Waiting For Animal Control To Knock On My Door

[o_rooly]

....for Munchausen by Proxy.


For those keeping score at home:

Sept. 23: Aston's long-entrenched corn was removed from his left-hind leg by a grey-savvy vet. He was started on prednisone to treat spinal arthritis.

Sept. 23-Oct. 4: Bandage changes for corn-hole; lots of panting/drinking/peeing (on Aston's part... and mine, in sympathy) due to loading regimen for prednisone. Ouchy foot not helping.

Oct. 5, evening: Corn-hole finally filled in, not oozing, not tender when I squeeze the toe. Bandage off. Cheers!

Oct. 6, early morning: That leg is swollen solid from the hock down. E-vet. Did I wrap his foot too tightly in the bandage? No. Am I sure? Yes. Am I really sure, tech asks?? YES.
Cellulitis; start clavamox regimen. Adult beverages all around.

Oct. 8: Scheduled recheck at e-vet; blood culture sent out when the vet sees that there is no improvement in swelling. Baytril injection; start baytril regimen on top of clavamox.

Oct. 12: Culture & sensitivity back. Pseudomonas AND staph partying together in the cornhole. Stop baytril (neither showed sensitivity to it); start zeniquin. Continue clavamox. Swelling has been gradually subsiding.

Oct. 14: Foot/leg look normal.

Oct. 15: New, somewhat squishy, hot red lump just above the foot on that leg. Vet. Punch of lump sent for biopsy, and vet also found a mass on Aston's opposing shoulder (how did I not FEEL that??); removed and sent for biopsy as well.

Oct. 17: Results back -- each mass is a different type of cancer, neither likely to spread, but the footlump could be locally aggressive. Advised to consult with an oncologist; send backstory + records to Dr. Couto.

Oct. 23: After studying updated blood & urine values, Dr. Couto advises a second call to the pathologist to make sure that the footlump isn't just really angry repair tissue. Turns out it is. Cheers/tears!
Shoulderlump is confirmed as cancer, but slow-growing and may not return anytime soon anyway. Adult beverages.

Nov. 7: Return from short trip out of town, pick Aston up from boarding facility (aka Greyhound Fun Land, aka Home, aka Why Do Mom and Dad Have to Come Pick Me Up). Aston's gums and inner ears are pale, and he has JUST peed himself out on his bed in his kennel. Facility owners scratching their heads and apologizing profusely (they are great, and I do believe them when they say he had been fine previously). Otherwise, Aston is fine and actually pretending to be happy to see us, despite our plan to drag him away from Fun Land.
Drive home to shove husband out of the car. Drive to vet. Ultrasound to check for masses -- none; blood values fine; urinalysis sent out. Adult beverages.

Nov. 8: Text from vet -- blood and protein present in urine. Drive Aston to vet. BP high (vet does not stress him out). Start benazepril. Told to bring him in for BP/blood chem recheck in two weeks. Start tapering prednisone back down -- immunosuppressive effects are worrisome. To start a different NSAID ASAP post-pred, and bring acupuncture into the mix.

Tonight: Come home to one small, dried puddle of pee, and one HUGE, sopping puddle of pee. Third time this week, despite more walks and making sure he's peed-out before leaving for work (and we are leaving him for shorter periods than usual). This only happens with UTIs (Aston has had two, both of which flew under the radar -- accidents only stopped with antibiotics). Water intake normal.
Texted vet to ask if clinic offers frequent-flyer miles.
No adult beverages until my husband comes home with the dog-friendly car, so that I can tote Mr. Playbow-in-my-pee-while-mom-tries-to-lurch-a-sopping-peepad-out-of-my-way back to the vet. Vet has stopped charging me emergency fees when I show up after-hours...

Meanwhile, outside of the time when his foot was bloated and painful, making it very hard to get up/down and around, Aston has been oblivious and by and large, more gleeful than I've ever seen him. AND -- thank heavens -- he is still happy-go-lucky every time he gets to hop into the car, despite the fact that every_single_time lately, it's been for a vet ride. Being in the vets office doesn't bother him in the slightest.




If you haven't bought health insurance for your hound(s) yet.... I can't recommend it highly enough. Healthy Paws has been great, very responsive and prompt in sending checks (I typically receive checks in the mail ~3 days after being notified that a claim has been processed).

So anyway. If you read a note in the paper about a woman getting dragged away from her condo in a straitjacket -- this is my side of the story.

[Guest PiagetsMom]

First, to you! I'm so glad that Aston is still a trooper through it all......makes you wonder, doesn't it?

