[Beto]

Hi there, it's been ages since I last visited this forum. We just passed through one of our hardest moments ever with Sussie, our big fat baby, now 7. We almost lose her.

Some days ago, we started to notice she began to move slowly and with difficulty, arching her back a lot. At first we thought it might be a case of a bad stomach, but after taking her to the vet and trying a special diet, we saw no changes either. Now starting to get really worried, I rushed her to the vet first thing in the morning yesterday (Christmas Eve), and blood tests revealed a serious condition of gas trapped in her uterus (she wasn't spayed nor had any puppies before - yes, I know I'll be beaten for this). Vet's veredict was that extirpation of the uterus and related organs was mandatory if she was to survive, which I obviously accepted.

Sussie before entering the operation room. My poor dear.

Needless to say these were the four longest, hardest and more stressful hours for me since my father passed away a year ago. Fortunately the surgery proved to be a success so far. Never felt so good to see my big fat baby back! This, for me, was enough of a Christmas gift. Obviously, she was heavily sedated and with no desire to move much, but the vet told us this was expected. He also warned us she would just want to rest and not have any appetite for the rest of the day, and so she's been since. Here's a pic taken some minutes ago.

She did drank quite a bit of water yesterday, which is important. We are also following the recommended veterinarian's treatment which involves periodical wound disinfectation, special pills, etc. However, I'm a little worried again since I was kind of expecting she would try a little bit of food by now - no luck. Not even putting a little bit to the mouth. Maybe I'm just overreacting - if she gets really hungry, she will go for food right? Or is the effect of medication that powerful? What do I know?

The vet reassured me that it would take days for her to go back to "normal"... but I dunno, if she only wanted to try a bit of food I'd be a bit less worried.

At this time it will be about 30 hours since she had surgery.

 

[Elvismom]

I'm so glad she's OK - poor baby must have been in so much pain. And now she doesn't know what's happening. I'm also glad she's home with you and not stuck in the hospitall

I wouldn't worry about her lack of interest in food. She's been through a LOT! I'm sure between the surgery & meds that rest is all she really wants to do. I keep something bland and soft available when she's ready for it, but I wouldn't push it on her.

If she still isn't eating in 72 hours I'd give the vet a call. But make sure she is drinking so she doesn't get dehydrated.

Give her a very gentle hug from us & tell her what a lucky girl she is to have such a good momslave.

 

[murraysmom]

Poor Sussie!! I'm happy to hear she's recovering!

Your vet most likely told you what is normal and what is not after this surgery(when should she start showing interest in food? when should she start peeing and pooping?)- I'd watch her to make sure she's progressing as expected- if you start having doubts, I'd give the vet a call.

Elvismom's right- she's been through alot - please let us know how she's doing!

 

[Houndsong]

Best wishes and buena suerte.

 

[Yogi's Mom]

Poor Sussie! Hope she has a speedy recovery! How is she doing now?

 

[Beto]

Hey people, time for updates.

GREAT NEWS! After almost three days of not wanting to try any food, we took Susie back to the vet by request. She injected her some happy things like vitamins and such, and then took a short walk with her around the block. While she's still not the Susie that could perform the Basset 500 each time I came home from work (the side effects of anesthetics will keep kicking in for a few more days, I was told), we're noticing a great change in her from what she was like just a couple of days ago.

The biggest change? We fed her a small dose of a special paste used to provoke appetites. A few hours later, we started feeding her the special food portions and a homemade soup (much like what you'd feed a baby - vet's suggestion), and she ATE IT ALL! And like there was no tomorrow! :lol: She's now sleeping the whole gargantuan fest away, hehe. You don't know how much the idea of she actually having something in her stomach besides water at this time comforts me.

Surgery's wound cauterization seems to be doing incredibly well as per the vet (we're treating it twice a day). I just hope I can do a little less basset babysitting by now and be able to get out more, as this is my only work-free week during the year and weather is incredibly good around here (can you talk about perfect timing? This would have been incredibly difficult for me to handle if I were at my day job now!) :huh:

(Just to make it clear: I'm not talking about leaving her alone - just be able to run some errands for a few hours while she rests between her treatment sessions).

