Molly, 13 yr, shih tzu - lhasa aspo - Molly has passed

My Crys had struvite crystals, caused by infection, which I think is how most if not all struvite crystals / stones begin. She never developed stones but we battled the crystals off and on. If memory serves, we gave her a pretty hefty dose of Vit C and I know I used cranberry and a variety of citrus fruit to acidify the pH so the crystals had a harder time getting started. Again, if memory serves, diet is much more important when dealing with oxalate than struvite. Food can cause the formation of oxalate but not struvite...again if the memory is correct. In addition, cush pups are prone to the oxalate type. There are several other types of crystal / stones but those two seem to be most common. If you have never seen what these crystals look like, google them - some are pretty and some downright spooky! None look pleasant to have to pass, tho. :eek:

Sharlene:
It is very dark and looks like we are going to have a storm again. I will be giving Tipper some of new storm meds soon. How is it up your way? I am taking it easy today as I will be leaving her at 4 am for my cardio appt.. It makes me worry to leave Tipper with the sitter. Hopefully I can get home quickly after I go the pet food store. Blessings
Patti

No storms here. Sunshine and a bit of a cool northern wind.
We've been out and about today and molly has had 3 walks already as she is a bundle of energy today.

hugs
Sharlene and molly muffin

Wow Sharlene, I have been getting caught up with everything that has been happening with Molly. I wish I had some smart input to offer about the UTK results or the ultrasound. :o I need to go back and re-read everything. I know you are worried about the UPC, but that value really isn't super bad. Of course we would be happier if it was below 0.5. Like you said, we will need to watch for a trend, and hopefully when she gets it checked again it will either be stable or lower. No offense, but we can do without your sweet girl in the protein pup band. :) ;)

I am so sorry you have been so busy at work, I completely understand what a pain in the butt that is. It just magnifies the stress you feel with everything else, and makes things so much more difficult to manage.

It sounds like Molly is feeling well and her leg issue is much better, I am glad to see that. She is such a cutie. Yesterday when I was at the vets there was a little girl there that looked a lot like Molly, she was a Lhasa mix named Pebbles. In came the lady's husband with Pebbles' brother, you guessed it, his name was Bam Bam. Lol. They were both very sweet. I thought of Molly right away, and also Zoe.

My Dakota suffered from urinary crystals, and actually ended up developing very small calcium oxalate stones which needed to be flushed out. She was started on some granules to prevent the crystals, and never had a problem after that. It was called Goldvet:

http://www.kalahealthvet.com/#Gold%2...ate%20Granules

I used to order it from KV supply as it was cheaper there than at the vets, and they just happened to be located in Nebraska!

http://www.kvsupply.com/gold-vet-300-grams-11-ounces

I didn't remember that it was potassium citrate, and I know you have mentioned that. I would mix the granules with a little bit of water to make a gravy and mixed that with her food. It worked wonders, she never had crystals again, and we used it for years.

Thank you for your support and input on our thread, you're a doll Sharlene. Thanks for always being there for us.

Hugs,
Tina and Jasper

Hi Sharlene
Just popping in to see if you managed to have the chat with IMS today, hope your working day was not too bad but know your so busy right now, stink!! Hope it lets up soon! xx

Sharlene:
Just wanted to see how work is if it has gotten any better?? Are all the issue with Molly's leg cleared up now? I wish I still had some citrate pill I would send you some to grind up for Molly. I picked up the wrong size Fromm's yesterday I was so tired. I will stop again when I go next week to the Dr. Tired and not feeling well today, my Lupus is affecting my joints terrible and my knees really hurt. Blessings
Patti

Sorry that I can't help with the test results but pleased to hear that little Miss Molly is generally doing well.

I'm a big fan of Fromm - I started Hamish on the reduced activity when he had the tummy upsets from the Blue and the vet wanted to give him Royal Canin GI, and he did really well with it. I'm currently using the puppy food for Henry and I'd be happy to continue however I'm thinking about trying Dr Tims to give him some variety.

Hi all,

I haven't spoken to the IMS yet, I received an email today that she would be available between wed and fri, as she is in clinic the other days. It's going to be tight trying to catch up with her as this is a busy week with me, due to hubs birthday and lots of activities going on.

I think molly's leg is doing okay, she has limped any more on it. Just have to watch her back legs as both are tricky with the knee on one side and the hip on the other. The hip issue is probably what caused the knee issue, she has always favored that hip since she was born.

She is doing okay though, except, today she is having diarrhea again, so back onto the floriflora she goes starting with her dinner. I am trying to do just the SO rotating with maturity, until after the May UPC, so as not to introduce any other elements into that result, but I swear every time I try to just do the SO/Mature, she ends up with gastro upset. It's a losing battle. I definitely want to move to Fromms once this is over with. I spoke with hubs about going to a raw food, but he is adamantly against it, I think because of impurities in the raw meat that might get into her. If I got his complete argument in a nutshell. I decided it wasn't worth the bother of an argument over it. He very seldom chips in on his opinion of what should or shouldn't be done for molly, so I took it that he had stronger views than I do on the issue.

So, now do I continue with trying to stick to the SO/Mature or do I introduce something else and hope it helps to clear up the gastro problem. If she has a gastro upset, as we all know from Jasper and Flynn and Zoe, the likely hood is that the UPC will be higher and I don't want that, I want a clear reflection on the kidneys. ARGGGHHH

Work. Well, it goes along. No one seems to have matured there, that's for sure! hahahaha I'm just going along doing my thing. I think I'm just going to let the chips fall where they may. Some times people hook their carts up to a losing horse and you really can't convince them that they should be hooked to a different one. That is sort of how I feel about some of these issues.

Patti, I am sorry that your Lupus is flaring up. It really can't take any stress at all. :( Hope you can get some rest and get that sorted out.

hugs all,
Sharlene and molly muffin

Hi Sharlene,
Ugh...sorry to hear Molly has a bit of tummy upset. It is so difficult to make changes in anything when you are trying to figure out other matters. :confused:
I was about to finally start Trixie's fish oil caps when we made the change in Vetoryl dosage...so then I wanted to wait until that was all settled.
It's certainly hard to get to a point where everything is status quo and you can start something new or make some type of change in regimen. Glad that it seems the limping is all gone though and I hope this gastro upset will pass quickly. (no pun intended!) Is white rice on the menu tonight for Molly??
Barbara

Oh no, the diarrhea baton has been passed on to Molly!! :eek: (I'm still holding my breath about Peg but she just produced a small but acceptable evening poop for mommy -- good girl).

I agree, it is so darn frustrating to try to limit things to only one change at a time when there is so much that we want to be changing all at once.

Hang in there, OK? Sending "solid" vibes your way!!! ;)
Marianne