Sunny: Back from the Brink

Sunny had a very rough week. He went downhill fast last Sunday, rolling uncontrollably. It was really a very sad thing to watch. We called the vet on Monday and she prescribed 3 antibiotics and some medicine to help him cope with the rolling and any pain he might be experiencing. We were to give him this medicine twice a day in addition to the dewormer once a day and his food 4 times a day. Quite a chore huh?

Well, despite all of this medicine, Sunny was going downhill fast. So much so that on Tuesday night he was rolling every minute or so and when he wasn't rolling, he was laying on his side (no feet on the ground) obviously completely disoriented and panting. It was indeed a very sad sight and a very sad day. He had stopped eating anything, and when we gave him his medicine, he lied listless on the floor in a fetal position. We couldn't take any more of his suffering. We made the tough decision to end his pain and put him to sleep.

I called the vet on Wednesday morning, but I wanted one more day. We owed that to Sunny. We set an appointment for 9:30AM Thursday morning. Holly had the day at home to work on her dissertation. Knowing she had one more day with her pet, she got very little of her work done, but spent the day with Sunny, feeding and caring for him. When I got home from work, Sunny looked a little bit better than Tuesday, but I didn't know if that's what I wanted to see, or not. I told Holly that we would make the decision in the morning, so we spent our last night with our Sunny.

Thursday morning I woke up, and Sunny laid huddled in the corner... but when he heard me coming, he snapped up onto his feet! We tried to give him his medicine, and while we did it from the fetal position, he fought us on it. He was showing some fight. Seeing that this had the chance to be the best day he had had in the past two or three, he won a reprieve from his 9:30 appointment. Through a scheduling snafu, Holly did not have to go into her counselling center that day, so she stayed at home again "working on her dissertation" (aka spending it with Sunny). When I got home from work, Sunny was on his feet... still prone to rolling, but he had a glint in his eye. We gave him his treatments and his medicine. Before we left him to go to bed, I stuck out my hand to him, and he summoned the strength to come from one end of the cage to the other--just so I could scratch him between the ears. That was a monumental step forward in the right direction (and a good indication at how far we have yet to go).

Holly's normal dissertation day is on Friday, so she had yet another day to spend with him. Today she got real work done on her dissertation... on her laptop within view of Sunny. Sunny has been drinking (some), has been eating (some), and even took a nap in the sun--without rolling! When I got home from work, he looked much more in command of himself, and BOY did he put up a fight with his meds! That's what I'm talking about!

He's still got a head tilt. He's still rolls when he gets a little too agressive with his movements (like when cleaning himself). However when his head tilt gets him into a tipsy situation, he is starting to stick a paw out to balance himself. He has not been this good and sure on his feet in probably 6 days. We think that we are back from the brink of the very worst, and that he might just come out of this to some extent. We are very excited, but are trying to keep everything in perspective. We still have a very sick Sunny, but there has been a lot more smiling going on around this home lately.

So, we're now cautiously optimistic that he might be coming out of it. Hopefully more good news will follow, but we're doing all we can to bring our Sunny back!