Flynn 11 y/o Foxie Cross - Right adrenalectomy- Good Bye Flynny We will miss you

Trish, I've just been to your album to see Flynn with his toy collection -- those poor toys but what a sly devilish grin your boy is sporting!! ;) :p :)

It's as though he's saying, "Bring 'em on, Mom!! I'll kill the next batch, too!!!!!" :D :D :D

Dogs are just so funny and all so different. Our Peg just LOVED soft squeaky toys when she was younger and she was so gentle with them it was incredible. When she got excited, she'd immediately run to get one and squeak and squeak and squeak. And she'd softly "gum" them, but never hurt them. We finally had to tell family and friends to stop giving her more as gifts because there were never any to throw out or replace -- she had a bushel basket full of them.

But then baby Luna hove on the scene. And sadly, from the time she walked in the house, she would calmly sit and shred Peg's toys. :( :( :( And Peg would just sit and watch her do it. WE COULDN'T STAND TO WATCH THE CARNAGE! So we put all the toys away, and only brought them out for Peg when Luna was in the yard or off on a walk. But it never seemed as though Peg really cared for them again. On a pessimistic note, maybe it's because they had been ruined in her eyes. But on an optimistic note, maybe it's because she now had a baby sister to play with and didn't need the toys anymore.

Anyway, the pics of Flynn are wonderful. He's a rascal, that one!

Marianne

Hi Naomi
I think he is OK, just every now and then he is just ever so slightly off balance like his foot skidding occasionally or when getting up slightly unsteady and I have noticed instead of catching a biscuit if I throw him one and his aim has always been spot on, he flinches sometimes (he snapped at and caught a low flying sparrow that was silly enough to get to close to him not too long ago :eek:). Mind you these biccies are a lot bigger than his old treats, so maybe he thinks they are going to clonk him on the head. Hard to put a finger on it really, he still has the trembles which he has always had but a couple of times I have even noted his head trembling slightly, when it has only ever been his legs. He is going in Thursday for his first review as per our plan :D so I will get the vet to check his eyes. Vision seems ok though he can spot me through a window from outside, he hears me ok. He was walking across the lounge room floor and a pair of jandals made him start. Maybe I am imagining things but I sure hope it is nothing neurological and just his arthritis playing up!! But that first night of injection was when he had the wobblies, just quite unsteady on his feet, he went outside and he came straight back inside, not done it again. But these other things were happening before Pentosan. Fine on walks, runs along. Sometimes you just know when somethings not quite right though eh, I have not mentioned it to anyone else as they think I am paranoid enough already :D:D I have put him up to a whole Previcox (57mg) each day while he gets used to Pentosan as per vets instructions. He and IMS assure me this is a safe dose for him. The hope is we can get him off it when the Pentosan kicks in. Be interesting to see what his blood/urine/BP results are this week.

Marianne - they are so funny aren't they, my Mum's cat the Siamese Elle loves to play with toys. She will actually fetch things and bring them back, but if Flynn's around when you play with her he gets all jealous and will rush in and steal her toys and sit and shred them, even her wee catnip mice! She sits and watches with her steely blue eyes plotting revenge which she gets when he has his back turned and gives him a swipe on his butt!! A friend came over the night before we went to the pet hospital for his adrenalectomy and brought him one of those duck toys to take to the hospital with him, he ripped it open, pulled all the stuffing out and turned it inside out in about 10 mins flat as you said it was carnage!! :eek::eek: She was horrified! Another friend here the other day was telling me about her dog, a beautiful golden retriever, he gums them too and if they get a hole it goes to the doll hospital to get repaired... I laughed out loud at that imagining dropping in Flynn's sorry lot to get fixed up :D:D I guess it is their breed coming through, he is a terrier and would love to catch some real live little animals and the retriever is bred to well retrieve and not maim the birds or whatever. Yes he is a rascal, always has been. Once when he was a pup, he jumped up on a chair, onto the dining table, picked up my camera and carried it outside and left it on the lawn in the rain... little shite, ate my glasses once, the insurance company did not believe me when I said "the dog ate my glasses" but paid for a new pair in the end :D:D:D Gotta love them though :rolleyes::rolleyes:

Trish xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

oh gads!! Happy Belated Birthday!!!!!

Sounds like it was a good day, triple F's! LOL

I love the Flynn toy pictures. He sure is a little rascal. I must say, he makes rascal look adorable. Those facial expressions are just toooooo cute!

