14 year-old Shih Tzu With Recent Cushing's Diagnosis

When Ella's blood work came up with mild, non-regenerative anemia, her breeder was immediately worried about autoimmune hemolytic anemia (AIHA). Vets think there is a genetic component to AIHA and it run is some lines of English Cockers.

After 8 weeks of super-strong antibiotics, Ella's anemia resolved and I am hoping that it was just a result of a bladder infection (but then again she was just on the low end of the range in her pre-op blood work last month...and I KNOW she was infection-free then...arg!)

This can be linked to rheumatoid arthritis in dogs...I am thinking about all of poor Hanna's back/leg pain... :confused: :confused: I really hope this is not the case for poor lil Hanna.

So glad to hear that Hannah's legs and back seem to be better. I'm sure it is very hard trying to keep up with Hannah and Izzy and the kids at school. :)
Hopefully her next blood work will show better numbers on the blood work.

hugs,
Sharlene

Hi Julie,

How is Hannah doing? How is school going? Can you believe that it is already almost a month that you've been back at school! Time sure seems to fly. I hope you are both doing well.

hugs,
Sharlene and Molly Muffin

Hi Julie. I am new to this forum. However ever since I joined this forum I have read your whole post. I am waiting to see how your poor Hannah is doing. I too have a cushpup. I am reading yours because I also don't want to give those medications. Please update.
Thanks Rose and Napoleon

Hi Everyone-

I apologize for being absent for so long. I did still occasionally check the forum, but I have been crazy busy with work, and have not even been checking my facebook page much, which is pretty unheard of for me. I am in the midst of parent-teacher conferences too, so there have been some long days.

Hannah is doing very well. Her back has healed again (I am a firm believer in the miracles of acupuncture) after having four treatments (one per week) of acupuncture and a few laser treatments. The last two times we did acupuncture followed by laser. She got groomed last weekend, which was also very stressful for me, because that is what may have caused some of the issues the first time. She got a laser treatment on Fri. because the vet felt it would be better to do it first. I bathed her myself on Sat. and took her to the groomer for the haircut on Sun. I stayed with her and held her or supported her the whole time. It went very well. She is still happily trotting on her walks.

Her allergies have been pretty bad. She has been wearing a cone for a month (almost 24 hours a day) and has had a couple of skin infections. We have been using the steroid spray as needed because now the cone itself irritates her neck at times. :(

She was just retested to see how her hematocrit level was (because the vet was worried about anemia) and her levels were back up a bit, and into the normal range. I was thrilled about this good news. He sent her blood out to be checked (at no cost to me, which was also wonderful) because it was a much more expensive and sensitive piece of equipment and it was even a little better according to them. He still feels that she is borderline anemic and we should continue to monitor it, but they know she is not bleeding internally because they checked her stool and something about her cells not needing to regenerate to keep up with blood loss.

I am so thankful for literally each and every day that she is well. And now well means something different that it did a couple of years ago. If she eats, trots on a walk, poops, and wags her tail, it has been a good day. I give her tons of hugs and kisses every day, but I wish I had more quality time to spend cuddling with her and Izzy.

This is my tenth year teaching, but it is the busiest I have ever felt at the beginning of the year. We have some new initiatives and I am on some new committees and doing extra things at work, but I feel like I have little time left for my own life. I have been feeling guilty for not calling friends back, for not being on the forum, for not being home with my dogs more, and for neglecting my husband because I am working or sleeping when I am home.
I do hope things will calm down a bit after conferences next week. My husband and I are going to try to get away for a couple of days when we have some time off next week, but I am worried about leaving the dogs with my parents. I know it would be good for me, but we'll see. I still do check in from time to time and I want you to know I think of all of you daily.

Rose, Sharlene, Steph, Addy-my Hannah is okay. Thanks for checking on us, and I am so sorry I have not responded for so long. Rose, I will try to read up on Napolean and see if I can be of any help.

Thinking of all of you! I hope to be back up to par on here again very soon!

Julie & Hannah

Quote:

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Rose, Sharlene, Steph, Addy-my Hannah is okay

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then I can smile for I worry about you two.:D:D

so glad to read this.

Yay! Try not to work tooo hard...Lol! <<-------Pot calling the kettle black!

Hi guys,

I have an update on Hannah. We have a new development and I'm not quite sure what to make of it. Hannah went in to have her blood work done again yesterday. They have been monitoring her hemoglobin and hematocrit because she was borderline anemic a couple of times. Last month it was normal, but her ALKP was up a little bit, at 465.

The vet called me today and told me her hemoglobin and hematocrit were okay, but her liver values are BOTH up. Her ALKP is 772 and her ALT was 240 (normal range is up to 100). She has never had elevated ALT before. The vet said he wasn't sure what to think. She has been on Denamarin for about a year and a half, and we haven't changed anythings else. I am nervous because I know it is more concerning when the ALT levels are high. He said they usually start by running a course of antibiotics and metronidazole (flagyl) in case there is some infection causing this. Hannah will be start the meds tomorrow for 14 days and then he wants to recheck. If her ALT is still elevated, he wants to do more testing, probably another ultrasound. A month ago, her ALT was 89. I just don't know what to think.

I did leave a message tonight to ask the vet if there is any chance she could have a tooth infection causing this. He did not do her yearly dental last spring because she had so many other issues. He said her teeth looked okay and since she was having so many other issues he didn't think she really needed one. Hannah has had many teeth pulled; I think she has about 10 left. So I know she doesn't have good teeth. I don't know what I would even want to do if they wanted to do a dental since her liver values are not good, but I'm trying to figure something out.

For now, I'm trying to just tell myself to wait the two weeks and see what happens. It stinks that it will be right around Thanksgiving and my birthday (11/26). The last thing I want is to find out she has a liver tumor on my birthday or something.

Hannah's doing pretty well otherwise. Her back is great and we get laser treatment every 3 weeks. Her allergies are still bad, but she is a happy girl and is not showing any signs of illness.

Any advice or thoughts you have are much appreciated.

Thanks!

Julie & Hannah

Sorry I can't help - hope that Deb sees this as she understands bloodwork! I assume you haven't noticed any symptoms that are new or you would have mentioned them. Sending love and healthy thoughts your way! Kim

Hi Julie,

That is great that Hannah's back is doing so much better.

You know, Molly's ALT's went up like that in March and she had diarrhea, etc. The vet I have, thinks it was a stomach bacterial upset of some sort. Only it seems that the ALT can go up for any reason that could cause the liver to be involved and damaged. It seems to take much longer for the values to come down. Molly was on the antibiotics and the flora stuff for a long time and while the numbers started to come down, they hadn't reached normal yet.

So could be anything really causing it and wait and see what the antibiotics do for her. Retest and see if the ALT starts to come down. Just be aware that it could take longer to come down than it did for them to go up.

Do hope Deb sees it, she'll know a lot more about it.

On a separate note. I hope school is going well for you. Thanksgiving coming soon!

hugs,
Sharlene