Speedy recovery my love! - new photo...

[Cornelia]

"She put my sexy body in the wash and because I was trying to lick my wound, I now have to wear this stupid pyjama! They also say, I am not allowed to run, because something they called serom developed at my belly and they want to keep it small. But I'm feeling much better and I'm getting a lot of food and attention, so I don't mind the pyjama that much and my belly is treated with a warm gel patch and lots of nice cuddles! Just thought of letting you know, Joyful."

Joy's health was a bit of a rollercoaster lately. Two month ago, she was in the clinic on a drip because of acute enteritis, but was recovering very quickly and we went to Italy again for the holidays. On coming home, she came into season and at the end of the three weeks, two days ago now, was bitten by another dog on her neck. When the pain killer did not do it's job yesterday eve and her back legs were trembling even when laying down, I checked her out and after discovering puss at her rear end, l rushed her back to the clinic with suspicion of pyometra. I was already reading about it on the internet, because she was in pain this time during her season and was therefore carefully watching her. It was all inflamed and full of puss and so she's spayed now. They made a drainage at her neck because of the dog bite and also removed sort of a talcum gland near her left eye. So she's quite stitched together now, but all went well and she's relaxed, hungry and already looking for cats again, when outside. The photo above was taken 24 hours after the op. I think she looks a bit sad, because her looks will go, but the blue-ish body from the vet suits her well and I made a stretchable neck towel for her, because the bandage on her neck does not keep very well. So speedy recovery my love and may you soon come with on tour again!

[Cornelia]

Dear All, thank you so much for all your nice comments and wishes for Joy. They are ever so appreciated!!! Joy has well recovered from the pyometra operation and also from the dog bite and the wounds have healed well and she gained her strength back. We do however still have problems with her bowels. When under the op, they noticed that her small intestines where inflamed and enlarged and took two biopsies. She does luckily not have any tumor but had to be put on a special low fat diet. All went well but what was coming out of her rear end was not satisfactory and so Joy was put on a low dose of cortisol. From there it went from bad to worse: Not that she was reacting badly to the cortisol but reduced as she was, she seems to have caught the next infection that was lurking round the corner and had to be put back on the drip for two days! That was Wednesday last week and with the help of antibiotics (again!) and cortisol and loads of care and easy digestible food, I built her up once more - she was ever so happy until yesterday, full of strength and eating well! - alas, last night she vomited and vomited and had diarrhea and her tummy was in pain! So I went to fetch a pain killer in form of a suppository nearing midnight at the clinic and was up all night until finally at four in the morning, she started to calm down and we both managed some form of sleep. She's quiet now and fed spoon wise again and so far managed to keep it down. I must say, we have an excellent clinic only a few minutes away from where, we live and they have most of the time a 24 hour service or are working together with one. The boss herself was there tonight and this morning and we started to build up that tummy now from square one with probiotics. Recovery will not be that speedy this time but I pray, that we manage to avoid any chronic disease and be on tour again next spring. So thank you once more for all your precious thoughts and wishes, Cornelia and Joy xxx

[Sherry Miller]

Oh Joy...I'm hoping you soon feel better ....you all have had a time of it. Those 24 hour clinics can sure come in handy....and so nice to know you are not on your own til your Dr opens the next day. Hugs to you both and I hope you soon are back to romping and Corneilia to being able to catch up on her sleep (and free from the worry over Joy)

[Cornelia]

Thank you Sherry! We actually had a good nights rest now and Joy is much better today. Trying to find the reason for her latest episode of vomiting, I was reading about the side effects of her antibiotics yesterday and the most common were vomiting, diarrhea and pain in the tummy! As Joy was feeding well that evening, it might be possible that the medication, that now stayed longer in that better filled tummy was the trigger, because her problems began 1-1,5 hours later and seemed to have vanished by the time all was out of her system. When we went for that check up yesterday, Joy had only eyes for the clinic cats and the treat bowl and behaved as if she fooled us all. Without her history with enteritis lately and being on the drip again last week, I probably would have been less worried. The clinic, Sherry, is actually quite small and we know most of the staff by now; it feels personal and yet you have the advantage of the service of the clinic. Not so long ago, part of that staff spent Sylvester in the operating theatre, because a Great St. Bernhard, stressed out by the fireworks, bloated. So when time counts you can count on them.