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Dog got sick, $1000 so far, more to go!

Melensdad

Melensdad

Jerk in a Hawaiian Shirt & SNOWCAT Moderator
Staff member
Our Akita dog is elderly, but living a pretty darn good life, happy, etc.

She's had arthritis for years, been treated and generally had little trouble with it as long as we did our part with the meds. Despite the arthritis she could still catch/kill the occasional raccoon (or cat) that intruded into her yard. Plenty active, loving, social.

And then. . .

She started pooping while she slept. And leaking pee too. Obviously took her to the vet to see what was up, diagnosed with a couple minor issues, probably related to the arthritis meds and steroids.

And then . . . she started to pee uncontrollably and it was sticky!

More trips to the vet, possibly DIABETES, possibly caused by the steroids which we had just discontinued.

AND THEN . . . she pee'd blood this morning!!!

Off to the 'emergency vet' clinic. X-Rays showed bladder is enlarged and had a thick exterior. So some more tests. Inserted dye into bladder. More X-rays. Sent the X-rays off to a university for consult. Plus blood tests. Plus urine tests.

Long story short, the dog has a MASSIVE bladder infection that is COMPLICATED by the fact that she is now a DIABETIC.


Looks like we are going to end up spending nearly $2000 by the time we are done with all this, but we are over $1000 into it already. She is spending a couple days in the dog hospital. She was up and alert and wanting to get back into the car to come home, but clearly not coming home with us.

On the bright side, the doctors expect a FULL RECOVERY from the bladder issues and a treatable/controllable situation with the diabetes. And then another year or two of happy life.


Overall, it was NOT A FUN DAY today, left the house with the dog about 10am, got back home about 5pm. But glad that my companion and friend is going to be better soon. Honestly went to the vet assuming she was a goner and wouldn't be coming back home ever again. Glad that my fears were wrong. I'll be glad to pick her up on Tuesday??? and bring her home again.
 

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As a dog lover, I wish you and Misha (?) another couple of years together. She, and you deserve this. The money is only money, and I am betting you will forget that tommarrow...:wink:

She's served you and your family well for years. Time to give a little back.

Best regards, Kirk
 
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Yeah Kirk, when it comes to spending money on Misha's health there is no set limit. If she was in pain, and terminal, then we'd be reading a different thread. But this dog is one of the best we've ever shared our home with, doubt we'd find another friend who offers such love. The money, while steep, is inconsequential in the long run, and her pain is infection related and not long term. Her chances of recovery are very very good.
 
So glad to hear that. My Main Coon cat became very ill and no one could figure out what was wrong. They suspected lung cancer but couldn't find any cancer cells. It took an autopsy requested by the vet to confirm that he died of lung cancer. We spent over $2,000 and were ready to spend more if it would have saved him. My husband is heart broken and is not ready for another cat even after over a year. Amigo was the first pet that he really cared for. All others were just tolerated. I've always had cats and want another one but it looks like it is going to be a while.
 
Not long ago, Gretchen couldn't walk or put weight on one of her hind legs at all.
Naturally it scared the hell out of me.
Turned out to be a pulled muscle in her leg, but like you Bob, no amount of money matters when it comes to our fur kids.
Then she developed a cough that the vet says is from a weakening of the trachea because of her age.
She doesn't get to take walks with me like she used to.

I am happy to hear things are looking up for your doggie. :flowers:
 
Let me join the club.

I once spent well over $4K, almost five, on a $20 pound puppy. She was a Lab/Basset mix, long body and short legs. Out in the yard one day she took off after a squirrel. She was pretty quick over short distances and batted about .500 on squirrels. She went ass over kilter and I thought that she had torn her ACL again (that one cost $1200). To cut a long story short it was her back. I had to take her to an animal hospital in Dallas and she had to stay there a week after the operation and took a lot of loving care once she got home. It's no fun carrying a 75# dog outside to potty 3 or 4 times a day for over a month. In short, I never regretted the money or the work and I enjoyed her companionship for another 6 years.

