Thank you everyone for your concern for Prince and Babu Boy, and for contributing to their vet bills. We are touched by your kindness and generosity.
Prince
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| Prince has put on 700 gms in 3 weeks |
Prince's blood count is now up from 24 to 27, but still below the normal of 35. His platelet count is 40000, the normal being 145000 and above.
Results of his blood test was sent to the US, and came back negative for tick fever / anaplasma. It seems Prince's kidneys are functioning well now; we can't test his liver as he is on steroids so the results would be inaccurate.
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| This is how he sleeps most of the time |
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| When he sleeps, his limbs are very stiff. He doesn’t yet know how to relax |
Prince has an auto immune related problem, and he bruises easily so he has bruises appearing on his body for no reason, and these bruises take a long time to go away. As such, we have to be very gentle in carrying him, and we can't knock him or be rough with him.
Poor Prince.
Yet, Prince has put on weight, from 2.8kg on the day we rescued him (Apr 18), to weighing 3.5kg today. We can still see his ribs but this is a far cry from his skeletal frame. Our darling Prince has also learnt to walk, run, and even play fetch with foster!
Unfortunately, he still sleeps in an awkward position; it will take more time. He needs to be wrapped in a towel and gently put on his bed. The towel is then slowly removed when he falls asleep. He doesn’t stay in this position for long, he startles and wakes intermittently. His foster has been sleeping with him in the living room to accompany him but she will gradually leave him to sleep alone.
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| He needs to be held down in this position till he falls asleep. It doesn’t come naturally to him. |
Prince is curious now - he's learning to behave more like a dog. He looks around, observes the world around him and wants to sniff other dogs. This is a stark contrast to previously when he was very scared of other dogs.
Perhaps all this is a bit like getting a new life all over again. So Prince now behaves very much like a puppy. He whines and wants to be carried. He likes to be carried and exhibits some separation anxiety when his foster moves away.
Moving ahead, Prince will still need to go back to the vet for blood tests every 3 to 5 days. When his health condition stabilizes, we will take him to an eye specialist as his right eye has a bad ulcer.
Babu Boy
In Babu Boy's situation, unfortunately, things did not go too smoothly.
When he was due for discharge, Fiona observed him outside when volunteers took him out. She noticed his leg looked deformed and asked the vet tech to speak to Babu's doctor, who was on leave.
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Babu Boy's left hind leg looks slightly awkward
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When Dr Choi came back from his leave, he took an Xray of Babu's leg and realized the steel plate that had been inserted into the leg was bent.
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Xray of Babu Boy's leg after the first surgery. The circled area had been bent.
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This is the strength of a stray - he survived being hit by a car and dragged, surely he would be a very tough dog. So perhaps Babu had put too much force on the leg after the surgery and bent the steel plate. This steel plate is so strong that it can’t be bent with our bare hands.
As such, he had to undergo a second surgery yesterday (Monday) to remove the bent steel plate and replace it with a thicker, stronger plate. Poor Babu has to endure a second round of pain. We hope this is the final surgery he will ever have to undergo.
He is not allowed to walk or bear weight on his leg so we don’t take him out for walks. He cries and whines and tries to come out. . . . .
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Babu Boy's care-giver from the construction site came to visit. Babu was absolutely elated!
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| Babu's leg is still bleeding after the surgery |
Babu has a foster for two weeks when he is discharged but after which, he will need a foster for the next three weeks - will anyone be kind enough to foster him?
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| Looking chirpy despite the pain; Babu Boy cant wait to get out of the hospital |
Written by A.Wong
Babu Boy's photographs courtesy of Iris Ng
Babu Boy's photographs courtesy of Iris Ng
