Buddy’s Ma
Member Since 2020
Three weeks ago I took my beloved 6 year old Buddy in to the ER because my brother had fed him a raw piece of his steak and he began vomiting/seeming off in the following 2 days. What caused me to rush him in was he began peeing while lying down, seemingly comfortable, and didn't get up at all. I had to lift him to make sure he didn't pee on himself and there was a TON of it.
I then began a nightmare of a time with this new ER clinic that just opened up and was basically told that if money was an issue, to consider euthanizing him, without any idea as to what was going on.
The one vet suspected he was DKA and after running a test (I can't remember what it was called now) she told me that that was indeed the case and it would cost $2,500 a day to try to save him and even then, there was no guarantee. I'm a floral designer so COVID has really messed up my income with the weddings and events industry here in Alberta, Canada taking a huge hit, and I had mentioned this from the get-go.
This was at 5:30AM and I was in total shock, I had said something along the lines of "Let's see how much money I can borrow from friends and family and worst case scenario, maybe we put him on pain meds and let him pass at home" to which she responded to by yelling at me saying that would be animal abuse, she would refuse to release him, and call the cops on me. I've been an animal welfare advocate my whole life so I was even more taken aback by this, I of course did not want Buddy to suffer at all but the thought of euthanizing him over a lack of funds was unacceptable to me.
I then spiralled into a really dark depression and was in so much pain that I considered ending my life. I couldn't believe that we have allowed life or death and finances to exist in the same realm. After talking to some of my closest loved ones and my spiritual coach, I medicated to numb the extreme pain, posted about doing bottle drives for Buddy's bill, and crashed.
The next morning I woke up to a much more wonderful vet who said he ran an ultrasound (free of charge) and confirmed pancreatitis with a diabetic complication. He said Buddy did have a large amount of ketones in his blood but he was not acidotic which was good. And day by day, with Dr. Williamson, Buddy began improving while I collected bottles and loved ones donated to his bills.
On I believe the fourth day, I got a call saying Buddy wasn't breathing well and they thought I should go in to see him just in case because he was in critical condition. I was heartbroken seeing my boy hooked up to a nasal feeding tube, needing oxygen, and with about 3 different IVs in him, but when I got past my anxiety of it all and sat with Buddy - I KNEW it wasn't his time.
He peed on me while visiting and was rushed to the back where they found his chest and abdomen had filled with fluid and the cardiologist suspected heart failure. The new vet came back basically saying they couldn't treat his heart condition without upsetting the pancreas (because it needs fluids) and vice versa, and again, talked about euthanasia.
I broke down and refused and told them to try everything they could because I knew it wasn't his time. I created a floral bouquet special to try and make more money, continued bottle driving (and still am), and offered gift card options on my website. It was great to at least focus on controlling finances since I couldn't control anything else.
In the following days he was cleared of the fluid, put on heart medication, given a blood transfusion, and transferred to a criticalist in another city where he finally stabilized enough to come home. They thought he had gone DKA one more time before this but, again, his blood was not acidotic which was good and the ketones were cleared to trace amounts.
On May 13, 2020 my baby was finally discharged with a $21,000 bill in tow, an esophageal feeding tube and is on Pimobendan (for his heart), Caninsulin, and has finished his Cerenia but is getting Buprenorphine as needed. Yesterday and today he's seemed as close to back to normal as he has been with no signs of pain so I haven't given him any as of this morning.
The criticalist discharged him with the instructions to feed him a 100ml slurry of Hills A/D mixed with 25ml water and a probiotic 3x a day and 3U of Caninsulin in the morning and night (12hrs apart). He's a big boy, sitting at about 9kgs, so this doesn't surprise me but also still seems a tad much. He has shown interest in eating but will paw at his food dishes as if he's burying them (this was even while he was on Cerenia). I wonder if he's just too full all the time to eat on his own. It's really disheartening that he hasn't since he has been home but I'm trying to focus on the positive improvements he's making every day.
I did a glucose and ketone urine test yesterday and both came out negative, and we're doing a curve with the FreeStyle Libre device which has been really helpful. I don't understand the 100 values I see you all talking about because the Libre gives mmol/L readings and Buddy is sitting at highs of about 15 with nadirs around 9-6 so all the vets are happy with how he's doing on Caninsulin, I believe they tried Lantus originally and he didn't respond well to it. Will double check that and look into the 100 values more when I get the chance.
My three questions today are:
1) I'm going to be purchasing a glucometer/strips today, I have the Accucheck Guide which our regular vet recommended on the way (coupon offer), a coupon for the FreeStyle Lite, and OneTouch - any reviews would be much appreciated.
2) I've noticed Buddy's hind legs are weaker and our regular vet has said this is due to the diabetes and will reverse with time as its controlled. It freaks me out so much to see, luckily today it seems to be a bit better. Have your babies gone through the same thing and how long did it take to reverse?
3) Buddy has been having soft but formed stools and peeing regularly, but this morning he had a bit of diarrhea followed by some vomiting. I decreased his morning feeding to 80ml to take it easy on his stomach, and he tolerated it fine until about 3 hours later where he threw some of it up. Not all of it, and is otherwise bright, active, and happy so I'm wondering what the heck is going on. Called the ER vet, Dr. Williamson who we liked, to see if we can get more Cerenia, and my holistic vet recommended some Arsenicum that Buddy has responded to well in the past with tummy issues.
