greyhead

:f_pink

This is how our Spencer acted -- exactly how he acted -- before the *third* fecal found his hookworm. Two negative fecals before that missed it. We know he brought the hooks with him rather than catching them here. What we're seldom told is that a negative fecal doesn't mean much. There was a thread about it. If I can find it, I'll come back and add the link to this post. ETA: It's post #27 in this thread: http://forum.greytalk.com/index.php/topic/254289-quick-question-about-poops-etc/page__p__4533520__hl__%22question+about+poops%22__fromsearch__1?do=findComment&comment=4533520 Lindsay does a great job of explaining!

My deepest condolences. Ave had an awesome life with you.

Poor baby. At least he knew love in a good home.

I'm so sorry! Not what anyone expected. You're in my thoughts.

Not a stretch at all and simple to rule out. I was wondering about this too. Spencer was one of those who had mild seizures before we discovered his thyroid problem.

I'm very sorry.

We put our pills in a meatball made from canned dog food. (The Wellness variety has good consistency for the purpose and is what we use to make gravy for their kibble anyhow.) We also sometimes do it the Batmom way, which isn't bad at all once everybody gets the hang of it. When I do it that way, I've taught them to cooperate when I say "Open". It seems to help them recognize what's happening and what's expected of them, which makes the whole transaction so much easier. "Easier" is everyone's friend!

Oh, you can tell he just hates being there! Congratulations to the whole family.

Any chance she has a UTI? This kind of thing has in the past brought those to our attention when we wouldn't have otherwise known there was a problem. Just a thought.

Very good advice! (Both our greys have spinal issues, and we've used just about all the treatments Kudzu mentioned, to good effect.) I would just stress how important it will be to keep muscle, which can be done with, say, two 30-minute walks a day.

We've used Panacur several times on both our greys and never had a problem with inappropriate elimination. Nor do I recall seeing here that it was a problem for anyone else with Panacur.

Don't know how anyone could think Rocky other than gorgeous, and their loss was your gain. I'm so sorry for your loss.

He was a beautiful and hardworking boy (147 races) who found a wonderful home. He left too soon and I'm so very sorry for your loss. :

Would having some kind of postmortem exam be possible -- of the broken bone, at least, which would be less expensive? (And is it possible to have a different vet practice do it? You might get a more honest answer that way.) I'm so sorry for the speed and shock of your loss, and the loss itself.

Wonderful times, beautiful boy. I'm so sorry he had to leave now.

Linda, first of all, I'm so sorry you and Zema are going through this! I went back to your most recent Zema thread to refresh my memory. I keep coming back to the problem of being hot, among other things. (Mind you, I know nothing of VW. If I weren't going through my own GH drama today, I'd research it before replying.) So let me just ask a question for my own edification. IIRC, you had two tick panels run, all negative. But then you had PCR's done too? So that suggests to me that there was something positive in a preliminary, Protatek-type tick panel. Is that correct? Please feel free to ignore this question if you don't have the mental bandwidth to answer it right now. I know it's not the focus of your thinking. (It makes me think, though, because Shane was low-positive and treated for Babesia, and that took care of the too-hot/panting problem among other things. And we do think he has some kidney damage that may have been TBD related, though there's no really strong evidence of kidney damage.) Shane, our urinary-leakage/nebulous-kidney-problem hypothyroid GH, is seeing an internist tomorrow at 9 a.m. If I learn anything that might interest you, I'll let you know. I'll specifically ask about the alternative meds you're looking for. From what Jennifer posted, there's one out there, just not yet available; so I'll ask what one does to get ahold of such a thing. Spencer saw this internist a few years ago, and she's very nice as well as knowledgeable, so she'll answer that question if she can.

Lots of prayers for you and Aquitaine. Is your step-father a doctor? He's nice in any case! If we weren't spending thousands this month ourselves on our dogs, I'd offer to buy your pendant and hold onto it for you until you want it back someday. Which I bet you will, so I hope you can keep it. It doesn't matter whether you wear it or not, speaking as an inheritor of such things myself.

How long has this non-drinking behavior been going on? I ask because our Spencer went on kind of a "water strike" after his dental, even though the dental went spectacularly well. Here's the thread I started to ask for GT help: not drinking (When Doggfather there said "bag him," he meant give him some sub-q fluids from a bag.) I'm super-comfortable doing that at home since for years I had a cat in renal failure who needed fluids multiple times a week. For whatever reason, giving Spencer a dose of sub-q's and a couple shots of B-12 did the trick. Of course, his health is quite compromised, and he's not young at all, so dehydration isn't something we can screw around with. By the way, though some say sub-q's aren't effective in dogs, they actually are, at least in these short-term situations. (In long-term kidney disease it would be hard to give big dogs enough sub-q fluids to be helpful.) I don't blame you for being concerned! But as others pointed out, much depends on what "normal" is for your dog. Of course, if he's relatively new to you, then I wouldn't be consoled even if he had shown the behavior since he came to my your home! Oh, and if you use the term "water strike" as a search term in Health & Medical, there are also two other threads that will show up, and one of them may be relevant to your situation. Best luck! Mary

We have one who had to be switched to a medium-protein kidney diet. On any other food, he's incontinent. The kidney food we use is Royal Canin MP. His creatinine is only 2.2, his BUN just slightly over normal. But ultrasound doesn't show any kidney damage either. Clearly, he has a problem of some sort, and we suspect it originated with a case of Babesia that went undiagnosed for years. By the time we treated it, there was probably some kidney damage, however slight, which can happen. Kidney diets are not cheap, but it's better than the alternative. If it were me, I'd run TBD tests if they haven't been done already. If you rule them out, that's something you can cross off your list. If you find one, you can treat it relatively easily. Other than that, you might try foods that use sweet potato rather than regular potato or grains. If it's a dietary problem, there's some chance that will rectify it. Have you considered the salt content of what you're feeding? (These are things our vets recommended we try before we figured out our particular problem.) Good luck, I know how frustrating it can be. And how much laundry is involved.

ditto Yes. Lots of prayers and virtual hugs for you and Ave.

What a wonderful tribute to an amazing girl. You were the awesome family that she deserved.

I'm so sorry your beautiful girl had to leave now. She stayed as long as she could.

Happy Gotcha Day to the highest-jumping, biggest-grinning, most-photographed, and best-loved girly in the whole wide world! :grouphug

I'm sorry if you already said and I missed it, but have his kidney values been looked at? Not to say this is what's happening to Paden, but I went through this with a cat with chronic renal failures and learned a lot. Our cat's retinas detached too, but they reattached because we got his BP treated immediately. With kidney disease the BP goes up, which actually helps the kidney situation by circulating the blood at a faster rate to reduce the toxins in the body. But it only works up to a point and, obviously, comes with a big price tag. The main treatments for kidney disease are a lower-protein diet and administration of sub-q fluids (which is easy to do once you get the hang of it). If kidneys are at the root of this problem, you'll want to know as soon as possible so you can do what can be done. In any case, congratulations for pursuing the problem, and best luck to you and Paden!