If you don't know what's going on, look at the previous post <-----
UPDATE: 2/4/07 12am - Higgins was taken to our local vet hospital. He has progressively gotten worse since last night. If he makes it through the night, we will be transfering him to the NCSU Vet School Hospital. There, he will get the best care possible. At this point he is in a lot of pain but heavily sedated. He won't eat, and the longer he goes without food the weaker he gets and the less he can fight. At NCSU he can get a stomach tube, which will feed him and give his will a chance. So...
UPDATE: 2/4/07 4pm - Higgins made it through the night, and we took him to NCSU today.
This morning was the first time we'd seen him since Friday night. He looks
horrible. His face is incredibly swollen; his eyes are swollen shut and I'm
guessing his head weighs about 15 - 20 lbs. He wagged his nub a couple of
times when he heard our voices. He has been very strong and fought very hard
to this point. The vet says he's survived through sheer will power, and from
here he will need a lot of help. He has been given 5+ liters of IV fluids
over the last 40 hours, and has yet to pee. He may simply be that dehydrated
(he's loosing a lot of fluids through his burns) or his kidneys may be
failing. Tonight, they will be giving him an overload of fluids and catheter
to see if his kidneys are working. If they are, then it's off to surgery for
his wounds. If they aren't, well, it's bad news.
As I was writing the vet school called. They shaved him, and found he
actually has burns on about 50% of his body. Normally, they would recommend
euthinasia, but since he has survived on his own for the past 2 days they
have left it up to us. We intend to give him the chance to keep fighting.
After all, his will has brought him this far, it's the least we can do.
It looks like his kidneys are improving.
It is kinda funny, it's one of those paradoxes of life - it's that same
stubborn will which could make him such a pain that's keeping him going -
often times, we love for the same reasons we hate.
UPDATE: 4/5 2pm - We put Higgins to sleep this morning.
His kidneys were working, but his burns were getting worse, and he was basically burned over the whole right side of his body. He would have required 6 to 8 weeks of hospitalization, with $8k - $10k in surgeries just to have a chance, and that chance wasn't good; so, we pulled the plug.
It seemed like the only part of him that wasn't burned was his nub tail. As my HoneyBaby said, he always did protect that bit of tail he was left with at all cost.
At least now he won't be lonely.
I'll post some photos as soon as I get them together.
UPDATE: 2/4/07 12am - Higgins was taken to our local vet hospital. He has progressively gotten worse since last night. If he makes it through the night, we will be transfering him to the NCSU Vet School Hospital. There, he will get the best care possible. At this point he is in a lot of pain but heavily sedated. He won't eat, and the longer he goes without food the weaker he gets and the less he can fight. At NCSU he can get a stomach tube, which will feed him and give his will a chance. So...
UPDATE: 2/4/07 4pm - Higgins made it through the night, and we took him to NCSU today.
This morning was the first time we'd seen him since Friday night. He looks
horrible. His face is incredibly swollen; his eyes are swollen shut and I'm
guessing his head weighs about 15 - 20 lbs. He wagged his nub a couple of
times when he heard our voices. He has been very strong and fought very hard
to this point. The vet says he's survived through sheer will power, and from
here he will need a lot of help. He has been given 5+ liters of IV fluids
over the last 40 hours, and has yet to pee. He may simply be that dehydrated
(he's loosing a lot of fluids through his burns) or his kidneys may be
failing. Tonight, they will be giving him an overload of fluids and catheter
to see if his kidneys are working. If they are, then it's off to surgery for
his wounds. If they aren't, well, it's bad news.
As I was writing the vet school called. They shaved him, and found he
actually has burns on about 50% of his body. Normally, they would recommend
euthinasia, but since he has survived on his own for the past 2 days they
have left it up to us. We intend to give him the chance to keep fighting.
After all, his will has brought him this far, it's the least we can do.
It looks like his kidneys are improving.
It is kinda funny, it's one of those paradoxes of life - it's that same
stubborn will which could make him such a pain that's keeping him going -
often times, we love for the same reasons we hate.
UPDATE: 4/5 2pm - We put Higgins to sleep this morning.
His kidneys were working, but his burns were getting worse, and he was basically burned over the whole right side of his body. He would have required 6 to 8 weeks of hospitalization, with $8k - $10k in surgeries just to have a chance, and that chance wasn't good; so, we pulled the plug.
It seemed like the only part of him that wasn't burned was his nub tail. As my HoneyBaby said, he always did protect that bit of tail he was left with at all cost.
At least now he won't be lonely.
I'll post some photos as soon as I get them together.
VIEW 14 of 14 COMMENTS
peace.
So, where the hell have you been?
I like that comic because it so well represents my own personal clash with that particular form of irrationality.