 

I completely understand.....this has been a week where I've spent as much time at the vet with Maya as I have in the 5 years I've had Mirage. I don't even know how much I've spent (seriously, I don't - the vet keeps telling me we'll settle up) and we're waiting for test results and still don't know what's causing our problem. I don't have pet insurance, but I sure have thought about it this week!

[Remolacha]

Wow! What a saga! Yay for Aston for being such a trooper through all this.

[MP_the4pack]

Hugs to you and Aston.

 

But prednisone raises blood pressure. A LOT. So when he's off the pred, get it rechecked.

[quarrystepper]

They always find the worst spot to play in, don't they?! One of Kali's favorite tricks on walks is to step backwards after relieving herself, right into a pile of her own dirt. Double points if she peed on top of it first.

 

Anyway, thinking warm (non-micturated) thoughts for solving Aston's mystery.

[Guest MnMDogs]

Me too! 7 vet visits for Macy Moose in 8 weeks . Hugs to handsome Aston!

 

I need to start insuring these moneypits

Edited November 16, 2013 by MnMDogs

[o_rooly]

Just got back from the vet. Aston didn't mind, since his favorite Crab Cookies also got to ride in the car:




Got there too late to make tonight's lab pickup, so the blood/urine samples won't go out until tomorrow. Vet said to let her know if his peeing gets worse in the meantime, in which case she'll get him on a placeholder antibiotic, but she doesn't want to do so unnecessarily given that Aston's currently on 5 Rx medications as it is.
Next item on the list: Getting Aston off of some of these medications, if possible -- I have never been convinced that the gabapentin or tramadol have made a difference for him, but I have kept him on all of them in the absence of a steady opinion on how to proceed -- the last clinic we were going to had a revolving door of vets, all with different opinions on Aston's treatment. At least we've only had to deal with one vet for the past 1.5 months..

Hugs to you and Aston.

 

But prednisone raises blood pressure. A LOT. So when he's off the pred, get it rechecked.

I figured the pred would have something to do with it. Stupid double-edged sword. Aston was feeling EXCELLENT on it at the 20mg every-other-day dose, too
We are currently at 5mg every other day, last step down before we cut it out and focus on switching back to an NSAID. The vet rechecked his BP tonight, and it's at 170 (was at 190mm Hg a week ago, pre-benazepril). So, at least there's improvement..

 

Me too! 7 vet visits for Macy Moose in 8 weeks . Hugs to handsome Aston!

I need to start insuring these moneypits

Healthy Paws is regretting ever insuring Aston, I'm sure. I raised eyebrows in their processing department on my third claim in a week... and that was oh, 6 claims ago

It's been quite a bargain considering it's under $50/month for a 10-year-old (I first bought the policy this January). Oddly, my friend got a quote for her ~3-year-old Doberman, and he would run $84/month. I guess that's based on breed predispositions to particular illnesses?

Hugs and scritches to Ms. Macy

 

They always find the worst spot to play in, don't they?! One of Kali's favorite tricks on walks is to step backwards after relieving herself, right into a pile of her own dirt. Double points if she peed on top of it first.

 

Anyway, thinking warm (non-micturated) thoughts for solving Aston's mystery.

 

Aston did that last night... Squatted, pooped, started sniffing around while I leaned over to claim the prize... suddenly realized that he REALLY HAD TO SNIFF THAT GRASS RIGHT BETWEEN HIS HIND LEGS and backstepped riiiiight into the poopile. Yay! Best part was that it was near the only UNlit part of our park's walking trail.... it's time to get the headlamp out again.

My living and dining rooms are saturated in Nature's Miracle. Puddles turned to pee-prints all over the place during playtime.

[Guest IrskasMom]

Hugs to all of you

[Charlies_Dad]

I got tired just reading that....We know all too well multiple vet visits are tiring and financially hard. I'm glad Aston is a happy boy through all this as it would be a lot harder on a pup who fears the vet. I hope you are able get some peace and quiet soon.

[Houndmommy03]

Wow, I could have written that last spring and summer. Silver was at the vet so much that I started getting embarrassed when I had to call and tell them he was coming in. I didn't have pet insurance either. Glad your boy is handling things so well and hope he feels better soon!

[gracegirl]

Healthy Paws is who I'm looking at for Fenway. Just need to decide at which coverage. Leaning towards $250 deductible and 80% coverage for $40ish/month.

[DesiRayMom]

There is a special place in heaven for greyhound moms. Adult beverages served as needed. Hounds sent to playtime (with a responsible minder)

frequently. No injuries or mysterious symptoms ever. See ya there.......there'll be plenty of good company.

 

xoxoxo to Aston....strength for you.

[45MPHK9]

Yes, yes to insurance!

 

I can't believe all that Aston has been through in the last few weeks. It doesn't seem fair.

