Well, we think he is getting better, however we did have a nasty shock with Sam on Sunday.
We were moving things around to clear out the back two rooms for the builder when we found a puddle of clear liquid on the floor. It looked like something a cat might have sicked up so we didn’t worry. Then we noticed Sam trying to be sick. A few minutes after this he started howling and was in obvious pain. This was pretty awful as we didn’t know what had caused it. What made it worse was that Ian noticed that Sam had sicked up a piece of plastic a couple of days ago which meant that there still might be more inside him and also, although the builders are good at clearing up, there is a possibility that he might have eaten something poisonous. Sam licks things, and we could imagine him licking the walls that have been treated with damp chemicals, for instance.
Within about 10 minutes Sam then collapsed on his side and just laid there panting and this all happened in about half an hour from us first noticing that he wasn’t right. If he had been curled up or even laid on his front we might not have worried so much but he was just collapsed. He then started dripping from the mouth which made us think poison.
So, we tried to track our vet down – but because we are living in havoc, we couldn’t find his mobile number. We then tried to find a 24 hour vet that we know other people have used. Unfortunately we had a false start as Ian rang a vet in Alicante. We managed to get this vet and headed off with poor Sam. Sam by this time was drooling from the mouth, however as he does get car sick and he does drool we didn’t know what was car trouble and what was anything else.
We were at the vet for two hours, while Sam was prodded, x-rayed, tested and generally given a rough time. The vet said that his temperature was low which he was worried about and this didn’t suggest that he had eaten anything like plastic. He has diagnosed a bad case of gastroenteritis which would be why he was in pain. Poor Sam left the vets with a little iv thing in his leg, and he has been injected, iv-ed, given tablets and oral solution and is today looking brighter.
Sam spent quite a lot of time hidden under a table or under a blanket which is a typical doggy thing to do when they are feeling miserable.
We were mentally working out what we would be prepared to pay as we know that things can quickly get out of hand – however, so far so good, and our bill was 77 euros which included treatment, an emergency appointment and xrays.
Poor little chap does seem to have his fair share of problems!