Rickiesmom

What a gorgeous boy Bully is - Outlaw chose well! Congratulations Holly!

So good to see another positive update! Can hardly wait for the one that says she's home!

So glad to see a good update - continued prayers for your girl - hopefully she's turning the corner now and will be well again soon.

Hoping your girl is holding her own and the Amicar gets there quickly.

Sending prayers she pulls through this.

What an ordeal for you and your girl! Sending prayers things settle down for good this time, and with no lasting effects. Thank you for posting your experience.

Joining in prayer for Sweet T. The human pharmacy idea is a good one - hope it works out for you.

DeVon, what a beautiful tribute to a beautiful soul. My heart goes out to you.

I found this picture on the web - it's similar to what I have. ETA: the harness is shown here with the scales, but you can get only the harness. I keep one in the car for emergencies.

If you really need to carry her, you can get a weighing harness from England. It's not fancy or lined to be soft, but it does the job and is cheap. It's similar to a firewood carrier in a way - good bottom coverage, and there is a velcro closure across the front to prevent the dog from pitching forward. It has fairly long straps that you can put over your shoulder so you can hold the dog against you. I sent one to a friend whose dog had a stroke and he said it worked to get her around. Contact Dave at the following e-mail address for current price etc.: MostSirius at aol dot com (remove spaces and substitute punctuation) Delivery is quick and reasonable in price.

You said it - your bond is eternal, and he is with you in your heart, making it larger and fuller, even as you miss his touch.

Just seeing this thread now. I am so, so sorry.

I am so sorry for your hurt and loss.

Godspeed Kamin, a special and very much loved hound. I am so sorry for your loss of this wonderful boy.

I am just starting to learn about kidney issues. My girl Jaynie is currently on Royal Canin / MediCal Reduced Protein kibble, and loves it. There is a yahoo group dedicated to kidney diet. I haven't introduced Jaynie there as we are still waiting for her values to stabilize, but you may want to join - it has a lot of good resources as well as knowledgeable member support: K9KidneyDiet list FWIW, I was told by Jaynie's internal med specialist that eggs were about the most digestible protein you can offer. They are relatively high in phosporus, so you can't do this in quantity. But when Jaynie was so sick, and even now, I prepared a buttery one egg omelet per day, and fed it gradually in the course of the day - she loves it. You can do more if you use egg whites only - most of the phosphorus is in the yolks. The other thing he suggested was cottage cheese. Very best of luck - I am learning what a difficult and tricky disease this is.

Welcome from Toronto, ON. Wilbur is a gorgeous hound - we will definitely want more pictures!!

I am so sorry for your loss of a beautiful old soul.

Poor Shadow - hopefully the pain in his back, along with whatever is causing it, will subside quickly!

I do too, and am so grateful for the GT family that surrounded us with love and prayers when we needed them so

Thank you for the good wishes - I am so pleased about her bloodwork and hope the lower creatinine is a trend that will continue. Hopefully the SG will be better next time. Correction: NOT bartonella canis but babesia canis. So the doxy will be allowed to end later this week. Dr. Norris is inclined not to treat for the babesia now, since Jaynie has no symptoms, and since, while she is positive, it's a fairly low positive and the lab agreed it was borderline with an indication of exposure vs. infection. After all she's been through, it seems prudent not to add anything to the mix right now. We will retest once she is off all meds, probably at the same time as we do the rest, in about one month. He said a babesia flare-up would explain almost everything she went through. So I'm off to read everything I can about this disease.

Jaynie has been home for one week today! She's doing so well, eating like a champ, active, and as those who read training and behaviour will know, getting into everything on the ground, the most notable "thing" being a dead robin . Yesterday she had a recheck appointment with Dr. Norris (here is the old thread for anyone not familiar with Jaynie's story). He just called and the news is really good on the whole: - NC State tick titer results are back - she's positive for bartonella babesia canis - we will not treat now as Jaynie is asymptomatic, and retest after she is off all meds (more info in post 9). - Urine and vaginal cultures both negative - Dr Norris asked if there was still blood showing up in her urine - I haven't been collecting it so I don't know - will change her bedding back to the off-white throws, and see if any staining appears. In the meantime she's been on amoxycillin which hopefully cleared up anything that isn't showing on the cultures. - Latest lepto titer results won't be in for another day or two, so that is pending; now, onto the great news - the bloodwork: - Her creatinine has gone down to 196! Still above the top end of normal (141) but a huge improvement over the last reading of 250. BUN is 3.9, down from 6.3! I didn't ask about eveything, but he did say it was all looking good. I'll see if my regular clinic has a copy of the report, and if yes will have it e-mailed so I can have a look. - The only disappointment was the urinalysis - her kidney's are not concentrating her urine too well - her value was 10.10 and the range is 10.01 to 10.5. This was on a first-catch sample. Pending the newest lepto test results, the plan is to have her go back in about a month to repeat the blood, urine and TBD titer tests. In spite of all she is eating, her weight is up by less than one pound. A problem I'd be happy to have, but wish she didn't. Our regular clinic is fairly close, so I'll take her up there for weekly weigh-ins, pending our next recheck at the specialty clinic. (She lost 11 pounds while sick.) In the meantime, she will stay on the prescription diet (along with her much enjoyed buttery one-egg omelet that she receives as a treat through the day). I am thrilled with her bloodwork, concerned about her specific gravity. Everything else seems to be under control now, pending the lepto titer. So many of you shared our recent journey, I know you will be pleased as well. Thank you again so much for helping us through that very scary and sometimes dark time.

Here's to Princess Ways!!

Hope Lexi is doing better today. Sending continued prayers.

That sounds great! Please give Phoenix an extra smooch from me.

Lexi, do everything your mom wants you to do - many people here are sending you both prayers and good thoughts to get through this.