Woeful Willow

The stone has returned.

Willow took a sudden nose-dive on Saturday.  She spent the day begging for food and attention and would devour what was put in her cage.  But at the end of the day, for all this apparent appetite, I saw that her pellets had not been touched.  I picked her up to weigh her and was horrified at how frail she felt.  I put her on the scale:  690g.  She's been steadily weighing in the last several weeks at 770g.

I syringe fed her some critical care and began to watch her closely.  On Sunday and Monday she stopped inhaling some of her favorite treats; I found bits of tomato and banana left around the cage. Monday morning, with no real sign of improvement, and a couple of days of  metacam and critical care, I made the appointment for the vet.

The stone on the x-ray was amazing.  It was an intricate snowflake in the middle of her bladder.  It would have been beautiful if it wasn't so awful.  This stone is bigger than her last one.  And because of it's shape, it's a lot more painful than the last one.  Vet says, no chance of passing it.  I had to chuckle at that - she had said the exact same thing about the previous stone that Willow passed just last year.  But this time I believe her.

In typical Willow style, she flirted with the waiting room occupants while I paid the bill and waited for a bag of fluids and a bottle of tramadol.  I am astonished that she is so cheerful towards humans even while she feels so unwell.

So we are back home, now.  Willow is on painkillers twice a day and fluids once or twice a day (depending on how much I pump into her at one shot).  No greens.  She's on hay and water, at least for the next seven days.  I have once again opted not to do surgery.  I just can't imagine she'd survive it.  Willow was lucky with the last stone in that it did not cause her a lot of discomfort.  Not so lucky this time.  I hope the fluids and tramadol make her feel better and gives me a few days to consider what to do next.