What a month March was! What a fighter Gittik is!
(I am still writing my memoirs of this survival tale and will also add pictures)
Day 1: It all started with Gittik
not wanting to eat, which was alright since she had always been very picky
about her food and was in great spirits and hyper as always.
Day 2: She still didn't eat! This
is when i got slightly concerned but her energy levels were fine.
Day 3: She had a few nibbles and
threw up at night. My concern grew even though the vomit was not much, just a
drop of whitish yellow. My husband saw it and said its nothing and that some dogs
cleanse their stomachs by rejecting anything that's not suited.
Day 4: She threw up in the
morning. This time it was brownish. We were heading out to work so decided that
we will take her to the vet in the evening. By the time we got back from work,
her energy was also low. Called her usual vet (This Dr. Ahmed Raza in Lahore
where we live) who as usual was busy and very difficult to get a hold off so we
took her to a Vet in a nearby area. He saw her, said she has some gastric
issues and injected her with some medicines and told us we need to come back
every day for three days for treatment at the clinic. I think he also gave
something for us to give her at home.
Day 5: She threw up a lot!! And
it was dark brown and all very liquidy. I panicked again and insisted we take
her to the vet right away. We took time off from work (said will come in late)
and took her back. He put her on an IV to get her liquids in and injected her again.
After her IV finished, we brought her home and she was quite down.
Day 6: Woke up, took her to the
Vet, did the whole IV and injection routine and came home. Husband left for
work and i decided to stay in with her. After a while, she went to her
excretion corner (this one corner in the house with her newspaper where she
takes her Number 1 and 2) and started to put pressure in order to do potty. She
was making sounds as she was putting pressure so i went to see and i saw she
was struggling to get it out, when suddenly she managed but it was all liquid
with the most horrid smell. It was the smell of Iron i think and the liquid-y
stool was dark brown. After i picked her up and quickly cleaned her and went to
investigate the stool with my nose covered and breath held i realized that it
had blood in it. To be sure i took a white tissue and pressed it against it and
sure as hell, it was blood. This is when shit hit the roof. I knew she was very
VERY ill. I called my husband and was frantic. He rushed home. We took her to
the vet; he gave her more medicines and another IV. Said it’s probably Parvo Virus and that we just need to keep her hydrated.
Day 7: No more bloody stool at
night but i could not sleep. Gittik was so weak and that smell just won’t go
from my head. In the morning, i had to go to work so my husband stayed home and
took her to the vet for the IVs and medicines. He left for work at noon and the
house help was asked to baby sit (2 people watching over her) till we got back.
Around 2 pm, they called and said that she had another bloody episode. I ran
from office, drove like a mad person and rushed home, crying throughout. Akbar
also rushed from work, we got home and although they had managed to clean the
blood and stool the house smelt of hell and poor Gittik was all covered with
blood and stool and unable to even lift her head. What was worse was that this
vet we were taking her to had no other explanation or plan of action. We were
just in shock and just unable to even think. Then i remembered how one of my cousins
who also has a Shih Tzu had taken her girl to the veterinary hospital when it
was unwell and had highly recommended this vet Dr. Zia there. I got his number
from her and called him, by this time i was frantic. He said he wasn't at the
hospital (which is more than an hour’s drive from where we live) but will be in
your area by 5 pm and could see her in a mutually agreed upon place.
At 5 pm,
we took her to an area half way that we had agreed to meet. He checked her and
said she needs medications immediately and what the other vet had been giving
were not correct not sufficient. We tried all the pharmacies but found none so
we drove to the nearest hospital; us in our car, him and his wife (also a vet)
following us. We got the medication from the hospital pharmacy and he got to
work. It was night time by now so hardly any light, we held up our cell phones
for light. It was something else. While he was mixing concoctions and potions
to save our baby Gitti, she had another episode of the blood. It was in the car
and it was painful to see her suffer. This gave him more clarity to the
situation. He added some more medication to the bunch and put in a branula in
her paw (arm) and one intravenous, then another, then another that we had to
monitor for 3 hours and then taught us what to do for the rest of the night to
keep her stable.
In 2 hours we both learned how to put in an Intravenous
branula, how to tape it, how to mix various medicines and injections into
different types of IVs, how to take out an air bubble and the works and then
keep at it for the rest of the night.
He then suggested we get her an
x-ray (the digital ones, with more visibility). For this we had to go to this
special area where they do these with Gittik and her blood in the car and her
IV on. So we went, got there by 10 pm to find there was no electricity, waited.
Got her abdomen X- Ray-ed, and then the internet in the place won’t connect so
we waited further to get that working so we could email the vet so we could
ensure that it’s nothing that needs instant surgery.
When he saw the ultra sound, he
said that although it was bad but didn't seem to be what he thought would need
immediate surgery. So we were good with the routine for the night and should
bring her to the Veterinary hospital first thing in the morning for further
testing and x-rays). We went home, cleaned Giitik, made her a bed with our
softest blankets and put her to sleep with her IV on. Then we changed, cleaned
the car, got the blood out and showered ourselves.
Day 8:
We both slept (or didn't sleep) around her all night, constantly checking on her, making her comfortable and changing the IVs as told. At 8 am, we ventured out again. We picked up my father in law as well. Got the hospital at 9:30 am. She was taken to and operation room to keep her away from the other animals there and in peace. The same routine of medication carried on and Dr. Zia explained to us that the X- ray showed signs that there was internal bleeding also. While there she had another bleeding episode but luckily all the students there helped with it and cleaned her and calmed me down inthe process too.
He performed an Ultrasound (while we were in the ultrasound room, Gittik walked a little after days to take a pee. That is when we realized that perhaps she had not urinated since she fell ill either since we hadn't seen it) and found that her Liver was effected along with other organs.
We were told that next 24 to 48 hours for her are critical. she had lost too much blood, was extremely weak and things didn't look too good either. He drew some blood out and told us to give it to the lab for testing and call him when the results are back at night. We left for home by 5 pm. Got home and I went to work with her medication routine again and Akbar went back to get her lab work back.
(A few of her IVs)
The reports showed that she had low red blood cells (which was obvious). We mailed it to the vet and he said to bring her back again tomorrow to the hospital and in the meantime stick to the medicine and IV routine.
Day 9:
