A few nights ago Wicket seemed a little restless at bedtime and was a little unsettled, we assumed she could hear something outside (like the neighbour's cats) and went to bed as normal. All seemed ok the following morning but she started acting strange in the afternoon, crying and pacing around the house as if she wanted to get out. This continued in the garden and seemed to worsen throughout the day. Wicket paced around aimlessly, crying and panting and became more and more restless as the day went on.

Being a Sunday our local vet practice was closed so we decided we'd take her first thing the next morning. My partner managed to get her to sit next to her on the sofa and she eventually lay still for a short while and closed her eyes. This didn’t last for long before she was back up pacing around the house. Her behaviour seemed to deteriorate and she started walking into walls.

We then decided to call an emergency out of hours veterinary practice who advised us to bring her down. Once a family had arrived to watch our three young children we took Wicket to the out of hours service, 10 miles away in the closest city to our town. On examination and following an ultrasound the vet diagnosed a closed pyometra, a life threatening infection of the uterus. Due to her high temperature and poor respiratory rate the vet started I.V fluids and pain relief straight away to try to stabilise Wicket.

We had to leave her overnight and collect her the next morning to take back to our usual practice. They were updated by the out of hours service and we dropped her off where she was prepped for surgery. She seemed calmer on arrival due to the amount of pain relief she’d been given through the night and in the early hours. We again had to leave Wicket and await a phone call which we received that afternoon. Wicket was in surgery but her uterus was not infected and they could find no other infections. She was given a spay as she was already under general anaesthetic and she would need to be monitored again that evening. That meant we had to collect her and drive her back to the out of hours service for another overnight stay.

Wicket was completely out of it on collection. We were met by a different vet, Ken, at the out of hours service who was concerned that she was still so sleepy. Ken noted that the drugs must have a stronger effect than usual on her. We collected her the next morning ready to take back to our local surgery. Ken seemed to have kept a close eye on Wicket during the night as his some of his extensive notes said that Wicket had perked up during the night but was found staring at walls, head pressing and walking around in circles. He queried something neurological and contacted our local practice to pass on his thoughts and observations. On arrival at our local practice and now more awake Wicket became very distressed, yelping and wanting to walk into corners. A different vet to yesterday, Kate, ran out to take her into a side room, clearly concerned about her behaviour. She agreed with the out of hours vet Ken that her problem was most likely to be neurological but she wanted to speak to a neurologist for advice.

Later that day Kate the vet called and confirmed that after discussions with a neurologist they had diagnosed meningitis and that she would start steroid treatment. We again had to collect Wicket to drive her to the out of hours practice for her third overnight stay. The two previous overnight stays had already cost us £1200. We dropped her off to out of hours again where Ken was the duty vet again. In the practice Wicket was again taken to a side room to wait as she became distressed and anxious in the waiting room. She paced around the room but this time bumped into walls and started to fall over. She walked under a table and got herself stuck, not realising that she could walk backwards. She paced again until she dropped to the floor, this time not moving. Ken came out and carried her off to start more fluids running and monitor her again through the night.

On collection this morning Wicket seemed to know who I was. Ken advised that Wicket had perked up during the early hours and had ate a couple of bites of food for the first time in three days but that she then went back to her previous behaviour of starting at walls. He was more positive about her outlook and hoped that she may be able to return home later that day once our local practice had administered a few lots of steroids again.

We dropped Wicket off at 9am and handed her over to another vet. He advised that they would give her a morning and afternoon injection of steroids and monitor her throughout the day. The plan was for us to collect her and take her home with oral medication later today. We received a call from the vets around 11am to say that Wicket had taken a turn for the worse after changing a bandage around her canula, again displaying abnormal behaviour before dropping to the floor. They have treated her for a convulsion on the assumption that she looked likely to go into one.

We are going back to the vets later today and hope to take Wicket home. She will need to go back to the local surgery most days for a few weeks and her steroid treatment is likely to last up to six weeks. Ongoing therapy could last much longer if she does make it.

We are hoping and praying that Wicket makes a full recovery and we want to give her the best possible chance. We understand that this is a potentially fatal condition and that she could still die at any time. Please help us to continue funding Wicket’s care. Any small amount will go a long way. We will continue to post updates on her condition and hopefully her recovery.

Thank you for taking the time to read this.

Wicket’s Family (Dan, Laura and children).