It isn’t exactly good news.
Gerald’s temperature was 39 degrees this morning, but when I arrived at the clinic, the assistants were doing his wound cleaning and his temperature had risen to 39.3 degrees.
The wound cleaning was done without sedation, but Gerald is on painkillers.
He was very brave.
This is the shoulder wound. They had to pump in diluted iodine, saline and press out the pus. There was still pus. Once all the cleaning is done, Fustadin cream is applied onto the gaping hole.
Gerald was mewing until I comforted him by carresing his head. Then, he calmed down.
This is the paw wound between the digits on the left hind paw. No pus today. It’s also cleaned in the same way.
This is another wound on the head, next to the ear. It had already closed up previously, so we can only clean it now.
The vet said Gerald is slightly jaundiced today (seen after spinning his blood). This could be due to the severe infection and his liver isn’t able to handle it, or the breaking down of red blood cells. But thankfully, Gerald’s HCT has remained the same so he isn’t anaemic at the moment. The vet has ruled out IMHA (luckily).
Gerald’s blood test also shows that he is FIV+, but negative for FeLV and heartworm. In December 2022, Gerald was not FIV+, this means he must have got it in between then and now. Well, FIV is a bit easier to handle than FeLV, I would think.
Gerald is back on the plastic e-collar because while on the soft cushiony e-collar, he is able to bite his back paws.
He still isn’t eating on his own, so the assistant force fed him ID and I also force fed him his chicken gizzards.
Some necrotic tissue was removed from the shoulder wound today as well. It is a very deep wound.
Gerald cannot be discharged until his temperature remains stable and non-feverish. Right now, it is still fluctuating.
The vet has started him on Vetri DMG for the suppressed immunity most likely due to being FIV+.
One day at a time.
Get well soon, Gerald.
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