Visiting Time

Hi Everyone Louis’s Mum here…

I really wish I had some good news but our handsome boy has been moved to the ICU at Liverpool Small Animals Teaching Hospital. As I wrote on Sunday he was rushed in Saturday night as his blood count had dropped, and he has a massive ulcer under his tongue which was stopping him from eating and drinking. They gave him a blood transfusion Saturday night, and his count went up to 24% - the highest it had every been since he became ill, we felt we had hope.

They called us Sunday and told us his blood count was dropping and by Monday tea time he was back down to 15%, he was worse than ever. The staff at LSATH are just amazing and so compassionate, they explained what they wanted to do with the funds we had said we could afford. So on Monday they took a load of blood and completed preliminary tests, which came back with nothing to show, they took swabs from the sores on his paws, which came back as he had multiple infections and mites! I was shocked because we had tried to keep his paws and body clean, but the vet explained that these are as a result of his immune system being so low and nothing to do with him being dirty. These mites live on dogs and are kept under control by the dogs themselves, never the less I still felt awful.

They had started a treatment on his paws on Sunday which included medicated baths and tropical creams, as well as pain relief, all of which made him feel comfortable. They also started him on antibiotics, and put him on a drip.

They advised that he would need another blood transfusion, but they wanted to hold off until they had taken biopsy’s from his liver, spleen, and completed all the imagining again, so scans and x-rays. We gave the go ahead for all of these as well as the biopsy’s of the sores from his nose, ears and paws. The vet called us this morning and said his blood count had dropped to 13% overnight, so he would be having his transfusion today, they also advised that a blood test they had done this morning showed his bone marrow had stopped producing the red blood cells, but this might be because he is just knackered, they said he was currently in the operating room having his biospy’s taken and whilst he was under it would be a good time to take the bone marrow sample, then at least they would have the full picture, we agreed and gave the go ahead.

All the results of the biospy’s should be back on Thursday at the latest, and hopefully we will have some answers, although they have told us to be prepared that they may come back with no answers, which would mean we would have to consider our limited options carefully. We asked if we could go and see him and they said of course.

So we set off tonight and got there at around 19:30, the lovely Anna (vet) met us and said Louis was ¾’s of the way through his blood transfusion so they would stop it for 10mins so he could come and see us, we sat down and waited. A few mins later he came trotting in looking happy to see us, and covered in plasters and drips. He looks like he’s lost weight and but he still managed to wag his tail and he went straight to John for a good ear rub. We were a little bit scared where to stroke him because he had stitches, and plasters where they had taken samples of the lumps, but it was clear he didn’t care as long as he got cuddles. His paws looked 100 times better than they did on Saturday which was good to see, he went for a little walk with John and then it was time for him to go back for the last bit of his blood transfusion. When Anna came back for him he seemed happy to go with her without even a look back at us – wow that hurt!

Anna came back and sat with us explaining what they had done today, and when we should expect to get the results back, she was really kind and asked us if Louis has a favorite food, we said Mcflurries haha, she said she would nip and get him one and to be honest I actually think she would if there was one near her! We said he loves smelly fish so sardines in oil, she said “Ohh there’s some of them in the cat kitchen, I’ll get some for his tea” Louis will go mad if he finds out haha.

Anna said they managed to cross match Louis’s blood with the transfusion blood, so they ordered 2 bags just in case he needs another one, apparently crossed matched blood is quite difficult to obtain, so we were really pleased they had thought ahead, I know it’s clutching at straws but I need something to cling onto. I told him about an amazing lady called Becky who has challenged herself to a sponsored walk completing 12000 steps a day, and why this is a huge thing for her to do, and that she's doing it to help him. He looked at me with his big brown eyes and I just knew he was saying thank you.

Louis's Gofundme Page

The next big milestone is Thursday, which is when we hopefully have some answers, and maybe a plan? But we have to be realistic and the outcome from the results may come back with no answers because there is no reason why this is happening to him – to us. If that happens then what are our options? We just don’t know, we will cross that bridge when we come to it, I just hope it’s not a rainbow coloured one :’(

Thank you to everyone who has asked about Louis, and sent their best wishes it means a lot.

Love Louis’s Mum

xxxxx