As those of you who've been faithfully tagging along know, the Semp has had some intestinal distress as of late. Well, Thursday, things got even dicier. Yep, you guessed it: coprophagy reared its ugly head. By Saturday she was in the hospital.
Our vet said (and, here, I can but para-quote her) that a "bacterial culture of fecal samples yielded only Streptococcus pyogenes, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and Candida albicans, suggesting that the colonic bacterial flora was severely disrupted...." Dawn and I scratched our heads at this, and I asked about the fauna. Dawn hit me.
In short, she needed a biopsy via colonoscopy. Our dog did. It was no longer an option.
The three of us huddled together in the waiting room until they led her away. I hoofed it across the boulevard to a coffee shop, knowing she'd be out of it for a few hours. Dawn stayed behind. Shortly, I was back with a coupla hot brews, and Dawn calmly told me the latest: "She says Semper Fifi has a tubular colonic duplication. I told her to go ahead and operate."
"You what?"
"Look, Herb: she was already sedated."
"But I thought it was just exploratory. That her intestinal samples would have to go to the lab. That we wouldn't know anything for a week."
"She said she saw this... colonic duplication thing on the screen. This... um... What did I call it?"
"Tubular."
"Yeah, it's a tubular duplication. She says the procedure to correct it is very simple."
"But she's still doing the biopsy?" I asked.
"Right," said Dawn.
"I always thought 'tubular' was a good thing."
"Shut up." She slurped her coffee.
We continued waiting. One of the vet assistants was kind enough to give us this to read:
Possible antibiotic-associated colitis in a
dog.
Willare MD, Berridge B., Braniecki A., Bouley D.
Department of Small Animal Medicine, College of Veterinary Medicine, Texas
A&M University, College Station 77843, USA.
A Poodle referred for renal disease developed severe colonic disease
characterized by total mucosal collapse and necrosis. The onset of colonic
disease was temporally related to administration of antibiotics. Findings, although not conclusive, were
suggestive of antibiotic-associated colitis that ultimately proved fatal.
Colonoscopy should be considered for dogs with unduly severe large-bowel
diarrhea associated with antibiotic treatment and can be done with minimal
restraint and bowel preparation, if necessary. Nonselective bacterial culture of
fecal samples should be considered for dogs with unduly severe large-bowel
diarrhea associated with antibiotic treatment.
Wonderful. Our poodle could be dying and they hand us a stack of articles, one of which is about a friggin' poodle dying shortly after its colonoscopy. I stormed out of the building.
Following a cooling period in the parking lot, I re-entered the foyer. Dawn approached me, bearing more news.
"Semper's fine, and she's getting tattooed."
At first I'm in disbelief, but then the Dawnster tells me it's for ID purposes, and I'm duly placated. The three of us--after a quick detour for celebratory fudge smoothies at the local Dairy Queen--drove home together, smiling and licking our lips.
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