Thirteen hundred meters too far: continued

 Good morning dear Blogger friends.  As you know, I ended the previous post with Skabby having disappeard from the veranda. 

I never slept a wink that night. From the time that he disappeared I walked through the garden in the dark and rain. I checked behind every tree and under every shrub. Not an easy task. One border of my garden has huge, thick shrubs lining the fence. Skabby lies under these shrubs during the day out of the hot sun, 

Every hour of that night, with a torch, and trying not to make too much noise, I checked behind all the bushes and trees, calling my dog. 

Nothing. 

Later the moon appeared, and I went out again, trying to find Skabby. 

Nothing. 

At 4am I heard Jock from next door, barking furiously. When I went out, he was hurling his body against the fence at the bottom of my garden. With my heart in my mouth (I fully expected to find the body of my dog, nothing more) I crept under and behind a huge bottlebrush. Calling Skabby's name, I heard thud, thud, thud. Lighing the torch in that direction, I saw my darling boy, still soggy from last night's soaking and looking up at me. Even in his distress, this boy wags his tail. I fell on his neck and hugged him. Although emotions were welling up in my chest, I did NOT cry. I wanted to, but I knew I had too much to do and couldn't afford to stop and indulge in tears. 

I had to cajole him out behind this hidey hole and onto the veranda and from there I brought him into the house. I wasn't going to risk him disappearing into the bushy garden again.

At 7.15 I loaded him into the back of my car and drove to the vet. Jeff and an assistant were waiting with a stretcher to carry Skabby into the surgery. However, as Skabby saw Jeff, he wagged his tail slowly, and clambered out of the car onto the pavement. Jeff took his lead and with the assistant guiding the dog, they led  him inside. Den, my neighbor's younger daughter, and I followed. 

Jeff ascertained that the poor dog was exhausted and suffering with sever muscle pain. He injected him with painkillers and a muscle relaxer and told me to try and get him to drink when we got home.  

However, once we got home and I led Skabby indoors, he made straight for my bathroom which has a tiled floor and flopped down there. 

And stayed there

Skabby lay on my bathroom floor from 10am on Saturday until Sunday morning when I urged him to his feet and outdoors for some fresh air

He drank quite a bit of water...

...and wandered onto the lawn 

Then he came indoors and collapsed on the floor in my office.

I phoned Jeff and said that Skabby was not using his limbs and although he had had a drink of water, he was not interested in anything I offered him to eat. Jeff then suggested I perform physio on the dog. He explained on the phone that I had to take Skabby's hind leg, which has three parts, move the foot to ankle part gently. Then move onto the ankle to knee part and massage and move it gently. Then the knee to hip part and move it. Then take the whole leg and move it outwards. Each move I had to do twenty times, every hour. 

I set the alarm on my smartwatch and every hour I performed physio on my poochie. When he has all his wits about him, Skabby doesn't allow you to touch his feet, ears, legs. He runs around in circles. With me working on Skabby every hour, he never moved. 

Performing physio on Skabby , twenty time each section of each limb...

...every hour during the day on Sunday

In retrospect, I realize that the young vet was very wise in advising me to do this for Skabby on Sunday. I don't think anyone held out hope of him making it into the new week (for me, it didn't bear thinking about, I just willed the dog to keep living). Jeff knew that to keep a vintage lady busy administering help to the dog, would help keep my mind occupied. 

Throughout the whole weekend, my Valley friends messaged me  enquiring about Skabby's condition and encouraging me to keep positive. 

By Monday morning, there was no improvement. I loaded Skabby into the car again and drove to the vet. 

Again.

This time one of the other five vets met me at the door and between him and an assistant, carried  Skabby into the surgery and onto the steel table. 

A very sick doggie back at the vet!

The doctor told me he would be putting Skabby on a drip and would phone me in a couple of hours with what he had found. I kissed Skabby's foreheand and walked out quickly

Within an hour the vet phoned me and said that Skabby had sever muscle damage and his kidneys were compromised. 

Eish. I was shattered. 

Nevertheless, the vet had him on a drip and would contact me at 4pm again. When he did, the first thing I said was: I have been so stressed about Skabby, to which he replied, you won't know how worried I have been about this dog, Jo. 

But...

He said, they had a catheter in him and he had passed fluids, which was a good sign. The kidneys had not collapsed as he had thought earlier that morning. He said Skabby had a taste of special convalescent food from the vet's finger, and he was leaving the bowl of tasty food in his cage overnight. 

The next morning he phoned me and said that Skabby had urinated spontaneously which was a good sign. He also said that he thinks the boy is missing his mum and would start eating when I got him home.

I could come and fetch him from the surgery! 

Whoopeee!!!

When I arrived at the surgery, the ladies in reception were smiling broadly at Skabby's improvement. By now a third vet had checked Skabby earlier that morning but was at a farm working on calves.  He phoned the receptionist and said that Thomas, the assistant was able to remove Skabby's catheter and then he could be discharged.  While Thomas was preparing Skabby for release, I bought a new lead and collar.  I told the receptionis that Skabby's made it this far; I know he will make complete recovery now. 

Thomas, using Skabby's new lead and collar, helped me take my boy to the car

I sent all my friends the above photo saying: Skabby is going home! 

It took a further five days before Skabby ate a complete meal in the morning. 

One afternoon Gab came by to drop signed documents for me to take to the license bureau and found me on the floor snapping Skabby He said: is this a photo shoot! I said I am so relieved the dog had survived and no small thanks to him a Nune for their help on that first night. 

Skabby had a serious demeanor for two weeks after returning from the vet. When I mentioned this to Ron, she said the dog had been through a traumatic experience, what else could one expect?

Yesterday I took him to the other veterinarian surgery in another town. It's also owned by the same five vets. Skabby had his Autumn clip and grooming. When I collected him, Jeff was there and said, he was so pleased to see that Skabby has recovered so well. He told me that they had all been very worried that his kidneys would have collapsed. 

My friend, Marielle, who owns a coffee shop and sells natural honey, said Skabby knew his mom loved him and wanted to return to her no matter how sever his heatstroke symptoms had been.  

Skabby groomed and ready for winter. No walkies. No Parkrun. He has a cool garden and veranda to relax on.

Thank you for reading this saga to the end. I had to chronicle it as it is one of the worst experiences I have every been through. It also serves to remind me that Skabby is not going for walks until the weather is cold and the African sun has lost its fierceness.

HAVE A GREAT SATURDAY!