Bryan on the mend.
After-dinner bliss.
Bryan is slowly mending. He came home from the hospital on Friday night all lethargic and quiet. Perhaps he was shocked by the huge bill he’d racked up in six days of hospitalisation. He refused to eat his yummy Orijen fish kibble, so I went to the pet store and bought a few cans of Wellness Simple Food Solutions Salmon & Rice to see if he would be enticed by wet food. Sure enough, he wolfed down half a can and begged for more, so we gave him the rest and he perked up considerably after that. The wet food also makes it easier for us to give him his antibiotics, Vit K pills, iron pills and omeprazole pellets – just mash it into the food and he’s none the wiser. In that respect, he’s very different from Pepe, who used to eat around and spit out all the ingredients that didn’t suit him.
Unfortunately, just a couple of days on the hospital’s Science Diet kibble (which he apparently loved thus reinforcing my point that he’s not very smart when it comes to food) and the wet food has increased the plaque on his teeth considerably. We’ll have to buy him a big bone to chew on soon, otherwise it might become a problem. Since his blood doesn’t clot so well, we have to avoid surgery for him as far as possible, and that includes scaling. I’m mixing kibble into his wet food ration now, and the amount of kibble will slowly increase till he’s back to eating only dry food.
He also has to have a more sedentary lifestyle from now on. Sometimes, inflammation will cause blood to pool in his joints, which is painful and which looks a lot like arthritis. He can no longer be given steroids because of von Willebrand, so the only thing we can do is to keep him quiet. His gait has changed a little, too, it’s quite obvious that he has some joint pain in his legs. Despite that, he will not allow anyone to carry him now. He nipped K the other day for trying. He didn’t bite hard enough to draw blood, but it was definitely a warning that anyone who tries to pick him up will suffer the consequences. A muzzle is on my shopping list next week, for the times when we just have to carry him.
Figures that out of the millions of corgis in the world, ours would be in the 6 per cent clinically affected by vWD!
One Comment
Miko eats Orijen’s wild fish formulation too. She likes it quite a lot (she had better, considering the $$$$ it costs!). If you give Bryan chews, just be careful as overzealous chewing can lead to some bleeding (Miko loves rawhide, bones, etc – but sometimes I spot what looks like blood on her chews if she’s been chewing non-stop for ages, and it’s not dentition-related as the vet says her teeth/gums are in excellent condition!) Instead of a bone, you might want to consider something like rawhide / pig’s ears as these are a little easier on the gums while still giving a good chew.