Charlie

[gloria]

I am most grateful to everyone who has been helpful to me, thank you. In the end , I found I had to wait until the first week in Feb for the scanner to be anywhere within my reach, so I am changing Vets & Charlie is being scanned on Feb 4th. I will let you know the results.
I read all Paulines story & cried.
Thank you again.

[leesanlucie]

HI Gloria
I will keep my fingers crossed for u and charlie. x

[*Pauline*]

Thinking of you Gloria. I'm on here all the time so feel free to PM me if you need to talk, even if it's just that you feel upset or sad. It's a hard thing to go through emotionally and it helps to talk.

[Jan Bell]

I hope it is good news, but always better to know what is going on. As you have found, lots of people here who have had the same experience so you are not alone.

[gloria]

Well, the big day is here & Charlie is at the vets having the MRI Scan done. He wont be home until this evening & already this has been a long day! Interestingly, for the past week , apart from the scratching & chewing at his paws, he has been very happy & bright & showing no signs of pain. I have been very impressed with the new Vet, he was brilliant at calming Charlie & handled him with great compassion. I will let you know the results.

[*Pauline*]

I'm thinking of you both today.

[gloria]

Well the news isnt good, Charlie does have what the Vet called early onset SM.He also has a disc problem, so the Vet is going to send his results to an expert for their view as to the best course of treatment. Charlie is a bit upset just now , he seems to be in pain, so Ive given him a Rymadel. I will have to wait now to hear what happens next. Thank you for you kind thoughts.

[Tania]

We are thinking of you in this heartbreaking situation. We are so sorry.

[gloria]

Since I last posted, things have been really bad with Charlie, he seems to have reacted very badly to the anesthetic & is disorientated & distressed.Also, where they shaved his throat to take blood from his jugular vein, a large swelling has come up, it is very sore & angry looking & hes simply going mad with it. I took him back to the vet last night & he says hes got an infection in it & has precribed Fucidide gel. The results of the referred scan results are back & he has SM more severly than at first thought. Hes started on the Gabapentin & Im hoping that may help to calm him. As things stand right now, Im sorry I had him scanned. He is just so unhappy & distressed. I am so afraid that if things dont improve I may lose him, I cant let him suffer like this much longer.

[Cathy Moon]

I hope the Gabapentin helps him feel more comfortable and that his neck heals where it was shaved. If his neck doesn't look better, he should go back right away to the vet - sounds like he needs antibiotics. I wouldn't let it go all weekend if you feel it's an emergency.

Hopefully he will calm down now that he's home again and being treated. Did the vet say anything about putting Charlie on a proton pump inhibitor medicine? This would reduce the pressure in his head and spine. If the Gabapentin isn't enough, perhaps your vet could also prescribe Metacam?