Penny
From Monday, 8/8:
Penny had a runny nose and cough when we got her
(7/22) from the Humane Society. We thought, kennel
cough. Took her that evening to the vet for the free
exam that you get when you adopt from the Humane
Society. Dr. Eric said she looked okay. I mentioned
the green mucous and cough, and he didn't seem
concerned, didn't say to bring her back in. I figured,
it's a cold, and she'll get over it. And Mabel's been
immunized for everything under the sun, it'll be okay.
Then Paul and I went to D.C. While we were away, Hatty
emailed that Penelope was coughing more and seemed
feverish. I said I'd get her to the vet when we got
back. On 8/1, I took her to Dr. Charlie, who said,
"sick little girl here," but he was thinking kennel
cough plus maybe upper respiratory infection. He put
her on oral antibiotics and cough suppressant. He also
found her feverish & dehydrated, and gave subcutaneous
fluids to hydrate her and to bring down the fever.
By 8/4, Penny would neither eat nor drink--I had to
force medicine droppers-ful of water into her
mouth--so I called for a first-thing appt. on 8/5. Dr.
Virginia said, "let's do more subcutaneous fluids, but
let's do an x-ray too." X-ray showed icky lung fluid,
and Dr. Virginia was alarmed enough to want to keep
Penny in hospital, on IV fluids and antibiotics. So
she's been there since Friday morning. They said we
could come visit her on Monday. Dr. Virginia also
wanted to do CBC.
I called this morning to schedule the appointment and
got Dr. Charlie. He'd done repeat x-ray and CBC. Her
WBC is 21.9 and rising. Her RBC is 23.7 and falling.
Her IV fluid volume isn't enough to account for this
dilution of RBCs. She also has an enlarged heart and
fluid in the abdomen. Dr. Charlie tried to draw off
some of this fluid, and as he feared, it's blood.
Internal bleeding. He did *another* CBC and x-ray and
everything looks even worse. Penelope is on some
-cillin AND Baytril, which are pretty powerful
antibiotics, and it's all going south.
Dr. Charlie's a good guy. He kept describing the
situation and said, "there are _many_ life threatening
conditions that Penny is facing right now," so I said
"We have to let her go."