Background: About a month ago my 7yr old boy suddenly stopped eating and drinking for several hours and sat hunched in the fartest corner of the room. His tummy was making a lot of sounds so I decided to gently massage his belly and give him 1ml simethicone untill we could visit the vet. The next day (20th sept 2019) we went to the vet and she noticed that he had lost quite some weight compared to the last time he visited (he used to weigh a bit over 3kg, but during this visit he only weighed 2.4kg). His temp was high, 40.3 °C, his nose was a little moist and the fur on the inside of his forepaws was sticky. His poo was tested for bacteria (can’t remember exactly if it was pasteurella or sth and parasites) but the results were negative. His ears, teeth and gums were checked and all in good condition. The diagnosis was: an upcoming upper respiratory infection.
Her advice/therapy: 1.2 ml Emeprid twice a day for 3 days to keep his bowels moving and an Antibiotic : Cotrim ¾ ml twice a day for 5 days.
He seemed to be doing fine after a few days, but still didn’t drink as much as before and he was very picky with his food. He refused to eat his para grass (his main food) which he used to love and after the course had finished, he started to become sluggish and passive once again. I also noticed his right eye was a bit runny but at first I stupidly thought it was because of the way I held him whenever trying to give him water through a syringe (my hands were always a bit wet since I always wash the syringe before using it), so I didn’t pay much heed to it. However, when I noticed it getting runnier I decided to visit the vet again. He had also been sneezing quite a few times. This visit was on the 30th of September.She gave him gentamicin eyedrops and Cotrim ¾ ml twice a day for a week.
He started to become more active and a little less picky about his food but still needed a bit of persuasion to drink. I made sure to feed him a lot of grass and water spinach because he was more than happy to eat the latter and the vet recommended it .A few days after the course of his medications ended he had a relapse (AGAIN!). He also didn’t gain any weight but seemed to be getting thinner, which pained me a lot to see. I also felt a lump in the area where his stomach is. So it was time for our third visit to the vet.I was shocked to see that he had not gained any weight, in fact he lost more. He weighed 2.2 kg. The vet was alarmed when she noticed this and she decided to run some bloodtests. While extracting some of his blood she sad that it was rather thin and his blood pressure was very low. The results came in and she said that he is suffering internal blood loss. Wether it’s due to blood parasites or worse, a tumor, was still uncertain.
She had examined his ears, eyes , nose and teeth but couldn’t find anything unusual.
He has been ill for about a month now and after 3 visits to the vet, his condition still didn’t improve. In fact, it only seems to be getting worse. He’s very picky when eating, and doesn’t drink. I have to use a syringe for that. And all this is happening while he’s still on emeprid and doxycycline (vet prescribed a course of 10 days and we’re already on day 7), so I’m worried it’ll only get worse once we stop with the medications.
Her advice/therapy: 1.2 ml Emeprid twice a day for 3 days to keep his bowels moving and an Antibiotic : Cotrim ¾ ml twice a day for 5 days.
He seemed to be doing fine after a few days, but still didn’t drink as much as before and he was very picky with his food. He refused to eat his para grass (his main food) which he used to love and after the course had finished, he started to become sluggish and passive once again. I also noticed his right eye was a bit runny but at first I stupidly thought it was because of the way I held him whenever trying to give him water through a syringe (my hands were always a bit wet since I always wash the syringe before using it), so I didn’t pay much heed to it. However, when I noticed it getting runnier I decided to visit the vet again. He had also been sneezing quite a few times. This visit was on the 30th of September.She gave him gentamicin eyedrops and Cotrim ¾ ml twice a day for a week.
He started to become more active and a little less picky about his food but still needed a bit of persuasion to drink. I made sure to feed him a lot of grass and water spinach because he was more than happy to eat the latter and the vet recommended it .A few days after the course of his medications ended he had a relapse (AGAIN!). He also didn’t gain any weight but seemed to be getting thinner, which pained me a lot to see. I also felt a lump in the area where his stomach is. So it was time for our third visit to the vet.I was shocked to see that he had not gained any weight, in fact he lost more. He weighed 2.2 kg. The vet was alarmed when she noticed this and she decided to run some bloodtests. While extracting some of his blood she sad that it was rather thin and his blood pressure was very low. The results came in and she said that he is suffering internal blood loss. Wether it’s due to blood parasites or worse, a tumor, was still uncertain.
She had examined his ears, eyes , nose and teeth but couldn’t find anything unusual.
He has been ill for about a month now and after 3 visits to the vet, his condition still didn’t improve. In fact, it only seems to be getting worse. He’s very picky when eating, and doesn’t drink. I have to use a syringe for that. And all this is happening while he’s still on emeprid and doxycycline (vet prescribed a course of 10 days and we’re already on day 7), so I’m worried it’ll only get worse once we stop with the medications.
. The decision to put a pet to sleep is always heartbreaking, especially after holding out hope for recovery through a prolonged illness... all you can do is take comfort in the fact that they're no longer suffering. Please know that you're not alone - many of us here share your pain. I know that can't help very much, but I hope it helps a little.
