Wendy was still asleep when I reached her house today. She was under the bougainvillea tree, where she is every morning. So, we carried her cage back into the shade at the side of the house.
Yesterday, I found out from the vet that a mat would be good to provide some cushion for her. The adopter bought her one yesterday evening. It isn’t the most ideal way to prevent bedsores, but it helps. We thank everyone who has written in comments offering very useful and helpful advice. Lydia called me today and suggested that we use swimming floats to improvise a “floating bed” for Wendy. Lydia will help buy the necessary materials for us tomorrow, and show us how to do it.
The adopter managed to feed Wendy very tiny amounts last night, and a little bit this morning. So, I guess that was why Wendy did not eat much this afternoon. We gave her some fish (for a change of taste), and she was excited for a little while. Still, she did not eat much. Maybe it’s because she had already eaten some earlier in the morning.
Just like the previous two days, she would make a noise whenever she wanted food. And when she has had enough, she would just close her eyes and sleep.
We cleaned her sores and applied povidone iodine on them. Except for one stubborn sore, the rest seemed quite minor. But we don’t know if sores are already developing on the good side now, so the “floating bed” would be really timely and very much needed.
I also managed to gently slough off some of the dead and hardened fur on her. Certain parts look much cleaner now.
After feeding, I massaged her two hind legs, just to get the circulation going.
Comments
3 responses to “Wendy’s updates”
Getting into deep restful sleep is perhaps like being in deep meditative state…the mind is calm and the body is released from the constant mental "agitation" to be allowed to heal. This was what happened in James Herriot's euthanised case..the animal went to deep sleep and the body's immune system got to work. In Wendy, she too awoke, improved, from a deep coma-like sleep.
Frequent turning of Wendy such as 2 hourly is still important to prevent pressure sores no matter what mattress is used. Human uses a "ripple" mattress to reduce pressure sores, on top of 2 hourly turning.
Hi CW, thanks for the tip. We didnt dare turn her because of that one bad wound on her shoulder, but tomorrow, with the floats, we ought to be able to do this already. Also, she is still on drips, and we don't know if it's ok to put pressure on the arm where the drip is inserted. Is it?
I can't figure out why the euthanasia drug did not kill the animal…I thought it's supposed to induce a heart failure. Guess the universe intervened?
Oh dear, the bedsores (existing and new ones) will be a new and very real threat to Wendy's life and she really needs a memory foam topper to redistribute all the pressure around and prevent further development of new sores as well as allow circulation for the old ones to heal. It may be hard to get a whole memory foam topper here, but the pillows ones are more available. Maybe you can get the pillow and cut them up to make 2-3 inch toppers for her frail body to lie on after putting on a mattress protector and a bedsheet. It is very, very urgent to get her the memory foam. Very, very urgent indeed. Other forms of mattress only makes her comfortable but will not help current sores to heal nor prevent new ones from forming. Good luck!