[o_rooly]

Healthy Paws is who I'm looking at for Fenway. Just need to decide at which coverage. Leaning towards $250 deductible and 80% coverage for $40ish/month.

We have a $250 deductible (blew through that quickly, ha), with 90% afterward (not including basic office fees + parasite-preventive treatments).

 

Aston's corn has been the only pre-existing item for us, so its removal and treatment for ensuing infection were not covered. Everything else has been reimbursed at 90% by HP, including ongoing treatment of pain associated with his lumbosacral stenosis, which was diagnosed in April.

[seeh2o]

Oh boy, you and Mr. Aston have been through the ringer...his happy upbeat attitude must really help you get through it...that along with the adult beverages! Carl says hi to his vet office buddy!

 

I'm still waiting on Car'ls Big Adventure to process at Healthy Paws...his first claim and it was over $1,000 including a 5 day ICU visit. I submitted it last Saturday, they emailed me back that they were missing his medical history (even though I'd spoken to them about it before I sent in the claim - the vet who saw Carl his first year got sick, retired and sold his practice so his records from that year are long gone). Anyway, they cleared that issue up with a simple phone call and now I wait.

[o_rooly]

Oh boy, you and Mr. Aston have been through the ringer...his happy upbeat attitude must really help you get through it...that along with the adult beverages! Carl says hi to his vet office buddy!

 

I'm still waiting on Car'ls Big Adventure to process at Healthy Paws...his first claim and it was over $1,000 including a 5 day ICU visit. I submitted it last Saturday, they emailed me back that they were missing his medical history (even though I'd spoken to them about it before I sent in the claim - the vet who saw Carl his first year got sick, retired and sold his practice so his records from that year are long gone). Anyway, they cleared that issue up with a simple phone call and now I wait.

Hi, Carl!!

I hope things have cleared up and you've gotten reimbursement for his Big Adventure..

 

 

 

The urine culture came back today, no bacterial growth. I'm stumped. No indoor accidents over the weekend, but either I or my husband was home at all times to let Aston out / walk frequently, under the assumption that we were dealing with frequent urges due to a UTI. Came home to a puddle on Monday, and two puddles tonight, both still wet (so I'm assuming they're both recent). Aston was peeing air bubbles over the weekend (sounded like a garden hose does when it's blowing air out while running), but I didn't hear any bubbles yesterday... we'll see about tonight's walk.

 

All of the indoor pees have been on pee pads, if they're out -- we had them out when Aston was started on prednisone, since the loading dose was pretty high and resulted in lots of extra drinking. However, we hadn't had any indoor pees since he was tapered off from the higher dose in early October; then, three indoor pee-cidents last week, and two this week (after the first pee accident last week, we put the pads back down on the floor).

 

The oddball peeing kicked off with Aston emptying himself out completely on his bed just before we picked him up from his boarding facility on Nov. 7th. Still don't know if he did that while lying down, or just before lying down, because there wasn't anywhere else to go inside his kennel (he had just come back in from a ~1-hour turnout).

 

Perhaps he's figuring out that the peepads are just an indoor restroom -- convenient!! ? I'm just confused because we have been leaving him for a max of 7 hours straight on weekdays -- whereas he willingly refuses going outside on weekends for 10+ hours, and usually, I come home in the evening to a dog who will pick his marking spots in a very leisurely fashion when I hurry to let him out back (even if there haven't been pees indoors).

 

Recent variables are the lowering of Aston's prednisone dose, on the way to weaning off -- he's currently on 5mg every other day -- and the addition of benazepril to treat a rise in BP, but this was added after the first pee incident at the boarding facility.

 

I would wonder if age is a factor, but this is rather sudden onset for not being able to hold it as long as before, no?

 

For the record -- I used to make a habit of coming home at lunch to let Aston out (making his time alone 4.5 hrs max) -- but he would see me come in the door, run and drink a bunch of water, and refuse to go outside because he'd rather nap (and the weather is hottest during the lunch hour, if it's warm out). Seemed to make things much worse in that regard... otherwise, he waits to drink until I come home, so he gets water in his food in the morning, drinks a bit afterward, and typically doesn't drink again until I get home, plus he gets more in his dinner.

 

His water consumption was up last week -- I had to refill the bowl an extra time on three separate days, but this week, intake is normal.

Blood values from the sample taken on Friday night are normal (kidney values fine), except for low thyroid compared to other recent tests (the vet thinks that this is euthyroid sick syndrome due to recent illness, and should resolve on its own).

 

Anyways. I always give myself something to worry about. Just wondering whether I should try to train Aston off of the pads again, or if this won't present a problem? will he have an issue being boarded if a pee pad isn't nearby?