Sweet Sylvester Update

Sweet Sylvester Update

SWEET Sylvester Update

Sylvester has had his world turned upside down and inside out over the last few weeks
Police officers forced entry into a property with welfare concerns for the man who lived there.
It is with great saddness that Sylvesters owner was found deceased and likely had been for some time before the alarm was raised.
Unfortunately due to the tragic circumstances Sylvester had absolutely no access to food ar water for the time he was in there with his late owner.
Up until yesterday he too poorly for bloodwork and was on intravenous fluids to help treat his severe dehydration.

Yesterday Sylvester was feeling and looking much better after over 48 hours intensive care and had bloodwork and was neutered too. All his blood results were normal and we removed the intravenous fluid therapy.

Sylvester us now eating really well however in the first 72 hours we were very controlled with the food we offered him. Whilst it was tempting to want to feed Sylvester lots of treats we were only able to give him a teaspoon of food every 2 hours for 48 hours…… then we increase the volume and interval between meals.

The reason for feeding him such small amounts is we didnt want to cause life threatening ” Refeeding Syndrome “.
This syndrome is reported relatively commonly in critical human patients being fed after a period of malnourishment and is now recognised in veterinary medicine too. The body’s metabolism changes dramatically during starvation to prevent protein and muscle breakdown.
Refeeding leads to a surge of insulin, which may result in severe electrolyte shifts including hypokalaemia, hypomagnesaemia and hypophosphataemia. These electrolyte shifts can cause severe clinical signs, and may even be fatal.

Sylvesters prognosis is much improved and we are hopeful for full recovery.