Elvis' Midnight Ride

Or maybe 12:30 am would be more accurate.

He was coughing and hacking all evening, and I finally called Dr. Walthall at home shortly before 8 pm. We settled on giving him 1 ml of Robotussin DM at 8:00 and then again at 9:00 if he was still having problems. I ended up giving both doses and that seemed to help some.

The humidifier ended up not making that much difference, so we went ahead and brought his crate back out here for the night. He went in fine, and seemed to be settling down, but when we turned out the light at 11:20, he started coughing. Finally at 11:30, I got up to take him in to the living room to sit on the ottoman.

Bringing him in and sitting him down allowed me to really take a good look at what he'd started doing. The coughing had progressed seriously and his breathing was terribly labored and wheezing. He also seemed extremely disoriented and when I opened his mouth, I could see his tongue was turning blue. He just wasn't getting enough oxygen.

Yelling for Randall, I called Dr. Walthall at home and, bless her heart, she met us out at her clinic around 12:30. She had told me on the phone that she wouldn't go to heroic measures to save him, and that was something I could understand.

We got him in, and, fortunately, that wasn't called for. She gave him fluids, an antibiotic and Lasix shot and drew blood to run a CBC on Thursday morning. He perked up, and the coughing slowed and his breathing became less labored, though he was still a bit wheezy. 1/2 of a Torbutrol (cough suppressant) and 10 minutes latter, and we had us one dozy Elvis.

The ride home was uneventful, and he went right to sleep once we got his crate in place.

This morning at 7:15, Randall woke me to let me know Elvis had vomited a bit but, other than REALLY needing to pee, seemed normal.

When I got up at 8:00, I decided I would cut his food back some. So instead of 1/3 cup food, he got 1 tbsp with 1 cc of Lasix and 1/4 cup of water. He cleaned all that up, and did his normal morning potty routine. He's still dozy, but more alert. Still a slight occasional, but very soft, cough despite the kick ass cough pill at 1 am. Picking him up and listening to his chest still gives me a bit of a wheeze, but I'm listening with the naked ear, so I won't lay money on what I'm hearing.

I've got a call into the clinic...they still need to run the CBC. Dr. Walthall and I agreed that he most likely will need to come in again later this morning to be checked. I really would like that because today is their half day, and I sure don't want a repeat of last night if I can at all help it.

I'll post another update once the results of the CBC are in and after our visit back out to the clinic.