I worry about Poppy constantly, she has a lot of complex stuff going on medically.
There’d have been some owners that would have made the call a long while ago. Poppy was an inspectorate surrender on medical grounds. She entered the RSPCA in a dire condition, they went above and beyond to treat and care for Poppy.
From X-rays, cardiac ultrasound, desex, mammary tumours removed, and a whole heap of medication on board to help Poppy get back to as normal as possible for her.
Poppy has a grade 6 heart murmur, not only can you feel the pumping of her heart just by sitting next to her but you can also hear it as it thumps.
A collapsed trachea elevated due to the size of her heart. On X-rays Poppy’s heart is almost taking up the entire chest cavity, which then pushes up to her trachea causing her to have the typical tracheal cough.
She had two large mammary tumours removed, both diagnosed as malignant carcinomas.
Poppy has grade 4/4 luxating patellas in both knees. And hip dysplasia with severe osteoarthritis. She swings from the hips as she walks, unable to bend her knees.
When Poppy came to us last May she had 4/4 dental disease, and still required full mouth extractions. Rather than leave her for longer in the shelter and as we already had a place for Poppy, she came into foster care.
We actually never expected Poppy to get to a place where her heart could withstand another anaesthetic, but she was beginning to suffer and we could see she was in pain from her mouth full of decayed teeth – so we took a gamble, a 50/50 chance Poppy would not get through and would pass on the table.
But she made it through, minus a mouth full of black stinky teeth, and she bounced back amazingly well.
She has arthritis injections monthly, by the 3rd week I can tell Poppy starts to struggle. Daily double loading Antinol Rapid capsules and a fresh diet full of the good stuff.
There are twice daily pain meds. And heart meds. There are meds to ease her respiratory symptoms, and she has chronic gut issues. So we have probiotics daily, but feeding a fresh food diet we are always on top of her nutritional needs.
Last night was a bit of a rough trot, up every two hours with diarrhoea, Poppy finally slept at 4am. I gave her medication to ease her pain and stop the diarrhoea, and she’s now settled and exhausted.
Poppy was probably never expected to make it this far, a couple of times I honestly thought she was declining, but with a team of committed vets, and a home overflowing with love Poppy keeps on surprising us ♥️