I still miss that dog. It's whole life was focused on being next to me every waking moment, everywhere I went. She was never more than 10 feet away.
 
Bob sounds a lot like what Macarthur went through before he passed on. on the positive side all our dogs are young now we should have at least 10 years before health issues come up again. by the way our too little lap dogs were acting like teen agers a couple of weeks ago we are expecting puppy's if any one wants a mixed breed lap dog. old sarge was having the time of his life I think he was doing it 3 times a day
 
UPDATE: She is still in the dog hospital.

Misha's blood surgar is down to about 150, it was over 450. So the insulin is doing its magic and she is no longer in any risk for diabetic coma. The goal is to keep her between 100 and 200 from now on.

She has a catheter for the urine and still is peeing a bit of blood but the stronger antibiotics have only been dripping into her for the past 24 hours and they are very optimistic that that will solve the problems.
 
Official total is now approaching $3000.

GOOD NEWS ~ BAD NEWS

+1 - As far as the bladder problem and the massive infection, that already appears to be in the early stages of getting a bit better.

+1 - As for the diabetic complications, that appears to be something that we can A) Manage and B) appears as of now to be MINOR and very possibly C) may actually either go away or decrease to be very simple to manage with time.

+1 - She is home again and happy!

But now for some bad news . . .

-1 The artritis that causes pain may have masked another disorder that could end up leaving her with lame rear legs. It could progress slowly or rapidly and there is no cure. There are little wheelchairs that can be strapped to the rear of the dog so the dog can get around easily, but that may be something we never have to explore. She is 11. If we are lucky she will see her 12th birthday, and if she is lucky she will pass quietly without the disorder really affecting her quality of life. But that is just a maybe.

So today is 3 UPS and 1 DOWN.

Could have been a lot worse. She goes back for an ultrasound test tomorrow mid-morning. It is just to check the bladder, they don't expect to find anything new. While there she will also have her blood sugar double checked again. We give her an insulin shot tonight. She had one today at lunchtime.

I made a ramp so she can walk right out the front door of the house and almost straight into the rear of the Touareg without any issues. She now has carpet laying over our tile floor so she can get up and down more comfortably too. But she is already much more animated, more energetic, and seems happy/content.
 
So glad to hear that she is getting better. I can tell you from personal experience that bladder infections HURT! It is horrible when it gets to the point of bleeding. Poor thing must have been in agony. No wonder she is more animated now.
 
Follow up at the Vet's office this morning.

They did an 'ultra sound' to view the bladder because the X-rays were not able to get a very detailed pictur. The ultra sound confirmed everything they thought so we are on the correct treatment path.

It is OBVIOUS that Misha is feeling somewhat better already! She is much less wobbly and able to get around very well once she is up. Its still a bit of a struggle to get her up, especially first thing in the morning, but she is managing better.

And then there is the diabetes problem we are now facing. She got some insulin yesterday after lunch, then again at 1am (5 units of insulin). We had her at the vet at 10, they took her blood again, her blood sugar was about 245. So we upped her dose to 6 units of insulin and she got that this morning at 10 and will get the same dose about 9pm tonight. She has to be back at the vet's office tomorrow at 8am for another blood test, and then again tomorrow afternoon. Thee idea is to find an insulin dose that she can stay with, given a specific diet. Dogs are not as easy to test as people so the common blood sugar tests we can take with a simple finger prick don't work well with dogs.

Oh, did I mention that it is 45 minutes each way to the Vet's office. These repeated trips will get old really fast . . . hopefully they will only last another couple of days.
 
Our cat Tailor Blue is diabetic but it is being controlled by diet; he hasn't needed an insulin shot for about three years. The not-so-good news is that it seems his hearing is deteriorating. I guess he's doing OK for an almost 18 year old Russian blue, but it's still hard to see him begin that slow spiral into darkness. Most orthodox religions claim cats and dogs don't have souls, but we can't buy into that one. No creature without a soul can love, and our four-legged family members certainly do love; anyone who says otherwise is a fool.
 
