Silverman is coming home later this afternoon after spending two days with his favorite vets at VCA Animal Hospital in Kaneohe.

He was, it appears, the victim of cascading medical events, all likely complicated by his diabetes.

When Silverman was examined yesterday morning, Dr. Nagata found a lesion of unknown origin under his tongue. It was clearly painful, hidden by his tongue, and very hard to see since Silverman does not take kindly to humans sticking fingers into his mouth. This painful injury appears to account for his reduced appetite. I haven’t heard if there’s any more info on the cause of that lesion.

It also likely made it painful to drink water, so Silverman became very dehydrated. And that, in turn, appears to have caused him to become extremely constipated. He was, to be brief, literally full of it. “Like hard baked clay marbles” was, I think, one description I heard thrown around. And it took three kitty enemas to finally get things, well, moving again. And move they did. We arrived late Tuesday afternoon to check on him, and he was still in the process of eliminating the accumulation.

Dr. Sakamoto suggested he stay the night to avoid odoriferous leaks around our house. We gladly accepted her advice.

So after antibiotics for the mouth injury, a bit of pain medication, and another jolt of subcutaneous fluid, he was apparently feeling a lot better and ate a good meal for the first time in probably a week or so.

He’s being sent home today with two things I’ll have to give him that are designed to keep his system moving. I’ll also have to give him fluids for at least a few days while he gets rehydrated. This involves getting the needle into the skin on his back and then begging (or bribing) him to stay still long enough for a good dose of fluid to drip into him. It creates a big pillow of water under the skin, but in his condition it is quickly absorbed and obviously has been making him feel better.

And if he’s got his appetite back, that’s huge.

Oh, and the diabetes? His glucose levels are way down, and we’re starting the whole insulin regime over again, dropping his dose to 2 units, twice a day, and then increasing or decreasing depending on glucose testing that we’ll do at home every few days.

It’s all a matter now of getting him stabilized so that his system doesn’t get out of whack again, at least not right away.

Cross your fingers, Silverman fans!

Oh–the photo was taken while we were visiting him at VCA late Tuesday afternoon.