This is Herbie who belongs to Southam receptionist Liz. Liz became worried about Herbie when he didn't eat his breakfast and didn't want to go for a walk because that was very out of character for him. Then, when he squealed when he was picked up, Liz knew that something was definitely not right. She was worried that he might have eaten a stone while out on a walk.
Liz took him into our Warwick hospital to see the on call vet Steve. He found that Herbie's pain was in his neck so his problem wasn't caused by eating a stone. Steve was worried Herbie either had pain from trauma, an infection in the bones in his neck or a condition called meningitis which is caused by inflammation or infection of the tissue surrounding the brain and spinal cord.
Herbie came in for further tests the next day with Southam vet Mark. Mark took X-rays of Herbie's spine as well as taking a sample of the fluid surrounding he spinal cord to look for signs of meningitis.
Herbies xrays were all clear, but he was running a temp and very
dehydrated. So he went on a fluid drip.
We decided to send him to Warwick for overnight care.
The results came through that evening to say it was Steroid Responsive Meningitis.
We got him on a course of steroids and some antibiotics.
By Tuesday he was almost completely back to his old self!!
Herbie has a long road ahead on steroids, and have to have all our fingers and toes crossed he doesn't have a relapse!
