greyhead

I'm so sorry.

This is one of those times when words seem inadequate to convey how deeply sorry I am. You fought so hard for Phoenix, and you loved each other so much. I hope that brings you some comfort in the days ahead.

We were told essentially the same thing, Chris, or that Prilosec would be better than Zantac or Pepcid because it would prevent too much acid from forming in the first place. But now that we know Shane is in Stage 3 kidney failure, and he didn't do well on Prilosec anyway, we're giving Zantac and doing okay. I guess I'm saying that the vet gave us a plausible sounding reason for Prilosec being better, but it always comes down to the individual dog and what their issues are.

You're so right that Maddie will be missed by many, including me. She has been one of my favorites here, and just seeing her lovely picture in your siggie could always lift my spirits right away! I'm so very sorry for your loss.

Once a month antiparasitics won't cure an infestation of hookworms. And I concur with all who have said, as my vets have, that a negative fecal doesn't mean much. Do please google hookworm and don't skip the pictures if you want to understand why they would make dogs jump suddenly. They have teeth! And they can colonize the lungs and other body tissue as well as the GI system! Speaking from experience, I'd hate to see your fear of over-medicating lead your dogs to suffer this longer than they have to.

I'm so sorry, that she's gone and that her time came while you were away. You wrote a beautiful tribute to a unique and beautiful being. Sending you and your family my deepest sympathy. Shine as bright as your want, Polly, and rest well.

I'm so sorry Comet's time came so soon. But at least he got to spend his last/best 5 years with you.

Godspeed, Bullitt. You were a lover, a fighter, and an altogether excellent hound.

Shane was looking like he had dementia earlier this year. After lots of specialists, exams, and experimentation, it turned out that what looked like cognitive confusion was really just a completely understandable reaction to pain! And yes, he too has back pain from LSS, but he also had a (presumed) kidney infection on top of (definite) kidney disease. As soon as we got him on a strong antibiotic, we were able to drastically reduce or eliminate all the other stuff we were giving him for pain (e.g., gabapentin, tramadol) and to relax him (melatonin, alprazolam, etc.) He still takes gabapentin for the LSS, and tramadol as needed for that and for arthritis flares. Treat his pain more aggressively and see if he doesn't seem more with it and sleep through the night, would be my advice.

Sending love and hugs, Jan.

Yay Zuri and Jen! What a relief.

Just to share our story -- with the idea of supporting another vet visit for Vinnie -- we have gone through something similar with our LS dog Shane, almost 12 now. Shane has had slowly elevating creatinine for several years, but now his BUN went above range. An ultrasound shows one kidney much smaller than the other, which is also a new development. He had that tenderness on the small-kidney side, which I'm reminded of by your post. The leakage can be coming from reluctance to get up, and/or inability to sense bladder fullness, and/or a UTI or kidney infection. Amount of peeing and water drinking can be a clue, but not as big a clue if you're not there all day to witness it as we are. A urine culture was negative; however, the specialists thought it might be a kidney infection and began treatment with Baytril. It is apparently not entirely rare to have UTI's or kidney infections despite negative urine cultures! Shane improved greatly in every way with the Baytril, including reduced rear-end weakness and pain! (He's in his 6th and final week of treatment.) So I do think LS predisposes to UTI's and kidney infections due to reduced sensations, and I do think such infections contribute to pain and disability. So given our experience, I'd naturally encourage you to get a urine culture, specific gravity, and perhaps an ultrasound, and perhaps even an empirical trial of a well-chosen antibiotic. (It's usually E. coli, and Baytril is very expensive, but I'm glad we're using that and not a cheaper med that isn't working! The results have been entirely worth it.) Oh, and as another poster said, incontinence pads between the bed cover and the stuffing are a great idea. They also allow you to detect leakage vs. accidents, judging by the size of the circles, when you might otherwise miss it. And yes also to the continued exercise to the extent he can tolerate it, as keeping the muscles up is very important in LS. But if the dog is sick, you don't want to make him sicker by over-taxing his resources, so that's another reason for a vet visit, to rule that in or out.

