Last Friday one of my dogs Cracker a 12 year old Jack Russell became ill, with a very sudden and severe skin infection, she was taken to the vets and was admitted we rang Saturday morning, she was by then vomiting blood and passing black diarrhoea, she had blood tests done, and they were off the scale and she was diagnosed as having complete renal failure, and we were asked to consider putting her to sleep, the vet offered a faint hope of putting her on a drip for 24 hours and we decided to take this chance, Cracker is a tough cookie and a little fighter. By Monday, her blood test were one completely normal, and one just a little high, the vet had never known a dog recover like this before. However she was still very, very poorly and when we went to visit her she could only manage a lick of our hands to let us know she knew we were there. The vet decided to give her another 24 hours on the drip, plus her other medications. On Tuesday she had stopped vomiting but still had the bloody diarrhoea, but she was ever so slightly less depressed, and had shown a little interest in food. TODAY WE HAVE BROUGH HER HOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! she is still poorly and weak, but has just eaten half a sachet of whiskas squashed and mixed with warm water as per the vets instructions, and she is drinking water for herself, she has been in the garden and passed both urine, fine and motion almost normal. I am crying and so thrilled with my little girl, the prognosis is still guarded, but each day she is a little better, she goes back in one week to be admitted for tests again, she is curled up asleep at the moment, but she has one eye on me. I just wanted to share my happiness with you all as fellow dog lovers, and send Cracker all your good wishes, so that she will fingers cross make a full recovery.

Thanks for listening, Regards to everyone Chris.xxxx

Hi Chris,

Great news !! I'm really pleased for you and Cracker and here's praying that she'll make a full recovery soon

Donna

Hi Donna

Thank you for your good wishes we really appreciate it.

Love Chris and Cracker xx

What a little soldier she is :-) Give her a big hug from me. I wish you both the best of luck. Let us know how she comes along won't you.

Hi Chris, Lets hope things continue to improve. Did the vet give you any idea what was wrong and more importantly what to do to avoid a reoccurrence?

Very best wishes, John

Hi Chris
Some times these little ones amaze even the best of vets. We too had a simular experience to yours. One of our dogs was off his food and vomitting so we took him to see our local vet. They xrayed him and found a shadow that they wanted to investigate. We were asked to leave him so they could give him an anaesthetic and a barium meal to see what the problem was. A few hours later my father got a call from the student vet at the surgery who said that he had a hole in his oesophagus and it would be kinder to put him to sleep while they still had him under as there was no way he would recover. We went to the vets and see the senior partner and talked it over with him. It was decided we would take the dog home and return every morning for antibiotic injections and just feed him baby food. The worry was any food he ate would go into his lungs and he would develope pneumonia. He was 18mths old.
After 2wks of visiting the vets every morning for the jabs we had another xray done and guess what?? it had healed. The vet said he could not believe what he was seeing as this had never happened before. He called him the miracle Dog.
So you see they never cease to amaze us these little fellows.
So I wish you and your little dog all the best and hope everything works out for you.
BTW he is now 8 and very healthy.

Longdog

Hi Chris

So glad to hear that Cracker is a strong little dog and is doing Ok now. You msut be so relieved, sending you both lots of good wishes :)

Best wishes
Lindsay

Thank you all for your good wishes, Cracker continues to improve albeit slowly, she has eaten even better today and has been in the garden, where she enjoyed a little trot a little bit wobbly but her tail never stopped wagging, The vet doesn't now yet what has caused Crackers illness, which is a bit worrying 'cause we don't know what we should be avoiding, or if it is just a one off. She shares our home with 9 other dogs of various ages, and they have all been fine, so hopefully it has been just one of those things. To Longdog your story was wonderful and I am so glad that your boy recovered so well and is enjoying a long life, our dogs are wonderful aren't they, and an inspiration to us all.

I will keep you informed about Cracker and she and I send our love to you all and your dogs.

Love Cracker and Chris XXXX

I hope Cracker makes a full recovery soon, she's made it this far so she'll make it all the way. They can sence the love you have for them and I'm sure this will help her pull through. Best Wishes Jackie

Hi Chris,
I've only just found this website and have just been finding my way around. I have read your mail and you have just bought tears to my eyes and I am so happy that Cracker is recovering!I hope that she is still getting better and stronger every day!
Best wishes to you both!
Joe

Welcome to the forum Joe and Sam :-) Leigh

Hi chris, Just read your story, so very glad to hear that Cracker is improving!!
Hope it may long continue.