Today is the first day that Misha doesnt hav to go to th Vet for tests. But she is scheduled for 2 visits on Saturday. She is very much better and is responding well to her antibiotic treatment.

The diabetes is still not yet under control. She is hovering between 250 and 350, which is just a bit too high. The doctors want it dropped down to about 150 to 250. So we are playing with her insulin doses.
 
With the sad loss of our little dog Snowball, we have to concentrate on helping Misha recover.

And she is recovering from the serious bladder infection caused/complicated by the diabetes. So Misha is a little stronger each day, acting better each day. She has been able to control her bladder for the past few days, prior to that she had some accidents, probably not even knowing she had them.

The urine, when she had the accidents, would mat her fur while she slept in it, I would wash her off in the shower but even with that she got sores under her fur from the urine. The vet's shaved her 'girl area' and belly and those are all healing slowly but nicely.

ON THE BAD SIDE, it appears that the degenerative hip problem she has is very slowly progressing. I suspect at some point in the future she will need a doggy-wheelchair? It depends upon how quickly the disease progresses and how long she has to live (she is a very elderly dog and old age may take her before she loses use of her rear legs if the disease progresses slowly enough).

When the weather warms up a bit (it is -11F this morning) in a week or two or three, I will probably build her a ramp so she can more easily get into/out of the house at the kitchen door. We have 2 steps down and they are a challege for her. So a simple ramp would be a big help.

Now that said, she did manage to climb a full flight of stairs last night to come up to our bedroom. First time she was in our bedroom in 2+ weeks. She climbed that set of stairs TWICE last night. Had a bit of a mishap on one try and slipped, but tried again and made it again. And that is a big set of stairs. So she is really showing signs of improvement.
 
Well Misha is holding her own, but its difficult for her to get up and down stairs. So I built her a ramp.

Nothing fancy, not pressure treated. Hopefully she will gain her strength over time and not need it. If not, and she needs it for the rest of her life, I think it will hold up. Its 3/4" plywood and 2x4 lumber. All stuff I had laying around. I didn't figure she needed hand rails. Going to get a piece of scrap indoor-outdoor carpet and staple it to the surface so she doesn't slip. The plywood is not slippery now, but not sure how it would be when it gets wet from rain. I figure snow would make it a hazard.

Its all screwed together so I can easily disassemble it if she no longer needs it.

Its roughly 7' long, 32" wide, and set on approximately a 15-degree angle.
 

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Melensdad said:
Well Misha is holding her own, but its difficult for her to get up and down stairs. So I built her a ramp.

Nothing fancy, not pressure treated. Hopefully she will gain her strength over time and not need it. If not, and she needs it for the rest of her life, I think it will hold up. Its 3/4" plywood and 2x4 lumber. All stuff I had laying around. I didn't figure she needed hand rails. Going to get a piece of scrap indoor-outdoor carpet and staple it to the surface so she doesn't slip. The plywood is not slippery now, but not sure how it would be when it gets wet from rain. I figure snow would make it a hazard.

Its all screwed together so I can easily disassemble it if she no longer needs it.

Its roughly 7' long, 32" wide, and set on approximately a 15-degree angle.
Click to expand...

:smile: You're a good pooch Daddy, Bob.
 
BTW, the ramp is now carpeted.

Misha was sort of freaked out going up and down the plywood ramp, but with the carpet she seems to be far more comfortable and confident going up and down the ramp.
 
Good job.

I did the same thing when our dog was having all her back problems and couldn't jump the 8" step at the kitchen door. Our kitchen door is covered so the carpet doesn't get wet. Strange thing is that my aging M-I-L thought that I built it in order to make it easier for her to get in to the house. I didn't have the the heart to tell her. I just basked in the good son-in-law vibes that she was giving me.

