Case of the month: October
The most complicated case that I handled this October was of a Labrador Retriever. By complicated, I mean, that every decision that I had to take was a choice between saving his life and death. He had severe anaemia with vomiting. he kept vomiting several times a day whenever he took something through his mouth. Even water wasn't tolerated
Anaemia was due to tick fever (canine babesiosis) but why vomiting was my puzzle. Through my experience I knew an anaemia of that sort couldn't make him vomit. He was retching and not exactly vomiting. Observed a while before jumping into an ultrasound scan or x rays
Luckily, I remembered his history from a few years back although I had not got to see him frequently. He used to skip meals on and off. Retching could be for this reason, I thought. He could not even drink water, he'd throw up
💡His owners say he loves wheat flour products. That was the clue
I had to leave the anaemia aside and stop the pet from retching. It took us almost a week to stop his retching and then started to treat his anaemia. A drip of saline (IV fluid therapy) wasn't the best option as he was anemic
The severe gut inflammation after being on wheat flour for a long time brought this pet to the verge of death. Body condition score dropped from 4/9 to 1/9 just within a few days. I had to keep monitoring him even on my day offs just to make sure we don't lose him. I had to closely monitor his diet
Now, after 3 weeks, his doing great with an improved appetite and reduced anaemia. BCS increased to 3/9
⏩ Proper safe nutrition is important
⏩ Unhealthy food can be a life long suffering
⏩ There's no one-method-fits-all guidelines in veterinary medicine. A Personalized approach is important
⏩ Give your vet a thorough and honest history about your pet
Had I treated his anaemia first thinking his vomiting was related to anaemia, he wouldn't be here with us any longer
We had to put him on tick fever meds very slowly, one medication after another with few days apart between the addition of each medication. Every decision was critical to either stop retching or restart continuous retching. I was anyway preparing myself for worse case scenarios with the next steps of how to help the pet
I was on call for 3 weeks for this patient and another 2 who were critically ill, although I'm an independent practice
At certain times, pets need me more than I need myself
📷 Meet "Toby". We both share the same birthdays ❤️
📍 Vet 4 Pet Animal Clinic Ja Ela 🇱🇰
Email me on petlabsconsultancy@gmail.com or just DM me here
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