4 Yr. Old Grey With Diabetes Insipidus Needs New Family Please Spread

[Guest tapin2thefuture]

Our sweet and so very loved "Ranger" needs a new home ASAP because we can no longer afford his special medication needs due to my own medical issues/expenses over the past year. He will require daily eye drop medication called Desmopressin Acetate Nasal Solution 0.1mg. It's a 5ml bottle and he uses 2-3 bottles a month. I.e. = $200-$300 a month. Yes, it's a human drug and yes, eventhough it's a nasal spray - we give it in eye drop form. And yes, that is the cheapest we can find. I've looked into Canadian drugs, online pahrmacies, etc. We get it from Costco and by all accounts and research - this is the cheapest place we and others spoken to have found.

 

However, with his special needs he will return your kindness with a HUGE amount of love and many, many, many kisses.

 

If you know anyone with extra $$$ who can afford our boy or if they know someone who can take him - please PLEASE consider passing this on to them. THANK YOU.

 

Village Ranger's Story

 

 

 

"Ranger" a.k.a. “Village Ranger†came to us almost 2 years ago from Greyhound Rescue. We did not know that he was sick. We knew he was trained to race but would not actually race. Hence he was retired before he got started. We only knew he had some water bucket and housebreaking issues and we thought we could train him because we worked at home. We later found out that he had been seen by the Greyhound Association Vet in Washington for his drinking/urinating and also to check his eyesight. Nothing was found to be wrong with him. So, we thought he'd make a wonderful pet for our family because he was only 2 and he could grow up with our daughter of about the same age.

 

He'll be 4 years old in December. He has never been with cats (in our home) but has always seemed unfazed by small dogs on walks and wildlife in our yard but perhaps this is because he can not see well enough to chase anything. He gets along great with our other greyhound, who is now 10. He's been great with our daughter who is now about 4.5 years old. He allows her to walk him by his collar, feed him, give him bones, and lots of hugs and kisses. He loves to "race" in our yard usually about 3 times a day. He also enjoys digging himself a dirt hole to lie in outside. We call him "half dog - half pig".

 

"Ranger" has an incredible personality. He's goofy, lovable, cuddly, wags his tail a ton, and loves to curl up on the floor with anyone who will have him. He has bursts of adolescent energy and spirit or "crazy spells" as we call them, but is not uncontrollable. He generally sleeps all day and night except to do a few quick laps around the yard or munch on a chew toy for 10 minutes.

 

 

 

When we adopted "Ranger" we knew about the drinking and urinating issues. Within a few days we also realized that he had eyesight issues, seemed very stiff and painful like he had severe arthritis, was super sensitive to the touch, and he bled easily when scraped or for a blood draw. We quickly found out he has chronic/end stage Ehrilichiosis positive (which is a tick bite disease similar to Lyme disease) and after 4 vets for the drinking/peeing issue, we finally figured out that has partial Diabetes Insipidus, (which is a rare hormonal imbalance not a sugar-type diabetes.)

 

We treated his Ehrilichiosis immediately with a 12 week regimen of Doxycycline antibiotics. We saw improvement within 48 hours and a great improvement after the 3 months of meds. He's no longer stiff at all, he does not bleed quite as quickly from cuts and scrapes, he's still "ticklish" or somewhat sensitive to touch on his back but loves it on his chest, belly and neck. And most importantly, the antibiotics helped to clear the blood that had pooled behind his eyes from the untreated tick disease and his vision improved greatly.

 

However, it is not perfect. What we can determine is that he has a lot of trouble seeing in the dark and tends to bump into stuff quite a bit throughout the day. His depth perception & peripheral vision seem off. He can not handle stairs, getting into the car by himself (needs to be lifted), etc. and is pretty reluctant around anything unknown. Unsure if things look "fuzzy" to him or how he actually sees. But he manages fine enough and most people would never know until he bumped into something or hesitated at something new. You will only realize it after you live with him for awhile and know what works and what doesn't work for his sight.

