Vincristine injection number 6

Jazz had another Vincristine injection yesterday evening.

Today he's been a bit subdued, which may be a reaction to the drug, I suppose.

Blood test for this week's chemo, but no response from Prof Holt

Took Jazz in for his 3-weekly blood test, prior to this week's chemo.

Fiona still hasn't had any response from Prof Peter Holt, so will chase him again, or see if she can find somebody else to ask about Jazz.

She didn't have any particular comment on the fact that he's had a touch of the runs over the past few days, so we'll see how he goes. His bladder seems to be much the same as ever.

Fiona did come across a bladder muscle relaxant drug at the conference, which might help him to fill his bladder up before needing to empty it, but she's not sure if it's available over here, as the speaker was American. Also, we'd still need to address the problem of him leaking without being aware of it.

Meanwhile, we've given up on the bitter spray, which didn't work, and tried putting him in a muzzle overnight (on the grounds that it's less restrictive in the crate than a "lampshade" collar). I was quite surprised that he's taken to that OK.

His next vincristine injection will be done on Thursday, assuming the blood test looks OK (Fiona's in Twyford on Thursday this week, and as he's so easy, is happy to do it there).

His weight today was back down to 22.55kg

Abandoning supplements to see what happens

Suddenly had a thought that maybe the supplements Jazz is getting are having an impact on his incontinence, so for the time-being, I'll cut everything out, just leaving him on dry food and chicken (plus prescribed medication), and see what happens.

Back to check the wound and other things

Jazz went back to see Fiona today, because there's a small bit of open wound right on his elbow. Also, he's taken to eating his nappies overnight, and we've occasionally found a hint of pink when repositioning a new nappy.

Fiona had a look at the wound, and decided that although it's opened up a little, it's granulating nicely (new skin and flesh is forming), and the skin's too tight to drag back together again to stitch or staple. In fact, rather than stitching again, she removed another stitch either nice of the open bit to encourage it to heal up as it is. We've booked him an appointment for next Thursday evening to have the rest of the stitches out. As long as it has scabbed over OK by then, she'd be happy for him to swim when he goes down to Southampton on weekend of 17th.

We now have some bitter spray to put on his overnight nappies to discourage him from eating them. The last thing we need is a blocked intestine to add to everything else!

As to the possible recurrence of blood in the urine, we'll just keep an eye on it for now.

No answer back yet from the urology Professor at Bristol (Professor Holt?), as he (in common with many other self-respecting vets) is at a conference this week. Fiona will be there tomorrow, but didn't think she'd be able to collar him for help there ;-)

Weight down to 22.9kg. He's not been eating terribly well again.