Crystal's Updates

Crystal, the amazing 21-year-old dog, has actually been doing pretty well since we rescued her 2 months ago. She seems rather happy, and has gotten stronger and more steady on her feet. Since she has no teeth and can't eat solid food, Crystal is syringe-fed 4 times a day.

3 days ago, she stopped drinking water. She didn’t even want any of her favourite goat’s milk. In the end, she had to be syringe-fed liquid. Last night at 3am, Crystal started vomiting and having diarrhea. This happened 4 times in one night, so she was brought to the vet in the morning.

Crystal's temperature was 36 degrees Celsius, which is very low for a dog. The normal temperature is 38.5 degrees. Her low temperature could possibly be due to anemia. When a dog is anemic, its temperature tends to drop. Crystal also has a big wart on her shoulder that has been growing and constantly bleeding, so we asked the vet if it was skin cancer. Luckily, it’s just a wart.

A wart on her left shoulder

The vet tried to draw some blood for a blood test, but Crystal was too dehydrated. So the vet put her on a very slow drip over the next 2 hours to get her hydrated. Even though Crystal is so dehydrated, we can't put her on a fast drip because her heart might not be able to take it. Crystal already has a whopping heart murmur, which is so bad that the vet likened it to the sound of a washing machine! That's also why we are not going to ward Crystal at the vet - we don't want to stress her out.

Drip line left on her arm for the following day's drip

Tiny Crystal exhausted after her vet visit

After the drip, the vet finally managed to take some blood from Crystal for a blood test. The results showed that her kidney readings have elevated to twice that of her previous results. Her kidney readings were already very high 2 months ago, and now it’s gone to double of that! One of the possible causes is Crystal's dehydration. Because of her kidney failure, Crystal's blood pressure was also extremely high. That could be causing her some discomfort, which may be why she keeps pacing and not sleeping well.

Crystal also got a subcutaneous injection today. In total, poor crystal stayed at vet today for 3 hours. As she is still very dehydrated, poor Crystal will be back at vet tomorrow for another slow drip from 11am-4pm.

Having her blood pressure taken

Instead of keeping Crystal warded, we're planning to bring her back to the vet every other day for her drip and subcut, to keep her hydrated. At this point, we're doing everything we can to make her happy and comfortable. Here's hoping that Crystal doesn't start feeling pain.

If you would like to help with Crystal's vet bills, please email hopedogrescue@singnet.com.sg.