The Little Pack

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.

This morning started the same as any other other day. I trudged into the kitchen and cursed the fact that I forgot to make coffee last night, started cooking my breakfast and then stole a few extra minutes of shut-eye on the couch. While I was eating breakfast, my husband took the dogs out. When he came inside, he said that something was wrong with Dixie. She was laying down, trembling, and whimpering. She did not want to walk at all, and she was clearly in pain. I looked at the clock-6:30AM. An hour and a half before I could bring her to our own vet. She was in too much pain to wait it out. So my husband and I both called into work and took her to the emergency vet. After a shot of morphine and 2 xrays later, and way more money than I care to recall, we saw a very large stone in her bladder. By now the regular vet was open, and we took Dixie and the xrays there. The stone was very large, even if it was somehow missed the first time around in October. She had surgery today and did fine. The good news is that her bladder didn’t rupture. However, going forward, I’m not sure what the future holds. She had surgery in October, was cathetarized in January and 2 weeks away from her 8 week follow-up this happened. She is on Science Diet U/D which for her stone type is supposed to be the best thing for her. We were told absolutely, positively nothing but this food and water.  We are pretty good about it now, although she does steal the others’ food when she can and we occasionally let her lick the plate or give her a tiny treat. These are all strictly forbidden now. I pick her up tomorrow and we will take one day at a time.