greyhead

Wow. "Sorry" doesn't even begin to cover it. But you have our prayers and deepest sympathy. Mary

Thank you for sharing a beautiful tribute to Bailey. I've always loved her picture in your siggie and hope you don't change it anytime soon.

Our sincere sympathy, love and respect ~ Mary

Wish he could've stayed longer but glad you found each other.

Oh my gosh, you're good at this picture stuff! Of course, your raw material is pretty gorgeous! Welcome!

http://www.vetmed.ws...ientED/lab.aspx This is a link from WA State U. on CBC contents. It would include liver values, one of which is ALT and I forget the other one. Hope this helps! Mary ETA: Oops! I think perhaps it's not necessarily in the CBC. Perhaps it's part of a "complete chemistry profile."

This news is devastating even to me. Hold on to this day for all you're worth! I'm so glad you get to have it. You and Bailey will be very much in our thoughts.

I'm very glad that you had a gorgeous, wonderful heart-and-soul dog in T. And very sorry for your loss.

Just seeing this, hon, and adding my prayers that she can keep water down and keep improving. It must be good to have her home but I know it's still worrisome! Lotsa hugs, Mary

I'm so sorry to hear this. Please convey my condolences to Jennifer.

I was thinking of you just the other day, actually, and hoping you were okay. So nice to have you back!

Our thoughts and prayers are with you and Chick. Please keep us posted.

Come on, Sweet T, we're all pulling and praying for you!

Lots of prayers and good thoughts from our house!

Thank you, Xan, for sharing that lovely tribute to your beautiful girl. She was greatly loved and is now beyond pain. May your pain be brief and your good memories long-lasting. Run free, sweetie.

Thanks for the rant, Xan. It made me feel strangely better. You should be mad. You're right, he should have cared more about Happy, kept track of the treatment options, and followed up on your requests. You shouldn't have had to nag him. Rest assured, you are not alone in learning the hard way -- which seems to be my preferred method of learning anything -- that sometimes we have to be insistent. And I have a whole set of I-didn't-stand-up-to-the-vet/doctor-fast-enough stories too. So I totally understand how you feel about all that. But "we're all bozos on this bus" (Ken Kesey?), so remember that and be gentle with yourself. So glad you had that lovely chin-scritching session! Our thoughts are with you and Happy.

I'm so sorry for your loss. Godspeed Ringo.

I'm so sorry, Xan, that it came to this. You and Happy tried as hard as you possibly could. You're in our thoughts and prayers.

Xan, I'm so sorry. Especially about your vet. Well, most especially for how you're feeling. I second the doxy and milkthistle. Even knowledgeable conventional vets use milkthistle for liver support. If your vet's head is not *entirely* in the game, the Anacortes option sounds promising. You and Happy deserve so much better than this. You have both been amazingly strong. Much love, My whole family ETA: Maybe the pictures can be emailed from the pathologist to Dr. Couto and the group at OSU. Nobody knows more than he, and it's free! I've talked to them, and they're wonderful and accessible.

I never needed a rx for fluids or drip lines, only for needles. Here is a link to a site that lists places from which these supplies can be obtained relatively inexpensively. Hope it helps. http://www.felinecrf.org/obtaining_supplie....htm#fluids_usa ETA: I should have said: can be btained cheaply and without a prescription!

When you talk to the vet next, you might want to ask if they peeked at Happy's intestines with the ultrasound. Maybe what they saw is "within normal limits" for an IBD dog so they didn't mention it. (I.e., maybe they saw stretched villi, dilated lacteals and such.) But I'd want to know one way or the other whether they looked and, if so, what they saw. If they did look and didn't see any structural changes, maybe she doesn't really have IBD. Or maybe they're interpreting any changes they saw as consistent with a lengthy infection elsewhere. Just a thought. It will make a difference as ongoing treatment and feeding is considered, so you should know whatever the vet knows. Continued good thoughts and prayers!

http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/Feline-CRF-Support/ This is the link to the Yahoo forum for people with CRF cats. They have lots of information about where to get sub-q fluids. If you're not comfortable devulging your whereabouts in terms of East or West, you can search their archives for the info. But I think you may have to join to do that. Since I'm still a member, I'd be happy to do it for you and post the results here. Whatever you prefer. I'm sorry but it has been a few years since I had to buy them other than from my vet, so I don't remember my old vendors' names off the top of my head. All the best, Mary

Which coast are you closest to? All the fluids I bought through the Internet came from the East Coast, and I'm on the West, so shipping was more expensive than the fluids. My latest vet then volunteered to sell them to me close to wholesale, which solved that problem. I bought a case at time. Shipping's not a cost issue on the drip sets. I used one set per five bags of saline with no problems over five years of doing it. I'll get back to you on sources when I find out if you're east or west.

Sounds like fruitypebbles has you covered as soon as you say which type of fluids you need. I have to run DH to the doctor and will be gone for 2-3 hours. But I'll check back when i return and see if you still need info on where to obtain. I used to have a kidney disease cat (two actually) and got fluids over the internet, cheaply! Sorry to be so brief! Also sorry about your situation, but fluids will help your dog tremendously, so don't despair.