Hello my friends. We had quite an eventful end of week and weekend at our house. Today is the first time I was able to take a few minutes away from caring for our sweet pup Chapman. If you follow me on Instagram, you may already know part of this story, but here’s the long version.
It all started late Thursday night when I let him out to relieve himself and noticed that his urine was followed by blood. Of course being the loving dog momma that I am, I was immediately concerned and rushed him to the 24hr emergency vet clinic. When we first arrived and spoke to the vet she suggested that maybe he had a urinary tract infection, but should do a few x-rays to be sure. She didn’t seem overly concerned, so neither did we.
Once the x-rays came back, the tone of the vet significantly changed. She explained that our baby Chapman had a large stone in his bladder, and one lodged in his urethra. They both needed to be removed as soon as possible, and the one stuck in his urethra could become life threatening very quickly if we didn’t monitor his every move until surgery. We got Chapman some pain killers and headed home to call our vet in the morning, as the vet explained that emergency surgery there was $4000 and we could wait until the morning to call our vet as long as his symptoms didn’t worsen. There was not a lot of sleep in our house Thursday night.
The next morning we learned that the surgery was too complex for our vet so we headed to a more advanced veterinary hospital. We spoke to another vet who agreed to do the surgery and admitted our little man. The day was painfully long as I waited at home to hear from the surgeon. I called several times to check in on him, but there was no news. Finally around 3:30pm we got the call we were waiting for! Chapman was out of surgery and things went well! PHEW!
I had my Project Life Club on Friday night, but the vet said we could go and visit Chapman around 9pm. I told the ladies that I’d be heading out to go see my baby and they were so understanding. They stayed and scrapbooked, and my hubby and I went to see Chapman.
Our poor baby was very drowsy and withdrawn. He’d had a long day. We stayed and snuggled him as long as we were allowed, and went home for another sleepless night.
I called the vet again first thing in the morning and Chapman had done well overnight and we were allowed to go and get him in the afternoon. It felt like time stood still as we waited to go get him. We brought him home around 2pm on Saturday and have been snuggling him back to health all weekend.
Our baby is home, which feels SO good, and he’s spent a lot of time sleeping. I just snapped this picture of him sleeping by the fire (poor dude has the cone on while I quickly type this up). I’ve been sleeping on the couch with him every night, holding him so he can’t lick his incision – and so he can avoid what I imagine is a very uncomfortable cone on his head. It’s been a sleepless few days, but there’s nothing I wouldn’t do for my furry best friends.
So that’s the update around here my friends. Now it’s just time to wait and see how he heals up. Fingers crossed for no infections and a speedy recovery! I’ll try to be back with a creative project tomorrow.
Happy Stampin’
Sending positive vibes for a speedy recovery for Chapman!
Thank you so much Colleen! Poor little dude just can't get comfortable. 🙁
xo Allison
Poor Chappy … I'll have to give him a hug tonight <3.
Thanks for the advice on his incision. I'm going to take him in to the vet in the morning and have it looked at. I hope he just needs an extra stitch.
xo Allison
Poor Chapman and poor you! I've been a regular follower of yours the last year or so and really enjoy your work. We've just gone through simillar but different with our fur baby – a black Lab who had knee surgery at a specialist's etc. I can relate to the nights on the couch and the worry too! Hope he heals quickly and is back to full health again soon. Our poor girl is having to head back for stage 2 next week…xx
Awe. Your poor sweetie too! Isn't it so hard when they are suffering? It breaks my heart. Thank you so much for thinking of us (and following my blog too!). We will be thinking of you as your baby heads in next week.
xo Allison
Our miniature poodle had the same issue in October…highly recommend the inflatable collars from the pet store in place of the Elizabethan collar from the vet. Our poor pup got a bit too active too soon and opened up his incision a bit so it started bleeding. Not too big a deal in the end, but of course it was right at the end of dinner and we had to go to the emergency vet to get it checked. Sigh. Hopefully your vet is having an analysis done of the stones so they can modify his food if needed. Our dog is now on a potassium citrate supplement to change the pH of his urine so he doesn't grow calcium stones. Hoping for a quick recovery for Chapman!
It's so scary, isn't it Nancy?! I've just looked at Chapman's incision tonight and there's a section that looks like it's opened up at little. No blood, but I'm taking him in to the vet in the morning to have it looked at. Poor little dude just can't catch a break. The stones have been sent off for analysis so we are hoping for some answers soon. I'm be sure to ask our vet about the supplement you mentioned. I certainly don't want to be going through this all over again. We did have his urine analyzed just before the surgery and it had calcium crystals, so highly likely they were calcium stones. I sure hope we can keep it all in check! Thanks so much for thinking of us.
xo Allison
Hi Allison – I follow your blog and love your work and style. So sorry to read about your troubles with Chapman. How great that you didn't ignore the signs of trouble – in fact, it's great you noticed! Some times things are not easy to spot. Having had many dogs and cats throughout my lifetime, I know the worry when something is not right with them. Hoping he has a quick recovery!