greyhead

Excellent! Hope Billy gets better and better.

What an awful shock this must have been. I'm so very, very sorry for your loss. Godspeed, Whiskey.

Our Shane hasn't been declared in actual kidney failure, so I don't know if this info will help, but I'll offer it anyway. (I've had two cats who lived for several years in chronic renal failure, so I learned a thing or two that way.) Especially as she's still energetic and eating well, those are good signs that what I'm about to say will help if it's a kidney problem. If the BUN and creatinine are elevated but not extremely or permanently so, don't be too quick to reduce the protein level of the food drastically. That is the old way of doing things and has been found to just set up a vicious circle of problems. What counts is that the food have *high quality* protein. With Shane, when his values started to move away from normal range, and he was urinating/drinking a lot, leaking and having accidents, we switched to Wellness Core Low-Fat kibble (32% protein) mixed with Wellness canned food. We also started acupuncture (for his arthritis) and Chinese herbs. Last we checked, he was back at the top of normal range for BUN and creatinine. We got this result without even needing to use subcutaneous fluids. Specifically, the herb Rehmannia is the best one for kidneys, and even our traditional vet knew about it. She said she's seen it do amazing things. Our CRF cats took potions containing rehmannia, and it helped them live far longer (by years) than expected, with also the use of subcutaneous fluids. Cushings I know nothing about. I hope you can get a handle on this, whichever it is. We'll stay tuned for updates, so be sure and post them, okay? And PM me if there's anything you need. Sending lots of prayers and good thoughts for a good outcome!

So glad you got a diagnosis that's at least in the right ballpark, bacterial overgrowth. Tylosin doesn't work for all bacteria -- not for Clostridium, for instance. The poop culture your vet is doing will pinpoint, hopefully, exactly which bacterium is the culprit and choose an antibiotic that will be effective. I wish vets did this kind of testing more often, as a matter of course. The other thing is vets almost never test for Clostridium because traditionally they only expect that problem in German Shepherds! (Maybe K9 dogs are better-tested and, thus, documented because they don't have time for diarrhea!) But apparently it occurs much more widely than that. Hang in there. The right diagnosis leads to the road to recovery, and you're on your way.

Wow, what a greyt life you two had together! I'm so glad you found each other. Our hounds would give just about anything to have as much fun as yours did! Don't feel guilty! We can't see the future and we can't control everything. Remember the good times. They're the ones that count the most. (And since I'm almost older than dirt, you can trust me on that!)

Fabulous! You must be very relieved!

You were so lucky to have such a special boy, and for such a long time against the odds. I'm so sorry he wasn't immortal. He should have been!

http://forum.greytalk.com/index.php?showtopic=225238&hl= I'm sorry I didn't see your threads until now, but you well know how wearing this is, and I've been worn! Our diarrhea problems with Spencer began last July. After months of tests, medicines, and poop firmers, during which we did discover that he has malabsorption syndrome and B12 deficiency, I finally insisted that they do a culture and sensitivity test on his poop and particularly to include a test for Clostridium bacteria. It was positive, and he was loaded with an overgrowth. Flagyl is one of the drugs that should work, but it hadn't. Neither had tylosin. The microbiologist put him on Simplicef for two weeks, and now he's finishing up with clindamycin. The link above goes to our last thread about this, but if you search my topics, you'll find much more. There is another link within this thread, though, called "SIBO" submitted by another poster -- Sweetdogs, I think it was. Very interesting and a great one to give to your vet to support Clostridium testing. (At least my vet was impressed!) He also had back-end weakness that was attributed to lumbosacral stenosis, which he probably does have. But it was much worse until we corrected this problem, and the B12 really benefited him in this regard. It also seems that carbohydrates, as in veggies and grains in kibble, don't work for him at all. He has been eating steamed chicken breasts for weeks and gaining some weight back. He also regained his confident personality and the light in his eyes! Please PM me if I can be of any help to you at all. You have absolutely ALL my sympathies and best wishes. This is a scary, exhausting problem! I'll be happy to look up the links to my other pertinent threads for you and send them if you don't have the energy.

I'm so sorry to hear this. I wouldn't put my big boys through amputation for this kind of cancer either, so I support your decision wholeheartedly.

I'm so very sorry. Thank you for sharing that beautiful tribute to your beautiful girl. What a wonderful life she had with you!

According to greyhound-data.com, Sami was born in 1996. She had a nice, long life with you, and you clearly loved her dearly. You have our deepest sympathy for this second great loss in a short time. Life can be unbelievably harsh sometimes. We're so very sorry.

Our culture encourages people to be relentlessly "upbeat," "positive," etc. I've noticed an increase in this pressure since the 1980's. But along with that has been a reduction in sympathy, empathy, and compassion. Even friends are considered to be "dumping" if they tell others about their problems. Before we can change this culture, we have to notice it and call it what it is. Thank you, Donna, for bringing this up!

Tears here and much sorrow for your loss.

What a shock! I can't imagine! I hope you're given some answers with the testing. I'm so very sorry for your loss! At the same time, it's wonderful that he had those days with you that were wonderful for him, if few. And just by the way, I LOVED his name.

What a gorgeous girl and a sweet picture! I'm so sorry for your loss!

Is the herb she's taking called rehmannia? That's what we give our dog with kidney issues, and it has worked wonders. Of course, and just in the interest of full disclosure, it also helped that we discovered he is hypothyroid. Getting the thyroid to work up to speed is helpful to kidneys. Hang in there. Our very traditional vets *swears* by rehmannia for kidneys.

Sending lots of good, fattening prayers for Misty! I so hope you can get this figured out. It's really rough to have this going on and not know why.

Thinking of you.

I'm so sorry for your loss! You were brave enough to do the right thing, the hardest thing.

I'm so sorry. Beautiful tribute, beautiful boy.

Congratulations to all four of you!

I'm so sorry for your loss. He was a beauty, too! It's nice that you had that snuggle time with him on the couch before he had to leave.

So very sorry, Robin!

I'm so glad you were so good for each other. Run free, sweetie.