Rory Update #3

Today’s quote of the day is brought to you by Rory’s veterinarian. “Things are looking really good”. Rory is still eating small amounts of food every four hours and has been drinking water and it is all staying down. Physical examination doesn’t produce any signs of pain or feel like any obstruction in his abdomen. Best of all are his kidney function indicators. His blood urea nitrogen has gone from 25 down to 7 (normal range is 2-9) and his creatinine has gone from 213 down to 176. 124 is a high normal but it’s going down! This means his kidneys are starting to do their job again. The vet strongly believes that because this was so sudden in an otherwise young and healthy animal that it was quite likely something Rory ate – either poisonous or rotten. The intestinal bleeding seems to be diminishing and blood work shows that Rory is not anemic. Although acute kidney problems resulting from ingestion of poison or bacteria can cause intestinal bleeding, there is a remote possibility of a tumour in the intestine, so I’m erring on the side of caution going ahead with the ultrasound as scheduled for tomorrow. The ultrasound can also rule out the unlikely possibility of a physical abnormality of his kidneys.

The vet said all of this and then of course became the voice of caution and reason. While it’s all good news, I’m not to get too excited (uh, sure, okay). But if things keep improving then Rory can come home tomorrow. He’ll stay on metronidazole, some doggy Pepcid AC, sucralfate and for a while he’ll have to eat some food that is gentle on his stomach. Judging from the vet’s description of what is now coming out of the other end of Rory, I’ll be picking up some probiotics too.

As an aside, it’s really quite amazing the amount of knowledge a person can pick up about things they never thought they’d need to know.

Norm and I will go visit Rory again tonight. I have no doubt that all the good thoughts being sent Rory’s way are making a difference. Thank you!