shep had some more liver testing done today. he has lost 4 pounds in the last week.
frankie and pokey are still not eating so the vet said to start syringe feeding today..oh yay.
fletch's bloodwork is back..looks like he is an Addisonian Hemophiliac in end stage renal disease..are you fucking kidding me? so IF we can get his addison's disease under control before it kills him, we can probably keep him alive and relatively well until his hemophilia or kidney disease kills him.
anyway..i opted for the stim tests to get an iron clad diagnosis on his most recent problem. so i came home and grabbed and took him back for the tests and he is now back home.
addisons is the opposite of cushings disease. with cushings their adrenal gland is over active and with addisons it is under active. of the two diseases..addisons will kill them much faster, if they hit an addisonian crises they can die really quickly.
addisons is not related to hemophilia and not to kidney disease either. altho with the amount of urine fletcher's kidneys are excreting, it screws up his sodium levels even more. while he was in the vets, he had another bolus of sc NS fluids..the sodium in that will help him feel better for awhile just like it did yesterday. his most recent bloodwork that will confirm or deny the addisons should be back by tomorrow.
man! this is one complicated pallliative puppy...he is giving me a headache he has so many things wrong with him.
and i am so tired of being in the vet clinic...i feel like i live there these past couple of days.
now for those who are wondering..why don't we just put him down? fletcher is a normal, active and pain in the ass puppy when he is feeling well. he felt well until yesterday..and with the sodium replacement, he feels well again today. if he has addisons and we can get it managed, he can feel well for some time yet depending on how his kidneys go and if we can keep him from hurting himself and bleeding out.
and i don't know how many folks have had to put down puppies..but i ain't doing it if with some extra TLC, special diet and a few meds he can feel well and have some fun for awhile. i don't know how long awhile is..but i hope for him...a few really good months at least.
my plan tonight is to haul many buckets of hot water over from the shop to pour in my bathtub. i am having a god damn hot bath tonight if it kills me so i can soak, veg out and relax (and forget about heart breaking puppies.)
I have dealt with Addison's, I am amazed it was diagnosed that quickly. Very treatable with well regulated drugs. I had never even heard of hemophilia in dogs. I am finding this all very interesting.
Carol you are amazing. You are right, we need to give a puppy every chance. Before Christmas we had a dog brought in with parvovirus and pregnant. We were worried about the pups but they seemed healthy and then they started to die. Of the nine only 2 made it. Very hear breaking. We sent one out for an autopsy and discovered that the parvovirus had affected their heart muscle. The question then became what if we get another pregnant dog with parvovirus? Do we abort the litter? My answer no- you give all dogs, especially puppies every chance. Give Fletch every chance, he deserves it.
Keep up the great work!