Friday afternoon Gunner began acting a little offish. When he would walk he would slink down like a cougar and take deliberate steps. He ate fine, but was not acting right. Later that evening he was acting strange and had zero energy (which is a huge red flag).
We decided not to ignore it and head to an ER Vet. Our vet is on vacay and our other doesn't do after hours. We load Gunner up in the car and began to travel to the ER Vet. To our surprise they are not open and we panic. We head to the second one and they are closed. At this point Gunner is booping around and acting very normal. We call a third one and they say come in, it's 1 am by this time, and he is full steam back to normal.
Through the night he slept well, I checked him every hour on the hour. Saturday morning, I had duty and he was home with the dad. Gunner wouldn't eat. By 1145 he was much worse, and I was not home. I send them packing to the vet but they get in a traffic jam. I leave duty and head out to meet them. We finally arrive at a Vet ER Clinic and begin our wait.
Immediately the vet is stumped, but knows something isn't right. After some nudging from me, I get him to do a full exam and he discovers a Mass in Gunner's bladder. They ask for a urine sample and they will do a blood panel, and they will do an x-ray if I want one. I did ask if they had to put him out for the x-ray and he said no.
The Vet tech was unable to get a urine sample so I got one for them, and that test came back off the charts high. The blood work was high for low white cells and his alkaline was high, as was his sugar. The Vet excused the Vet Tech and asked me to assist him with another examination since the Tech wasn't very experienced. With Gunner being in tact (still has his jigglies) I think the Vet was hoping it was that, however, his prostrate was clear. I felt the Mass he referred to and I believe it needs an expert review, however, ER Vet wasn't sure. He opted not to do the x-ray for some reason.
At the conclusion, Gunner's temp was elevated, his white cells and levels were high, and he decided the best course of action is antibiotics. We take him home and he won't walk, sit up, or move at all. I give him the antibiotic immediately and try and feed him. He will not eat at all, nor drink much.
I freeze Cranberry juice in ice cube trays for later to keep him hydrated and it's good for UTIs. Later I try to feed him again and he will not eat. I am scared since he had a pill he needs something in his belly, so I scramble him some eggs and give him cranberry juice cubes.
Gunner goes to sleep after being so down right sick, I had to rock him for 2 hours and he finally went to bed. He was up most of the night and not sleeping very well. This morning he is still out of it, and not feeling great, but I did get him to eat dog food and drink water and a cube of cranberry juice. He is slowly walking on his own and moving a bit more, but it's not over by any means.
Gunner was not given any pain medication at all, and I am not one to self medicate so I am trying all kinds of home remedies, such as heat and ice, fluids and tons of kisses. That seems to be his favorite. He avoided Maggie until just 3 minutes ago, but is still not all over her like usual.
Please keep him in your thoughts and prayers. We are going to try to see Dr. B in the morning, and hope that everything is fine. I will update if need be.
