Tristan Eats
It is now 9:45p. Tristan ate! Though only about about 1/3 of his normal portion of food (minus bones). But still we celebrate!
After 2 days of not eating, and refusing food totally since30 Sep, all the way through 1 Oct, he finally ate his first meal. His last meal beore this was the morning of 30 Sep.
What a birthday I had yesterday. After trying to feed him unsuccessfully in the morning, we brought him out to Botanic Gardens with Braun, Momo, and Cherry.
We had hoped that the run in the gardens would cheer him up. Alas, his condition continued to deterioate. Actually, the moment we reached Botanic Gardens at 11am, he had his first vomit of the day. It was a large puddle of brown liquid (blood?) smelling of garlic (we had just fed him a garlic pill an hour before). After this round of puke, he puked another 3 times. 1) in the car on the way out of botanic gardens 2) while we were having lunch at Brussles Sprouts 3) while we were leaving Robertson Quay for the vet.
By lunch, we had made up our minds to bring him to the vet. Fortunately, Animal Recovery Veteniary Center (ARVC) at Balestier has a doctor on call. Dr Lucy Shum arrived at about 5pm, and started diagnosing Tristan on what might be happening to him.
How did we get to this stage?
Claudia arrived home in the evening on the 30 Sep to a very hostile dark environment at home. She discovered that Tristan had chewed off about a 20cm x 10cm portion of one of the wardrobe doors in our room. We believe that Tristan had gotten a large scolding, and a lot of curses from mother-in-law. Tristan was totally unrespondent, and he looked crooked. He didn't want to eat his evening meal either. I witnessed this. He even refused his favourite drink - milk!
Back to ARVC.
Dr Shum gave us 2 options after her initial prognosis. Option 1) do barium study immediately to find out if any of the splinters from the wardrobe door had ruptured any intistines. 2) do barium study this morning. Before we decided, Tristian already had is right front leg shaved with a catheter inserted, and was already put on a drip. He was already running low on Potassium in his blood.
We opted to go with option 1 to do the barium study. A barium study involves having Tristan swallow about 30cc of barium (white coloured liquid). Barium would show up as a white liquid when we take an x-ray. This would allow us to see where the liquid ends up, and if it leaks out of his gastro intestinal system. (this has been a big test of my o-levels biology). X-rays were to be taken firstly every 15 minutes for 3 times, and then every 30 minutes for the next 2 times, and then after that, every hour, for 2 hours , every 2 hours, every 4 hours..etc.... 2 shots of x-ray would be taken at each interval. 1st shot with Tristan lying on his right, and the 2nd shot with Tristan lying on his back. This process would take us through the night.
I had to help Dr Shum and Ruth (the nurse on duty) with positioning Tristan for the X-Rays since it was a public holiday, and there were no other staff. The first few times were tough, with Tristan not liking lying on his back. Tristan learns fast though. After about the 4th X-ray, he just complied. (It might be because he was getting weaker physically).
Tristan puked about 30 minutes into the barium study. We had previously asked Dr Shum what happens if he puked. She said that she's never had an animal puke barium out before. Tristan did. Good thing though was that he had enough barium in him to continue the study.
90 minutes after Trisitan had drank the barium, Dr Shum looked both worried and reliefed (this was at about 8:30pm). Worried because the barium stayed in the stomach, relief because we might have found the problem. The barium should have started flowing into the intestines after 5 minutes, but not for Tristan. This probably explains why Tristan had puked all afternoon. We had let him drink water, but because his stomach was getting filled, and nothing going through to his intestines, it went no where but straight out of his mouth!
The next round of x-rays was to be 2 hours later since no barium was going anywhere. This was to be at 10:45pm. By 9:30p, Tristan already had many visitors. Ernie + James, and Yuki + mum was already at ARVC visiting Tristan. C and I managed to go grab a bite. Both of us didn't have any appetite to eat, but we knew we had to.
After the 10:45p round of X-ray, the barium went no where.
Tristan was then warded at ARVC for the night as he had to be closely monitored.
C and I went home for the night. Leaving Tristan at the hospital (ARVC) overnight was quite an ordeal. As we suspected, Tristan had separation anxiety, and had barked all night, until the nurse let him out of the kennel. We found him in the "Animal Welfare Room" this morning.
We were glad that God had given us the wisdom to make the decision to bring him to the vet (though it was after hours charges). We also thank God that we brought him to ARVC, where we had the expertise and care of Dr Shum and everyone else there to help us out.
Its now about 45 minutes since Tristan had eaten. Tristan and C are now soundly asleep.
This morning after bringing him from ARVC back to our usual vet, Dr Eugene Lin; Dr Eugene Lin had told us that this condition might be caused by an alergic reaction causing the sphinxter muscle to dialate/swell, not allowing anything to get through. Opting for the non-invasive option, and buying some time for Tristan to pull through this naturally, we had put him on a treatment of steriods.
Tristan has been more of himself through the day.
I prayed with a mustard seed of faith yesterday that God will perform a miracle. I believe and see that He is truly an almighty God, and He has performed a miracle on Tristan.