I just hope things keep going as well as they have been so far.

Bassets rule! :lol:

 

[murraysmom]

That's great news- you must be so relieved! She's lucky to have someone so dedicated looking after her- I bet she'll be back to her old self in no time!

 

[biscuit]

Oh my, what a horrible thing to go through for both of you.

I'm going to rather shamelessly use your thread, however, to point out that an arched back needs to be attended to *very* quickly.

Lady had an arched back which, had i known any better, I would have realized immediately is a sign of bloat. I didn't however, and I assumed it was a strange manifestation of her serious dysplasia or (undiagnosed but likely) degenerative myelopathy or pinched nerves or the like. Unfortunately, by the time the irrefutable signs of bloat showed up, it was too late.

I'm so, so glad to hear that Susie's going to be okay.

 

[Beto]

Fortunately, bloat wasn't the problem. I read about it and was truly frightened to think that would be the case.

Trouble now is, three straight days of my scarce vacation time attending the dog round-the-clock are starting to take its toll on me. At least where I live, these days is when everybody goes to visit friends and family, or get to see new places and things. Yes, I know I'm sounding a little bit selfish here, but I'd really like to leave the house for a change.

We used to take Susie to the country side (a half hour drive from here) often. But I fear she's still too weak to make that trip, and that doing it would only make things worse (besides her eating and drinking, I still see no change in her attitude). However, she didn't seem to object to the stroll through the vet's park yesterday, although walking very slowly of course. Maybe a change of place does good to her... at least I've noticed she still loves getting compliments from other people,wagging her tail and all.

Yes, I admit I'm not used to deal with these kind of situations. Any suggestions besides trying to have the patience of a saint?

Thank you for all your support - we truly need all we can get at this time!

 

[Elvismom]

Can someone dog sit for you for a few hours while you go out? I know how easy it is to start going a bit crazy staying with a sick dog (or human!). The odds are probably close to 100% that nothing would happen while you were gone, but I'm not sure how much you'd enjoy being out if you were worried.

Or maybe leave her with the vet?

I'm curious - did you get Susie in Costa Rica or did you bring her down from some place else? The reason I ask is that I see very few purebreds when I go to CA. I head to Belize as often as I can and jsut love it. Since I speak no Spanish I've been hesitant to try the other CA countries - but I hear that Costa Rica is beautiful.

 

[biscuit]

A dog sitter is an excellent idea! Having been through this a couple of times, yeah, it *is* very wearing, and you really really need a break!

And btw, I didn't mean to sound like I was jumping on you, because I wasn't at all! It's that I was completely ignorant of what an arched back often means and made assumptions based on what I knew of Lady's history and what I could see of what was going on with her. I was just hoping I could warn others. Sorry for shamelessly using your thread for it!

 

[Beto]

No offense taken Biscuit. It's all well and good.

That's something I learned at the vet - that an arched back means serious pain and should be treated immediately.

I'm aware we're still in the critical stage of recovery - My brother luckily was available to watch Susie while we were away. Boy did it felt good to try disconnecting for a while!

I couldn't stop having that nagging worry feeling though. First time we did once we got back home was to take her for a short walk at night (she's always been more of a night gal, not unlike his owner (LOL). She peed like 3-4 times and -YES!- pooped. I never felt so proud about her pooping before. :lol:

Of course this was a snail-slow walk but she was in good spirit for what I could tell. My only concern now is that the lower part of the jowls around the neck (excuse me since English isn't my native language) was sort of swelling a little bit after the walk. Last I checked, however, she seems to be sleeping peacefully after following the vet's treatment. The most I can do by now is to call the vet first thing in the morning about that, if that's a side effect of the medication or something else - I'm even having a double scotch dose to cope up with all the worries! :lol:

I still want to be faithful everything's gonna be allright.

PICS!

Eating half a can of meat and a lovely homemade soup!

Having a nap under the Christmas tree after the walk. She just loves that place.

 

[Rubydoo]

I hope Sussie is feeling good now and everyone can do some relaxing.

Janice and little Ruby