An Update on Tia

The human here again with some good news and some bad news.


Tia is doing as well as can be expected. Since she's gone in, she hasn't thrown up, but she also hasn't pooped, something which we were hoping for so that we could send off more samples. She was dehydrated and ill enough that they put her on IV fluids straight away yesterday, but her vein blew this morning, so they had to take her off them. They decided to see how she'd go without them in light of this set back, and she's been managing Ok with eating little and often, and drinking. She lost 250G of weight since her last episode with Mr Bug, which isn't so good, but she's alert and watching the people at the vets, so she isn't as lethargic as she was. They were giving her opiates because she was very uncomfortable, but when the drip came out, they stopped too, and she appears to be managing.


Preliminary blood work shows nothing abnormal. A couple of the levels hint at dehydration, but we knew this already. A more detailed blood screen is due back on Monday, so hopefully, that coupled with my own tests will give us more of an idea.


The vet said they wanted to keep her in at least until monday so that they could collect the poo sample, but I wasn't particularly happy with this, as I find Tia copes better at home. She poos more regularly, eats better and is much less stressed. So far, poo samples have been sent a total of five times (from the dog, me and her) and not one of them has showed anything positive, so I don't think it's justified keeping her in an extra few days for the sole purpose of getting another poo sample, as I doubt it will show anything. I told him this and he agrees, so if she manages to get her temperature down to a more acceptable normal rather than in the upper range of that, and carries on maintaining her fluid intake on her own without throwing up or having the runs, she will be allowed to come home tomorrow. Boy am I glad of that! If she doesn't get any better though, they'll keep her in regardless, which I agree with.


I spoke to Dogman today to work out whether, in light of this, he will still have her for me at Christmas, and while I was talking, I had a thought. If this bug is indeed a zoonotic one, this next few weeks poses the optimum opportunity. I will be in Ireland and Molly will be in her new home. Two of us will already be out of physical contact with each other, so if I can do the same for Tia, hopefully this bug will have a chance to run its course, and when we all see each other again, we will not be infectious. Dogman's mum has had Molly to stay with her numerous times, and Dogface says she would be more comfortable with a dog than a cat. Add to that that Dogman was here the first time Tia got sick, and knows what to look for in time to get her to a vet, and you come to the conclusion that it would be better for Tia to be with him. His house is also an awful lot more quiet too.


As he's happy to have her, I'm going to ask his mum if she'd mind having Molly for the two weeks I was planning to leave the pair of them with Dogman. If she says yes, this is two solid weeks of isolation from each other. it gives us the best chance of overcoming this thing totally. I'm going to have help too, as Dogman's friend is coming to collect us all in his car, and he's said he'll help me bleach everything with a strong solution to hopefully kill the bug, whatever it is. I'm going to arrange to have my carpets cleaned on the same day, and will see if I can get hold of a steamer to do the soft furnishings like the sofas, bed etc. Then it will have two weeks of no living hosts, and while I know this might not be long enough, it's still better than nothing.


So that's where we are today. Things are as good as they can be, I suppose.