Blaze is a special little one.  He'd greet me at the door almost every
evening.  If he was in another room, when I opened the door he would
trot down the hallway to greet me, even before we started going outside.
Blaze is very polite.  He would look up at me to ask if he could go down
the ramp to the grass.  When I would nod yes he'd trot down the ramp.
When he wanted to wander in another direction he'd ask before doing so.
He waited for the yes nod.  Just 2 days before his intestinal woes he
was bouncing on the grass playing with me like a youngster.
 
A week ago Tuesday evening after I got home Blaze wasn't doing well.
He'd been fine that morning.  He looked so terribly ill.  I called and
our vet wasn't on call so I talked to the vet that was.  The next morning
I called and Larry said he'd see Blaze at 3.  Larry did an ultrasound
and we could see fluid in the abdomen.  I said "if that is a tumor that
ruptured and you don't go in I'll lose him".  He checked the schedule
and went in right then.  What we found initially was bloody fluid and
fecal matter.  It wasn't long before the hole was found in the small
intestines, almost the size of a pea.  Larry flushed the abdomen twice
before beginning surgery.  He cut out the hole section and stitched the
intestines and mesentary back together.  Before he closed he flushed
again.  All of Blazes insides were outside the body cavity in an effort
to remove every bit of fecal matter.  I asked if there was an antibiotic
that could be put directly into the abdomen to kill the bacteria from
the fecal matter.  Larry said our organs are not friendly to foreign
substances.  I said but if we don't will he be able to pull through.  He
thought about and came up with one that would work, diluted it down with
18.5 cc's of fluids and before he put in the last stitch he squirted it
into Blazes abdomen.  He gave Blaze a baytril injection and a diluted
torbugesic injection.  Now it was wait and see.  I left Blaze at the
clinic while I went to PetSmart.  When I got back Blaze was alert and
ready to go home.  Blaze needed a hefty dose of injectable baytril twice
a day for 2 weeks.  Larry said if Blaze made it a week he should be o.k.
 
Well today is the week and Blaze is still with us.  Blaze met me at the
door last evening after work, wobbly and tired looking.  I carried Blaze
outside and he looked up sweetly to ask to get down.  I put him down and
he wandered a short distance on the rough stubby grass then tottered up
the ramp to the door asking to go back in.  Blaze is 6 yrs old and I
expect a longer recovery due to the type of surgery and his age but am
hopeful that Blaze will make a full recovery.
 
I can breathe a bit easier now.
 
Warm hugs to all. tle
[Posted in FML issue 5379]