A New Plant in the House

Ivan's Ordeal

This is Ivan on Friday, Jan. 9 in pain. Good thing Papi was working from home because he noticed Ivan was not acting normal (going in and out of the litter box and not being able to produce). Ivan's been blocked 2 times before, so Mama and Papi are extra cautious with him. This is a picture of Ivan when the pain started.



Papi took Ivan to the vet. The vet expressed his bladder and diagnosed him as constipated (not blocked). He was given a laxative and told to wait until Ivan passes stool. On Saturday, Ivan was able to pass stool, but he was still in pain. This made everyone extra worried. Papi called the vet, and they told Papi to come by to pick up pain medicine. All day Saturday and Sunday, Mama was so worried about Ivan because he was screaming out in excruciating pain. So, then Mama felt Ivan's bladder and it was hard, so Mama and Papi rushed Ivan to the Emergency Clinic. The ER confirmed that Ivan was blocked, so they immediately unblocked him. Mama and Papi came by for a visit after the procedure, but Ivan had to stay in the ER overnight for observation:

Mama & Papi thought it was funny they had the warning sign outside of Ivan's stall.











Because Ivan was blocked for so long, his kidney values were high, and was in danger of kidney failure. So, Ivan ended up spending the next 2 nights at the vet's office for observation. He came home on Wednesday, Jan 14. The vet's office seemed to neglect him because he smelled VERY bad, and Mama ended up cutting off a lot of fur to get rid of the funk. Kobe did not like Ivan's funk and stayed far away and hissed at him when Ivan came by:









Ivan was doing great all weekend recovering from being unblocked. Kobe was even able to just chill out on the couch like the big dawg that he is:



And Ivan got back to chillin' on Mama's laptop again:



On Tuesday, Jan 20, Papi was working from home and again, noticed Ivan was going in and out of the box. So, Papi rushed Ivan to the vet, who said that Ivan was "semi-blocked" but had blocked himself. Mama and Papi decided to take Ivan to see a Specialist for a consultation to see if PU surgery was necessary. Mama and Papi didn't want to give Ivan surgery unless it was the last resort. The specialist felt that Ivan was a good candidate for the Perineal Urethrostomy (PU) surgery and Mama and Papi did not want to risk Ivan getting blocked again and having to go through getting unblocked. So Ivan ended up getting the PU surgery.

Ivan came home on Thursday, Jan 22 with an Elizabethan collar, a medical batch on one of his hind legs, a bandage on his front leg, a bald spot on his back, and his entire behind shaved. Ivan came home naked, but everybody was so happy to have him home again. Mama set up a recovery station for Ivan in the bathroom (to separate Kobe and Ivan for the 2 week recovery period). Mama used the orange kennel Auntie gave to us last year:







Papi worked from home nearly everyday to look after Ivan. Papi let Ivan rest on his laptop:





In the evening, Mama allowed Kobe to come in to visit Ivan for a while:


The following are pictures of Ivan through the 2 week recovery:
















There were also times when Kobe just had to get out of visiting Ivan, so he let himself out:









Saturday, Feb 7, was the day of freedom for Ivan. Not only was the e-collar removed, but he was free to roam the house, and more importantly, sleep with Mama and Papi again!

Waiting for the collar to be removed:


Finally get to eat without the e-collar:


And the best part of all, getting to sleep on the bed while hugging Mama's legs: