Thank you all for your well wishes. Poppy is still with us but we may well be making a decision when we see our regular vet tomorrow.
I had a thorough consult with the vet on duty yesterday who happens to be one of the other practice directors just not from our branch and he was brilliant. We weighed up a lot of things specific to Poppy and what we are trying to achieve here and decided on a steroid injection as a what have we got to lose treatment. The hope would be that we could halt the acute neurological inflammation and buy ourselves a couple more days to let the antibiotics work because the c+s testing indicated good sensitivity to the baytril and she was improving in herself since she began the antibiotic, it was slow but steady progress. It all fell apart when I missed giving her one dose the other morning, the neurological involvement started after this. I shall probably never forgive myself for this
. Should there be some improvement in her vestibular symptoms we can review the antibiotic choice again tomorrow and go off license if need be but she is just getting back on track post ileus/stasis from the onset of infection, her gut has never been very resilient and the last thing we want is to end up with her dysbiotic, dehydrated and feeling rubbish if we rush into stronger antibiotics. She is certainly no worse today, rolling less I think but is still very wobbly. She is not distressed at the moment but it would appear that her cataracts have deteriorated quite rapidly since this infection began and with her hearing probably impaired by the infection she has become very nervous and cautious.
Her best chance of recovery is obviously surgery but that isn't an option for us, she is 8yrs old and a stressy girl who does not tolerate excessive handling at all. It would not be in her best interests to put her through it. He said that sometimes you get lucky and the infection will clear from the bulla on antibiotics alone but if not, we are looking to stabilise her condition, reduce any permanent nerve damage and keep her comfortable for the rest of her life as long as that may be provided she is not distressed by her limitations. I am backwards and forwards in my head, and with my husband, as to when this point is reached. She is self feeding with encouragement and has a good fecal output but has become very recluse and unwilling to move around, and not surprisingly really, she must feel pretty strange. But she is pain free and not distressed at the moment as she is still upright and able to hop in to her litter tray bless her and then back to her willow den. We also bring her into the garden and she has a little hop (the odd roll) and then lies down and enjoys the fresh air.
I am so sad that it has come to this after such a relatively healthy and happy long life.
We are taking each day at a time at the moment. Poor old Pops, we all love her so very much
x
