Thursday 1 May 2014

Update on Odin - good news

Over the last couple of days Odin has developed an upset stomach - well, that's putting it mildly. He has quite bad diarrhoea. Then early this morning he was sick, not much, nothing that we would normally be concerned about, but in the circumstances it needed to be checked. So, he was not fed before we took him back to the hospital this morning for his check up, 5 days after being discharged.

He was quite happy to be back at the hospital, quite excited, and greeted the vet enthusiastically. We went through the discussion of progress, and the vet took Odin off - as we were told that there were quite a few people who wanted to see him again. After that he was examined, we had a further discussion, and we took him off home again.

The upset tummy is probably nothing to be worried about, he was on a whole range of different antibiotics while in the hospital, and this may well have affected his natural 'gut flora', and while we were told to give him extra food, it may be that this has just been too much for him. So, he's now on a week of 'recovery diet - a bland, but complete, food to help his insides to get back to normal. He has gained a bit of weight, so they are less worried about his low weight, so we will work to just maintain his weight for the next week, or at most, put only a little weight back on.

He is walking well - the vet said that his gait looks normal. There is still some cognitive impairment when tested for, but these things are likely to continue to improve, and even better, there is evidence of the return of the 'menace response' in his right eye. His eye shows a response when a light is shone in it, but he wasn't moving or blinking to any threat or menace - something approaching his eye - showing that he wasn't seeing in it. It's not completely fixed, but this is really good news, it means that he is likely to get his sight back on the right hand side.

Yesterday evening he was lively and wanted to play games - which we kept to only very tame while he still has a row of staples in his abdomen. Today he went for a short walk and obviously thinks that he is Superdog - it's only keeping a very close rein on him and watching him very carefully that we are stopping him from running around, walking up steps, or jumping into (or out of) the car.

He has the staples removed on Tuesday, 6th May. Every day our dog is more like the dog he was three weeks ago, before he was ill.


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