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Road Trip to Cornell with Dooley and overnight stay
- Thread starter John Popp
- Start date
John Popp
Site Supporter
They were trying to get some urine out of Dooley, which I wasn't exactly keen on, I had him gently scruffed controlling his head, whispering to him and the vet tech had the idea she was going to shift him onto his back. Bad idea, and in a split second Dooley had opened me up.
I was bleeding a ton for about 15 minutes, and leaking for several hours afterward. Truth is, they all felt a lot worse about it than I did and I was glad that I provided the interns and vet tech with the valuable lesson of never try turning a 20+ pound cat onto his back.
The lacerations look a lot better, although the shiner looks a little worse.
John Popp
Site Supporter
it was a single quick swipe and hit.
Note to self, don’t forget to clip your cats nails before going to the vet.
Could have been so much worse and the two small mouses hurt just enough to serve as a reminder of where Dooley’s limits are.
John Popp
Site Supporter
They decided not to do any tests after they witnessed the bloodletting, but the doctor and two interns spent the next 4 hours reading over all his paperwork. When I arrived, they only had 60 pages of medical records printed front and back. Dr Center knew that there had to be a lot more as did I and then I got on the phone with the hospital where most of his care has been provided, and they sent over another 192 front and back pages. The Doctor and two residents spent the next 4 hours reading the complete Dooley file, highlighting all the juicy stuff and somewhat set out a path that will take me a while to explain.
The quick version is they would like to change up his diet somewhat working with a nutritionist there and were in contact with a couple Zoos that have Serval colonies. I appreciate the efforts on this front, but I don't think they will vary that much from where I am. Dooley has a continued path he is on to gradually increase his protein, and I certainly wouldn't mind a secondary food source outside of chicken.
They would like me to come back so they can do some tests and a CT scan of his liver. They really want a better view of any shunting that may be going on and until they have the biopsy slides of his liver, any additional testing this trip wouldn't be productive if we don't know the destination of where the bus is heading.
In all, it was a little more than I had bargained for, but a Doctor that definitely knew her stuff and paraded a whole range of doctors in who would be responsible for Dooley's care depending on where the test results take us. I do have some reservations if surgery is on the agenda again because he is doing pretty well these days and largely acting as a pretty good cat with a mean left hook.
The quick version is they would like to change up his diet somewhat working with a nutritionist there and were in contact with a couple Zoos that have Serval colonies. I appreciate the efforts on this front, but I don't think they will vary that much from where I am. Dooley has a continued path he is on to gradually increase his protein, and I certainly wouldn't mind a secondary food source outside of chicken.
They would like me to come back so they can do some tests and a CT scan of his liver. They really want a better view of any shunting that may be going on and until they have the biopsy slides of his liver, any additional testing this trip wouldn't be productive if we don't know the destination of where the bus is heading.
In all, it was a little more than I had bargained for, but a Doctor that definitely knew her stuff and paraded a whole range of doctors in who would be responsible for Dooley's care depending on where the test results take us. I do have some reservations if surgery is on the agenda again because he is doing pretty well these days and largely acting as a pretty good cat with a mean left hook.
Wow, that's a lot to take in, and sort of scary to think they want to change things up when he is doing so well on his current regimen. However, it sounds like you have confidence in this vet, and it does sound like she knows her stuff and may be able to make even more progress with Dooley.
John Popp
Site Supporter
Yeah, my heart definitely hit my stomach when the surgery thing came up. At the same time, nearly every thing I’ve done to improve Dooley’s situation the last two years came as a result of her work. The majority of publications regarding small animal liver disease have been written by Dr Center and in a relatively short span she had complete command of all the details of Dooley’s case. Best of all, she explains things incredibly well and she didn’t want to waste any time doing unnecessary tests. So confidence I have, while still having a tremendous amount of anxiety.