Even non-nasal worms cause a similar kind of coughing/rapid swallowing series that looks very similar to reverse sneezing. Hookworms (and maybe whips too) migrate to the lungs, are coughed up and swallowed, and end up in the intestines. I'm told whips can be even harder to get rid of than hooks. A retired greyhound trainer gave me a treatment schedule of treat, retreat in 10 days, and retreat a third time at 28 days (counting from Day 1); but that was with a one-time wormer called Canopar. With Panacur, I wouldn't hesitate to treat for three solid weeks if the dog would eat the food that long! One relevant detail is that worming itself can cause dormant, encysted worms to decide to hatch, so the timetable envisioning one wriggling population of worms that will die en masse doesn't really address that. Good luck!

Good grief! Wish I had something to offer you besides good wishes! I hope someone comes along that has some more useful thoughts, but I'm happy to hear that the treatment seems to be handling it. Just didn't want you to feel entirely alone with this!

This is a lovely tribute to your lovely girl. It's easy to imagine what a thrill it was to have her come in from playgroup and light up when she found you! I'm very sorry for your loss.

I think something like Petzlife Dental Spray would stimulate saliva whenever it's sprayed into the mouth, while providing moisture on its own. I'm sure there are other brands too. It is nice to see you here again.

Godspeed, Kebo, you were well-loved by a wonderful family.

I think it was Riverhound who earlier said she'd treat for a UTI anyhow. At this point, I think it's worth a try, and I think your vet said he was open to the idea. If a culture hasn't been done, you can do that, but they don't always tell the truth either, and they take 3-4 days to get a result. But it's usually E. coli, and it shouldn't be hard to pick the best antibiotic if you want to treat empirically. The stakes are getting pretty high, in terms of your sanity and the dog's maintaining his place in your home. I really feel for you.

Did you get a urine culture done or just a urinalysis?

She was clearly very special and deserved the wonderful home and life you gave her! I'm sorry she had to leave.

We saw the internist yesterday and had an ultrasound, which showed a brightening of the kidneys and, as before, one kidney smaller than the other. So in addition to mild (as yet) kidney disease, the vet thinks it's a kidney infection, despite the negative urine culture. So 6 weeks of Baytril. He has been on sub-q fluids this week, but the vet thinks we can discontinue them. We also reran blood work and will have the results today.

We had success with maximum absorbency incontinence pads. I shouldn't have said "maxi pad."

Racers are carefully trained *not* to spoil their crates! They can get very upset when it happens. They may try to break out of a crate to keep it from happening if the urge to go is overwhelming. Agree with Riverhounds that UTI testing is in order and perhaps treatment even if a culture is negative. Ours has a flaming kidney infection presently, but the culture was negative and you can only infer it from his symptoms and from an ultrasound we just had. Same thing can happen with UTI's. It has been a long day and I've read through this thread more quickly than I otherwise would, so I may have missed something. But I just wanted to say that personality attributions should be withheld until physical causes have been ruled out. That, and that use of a maxi pad in the belly band is very important, to keep the urine somewhat away from his skin (as Jackandgrey mentioned); otherwise, he could pick up an infection from that. Oh, and that I also would worry about him getting tangled up in an x-pen and hurting himself trying to get out of it (for the same reason, whatever it is, that he tried to get out of the crate).

Wow, Sarah, that was quite a wait. What did the culture show, and how is Angel? It's interesting to me that there apparently can be a kidney infection that doesn't show up on a culture. So we're staying on the Baytril for now, despite the negative culture, because it and the sub-q fluids seem to help him.

Oh, btw, our Seattle-area vets are sending stuff, including Shane's sample, to a lab in Kansas. So this added lots of time to the process. If it had been a local lab, our sample delivered Monday morning would have been sufficiently cultured by Wednesday afternoon to have informed his treatment at the e-vet, and we would have gone ahead with the ultrasound. As it is, we're not stopping the Baytril, and the ultrasound may be less informative.