Our dog lived for another six years after I built the ramp. We all became so used to it being there. I put the ramp away away after we lost her but after I fell out the kitchen door twice, nearly killing myself, I put it back in place and it is still there today.
 
EastTexFrank said:
. . . my aging M-I-L thought that I built it in order to make it easier for her to get in to the house. I didn't have the the heart to tell her. I just basked in the good son-in-law vibes that she was giving me.
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Nothing like getting credit for doing something nice from BOTH your dog and you MIL.


Our dog lived for another six years after I built the ramp. We all became so used to it being there. I put the ramp away away after we lost her but after I fell out the kitchen door twice, nearly killing myself, I put it back in place and it is still there today.
Click to expand...
Well Misha is 11.5 years old and the breed typically lives 10 to 12 years, she is showing her age in ways beyond these new problems, so it would be a miracle if she made it another 6 years, but I could seriously get used to the ramp. Our door is about 20" from the kitchen down to that small concrete patio. That would be a seriously hard fall :doh:
 
Another update on Misha.

She was getting pretty wobbly on her feet, we took her in for her scheduled blood test and found out her blood sugar was LOW.

We decided, with the doctor, to skip her morning insulin and bring her back in the late afternoon for another blood test. Again the blood sugar was low.

So we all decided that she should STOP getting insulin. Today she is much more stable and seems more alert too. Last insulin shot we gave her was Thursday evening.

She goes back for another blood test on Tuesday morning. In the mean time we are just monitoring her.

She is still on anti-biotics for the massive bladder infection but it appears that those meds will probably be coming to an end in a week or so.
 

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EastTexFrank said:
Thanks for the update.
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She seems to have gotten her attitude back too :biggrin: So she is feeling much better these last few days. The hip issue remains, and will ultimately be her demise if age doesn't take her first. She is in no pain but it is a struggle for her to get up. Once up she gets around pretty well.
 
Well she was enjoying the snow this morning so I think that is another good sign :clap:

Back to the Vet tomorrow for more blood tests.
 

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jim slagle said:
I'm glad she is better.

Jim
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Thanks Jim.

Looks like we are over the hurdle on the infection and perhaps the diabetes too.

Sadly we still get to watch her struggle to get up. And that is slowly getting worse and there is no treatment. The front half of her body is very strong. The back half is very weak. Once she stands up she can walk, but she has a very difficult time getting her hips under her to stand. The consolation for us is that we have been told that it is not painful for her. All this time we thought it was arthritis and had been treating for pain, and apparently in the earlier stages it is often diagnosed as arthritis.

But this morning she enjoyed the fresh snow :clap:
 
My neighbor's Husky had similar problems with his/her back end but still Really wanted to go with the other 2 dogs for a walk. The owner helped the Husky by passing the leash under it's middle and taking some of the weight so the dog could keep going.

It wouldn't take much sewing, glueing/ whatever to make a wide belt with a handle so you or your wife could help Misha stand up. It could have Velcro to hold it on or those two parts plastic clips like on your backpacks.

Just an idea...
 
pixie said:
My neighbor's Husky had similar problems with his/her back end but still Really wanted to go with the other 2 dogs for a walk. The owner helped the Husky by passing the leash under it's middle and taking some of the weight so the dog could keep going.

It wouldn't take much sewing, glueing/ whatever to make a wide belt with a handle so you or your wife could help Misha stand up. It could have Velcro to hold it on or those two parts plastic clips like on your backpacks.

Just an idea...
Click to expand...

I've been thinking of some sort of lifting harness. We were at REI (outdoor sports store) a few weeks ago. They had dog floatation devices that wrapped around the dog's torso, and then had a handle on the back so you could pull a dog back into a boat if it fell overboard. I think something similar, possibly made of a mesh (she is a big furry dog and it wouldn't get hot like some other fabrics) with a handle on the back would help us assist her in getting up.
 
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