Uncertainties and questions that beg answers

So much more happened yesterday while I was at the hospital. It has been an emotional roller-coaster for me. This is especially so because the vets were just too busy with the many patients who had come in non-stop, and I could barely find a time to discuss Indy’s case further with them until almost 7pm when they had closed for the day.

The possibility that Indy may have eaten something poisonous was at the forefront of my mind. I remembered Floss, my friend, Kon’s dog who had just passed away last week due to a ruptured intestines. As I was driving to the hospital to visit Indy, I texted my vet who had done the surgery on Floss. Could it be that Indy too has a ruptured intestine? Of course no vet is going to tell you “no” for sure. WHO can give me such an assurance? The possibility is always there. Will a ruptured intestine show up on the ultrasound or an X-Ray, I asked. You know what the shocking answer was – No, it may not. For Floss’ case, it did not show up at all on the X-Ray yet her intestines were 60% ruptured and already decaying when she was opened up for exploratory surgery. Shall I mention this to the vets who are attending to Indy now. My vet said they had already considered this possibility (my vet had discussed Indy’s case with them yesterday even though he was on leave) and there is no justification to do exploratory surgery on Indy. Not yet. They cannot simply open Indy up if there is no justification for it. All surgeries come with high risk.

I needed to speak with Kon regarding Floss’ symptoms, but Kon was on duty call in the Philippines and out of reach. As though reading my mind, Kon called me from the Philippines and told me exactly this – to propose this possibility to the vet as Kon had read my posts and said Indy’s symptoms were almost exactly the same as Floss’. Floss had diarrhoea (which Indy doesn’t have, but the ultrasound indicates he may have since there was a lot of fluid in his colon), she was also constantly salivating and had refused food in the last two days of her life. She had stopped eating. Floss threw up everything, including water. And Floss was in pain.

That description was enough to worry me, yet the vets were just too busy for me to even ask a question. There were so many other cases requiring their attention, animals in dire straits, animals in lateral recumbency. I couldn’t take them away from their work and just had to wait.

When I finally managed to pop a quick question to the vet attending to Indy, she said poisoning wouldn’t come with fever and Indy had fever.

I quickly texted Kon – did Floss have any fever. No, he said, Floss had no fever at all.

That’s one difference.

What else is different now? Indy doesn’t salivate unless he is angry, upset or frightened. He salivates when taken for a car trip or put in an unfamiliar place. He salivates when we forcefed him medicines. He salivates when given Baytril. Actually, that’s when the whole problem of salivating started – Baytril.

Is Indy in pain? I don’t know. Cats are pretty stubborn and will not show pain, unlike dogs, who would whine and cry.

I late double-checked with the senior vet while he was doing Indy’s ultrasound. Is there a possibility of a ruptured intestine in Indy? The senior vet said if there were, we would see food matter all over the place, but we don’t. Even earlier on, the attending had told me that everything inside Indy’s intestines were INSIDE the intestines, so there is no evidence of any rupture.

I suppose I’d have to take things as it is for now and pursue this possibility later should Indy show any further signs that suggests this possibility.

Just didn’t want to leave any stone unturned since we have the privilege of “experience” with other cases.

The possibility of some form of cancer also was there. Earlier on, when the vets saw the “fluids” above the gas in the stomach, that was definitely an anomaly. But they said Indy is too young to have contracted cancer, yet yesterday, the lady with the German Shepherd told me her dog was diagnosed with cancer at 3 years plus, and the cancer had probably already been there even earlier. Purebreds are known to have genetic weaknesses as they come for a very small gene pool.

Indy is not a purebred, of course, but he did not have a good start in life and my vet says his condition when rescued with all those severe infections would have taken a toll on his health and usually, you don’t fully heal from such things.  The residues are there and it’ll come up again later in life.

Somehow, in the second ultrasound, the mysterious “fluids” above the gas was not there anymore. There was only food in the stomach this time.

My worry is, what if his stomach has shut down? What if it’s not processing food anymore, so that is why he has lost his appetite completely?

Kon even told me that he found that nowadays poison comes in many forms. If an animal has consumed rat poison, it can cause a slow decay of the intestines, which was what happened with Floss. Then, the lady with the bladder-problem told me that nowadays, there is even poison which does not need to be ingested. The animal just has to sniff at it, and the poison goes into the system and the animal dies. There would be no evidence of any poison in the stomach or intestines. Oh gosh, what an unsafe world it is for our animals. They can no longer roam freely. As for Floss, she wasn’t even allowed outside the gate. But people can throw poisoned food into the house compound.

This made me really angry. Why must humans create poison?  It all boils down to this again – humans kill to solve problems. I’m instantly reminded of the SS15 case where kilograms of rats were poisoned to death. They used poisoned bread to kill these rats. I want to write to Subang Jaya’s YB and suggest two things: (1) biological control – cats will keep the rats at bay. The cats need not eat the rats. Rats would not be around when there are cats. (2) can we please clean up those dirty drains in SS15 and the rest of Subang Jaya? Can we use the money to invest in detergents and clean up those smelly, stinking drains instead? And I’m still going to say this – that killing is NOT a solution to ANY problem. As simplistic as it sounds, killing will not solve problems. Look at more humane alternatives, please. As long as there are dirty drains, the rats will prosper.

You know, these people who manufacture poison, or those who put the poisoned bread on the streets of SS15 – do they have a moral conscience? Can they sleep peacefully at night? Where do these people go when they die?

I’m going to write that email to the YB now.