Thursday, August 13, 2009

Liam

Liam, at 8 1/2 is not as active as he used to be. However, here with Oisin and Bidelia, he is willing to play...


... and give moral instruction about respecting your elders.


However, possibly related to the active play, possibly related to the phase of the moon, possibly related to ??? The next night, Friday, he was uncomfortable, and couldn't settle down for the night. He usually sleeps in the bedroom but he was restless enough that Bill took him into the living room.

He would have an hour of rest, and then become restless again. He had vomited the preceding afternoon, but that is not unusual, depending on what he eats that he shouldn't. By 4 am it was time and we trotted off to the emergency vet clinic at MSU with the suspicion of bloat. The emergency vet doubted bloat as he was not retching, but they don't all retch.

They did an x-ray of his stomach and found it to not be enlarged and apparently in the right position. But, his heart rate was 180, so something was wrong. Over the next 3 hours repeat x-rays did show his stomach swelling, so off to the operating room. By 10 am he was out of surgery with an incision that went from his sternum to his testicles and not a happy boy, but alive. The surgeon found that he was having torsion, but only (only !?) 90 degrees, that was periodically returning to the normal position, thus the unusual presentation of bloat.

The vet hospital does not have crates large enough for an IW, so he got the special bed. Here he is the next day, with 3 IVs running.

The staff at the emergency clinic loved him because he was so nice and well behaved.

On the evening of the 2nd day he came home, barely able to walk. Now, at day 6 he is doing MUCH better and even pooped. Those of you who have had surgery know how this pleases the surgeon - and us !

It is seldom dull around here.



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