This is heartbreaking. Can you get a large syringe, 20 or 30 ml? If so, also get some rubber or plastic tubing that will fit on the end of the syringe, cut about 4-6 inches long and fill syringe with ensure or some other nutrient rich liquid. Put the tip of the tubing as far back inside his cheek as you can back beside the molars, and slowly inject the Ensure. If he can swallow without choking he will get some nutrition. (I'm s nurse and we used to do this for baby's with oral surgery, in the recovery room) It may take a long time to get a can at a time of ensure down him, and it will be a lot of sugar (check for a diabetic-type supplement) but this is all I can think of to get something besides plain fluids into him, might keep him going till Monday if you think better vet care might be found then. My heart breaks for you and Spencer.
Can they do subQ fluids? That would last for a little while and you might be able to do that at home.
I have always done subQ myself. Pretty easy to do….
Thank you for all the advice and support. Spencer is in surgery right now, and he is very weak and fragile, so we're just waiting and hoping. The vet found painful lesions on the back of his tongue and they now suspect that he has something embedded in his throat or perhaps a mass that was not caught on the films. It almost sounds like strep throat, except the antibiotics should have been helping. Of course, this should have been caught the first day… or the second... or the third... when I kept insisting the problem was in his mouth or throat and everyone at the vet's office insisted that they had thoroughly checked that and it was fine. If you have any positive thoughts you could send our way, we would appreciate them. Give your Bs an extra big hug today!
Positive thoughts and heartfelt prayers going out for you and Spencer! Hugs to you both!
Terry
Hang in there Spencer, and Spencer's family! We're all hoping he makes it and will be around a few more years.
You are both totally in our thoughts. I having been reading this whole thread so carefully, and I just get a gut feeling that it is not his time. Especially since he is attempting to eat and drink. Basenjis eat (try to eat) the wierdest things. I remember Therese (Kipawa's breeder) telling me this. I believe she mentioned it to me because as Kipawa was our first basenji, she did not want me to freak out every time he 'sampled' something from the backyard, street, etc.
I am so glad that Spencer is in with the doctors now. I'm wishing for the very best news. Please keep us all posted.
Warm wishes headed your way Spencer! Get better soon little buddy.
I am glad your vet was able to find the problem and hopefully he will get better soon!
Jennifer
Good thoughts and hugs coming your way… while maybe it should have been caught earlier, at least you know now... Vets are not perfect as we all know and sometimes they really don't listen to what the owners are telling them...... Kudos and hugs for keeping at it and prayers for the best out come!
Thinking of you both, good thoughts and love coming your way. Hope Spencer will get better soon.
Lots of love and hugs
Anne-Marie
with Joey in my heart
Fingers and paws crossed for a good outcome. Vets should listen to US, we know our dogs! Waiting and hoping for good news.
Best wish for Spencer, Im sorry it took so long to find. I hope he comes through the surgery with flying colors. I have had to pull the strangest things out of Chumley's mouth and I've only had him a month. Let us know how it goes, please.
Well, we are home! Thanks SO much for all the positive thoughts, prayers and well wishes! Spencer survived the surgery and was doing okay, so I brought him home. We thought it would be less stressful for him here. He came in and started circling the water bowl, then finally licked some water off my fingers. So victory! Then he went into shock. So back to the hospital we went. They stabilized him, and I just brought him home again. He still won't eat or drink– same behavior; he goes to the bowl and smacks his mouth, but won't take anything. It's just bizarre. Maybe tomorrow his mouth and throat will feel better, and he will be able to eat. It's becoming very problematic, because he has lost so much weight and he has all the Fanconi pills that we just have to get down him. The vet says if he won't eat by Monday, we are at a crossroads. So it's just day by day.
Yes, vets should listen to us owners, even when it sounds sort of off-the-wall. We know our dogs so well that we can pick up on subtle things that even a trained professional may not. In the end, the vet came through, though, and brought him safely through surgery. So I'm grateful! We're giving him subQs. If he would just eat... Thanks again for all the kindness shown! It was so touching.
I too have been reading this thread - this is such hopeful news after all of initial, heart-wrenching posts. I will keep you all in my thoughts. Looks like you have an awful lots of folks here pulling for you and Spencer!
I'm so glad he's home. I hope things are brighter in the morning. Did the vet say what the problem was?
Of course we are all thinking very hard on Spencer's health and well being here.
I have no advice to give, but I am so heartened to read of how on top of it you are. You and Spencer are in my thoughts.
I wanted to thank everyone again for their concern and kindness and update you on Spencer's saga. Today has been a roller-coaster day. He was so much better this morning, then had a relapse this afternoon and is now rebounding again. We are choosing to be optimistic. We don't know for sure what was/is causing all of his problems, but he had lesions on his tongue and large, raw sores on the back of his throat, as well as an abscessed tooth that was extracted. There was no jaw, throat or lymph node swelling, but it's likely that these things are at the root of his mouth pain. We just don't know what caused them and are hoping the antibiotics will speed healing.
Spencer sends baroos and tail wags to his forum friends. You have been so nice that he might want to come live with some of you, since his own family has been so annoying. He has been poked, prodded, stuck with needles and had pipettes, eye droppers and syringes filled with food and Ensure poked down his throat for days and is pretty tired of all of us here. And thank you, Anne, for that tubing idea– we're getting good mileage out of it!
So happy to hear Spencer has at least persevered through the weekend. It's amazing the things dogs can endure. Maybe he still needs healing time from all the sores and extraction…Oakley and I are keeping you in our prayers. Thank you for the update, I've been wondering how he has been
Sounds like you might have turned the corner with him… fingers crossed that is the case... and certainly a bad tooth can cause lots of problems.. Take it hour by hour... you will have set backs.. for sure, but for every set back the rebound is a promise for better days.