 

As for his partial Diabetes Insipidus, he gets Desmopressin eye drops at breakfast and at dinner every day. The eye drops cost between $200-$300 a month because the amount of hormone replacement he needs fluctuates. He uses 2-3 5ml bottles a month and each bottle runs about $90 from Costco, which is the cheapest we have found. They can't even be missed once a day or he goes into his drinking fits. And his uncontrollable drinking runs upwards of about 30 cups of water a day which is very unhealthy not to mention that his insatiable desire for anything wet will drive you and him insane. He will lick the tap, the shower, the toilet, his own urine, and cry for water without his meds. He will pace and pace and pace searching for anything wet. He will beg to be outside in the snow and rain and dew just for hydration without his meds. And when he drinks like that he pees excessively. About every 10 minutes! So, he MUST have his meds at all times.

 

He's great with getting his ears cleaned, looking in his mouth, and nail trims. He will probably need a home who is able to let him out after 3-4 hours and very occasionally overnight. Sometimes it's still hard for him to hold it if he's had a thirsty day even with his meds. (His thirsty days happen very rarely but they are not unheard of.) But he is well house-trained and "woofs" if he needs to go out even at night. If we will be gone more than 4 hours we leave a towel on the floor near the outside door and he pees on it. He's very good at that and has never just peed wherever he wants to in the house.

 

 

 

Unfortunately, because of his Ehrlichiosis, we don't know his life expectancy. He could literally drop over tomorrow from anything or live to be 16. It's just something that needs to be monitored and managed with yearly blood draws at his annual check-up visit to make sure that his immune system isn't relapsing, and if so - giving him antibiotics as needed again. But we do know that if the Ehrliciosis is getting worse he will likely experience the same symptoms he had when we got him: painful, stiff, easily bleeding, blood behind the eyes, worsened vision, and sensitive skin to the touch. Or his immune system will just crash and he won't be able to fight off little things.

 

He does not ever bark except to go potty. He doesn't even bark if someone comes to the door. And he wears a head halter to go on walks.

 

Email me for pics tapin2thefuture@yahoo.com - I'm glad to share them.

 

 

Contact: Lisa Teklits (owner) 541-383-9019 in Bend, Oregon USA or

Homes 4 Hounds http://www.homes4hounds.com

Edited October 26, 2007 by tapin2thefuture

[Guest EmilyAnne]

Our Alfalfa had diabetes for the last 4 years of his life (the sugar type), and his bills were a minimum of $200/month and we have no regrets. The vets were always willing to work with us on the bill and let us make payments. Tomorrow we will be adopting a special needs lurcher (coonhound/greyhound mix) who has epilepsy. I do have a soft spot for these special needs dogs, I always believed my Alfalfa knew we did our very best for him and he was so grateful for that. Special needs dogs are a real treasure. Whoever brings this special grey into their home will be very blessed. And even after Alfalfa was diagnosed with his diabetes, he still had a lot of fun in the next few years.

 

Take heart, I know there's others out there like me who deliberately seek out special needs dogs looking for homes. The home Ranger finds will be one of the best!

 

Thank you for rescuing Ranger. ((((((((tapin2thefuture))))))))))

[Guest luckydog]

Is there a reason that the group you adopted Ranger from isn't rehoming him?

[cello]

If you have a AAA membership, Costco will accept this and lower the price quite a bit on their prescriptions. Not sure if it would be enough for your needs, but it might help a bit.

Carol Ann

[4greyhounds]

What about the 4.00 charges at Walmart. I am not sure if this applies!

[Guest tapin2thefuture]

Is there a reason that the group you adopted Ranger from isn't rehoming him?

 

They will re-home him. I contacted them first. They have sent our emails to their list, etc. But they feel he will be a challenge to re-home.

 

Wish us all luck.

 

-Lisa

 

[Guest FordRacingRon]

I know this is out there but wonder if a bunch of us on GT got together and formed a "pay for Rangers meds fund" until he can be rehomed. To make it honest maybe through his adoption group they could set up a Paypal payment deal or soemthing.

 

With the hundreds of us on here, we could all put in a buck a month and help save this pup from being eupahnized until at least he can be rehomed,,,there HAS to be someone out there that can take him.

 

Breaks my heart.....

[iluvgreys]

That's a great idea, Ron. I'd be glad to help out with the finances.

[Guest argolola]

I will help too. God bless Ranger.

[Jeff]

We just spend $2600 on Ryan this month. If the owners can not afford the dog, he needs to be rehomed, or if the situation warrants, euthanized as the case may be.

The is something the adoption group should be taking care of.