I don’t know what the right thing to do is
My best girl is almost 15. Over the last year or so she’s had her fair share of emergency visits; from being diagnosed with stage 3 kidney disease, arthritis in her hind legs, extremely high blood pressure.. we are no stranger to our veterinarian.
The other day I found her at 4:30 to the strangest behavior I’ve ever see from her. She was crying, pacing the walls, getting “stuck” in corners and not knowing how to get out, limping with her tail between her legs, trying to “climb” the wall, and having accidents everywhere. I got her to the vet by 8:30.
They hospitalized her for the day having to run numerous tests on her since she was running a fever of 103°. The next day I had to work but did not feel comfortable leaving her alone. I had my husband take her to my sister’s house on his way into work, and halfway through his drive he calls me telling me our dog suddenly out of nowhere jumped up, yelps for dear life (and she NEVER barks. Like she is basically mute), and tried escaping the car; climbing the seats and scratching at the door. She also had an accident in the car. I called the vet to ask if results have come in and to let them know the situation. The results did come in, and they’re.. fine. No significant changes to her health. The urinalysis came in fine too. All they can say is she likely experienced a seizure or stroke and can really only diagnose with an mri- which only the emergency clinic is equipped with.
It’s Friday now and she has been on gabapentin 3x a day, taking antibiotics, a steroid, cerenia, also on top of her daily blood pressure meds. She seems absolutely miserable. She’s not getting stuck in corners anymore, but she.. doesn’t seem the same. Always walks wobbly, slowly, and with her tail between her legs. Has accidents everywhere. Cries and cries and cries at night, even when she’s in bed with us. She is still eating and drinking. Other than that she doesn’t do much besides pace until she can sleep.
I’m dying inside seeing her this way. She’s never been like this. The vet says if improvement hasn’t happened in the first 48 hours, it’s unlikely that it will at all. How long do I hold on to the hope that she just might come out of this? Please help. I just want my girl to be herself again. I want to see her tail wag again.