Dixie Update
Dixie came home from the vet. However, the surgery she had was much more extensive than last time. She really has little control of her bladder, so even though we are taking her out at least every 45 minutes, she is still having accidents. When she goes it is very bloody, and it is obvious that she just doesn’t feel good. We took her for her 3 day check up today. Her temperature is normal, her incision is fine, they did an ultrasound on her bladder, and it looks good. However, apparently this time, the stone was lodged in her urethra which is what was causing her to be in so much pain. Unfortunately that meant more invasive treatment and her bladder is still weak from the surgery in October. Everything she is experiencing is normal for the surgery she had.
She has hardly eaten a thing since her surgery on Thusday, so although she is supposed to be on 100% U/D and nothing else, our task now is to get her to eat anything at all. On the way home from the vet she began vomiting until she was dry heaving and literally crying and trembling so we turned around and headed back to vet’s. Meanwhile there is a snow storm–why wouldn’t there be?–so the roads are terrible. Once there, they gave her anti-nausea medication and fluids in an IV. We now have her in her kennel and she is sad and confused that she is in there. But until she regains a little more control of her bladder, we don’t really have a good alternative.
Part of the problem facing us is the type of bladder stone that she has. Hers are calcium-oxalate stones. Sometimes diet helps, but I am learning that in some cases with these types of stones, diet can only slow the production of these stones in the body. All you can do is try to catch the stones before surgery is required while they can still be flushed out. Her body seems to generate new stones very quickly. The stone she just had removed was very large, and occurred in 6 short weeks. It seems we have a rough road ahead.