Todd has been doing amazing. Day by day he overcomes fears and is getting better in the car and with eating and trusting. Sadly, yesterday poor little Todd was admitted to the hospital. He started vomiting at 10:30pm the night before and continued every hour into the next morning when he vomited blood. They did X-rays, blood work and he received fluids. We have requested he be tested for Babesia again which will need to be sent out to the lab and will take 5 days to get the results. For now they are checking his kidney levels to make sure he’s not in kidney failure. He is at a regular vet right now but may be transported to a specialist depending on what they find or don’t find.
We are reluctant to share this without knowing all the information but we’ve shared his story in detail every step of the way so we felt this should be shared too. This is scary and came out of nowhere but we will see to it he gets the best care and we figure this out. We will keep you posted.
TODD UPDATE #2
The in house blood results showed his kidney values are normal, which is a HUGE relief. They did X-rays and those looked okay too. The doctor did say that his colon appears to have a weird blockage of what looks like sand. Todd is not around sand and he would never be unsupervised to where he could eat sand or anything like it nor does he eat grass or has he ever even tried eating anything outside. The only thing it may be is the marrow of a small antler that he gets to chew on now and then. If he’s been swallowing the tiny crumbs and is unable to pass it then blockage and vomiting could happen.
He will now be getting 2 enema’s to try and clear that build up out and he’ll remain on fluids for now. In a couple of hours they will offer him food and if he eats he gets to come home.
Lucille (his mom) died of heart failure due to Babesia Gibsoni which reeked havoc on her body. So we are absolutely retesting Todd for Babesia (a common blood disease found in victims of dogfighting) and will get results back in 3-5 days. If caught early on Babesia can be cured. We are also having them do an EKG on him to see if he has any heart issues like his mom had. We’ll know the results of EKG today.
Not a great start to the week but hopeful and happy about the news thus far. Todd may have an abnormally small colon or inability to digest things properly but regardless, if you’re letting your dog chew antlers or any kind of nyla bone, you may want to remember this situation because if your dog’s insides are like Todd’s and this is what really caused him to become so ill, it’s not worth it.