Hallo people,
last night at 3 am my dog begun to cry, something he has never done in 14 years of life. We have calmed him and then I tried to walk him out, but he walked with great pain and arching his back.
I then bring him home again (lifting him on my arms for 80 stairs, he couldn't walk!) and put him down on his bed. He was more calm now but was not responsive and did not react to any stimulus, he just drank some water.
At 9.30 am we took him to the vet, and with X-rays he saw that Tito's belly was full of gases and pee. He had a flu and was dehydrated too, and he probably got intoxicated by something he eat outside.
They gave him 6 medicines and me and mom left, because the dog was stunned. At 12.30 they called us and we went back: Tito was not reacting to the medicines and they told us that operate on him in these conditions would have been like operating on a dead dog. They asked us the permission to kill him, should the surgery went bad.
They then left us with the dog and we waited for hours, until at 2 pm Tito begun to react to our stymuli: he opened his eyes, looked at us, his belly deflated and his tongue went back in its place; his legs stopped shacking. He also "talked" with me: if I talk to him with a certain tone, he try to imitate it.
It has always been very funny to do so, but when we did that yesterday, it was a true relief.
Since Tito reacted so well, vets decided to operate him.
It took from 4 to 5.15 pm, and then they told us that everything went well. They washed his stomach and it begun to work again. Plus they told us that the dog has absolutely no tumors or other diseases. The only strange thing was that his pancreas was a little bigger than usual, but this could be due to the operation and, in any case, it was not in the malignant way.
But they told us the dog is so old that the prognosis is reserved. A younger dog would react to the operation quite well; we'll have to wait 3 days to be sure that my Tito is doing so. They prohibited us to see him, because he may be depressed when we leave him.
I'm sure he'll react well: he's strong and stubborn, and the fact that he grew old without any typical disease demonstrate it (well... not scientifically, but I like to think so). But I miss him a lot and have also cried warm tears.
EDIT: while I was writing, vets called: Tito has made a mess during the night, owling and crying because he missed us. Plus he tried to bite vets 2 times in the morning (and it's just 11 am now, so the morning is still long). All this is typical of the Tito I knew. In fact, vets assured us that he's reacting well, like a younger dog.
Sorry for the Gallicism, but... Tito got balls
Greetings,
Mauro.