERFUL!!!

Thats just wonderful!!