Vincent At The Clinic

I reached the clinic before 5pm and brought home-steamed chicken with chicken soup, for Vincent.

Vincent was sleeping when I arrived. It is good that he can sleep and rest.

I spoke with the vet and Vincent had already been fed twice through the nasal tube. No vomiting so far. The vet will increase the amount of food gradually.

Well, it is good that at least there is food in the stomach now. Otherwise, the stomach acid will produce more gastric problems. And more discomfort.

I decided to wait until closing time since I was already there.

Peeked in a few times and Vincent was able to sleep.

The soft e-collar is good as it doubles-up as a cushion for him to rest his head.

However, the drooling is still quite bad. I had to wipe the thick drool many times.

Later, Vincent woke up, so I offered him some of the steamed chicken. I didn’t expect him to want to eat…

To my surprise, he was interested! He took out a piece of chicken with his teeth and tried to eat it. Unfortunately, the pain in the mouth must be still bad as he couldn’t eat it. He did smell the chicken soup, though, and press his mouth onto it.

The vet was free so we talked about how we first came. It was on 23rd September 2018 that I switched Vincent over to this vet. At that time, Vincent was in dire straits and was less than 2.5kg. On our first visit, the vet cautioned me that Vincent’s kidney disease was already at a “very end stage”.

However, with proper treatment, Vincent turned around almost miraculously and improved a lot. He went all the way up to 3.9kg too. From then on, I think there were two more mishaps, and on both occasions, Vincent bounced back. This vet saved his life each time.

But we all know that kidney disease will progress, and Vincent’s condition will gradually deteriorate. There is no cure and no return, only palliative care.

The vet told me again this evening that Vincent does not have much time left. I know this. In fact, since he was fell sick in July 2018, at times he was so bad, I often woke up in the morning wondering if he would still be there. Or, I would return from work, wondering the same.

For the last week or so when this deterioration began, I would go to bed at night….prepared. Even throughout the day, I would constantly peek into the bathroom to check on him. Every morning, I come downstairs, so happy to see Vincent waiting for me in his bathroom. Ever since the deterioration started, he doesn’t come upstairs anymore. Prior to that, Vincent would jump up onto the bed and sleep with me in the wee hours of the morning.

In these 8 months, we’ve had so many happy moments, happy days and even happy weeks where Vincent would eat like a horse and was alert, happy and even naughty. I ought to be thankful for these happy times.

I am, and most of all, I am very thankful to our vet for making these happy times possible.

I left for home at 6.50pm after letting Vincent know that he will be safe at the clinic, that he needs the IV-drip in order to feel better and that with the nasal tube, at least he won’t be hungry. I told Vincent I will see him tomorrow morning.

Sleep and rest well, Vincent. You are our very brave boy.

It took me about 50 minutes to drive home, in peak hour traffic. I know leaving him at the clinic is a better option than having him at home because he needs the IV-drip. Hydration is the one thing that can at least make him feel a bit more comfortable. At least he can sleep peacefully. And his stomach has food too, through the nasal tube. At home, he has been sitting in the meatloaf position, which means, he is in pain and I could no longer force-feed him due to the pain in the mouth. I don’t want him to be in pain.

I’ve just cleaned Vincent’s bathroom. The vet thinks maybe he can come home on Sunday. If he still cannot eat on his own by then, the nasal tube will not be taken out so that I can continue feeding him through it. The vet also changed Vincent’s antibiotics to Clindamycin, which we hope will be more effective in addressing the mouth ulcers. She will also add an anti-inflammatory to help with the mouth pain. We are doing our utmost to make Vincent as comfortable as possible.

Till tomorrow, then.

Source: https://myanimalcare.org/2019/03/01/vincent-at-the-clinic/

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