Your thoughts/advice would be greatly appreciated. I feel like I'm losing my mind and have developed slight agoraphobia now. (Also, I've been documenting Buddy's journey here for anyone interested in more of the full ER backstory.)
(Also, also, I forgot to give my own name apparently - it's Nora
)
I then began a nightmare of a time with this new ER clinic that just opened up and was basically told that if money was an issue, to consider euthanizing him, without any idea as to what was going on.
The one vet suspected he was DKA and after running a test (I can't remember what it was called now) she told me that that was indeed the case and it would cost $2,500 a day to try to save him and even then, there was no guarantee. I'm a floral designer so COVID has really messed up my income with the weddings and events industry here in Alberta, Canada taking a huge hit, and I had mentioned this from the get-go.
This was at 5:30AM and I was in total shock, I had said something along the lines of "Let's see how much money I can borrow from friends and family and worst case scenario, maybe we put him on pain meds and let him pass at home" to which she responded to by yelling at me saying that would be animal abuse, she would refuse to release him, and call the cops on me. I've been an animal welfare advocate my whole life so I was even more taken aback by this, I of course did not want Buddy to suffer at all but the thought of euthanizing him over a lack of funds was unacceptable to me.
I then spiralled into a really dark depression and was in so much pain that I considered ending my life. I couldn't believe that we have allowed life or death and finances to exist in the same realm. After talking to some of my closest loved ones and my spiritual coach, I medicated to numb the extreme pain, posted about doing bottle drives for Buddy's bill, and crashed.
The next morning I woke up to a much more wonderful vet who said he ran an ultrasound (free of charge) and confirmed pancreatitis with a diabetic complication. He said Buddy did have a large amount of ketones in his blood but he was not acidotic which was good. And day by day, with Dr. Williamson, Buddy began improving while I collected bottles and loved ones donated to his bills.
On I believe the fourth day, I got a call saying Buddy wasn't breathing well and they thought I should go in to see him just in case because he was in critical condition. I was heartbroken seeing my boy hooked up to a nasal feeding tube, needing oxygen, and with about 3 different IVs in him, but when I got past my anxiety of it all and sat with Buddy - I KNEW it wasn't his time.
He peed on me while visiting and was rushed to the back where they found his chest and abdomen had filled with fluid and the cardiologist suspected heart failure. The new vet came back basically saying they couldn't treat his heart condition without upsetting the pancreas (because it needs fluids) and vice versa, and again, talked about euthanasia.
I broke down and refused and told them to try everything they could because I knew it wasn't his time. I created a floral bouquet special to try and make more money, continued bottle driving (and still am), and offered gift card options on my website. It was great to at least focus on controlling finances since I couldn't control anything else.
In the following days he was cleared of the fluid, put on heart medication, given a blood transfusion, and transferred to a criticalist in another city where he finally stabilized enough to come home. They thought he had gone DKA one more time before this but, again, his blood was not acidotic which was good and the ketones were cleared to trace amounts.
On May 13, 2020 my baby was finally discharged with a $21,000 bill in tow, an esophageal feeding tube and is on Pimobendan (for his heart), Caninsulin, and has finished his Cerenia but is getting Buprenorphine as needed. Yesterday and today he's seemed as close to back to normal as he has been with no signs of pain so I haven't given him any as of this morning.
The criticalist discharged him with the instructions to feed him a 100ml slurry of Hills A/D mixed with 25ml water and a probiotic 3x a day and 3U of Caninsulin in the morning and night (12hrs apart). He's a big boy, sitting at about 9kgs, so this doesn't surprise me but also still seems a tad much. He has shown interest in eating but will paw at his food dishes as if he's burying them (this was even while he was on Cerenia). I wonder if he's just too full all the time to eat on his own. It's really disheartening that he hasn't since he has been home but I'm trying to focus on the positive improvements he's making every day.
I did a glucose and ketone urine test yesterday and both came out negative, and we're doing a curve with the FreeStyle Libre device which has been really helpful. I don't understand the 100 values I see you all talking about because the Libre gives mmol/L readings and Buddy is sitting at highs of about 15 with nadirs around 9-6 so all the vets are happy with how he's doing on Caninsulin, I believe they tried Lantus originally and he didn't respond well to it. Will double check that and look into the 100 values more when I get the chance.
My three questions today are:
1) I'm going to be purchasing a glucometer/strips today, I have the Accucheck Guide which our regular vet recommended on the way (coupon offer), a coupon for the FreeStyle Lite, and OneTouch - any reviews would be much appreciated.
2) I've noticed Buddy's hind legs are weaker and our regular vet has said this is due to the diabetes and will reverse with time as its controlled. It freaks me out so much to see, luckily today it seems to be a bit better. Have your babies gone through the same thing and how long did it take to reverse?
3) Buddy has been having soft but formed stools and peeing regularly, but this morning he had a bit of diarrhea followed by some vomiting. I decreased his morning feeding to 80ml to take it easy on his stomach, and he tolerated it fine until about 3 hours later where he threw some of it up. Not all of it, and is otherwise bright, active, and happy so I'm wondering what the heck is going on. Called the ER vet, Dr. Williamson who we liked, to see if we can get more Cerenia, and my holistic vet recommended some Arsenicum that Buddy has responded to well in the past with tummy issues.
Your thoughts/advice would be greatly appreciated. I feel like I'm losing my mind and have developed slight agoraphobia now. (Also, I've been documenting Buddy's journey here for anyone interested in more of the full ER backstory.)
(Also, also, I forgot to give my own name apparently - it's Nora
)
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HI Nora! *waving*
