Rescue Journal

it is stressful when we have animals seriously ill.

Carol  ·  May 31, 2009

the vet was here by 7 am so that was good because i got to talk with him about gilbert. he is much improved today..he is able to swallow when syringed water. i spent an hour tonight with him teaching him to eat and drink from a bowl again. he is still not all that great at it but at least he is trying. he can stand up and lay down on his own. he is more aware of what is going on around him and his temperature is finally down.

the really bad thing right now is...gilbert is totally blind. this is a result of the hundreds of seizures he had yesterday. there is some real profound brain deficits...some of it will come back to him, including maybe his vision...we just have to wait out this post seizure period (it could be several weeks) to see how much, if any, permanent damage there was.


in the meantime...he needs very frequent hand or syringed food and water, monitering to ensure he gets enough of both and lots of gentle emotional, social and tactile stimulation to prevent hopelessness and depression because he is so isolated and vulnerable.


it is a tough go for gilbert right now.


spritely's leg crapped out tonight. she is in pain and will not eat. i hosed the leg down for quite awhile and forced her anti-inflamatory pain meds into her. hopefully they will kick in enough so she can eat cuz i have more meds in her food which she really needs.


i will check her and gilbert both before dark and really hope they both have a decent night.


jewel and phoebe just got into really big trouble. i am not in the mood for their stupid prima donna shit while they pretend to try to kill each other.


i told them both they better shut up, knock it off and go to bed right now...so they did..it is the tone of voice (the one that clearly spells dead dog) that makes them both occasionally listen so well.


the good dogs all went to bed too...they do not like that very angry tone of voice as they are not sure if they are included so better safe than sorry and they went to bed too.


bed sounds like a good idea for me too once i am sure spritely and gilbert are good for the night.

Comments

Carol

i just want folks to know, that at no point did we try to go further with gilbert than the vets recomended...mo, laura and i were ready to let him go because watching him go thru that was so very hard...all we could do was hold him, encourage him and change the cold wet towels on him...it is a pretty horrid feeling to be that helpless while he seizured so much.
the vet felt, there was and is a good possibility for him to fully recover.
so we are trying to do everything we can, and find the patience to give him the time that he needs to have the very best chance at being happy gilbert again.

Carol

most of the bloodwork is still not back but the vet really feels it was a listeria infection...there are many different kinds/causes from feeding silage (which we don't)to low thiamine (the vet gave him a booster just in case)...listeria lives in soil and mold so his theory is gilbert probably had a small cut in his mouth from something and then ate something that had listreria spores..it is not our feed cuz no one else is sick...but he was in the bottom field in the past week which is still pretty wet down there or he could have been carrying it with him because he came from a goat farm where listeria is more common recently.

the other options are a head injury..( did someone kick him..like lahannie?) viral/bacterial meningitis, lead poisoning...i don't think we have any lead painted surfaces here and he is not a really chewer anyway.

whatever it was..the vet says the other farm guys are not at risk...it is an isolated problem with gilbert. and i asked if it was anything that i could be doing wrong like feeding (cuz i always worry about this) and he said no to that too.

interestingly enough, the nurses i work with think he threw an emboli from his recent leg fracture...i forgot to ask the vet about that, but maybe i suppose.
bottom line tho...right now we really don't know.

Colleen

Do you know what caused Gilbert's seizures Carol? Just genetics? or did I miss something.

If positive thinking helps, there are a helluva lot of folks doing just that, every day. For all of your slave masters.

Best to you all.