Are you looking for pet advice?

what is everyones suggestion on pet DNA tests? Thinking about getting one for this lil fella (Barley).

My guess is Papillon and some Pomeranian

Thanks,

Brian

 

I'm guessing 50/50 mix of cute and adorable!

 

So my male 8 year old mini schnauzer(Bender) two weeks ago stopped eating. We tried everything possible and wasted lots of money on meat and fresh veggies for him. I took him to the vet and they did X-rays on his organs(everything great), sonogram on his liver and other organs and they said his liver and gall bladder were inflamed and took a sample of his liver to see if it was cancer. No cancer. The blood test said his liver enzyme tests off. So they gave us 2 types of antibiotics, appetite stimulant and a liver enzyme pill. After a week. We stopped giving him the antibiotics like they said and kept him on the liver enzyme pills. But he still refuses to eat his normal food or barely any of the fresh meat we cook, but for some reason is choosing to eat more steamed vegetables and fruit than any protein. He has lost lots of weight but is acting normal other than the not eating. He will eat all of the many meat treats but not fresh cooked meat. We have a vine that over took the neighbors fence and it drops lots of blue berries in the yard. My dogs eat everything. They are litter mates and I found him eating the berries which I found out can be toxic. I cleaned up all the berries and have made sure he hasn’t eaten more. We told the vet about the vine but they didn’t seem to think it was the issue. 3300 dollars later and only know that his liver is inflamed and nothing seems to be helping. Am I missing something here? Gonna talk to the vet today to see about getting him on steroids per their recommendation if he’s not getting better. By the way. Money is not an issue when it comes to the care of my pets. I would sell one of my vehicles if I needed to as I can always by another car but can’t replace my best friend. Luckily I have pet insurance that covers 15k a year so we’re good on that for now. Just looking for another opinion on what can we do to help him get better? Thanks in advance.
Bender on the left and Leela on the right.

 

I would say about one a month but this is subjective. If they are mild and she is only have 1 or 2 a year I would monitor for increased frequency or duration of an episode.

 

Hi there, lots going on here. How elevated were his liver enzymes? Was the ultrasound done by a specialist? Was the liver biopsied or just a FNA done? Was he eating better on meds? I agree that the blueberries likely have nothing to do with his issues. What were his pancreatic levels? Schnauzers are prone to pancreatitis. Have you tried a prescription diet for pancreatitis? Vomiting? Diarrhea? Neutered? UTD on vaccines and on heartworm prevention?

 

Good info. Thank you. It's pretty infrequent and very short duration... like, 10 seconds or less. So long as she's got good quality of life I'm happy. She seems to be a bit hot after one and goes to lay on the floor, but doesn't seem to have any lasting issues.

 

I attached what the results were to all the tests done on him. The sonogram was done by a specialist and I believe it was a FNA. I don’t understand a lot of what the results say or mean for him. Just know what treatments they told me to do. We put them both on a no salt diet due to him having a heart condition that I don’t know the name of it at the moment. He vomited only a couple of times since taking the meds. No diarrhea and is neutered. UTD on all vaccines and heart worm prevention. They were on farmersdog food for about 8 months but switched them to fresh pet food instead. He acts perfectly normal except for the barely eating and drinking excessive water, but will still eat his favorite treats. Never heard of a prescription diet like that for them. Do we make it ourselves or is this something that I can just buy? Don’t mind doing either one.

 

Science Diet makes a low fat i/d diet in canned or dry that helps with pancreatitis. Seems to me based on the U/S its likely hepatitis(inflammation of the liver) this could be due to a variety of reasons. If that's the case the liver supplement and antibiotics should help. I would definitely recommend bringing up Cushings disease at the next visit. It will cause elevated liver values and increase water consumption. Hope this helps.

 

I just started the thread below then saw this thread. Our pooch rides on the console too.

https://www.tundras.com/threads/dog-setting-off-alarm.105357/

 

So my 9 year old boxer started throwing up yesterday and hasn’t been eating and has visibly lost weight since her last vet visit 3 weeks ago.

Took her to the vet today and pointed out a lump on her neck area. Ended up being her lymph nodes. She’s lost 10lbs in 3 weeks.

Vet has diagnosed her with Lymphoma but we will know more next week when the test results are back.

