Trudy

Not bumping since this is the first post on the forum... BUT PUT DATES IN YOUR TITLES or they will not be approved or they will be deleted if they have already been approved.

Ryan's seizure pattern is to have a violent seizure and then within 10 days have another, but not as bad. How long between series has never been constant. We waited a while before medicating him to see if we could find a pattern and then decide if he needed meds all the time or if we could just medicate to the pattern. Around the end of 2007, he was having a seizure a month since the clotting was preventing him from processing all his meds efficiently, but he's not had a seizure since June now. But your vet is correct - he may never have another, but if he does, then you need to decide what to do to figure out the cause of it. Keep track of when they were and if you noticed anything different about him before he seized.

Do dogs get age spots? I've been noticing some black spots showing up on Jet's legs recently. So far no where other than her legs - mostly the front, but I noticed today some on her back legs too.

I have never heard of there being a vac for HW. You need a test for HW before starting HW prevention meds. The one for lyme isn't very effective.

are you looking for an avatar? If so, you need 25 posts and then you can use the ticket system to submit an image to use if you are looking for a signature image, then there are posts in this forum on how to do that.

You need to use the image button (the one with the tiny little landscape - before the smiley face) or use the IMG code line in photobucket

Have you noticed if he's drinking more water while you are away and that could be why he can't make it the full day anymore?

A bloated belly won't always be bloat - could be really bad gas and the only time you hope your dog starts farting. Could also be other things. But if you tap on it and it feels and sounds like a drum - vet, ASAP.

I've only had to leave Ryan over night and that was only once. But the specialist hospital he was at was also the 24 hour evet hospital, so there was somebody there to watch him all night - which is why they wanted to keep him all night anyway. Our old vet wanted to keep Jet once, but he changed his mind and told us to come get her - he'd wait until we got there, she'd be more comfortable at home.

I'd have the xrays done and probably also an ultrasound if nothing is seen on the xrays. Then go from there.

Here's a good page of info - found this when Ryan was having major problems http://www.marvistavet.com/html/body_glomerulonephritis.html Good luck with figuring it out and treatment.

It's not life threatening, she won't croak before you can get her to the vet in the morning. Whatever is wrong with it tonight will still be wrong in the morning. As long as you can keep her quiet tonight, I'd wait until morning. Worst case, even if it is cancer, finding it tonight instead of the morning won't help you out.

Glad she's on the mend. Jeff and I were talking last night and he mentioned that we just went past Christmas #2 that Ryan wasn't supposed to be around for

Same with Ryan. He ate something that didn't start to cause him a problem until 8 months later. Then after a trip to the vet and some discomfort for a few days for him, he pooped the offending last bit of the toy out. A friend's lab ate a football and it was out of the way for a year before he puked it up one day. If it starts to cause problems, head to the vet. There's a good chance rubber ducky will make an appearance later on its own though.

The vets we were working with though Ryan needed his to go, but nobody was willing to chance the surgery because of his clotting issue. But none of them mentioned any issues if he were to be spleenless.

If his stomach is rumbling, he's not feeling well and it doesn't surprise me that he's not eating. He's 2.5 pound below his "Ideal" weight. I've never gotten Jet to an ideal weight and when she decides to skip a few days of eating, I just don't worry about it anymore. Once her stomach calms down, she starts to eat again. As long as he's not losing a concerning amt of weight by not eating full meals, I wouldn't be as concerned about it. Is your vet concerned that he's not eating full meals each time they are offered?

If bloodwork is negative, what are they going to biopsy?

Glad to hear he's home and doing better. Ryan is a marathon peer now. Since he was put on a bunch of meds and even now when we are down to just his seizure meds and the enalapril, he pees for several minutes almost all the time. Very rare is it for him to pee for any less than 60 seconds. Normally it is well over 2 minutes and many going for more than 3. And many many times a day.

Yes, the protein/creatine ratio is 1.6 which I find interesting. I thought normal range for greyhounds was 1.6 - 1.9 but the doc told me it should be less than .5. This to me seems like it's a relatively good sign but they're telling me it just means it's under control with the Enacard. How do these numbers sound to you? Also, thanks for the tips on other article. Should be around 1. Ryan's was above 9 (off the charts) when he puffed up and seems to be steady around 6 now (still very high, but stable). Haven't tested it in quite a while though since we can't do anything else other than his enalapril that he's already taking. Vet was confident we'd never see normal levels with him again. Did they pull any fluid to test it? Not sure if that will give any really useful info at this point.

Doing the scope may lead to them finding something that is causing the PLE and can be treated. Did they do a urine test and tell you the protein/creatinine ratio?

She'll be fine as long as they removed all the string. Just feed her some bland meals for a while until she's a bit more herself and start giving kibble again.

Don't give anything until you see a vet. If she doesn't seem to be in much pain, just keep her quiet for the night and get her into the vet in the morning. My old vet would not suggest asprin as he had too many greyhounds not do well with it.

After 15+ months, we still don't have one. All we know is that he still pees out more protein than his body can make and his levels are still very high, but no longer off the chart. But his levels are stable now - high, but stable. All we know is something made (still making?) him clot everywhere and he was peeing protein faster than his body could make it and his body filled with fluid from the protein loss and clotting. Still after 15 months, we just treat things as they come up and have given up figuring out what is behind all his problems. He has all the vets we worked with and were consulted with stumped, but he hangs in there. He's still not right, but he's stable and doing "ok"

What did the vet do to decide the gut swelling was just something he ate? This is Ryan when his abdomen swelled up - it was full of fluid from his organs - confirmed by ultrasound and a fluid draw. With his protein levels off, my guess is the swelling you are seeing is related to that problem. You need to figure out where he's losing the protein from and fix that.

Sorry to hear about your sweet boy.