All Glory to Him!
After 2 days of not eating, and refusing food totally since30 Sep, all the way through 1 Oct, he finally ate his first meal. His last meal beore this was the morning of 30 Sep.
What a birthday I had yesterday. After trying to feed him unsuccessfully in the morning, we brought him out to Botanic Gardens with Braun, Momo, and Cherry.
We had hoped that the run in the gardens would cheer him up. Alas, his condition continued to deterioate. Actually, the moment we reached Botanic Gardens at 11am, he had his first vomit of the day. It was a large puddle of brown liquid (blood?) smelling of garlic (we had just fed him a garlic pill an hour before). After this round of puke, he puked another 3 times. 1) in the car on the way out of botanic gardens 2) while we were having lunch at Brussles Sprouts 3) while we were leaving Robertson Quay for the vet.
By lunch, we had made up our minds to bring him to the vet. Fortunately, Animal Recovery Veteniary Center (ARVC) at Balestier has a doctor on call. Dr Lucy Shum arrived at about 5pm, and started diagnosing Tristan on what might be happening to him.
How did we get to this stage?
Claudia arrived home in the evening on the 30 Sep to a very hostile dark environment at home. She discovered that Tristan had chewed off about a 20cm x 10cm portion of one of the wardrobe doors in our room. We believe that Tristan had gotten a large scolding, and a lot of curses from mother-in-law. Tristan was totally unrespondent, and he looked crooked. He didn't want to eat his evening meal either. I witnessed this. He even refused his favourite drink - milk!
Back to ARVC.
Dr Shum gave us 2 options after her initial prognosis. Option 1) do barium study immediately to find out if any of the splinters from the wardrobe door had ruptured any intistines. 2) do barium study this morning. Before we decided, Tristian already had is right front leg shaved with a catheter inserted, and was already put on a drip. He was already running low on Potassium in his blood.
We opted to go with option 1 to do the barium study. A barium study involves having Tristan swallow about 30cc of barium (white coloured liquid). Barium would show up as a white liquid when we take an x-ray. This would allow us to see where the liquid ends up, and if it leaks out of his gastro intestinal system. (this has been a big test of my o-levels biology). X-rays were to be taken firstly every 15 minutes for 3 times, and then every 30 minutes for the next 2 times, and then after that, every hour, for 2 hours , every 2 hours, every 4 hours..etc.... 2 shots of x-ray would be taken at each interval. 1st shot with Tristan lying on his right, and the 2nd shot with Tristan lying on his back. This process would take us through the night.
I had to help Dr Shum and Ruth (the nurse on duty) with positioning Tristan for the X-Rays since it was a public holiday, and there were no other staff. The first few times were tough, with Tristan not liking lying on his back. Tristan learns fast though. After about the 4th X-ray, he just complied. (It might be because he was getting weaker physically).
Tristan puked about 30 minutes into the barium study. We had previously asked Dr Shum what happens if he puked. She said that she's never had an animal puke barium out before. Tristan did. Good thing though was that he had enough barium in him to continue the study.
90 minutes after Trisitan had drank the barium, Dr Shum looked both worried and reliefed (this was at about 8:30pm). Worried because the barium stayed in the stomach, relief because we might have found the problem. The barium should have started flowing into the intestines after 5 minutes, but not for Tristan. This probably explains why Tristan had puked all afternoon. We had let him drink water, but because his stomach was getting filled, and nothing going through to his intestines, it went no where but straight out of his mouth!
The next round of x-rays was to be 2 hours later since no barium was going anywhere. This was to be at 10:45pm. By 9:30p, Tristan already had many visitors. Ernie + James, and Yuki + mum was already at ARVC visiting Tristan. C and I managed to go grab a bite. Both of us didn't have any appetite to eat, but we knew we had to.
After the 10:45p round of X-ray, the barium went no where.
Tristan was then warded at ARVC for the night as he had to be closely monitored.
C and I went home for the night. Leaving Tristan at the hospital (ARVC) overnight was quite an ordeal. As we suspected, Tristan had separation anxiety, and had barked all night, until the nurse let him out of the kennel. We found him in the "Animal Welfare Room" this morning.
We were glad that God had given us the wisdom to make the decision to bring him to the vet (though it was after hours charges). We also thank God that we brought him to ARVC, where we had the expertise and care of Dr Shum and everyone else there to help us out.
Its now about 45 minutes since Tristan had eaten. Tristan and C are now soundly asleep.
This morning after bringing him from ARVC back to our usual vet, Dr Eugene Lin; Dr Eugene Lin had told us that this condition might be caused by an alergic reaction causing the sphinxter muscle to dialate/swell, not allowing anything to get through. Opting for the non-invasive option, and buying some time for Tristan to pull through this naturally, we had put him on a treatment of steriods.
Tristan has been more of himself through the day.
I prayed with a mustard seed of faith yesterday that God will perform a miracle. I believe and see that He is truly an almighty God, and He has performed a miracle on Tristan.
All Glory to Him!