Chemo may or may not help and is $$$. We probably have 1 - 2 months.

We want to make her remaining time as comfortable as possible.

 

So Bender had a follow up and turns out he is not anemic anymore and whatever calcification that was going on went away. So the vet said everything went back to normal but his liver. She said his liver got worse during the past two weeks. So now he’s on two liver pills(ursodiol and Denamarin), an antacid(omeprazole) and now Prednisone. He seems more comfortable, but has been throwing up all food except for when I give him eggs and rice when I feed him. He seems to hold the pills and food down for now that way. I stopped the appetite stimulant cause it’s no longer an issue to get him to eat cause of the steroids. I tried chicken and rice and out it goes. I know the egg and rice diet isn’t the best but it seems to work for him at the moment. I will try and transition him to his kibble he’s used to from before farmers dog food. We use Canine Caviar for kibble cause they were really healthy when we had them on it before the farmers dog. Honestly should have kept him on the kibble. Do you think this food is ok?

 

Thank you for the advice and response. We greatly appreciate it. I’ll let the vet know about the Cushings. She said that she is starting to believe that the ivy berries he was eating for a week or so may have caused this. They had the run of the backyard until we noticed him actively eating the berries. After that I cut the vine back and cleaned every damn berry I could find and have been religiously cleaning the yard and weeds so he won’t eat anything he’s not supposed to and they are no longer allowed to be outside alone.

 

Never heard of that food. Can’t really give my opinion. Keep me posted.

 

Sorry to hear that. Did they put him on prednisone??

 

Yes, that and a medicine to prevent throwing up, and drops to entice eating.

My main vet should call me with the test results where they aspirated several lymph nodes from neck, chest, and rear leg.

She seems to be doing very well this weekend and is eating soft food from can. She doesn’t touch her dry food too much.

 

Perfect. Keep us posted

 

Will do!

my GF does not want to do Chemo, but the vet said dogs tolerate chemo much better than humans. And her lymph node that was enlarged is almost completely normal now. Maybe thats a sign chemo would be successful?

I’m going to speak with my normal vet this week as he’s been seeing my dog for 8 years and specializes is brachiaphalia (I know I spelled that wrong) dogs.

 

My opinion would be if chemo will give your pet a good quality of life for years then go for it. Unfortunately I don't see this happening very much especially with lymphoma but I would listen to the oncologist. They see dogs on chemo everyday vs me seeing one every few months. Specializing in a certain group of dogs doesn't mean anything more than seeing/treating a fair number. We see a lot of brachycephalic but I would not consider myself specialized in them. I know you trust your vet of 8 years but I would trust a specialist who sees this sort of condition on a daily basis. good luck

 

Still waiting on the test results. But she’s doing so much better right now. I will definitely go to a specialist to get their opinion. I just don’t want her to suffer at the end of her life. What I’ve read online the chemo on average only extends their life another year.

 

So an unfortunate update. We ended up putting down Kona last Thursday after three weeks of up and down days. She had started looking for dark places to crawl under which she has never done before. That and other signs that showed she was not doing well.
So we made the decision to end her suffering. It was the first dog I’ve had to put down. After a week I’m finally able to look back at photos and videos without tearing up.

 

I'm SO sorry!!! That is never an easy decision for anybody.

 

Sorry to hear that, I went through that with my last boxer. She was a fawn like yours and the worst part is I was out of the country while she was with my dad. She seemed depressed before we left like she always did. Apparently they took her to the vet and the vet determined she had a tumor that ruptured and she was bleeding out so they put her down. His house was her second home and it crushed them too. My dad didn’t want to ruin my trip so he didn’t tell me for a few days but I kept asking how she was doing and he told me. Broke my heart into a million pieces. I still miss her to this day but I would have made the same decision for as her not to suffer.

 

Wow, sorry to hear that. Makes you appreciate the time you did have with them. She had a vet visit 3 weeks before diagnosis and we put her down 3 weeks after diagnosis. It happened fast.

I’ve gone for walks twice this week with my male boxer Cassius. He has seemed a little different, but seems to be doing well. He gets all the attention now.

 

He goes everywhere besides the lake to go fishing. He isnt a fan of the boat at all lol.

 

The girls are shameless about it...wondering about a solution also.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AplmEUoanvU

Beautiful GSP BTW. My girl is 10 now.