Sick dogs can be scary. In mid-October I woke in the morning to find that my black lab, Seamus, was very very sick. He was unable to stand up, lift his head, or anything. I was very scared. He had been fine when we went to bed the night before. I didn’t want to panic, and had a full day of clients scheduled so I just checked on him every hour. He kept getting worse. I was giving him water by syringe every hour just to keep him somewhat hydrated until I could get him to the vet the next day. The next week was entirely devoted to saving Seamus.
He had blood work, x-rays, and ultrasound. The ultrasound confirmed that he had a mass on his spleen that was bleeding. There was no way to know if it was malignant or not without surgery. So, I took him back home to continue intensive nursing care until Monday. I continued to provide fluids every hour during the day and every 2-3 hours at night. He was scheduled for surgery on Monday. Surviving the procedure was uncertain. Even then we would have to wait to find out whether or not he would have a normal lifespan or if cancer would take him.
My vet and her team are wonderful. He made it through surgery like a champ. That afternoon he went for an overnight stay at a local animal emergency clinic for constant monitoring. He made it through that as well and we got to bring him home the next morning.
A word about dog cones. He’s a big dog. The cone was huge. He couldn’t be left unsupervised with the cone on. He couldn’t turn around in small spaces. He also couldn’t get through the door to go outside to the bathroom. Fortunately he’s a really good boy and I put a t-shirt on him to keep him from licking during the day. We only used the cone at night when I was sleeping.
It took another week to get the pathology report back. NO CANCER! The surgery was considered curative. He has recovered well. I’m so happy to have my sweet boy back. It took a team to save Seamus.
Seamus is a relatively young dog. I got him from the shelter when he was about 2 (they say) and I’ve had him for 4 years. He’s so incredibly mellow that he seems much older than that. I know he won’t live forever, but every additional year I get to spend with him will be treasured. Saving Seamus was a stressful, expensive, and scary time, but was definitely worth it.
