I am so glad his surgery went well. I hope he has an easy recovery. Joey is lucky he has you and for having a vet that was proactive enough to do a BAT before his neuter

Thanks, you are absolutlely right, kudos to you, Dr. Weiner!!

Thats GREAT news about Joey!!! :bravo:
Here's to a speedy and complete recovery :)

Im so happy Joey's surgery went well. Bless you all and take one day at a time. You are truly blessed. Lissette

YAY ~ YAY ~ YAY ~ YAY

I am sooooooooooooooooo HAPPY they were able to close the shunt and that he is recovering well!!!! You are a GREAT MOMMY ;)

How is Joey?
 

How did Joey do with his surgery today? I hope all went well and he has a speedy recovery! I agree with the other posters that the breeder should step and refund some money or make other arrangements...with my recent ordeal with my TOBY, I felt like the emergency vets were telling me to pick between $$$$ or death for my baby. NOt sure why it has to be so expensive...just like human healthcare....anyway it was a horrible feeling..... I hope that your vet can work with you...keep us posted....

I just want to let you know that I have been following Toby's story and I admire you so much. I don't know how I could handle what you are going through. You are truly a hero.

I forgot to mention that I just spoke with the hospital, and Joey is resting comfortably, sounds like such hospital cliche, but that's what they said and all is as it should be at this point.

He probably is resting, LS surgery is major, plus the neuter and his teeth and the stones...Poor baby :(

drabinowitz43,

Will be waiting for an update on Joey today. Hope he had a restful night and is feeling better. Do you think he will get to come home by the weekend?

I couldn't wait to get on here this morning to check on Joey.
That's so wonderful everything went well. Bless his little heart.
What a little fighter he is Donna. He wanted to make it good for
you because you love him so much and gave him a second chance.
Buddy and I are wishing you Joey, a very speedy recovery and hope
to see on walking soon so we can say hi and give you a big hug
and Sophie too.

I am glad it's over for you Donna. I can just imagine how stressful
this must have been. Have a great day and remember I'm right
around the corner if I'm needed in anyway.

Hi Everybody,
 

:) I came home from work for a quick lunch. I spoke to the doctor, and they said Joey's vital signs are stable and he is moving around a lot, but has no interest in eating, which is not surprising. They are going to release him at 7 pm tonight. When I expressed being a little nervous, the doctor said he could stay another night but, as long as they are okay with it, I would rather bring him home where I think he will be happier. Hope that's the right move. There is a 24 hour animal hospital right around the corner from where I live if there is an emergency (but I am thinking positively). I have to find out about supplements for him and all that because I feel a little unprepared, sort of that feeling when you bring your first child home from the hospital. I will give an update later.

That is good news! Yeah, for Joey :thumbup:

As far as supplements NutriCal comes to mind first. I'm sure others will chime in with more suggestions. Since he also had some teeth pulled, he may not want any hard kibble...so maybe some baby food? I'm sure your vet will have a recommendation.

Great job, Mom :good job:

WONDERFUL ;)

Donna - here is some information that will help you....

When you get him home, focus on getting him to eat a few kibbles every couple of hours. If you have difficulty with this, you can force by syringe a little bit of Vanilla Flavored Childrens Pedisure. But try to get him to eat the RC H14 kibble. He might like the kibble that has been soaked in water for a little bit too. Or you can try the wet L/D ~ When you get him interested in food again, he should eat about 4 small meals a day. This special kibble is really ideal. I know you want to be able to handle feeding both dogs, so there are a few options that you can try. You can get a special home made diet created for Joey's needs, and add extra protein for Sadie. You can opt to feed Sadie a raw food diet and keep Joey eating the RC H14 kibble, and it wouldn't do Sadie any harm if she happen to eat a few pieces of the RC H14 (it just should not be her main food). Let me know what you would like to do and I can help guide you in the right direction...

For snacks BOTH of them can have a few tiny pieces of apply bits (no skin) and /or watermelon. Romaine lettuce is good too.

You have the lactulose and he should continue on that.

These are the supplements that are recommended to aid his liver function and repair. We buy them at: HomeVet© Natural Pet Care
I suggest that you call them for your first order. When you give them Joey info, they will write the dosage on the bottles for you. And this is where the Pedisure can come in handy. Alot of the folks on the Yahoo group give these two supplements mixed with the Pedisure and syringe it down OR you can mix into the Wet L/D - but you have to make sure he eats it.
1. Hepato Support
2. Vetri-DMG

Interceptor is the recommended heartworm prevention. We try to stay away from applying flea/tick prevention though. Minksheen shampoo is good to use to repel the bugs, or having your yard sprayed.

Vaccines should be avoided (if you can) - the problem is that he is still young and may need some still, but I would suggest discussing with your Vet that after his core shots are done, that you opt for titer testing, rather the booster shots.

...ok...I gotta get back to work, but I will be back again later with some more stuff for you an Joey of course :)

Joey is home
 

:D
Okay, what a dork I am, I wrote a whole novel about bringing Joey home and how well he is doing and then I lost it somehow in cyberspace. Anyway, he is home and doing well! He has sutures from his throat to his tush (big black criss crosses, not the dissolvable ones) and smells like a hospital, but he is great. At first he was writhing and howling when they handed him to me and I thought he was in pain, but then after a minute he settled into my arms and went to sleep. The vet thought he was just excited to see me. When we got home, he had a little bit of the canned Hills L/D and liked it warmed up a little. He had his antibiotic and will get his pain meds at 11. Sadie is acting very jealous and has tried to nip him a few times, so that's hard. I have to say she really enjoys being an only baby. She is very possessive of me.

Nicole, thank you so much for your post, what a help it is. It lays everything out beautifully and is giving me some good ideas. I am going to be working from home tomorrow and I will get in touch with homevet re the supplements. I'm a little leary of the raw food diet for Sadie, although I know lots of people love it. I might look into consulting with a nutritionist I think you've mentioned about homecooking, but I may not be able to take that on, we'll see.

I am soooooooo happy he is back in my arms, I missed this little guy so much.