posted May 17, 2005 03:24 AM         

I found her shivering again tonight, and gave her an aspirin because I suspected tooth pain (I've been trying to brush their teeth, and haven't had much luck). I left her for a little while, so my anxiety that I was feeling wouldn't affect her (I hoped). When my sister and I went looking for her, Christa found her hiding next to the toilet in the upstairs bathroom.
I wondered about bloat after a while, and sure enough, her stomach has been getting bigger. (I gave her a charcoal capsule on Sunday as well, just in case she had swallowed something, and kept watching her). she'd pooped and wasn't vomiting, so I didn't think of it yesterday. She hasn't been trying to vomit tonight either, but the panting, hiding, shaking, and not lying down for long are all there, along with the now-expanded stomach. She's had a couple of charcoal capsules in a small amount of cream cheese, and we're just about to take her to the emergency clinic ~ my parents are taking her now, and Dad will come back for me. She seemed more cheerful whenever getting attention, but she's a very affectionate dog.

I got lucky when my dog Bert had a bout with it several years ago, he vomited, I gave him charcoal, and he was fine. I would really appreciate your prayers, though. She's such a sweetheart, and I'm really scared.

posted May 17, 2005 07:42 AM         

Rita

posted May 17, 2005 08:49 AM         

An angel for lovely Rita. Please keep us posted.

posted May 17, 2005 01:32 PM         

Lots of light.

posted May 17, 2005 06:26 PM         

My vet did say that I could give my dog a baby aspirin twice a day... I gave him his last this morning. He got a grand total of 6.

Okay so far.... but still sore and licking wounds he can reach.

Angela

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Scorpio/Leo/Leo

posted May 17, 2005 07:52 PM         

Be Well,

posted May 18, 2005 12:05 AM         

I live in a city, county and state that all have leash laws on the books. Doesn't stop "stupid" owners from telling people that their dog is "nice" and won't "hurt" anything. Can you tell I'm still a little upset? It was someone's pet, very friendly to me after my dog was put in the house...so don't know if it got lose, or was kicked out of it's owner's home.

I caught the dog and held it for animal control. It's now being held for 10 days because of the biting. It was tagless and I'm hoping it's been microchipped so we can identify the owners.

Angela

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Scorpio/Leo/Leo

posted May 18, 2005 12:33 AM         

Sending healing light.

posted May 19, 2005 03:27 AM         

I meant to come back here and post something else yesterday, when Rita came home, but I was so tired that I ended up curling up on the sofa with the dogs, (after feeding them), and then trying to sleep.

It wasn't bloat, thank goodness. I panicked when it looked like her stomach was getting bigger, and she looked so miserable.
The vet thought she had fluid in her abdomen, but when she tried to drain it, there was nothing there to get rid of. They did an x-ray and found that her stomach was full of food ~ we'd fed her a little cat food, since she'd barely eaten for a couple of days, and she wolfed that down, but I don't think that it was enough to fill her up. I'm wondering if she got into something in the trash, since I found them all in the garage on Monday night, although I don't know what would explain her symptoms on Sunday. She's the only one who's had any problems (touch wood). The vet suspected her liver might be enlarged, something I also wondered about before she went off to the vet's.

They did an ultrasound, and thought that she might have an adrenal tumour (Cushings Syndrome) because one of her adrenal glands looks a bit swollen. They said if the Cushings test came back positive, that they wanted to do exploratory surgery, saying at the same time that she was going to be alright, and that it wasn't an emergency (I consider the possible need for surgery an emergency, and my mother did too). It bothered all of us that they'd want to jump so quickly into surgery, and that was one thing on my mind, keeping me awake last night. The surgery can be dangerous; so can the medications, depending on the dog, because you have to be careful not to push them over into Addison's and a "crash", so my sister and I spent our internet time looking up the medications and possible natural alternatives. The most common medicine is like a chemo drug, and can be dangerous to anyone handling it, let alone the dog taking it. They gave her some sort of oral medication while she was in their care, as indicated on the bill, but didn't say what that was, and her condition was considered, "Good-Guarded," when she was released.

Anyway, we finally got the test results back from the ACTH test late this afternoon, and they said that her cortisol level was only a smidgen over normal, which means she doesn't have Cushings.

The vet was really surprised by the results; she expected it to be a lot higher, and said she's still concerned about the apparent swelling of the one adrenal gland. She also said that another hormone being out of whack could give the same symptoms, but that foregoing any treatment or tests for another month shouldn't hurt. She wants to do another ultrasound in a month, and has prescribed 3mg of Melatonin, to be given morning and night for at least two weeks; we're supposed to call her in a couple of weeks with an update. She said that would still prefer to do exploratory surgery, but understood our reluctance in going in that direction right now. Hopefully Rita won't need it, she's been acting her normal self again since we brought her home.. I went to check on her just before sitting down here, and she was wanting to play.

posted May 19, 2005 03:54 AM         

ScotScorp/Angela ~ I'm so sorry to hear about your dog (and you) being attacked. I'll be saying prayers for your dog too. What's his name?

Christina ~ Your post reminded me of the fact that my mother tried to do the same thing you mentioned, on Sunday night, and for most of Monday Rita was fine. I've been telling her that she needs to look into a Reiki seminar/attunement, or something along those lines.. she did something similar for our dog Dora last year.

best wishes to you all,
Angela

posted May 19, 2005 11:19 AM         

(I feel like I'm talking to myself!! )

My dog's name is Boomer. He's a good ole Scottish Terrier.

Thank you. I send prayers also to your pup.

Angela

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Scorpio/Leo/Leo

posted May 23, 2005 07:08 PM         

I am happy your dog is okay . It sounds like she did get into something icky if she had a swollen belly full of food.

Aspirin is okay to give a dog BUT it ican be FATAL in cats.

Tylenol is TOXIC to both - we have treated cats that have been given it by accident and it is pretty ugly.

posted May 26, 2005 09:41 PM         

Nephthys ~ thank you for asking. Rita actually had a recurrence of the shaking Tuesday night/Wednesday morning, between 11:30pm and 3am, then again sometime after 4am until 6/7am. I stayed calm for a while, but started to feel anxious again (I've been having some trouble with my own anxiety attacks), so I had to leave her on the couch at around 5:30 and distract myself for a while. She had a bit of a run around with the other dogs, and was sedate most of the day, but she's been back in good spirits today.

Our vet finally got back to us, and he was appalled at the other vet's wanting to do surgery, saying he wouldn't even want to do a needle biopsy there. The adrenals are right next to the kidneys, and something else I forget the name of, that controls the back legs; he wants to do the next ultrasound himself. I am slightly concerned about the melatonin, since my sister did a search (and I checked some list archives), and read about side-effects like the neurological symptoms thirteen mentioned (your poor baby ). Rita hasn't shown any negative symptoms, thank goodness, but we're keeping an eye on her. One thing I found in the archives of one list, was that the regular dose for dogs is 1mg per 30lbs; the person who wrote that post mentioned that she knew of people who had used more with no problems, though.

Pidaua ~ I remembered you worked in a vet's office for a while, so I was hoping you might have something to say. Congratulations on your job, by the way!

posted May 27, 2005 11:47 AM         

Glad to hear Rita is doing well.

Angela

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Scorpio/Leo/Leo