Granddad Stevie went to the vets today. He’s in remarkably good condition given his anorexia. His bloodvalues only deviate on points that are explained by his physical condition and improve as he gains weight. Most importantly: his liver- and kidney-values are fantastic (his kidney-values are even on the low side, where we feared they would be skyhigh). His Bilirubine-levels are too high, but that is due to the fact that he’s suspected of having Erlichia. He’s getting a double dose of Doxycicline for a month to hopefully cure that. His heart and lungs are fabulous. He had a little blood and proteine in his urine as a result of his prostate being a little enlarged, a common occurrence with unneutered dogs of ‘an elderly disposition’. So on top of the Doxy. he’ll have a short course of Ypozane to help shrink his prostate.

An injection with Dexamethason (anti-inflammatory), a multi-vitamine preparation and anabolic steroids (to build up his muscletone) should give him a good boost

Food en care are the main things he needs at the moment. He is a little ‘heavier’ than expected, 22 kilo’s, but still way too much underweight and needs to add about 10 kilo’s (he’s a big man). For the time being, he’ll be eating fluid, calory-enriched food every hour.

After two days, he’s starting to walk a little better and is no longer on the brink of falling for lack of strenght. He even carefully tries to lift his leg when peeing. He’s improving by the hour, can now get up by himself, his legmuscles don’t shake as much when standing and together we totter through the living room every hour to stimulate his muscles. He’s in bad need of dentalcare, because his teeth are very dirty, his gums are horribly enflamed and it bothers him when eating. This however will have to wait until he gets stronger, so he can be sedated sighthound-style.

New bloodtests will be performed in a months time and then we’ll also test him for Erlichia, Filaria, Babesiosis and Leishmania,; the big tests, not the quick snaptests used in Spain (naturally due to high cost).

In other words: today I received a very hefty vet-bill (in spite of the 30% discount I get for doing volunteerwork at the clinic), but at least we now know where Stevie stands and that he has an honest chance of getting well again. Go Stevie go!!!