Monday, November 12, 2012

Thankful

We have had a rough week!  I have not posted in a while because life got very stressful. We have not been having much fun or enjoying this beautiful fall weather.  Last Monday Murray was acting really sick.  He was eating, drinking and going to the bathroom, but he was very lethargic and heavily panting.  We got him into the vet that night, but didn't have much success in figuring out what was wrong.  His temperature was normal, his heart sounded ok, and basically everything was checking out to be normal.  He tested positive for a small amount of worms, but that was relatively new because he was tested 3 weeks prior and was worm free!  My mind kept going back to his recent gulping episodes and in my heart I felt his discomfort was centered around his throat, and it will soon turn out that I was right.  It did feel like there was swelling in his throat, but after the vet checked, we weren't sure if it was actual swelling or his normal throat size/shape.  It didn't make a lot of sense that he would be eating normally if his throat was swollen.  It was decided he would be wormed and sent home on an antibiotic.  By Tuesday he was only marginally better.  I once again called my vet to figure out what our next steps should be if this did not start to improve.  We decided if there was not improvement by Wednesday, Murray would go to the vet again on Thursday for xrays, blood tests and a possible throat scope.  Wednesday was only a little better compared to Tuesday.  By this time I was getting extremely nervous.  I was now noticing Murray flinching as if I was going to hit him if I approached the left side of his head.  I noticed his bark sounded muffled and whenever he started to yawn, he immediately cut it off.  I had become more certain this issue was related to his head or throat somehow.  So, after a teary call to my vet, we set it up for Murray to spend the day there Thursday for the proper tests.  To sum up the findings...blood work was normal and xrays only showed one minor thing (minor compared to the kind of things running through my mind).  Everything appeared normal except there was a shadow of his epiglottis showing up on the xray.  Doc said he shouldn't really see the epiglottis, and the fact that he could, suggested it was infected or inflamed.  We assume it was somehow damaged in something he chewed or ate (a stick, a sharp edge on a treat), and then over time became severely irritated or infected due to food passing over it everyday.  This was GOOD NEWS!  We were sent home (earlier than expected because my good boy didn't even have to be sedated for his tests) with directions to finish our antibiotic, feed a soft food diet for a few days, and do a course or prednisone.  By Friday Murray was starting to act much more like himself.  Just today I heard the first normal sounding bark and it was music to my ears!  I'm not even going to complain that I am up every couple hours through the night because the predisone causes a lot of peeing.  I am so so happy my bouncy boy is back to himself.

PS...I am hoping the gulping over the past month was related to this issue and that will be resolved as well.  Fingers crossed.











18 comments:

  1. Oh my goodness, you had an exciting last few days :-/ A little too exciting, I think? So glad to hear that Murray is getting back to normal!! Phew! I hope that he is 100% back to normal in the next couple of days!! Keep up the good, healing work Murray!! :-D

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  2. Wow, hope Murray has it going his way, we will kepp our paws crossed anyway, until we hear the all's good!

    Your Furiends
    Susie & Bites

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  3. Whew, that all sounds very scary. But as our Mom always says, Moms are always the ones to pick up when something isn't right. We are so glad your Mom was persistent and we now hope all will be perfectly back to normal soon.

    Woos – Phantom, Thunder, Ciara, and Lightning

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  4. We just exhaled along with woo as we read this!

    Paws khrossed fur a full rekhovery!

    Hugz&Khysses,
    Khyra

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  5. OMD! You guys have had a trying week! I'm so glad Murray is gettin' better. Oh, how it can be unbelievable stressful when somethin' is wrong with your furbaby, and you don't know what! I'll have my paws crossed that Murray is back to 100% VERY soon!

    Kisses,
    Ruby

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  6. Oh boy! You have had a rough week! I'm so happy that you have isolated the problem and Murray is getting back to his old self. It must be such a weight off of your shoulders. It can be so stressful when our babies are sick and we can't do anything for them. We'll keep our fingers and paws crossed for a full recovery! :)

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  7. That does sound like a week of worry. Let's all hope and pray it's behind you now and Murray will be all normal again soon.

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  8. This is a Get Well Card, Murray! Keep getting better every day. You had us all worried about you.

    Cheers,
    Stella

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  9. Oh we sure hope this takes care of it!! Be well Murray!

    Your Pals,

    Murphy & Stanley

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  10. Sure hope you are done being sick Murray!
    Lovies, Miss Mindy

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  11. Well, good that you're better! Remain well, buddy!!
    Cotton

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  12. That must have been awful. We are sending all our love to Murray!
    Dip Bridge and Elliot x

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  13. Oh dear we have your in our thoughts and hope you are all better

    urban hounds

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  14. Oh you must have been so worried about Murray. Hope he continues to improve. Waggles and lickies from Dougall.

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  15. We are so sorry to hear what a terrible time you & Murray have had. We hope it is all behind you now and that he makes a full recovery. Murray, what good boy you are - not needing sedating and being so good at the dogter!

    Sending you both lots of licks and love,
    Wally & Sammy (and mom, Robyn)

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  16. Oh my goodness!!!! I am sending good vibes to you! Hope he is 100% in no time!

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  17. Sorry to hear Murray has not been doing so well. Hopefully, things are better by now. We are trying to catch up as well. Things have been very stressful here too. What's with that? A virus goin' around?
    Hope he continues to improve
    WAgs
    Ernie

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  18. So scary. We hope he is better soon. Lee and Phod

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She Deserves Better