Got to love a plan. Once there is one in place that you feel good about, it can make everything else more bearable. I hope that this "side affect" isn't going to continue with the shots though. :( You're right, you just know when things are off with them. Little things can tell a big story!

We're off work here today and I'm so glad. I don't think I could face going back to work just yet. Good vacations require recuperation time. lol

hugs,
Sharlene and Molly Muffin

Hi everyone

Flynny went in for his checkup today. Bit of a mixed bag really.

They did 2 hrly BP recordings (they take a few recordings each time and average them out) so he got 165, 165, in the morning, then after lunch 180 and 200. He is not too concerned about the after lunch ones as they were doing his urine and blood tests then, aspirated a lump and also clipped his nails. All of which he hates and likely to put his BP up, vet said that they know he has 'white coat syndrome' and what he would like to do is have him for another day in 10 days time and not do any testing that day other than his BP to see if it is better when he is under less stress. If they are still high, he is going to show me how to do his BP and let me take the equipment home for the weekend and do a few recordings here.

Eyes - no sign of any problems there, blood vessels in eyes look good which also makes him think BP is not consistently high. Preop they were enlarged. So thats good news YAY. He tested his vision as much as they can in a dog, and he reacted appropriately which makes him think his eyesight is fine. Thought I would mention a couple of the tests he told me about in case it helps anyone here. Even though Flynn is smart we have not worked out how to get him to read an eye chart :p :p Apparently they throw a cotton ball in front of dog in line of vision, as it makes no sound to alert them, they should follow it with their eyes if their sight is good. Also, move hand quickly towads eyes in front of face, obviously do not hit him and make sure not too much air is displaced which could alert them, they should react if they can see the hand coming. He said to watch if he is reluctant to go outside at night, as going from bright house into dark if their eyesight is poor unsettles them.

Kidneys - urine in house testing did showed 4+protein, BOO unable to read creatinine BOO. He said they had 3 dogs that showed this today, only one of which has renal problems. So he is not sure of accuracy of this test. His specific gravity was very good. Better than it had been previously, he was happy with that as dogs with dilute urine can be because of kidney problems. YAY. Blood BUN high end normal, Creatinine normal YAY

Liver - in house testing ALP>1200 which is as far as their machine goes, Bilirubin normal, ALT elevated, cannot remember number.

Both urine and blood has also been sent to external lab which gives more reliable testing but have to wait for those results tomorrow, he is going to call me and email results, so will update then.

He could find nothing wrong neurologically. YAY. Aspirated a lump I was concerned about and its just a lipoma. YAY. The other one of concern on his back he said is a sebaceuos cyst. YAY.

Weight steady. YAY.

Naomi - we discussed the Pentosan and the wobblies he had the night of injection, he again told me not usual to see that. But I told him of other dogs I had heard that effects them like Flynn. He has given me the product insert from the injections to read.

Overall, he was happy said Flynn was looking great and much more happy visiting them. YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hope your all doing good and the pups are happy!!
Trish xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

One other thing, you know how I go on about Flynn trembling? He was doing it a bit tonight at the vets, while we watched him he stopped. Vet mentioned something called 'white dog shaker' syndrome. Terriers can be shakers/tremblers anyway, but those with white in them, which Flynn has can get this shaker problem. He said it is usually nothing to worry about if it is not to annoying for the dog, which I don't think it is for Flynn. I must google it to learn more :)

HI all

External lab results show improvement in liver tests, ALP had dropped 500 points to 1135. So happy about that, not so happy about UPCR which has nearly doubled in three weeks. BUN and Creatinine still normal. So they want to receheck next week. :(

Urine
FLYNN UVOL 2.00 ML

FLYNN UCOL Yellow -

FLYNN UTUR Clear -

FLYNN USG 1.055 -

FLYNN UPH 7.0 -

FLYNN UPRD +++ -

FLYNN UGLU Negative -

FLYNN UKET Negative -

FLYNN UURO Normal -

FLYNN UBIL Negative -

FLYNN UBLD Negative -

URINE SEDIMENT:

White blood cells < 1/h.p.f.

Red blood cells < 1/h.p.f.

Epithelial cells < 1/h.p.f.

No crystals present

No casts present

No bacteria seen

** Thanks for letting us know your sample was collected by "free catch" :-) ** VETERINARY INTERPRETATION: Marked proteinuria notd on dipstick without any other abnormalities or evidence of active sediment.

-Consider urine culture to more fully rule out underlying UTI contributing to UPC, but this would be unlikely given inactive sediment and concentration of the urine (although not impossible). The degree of elevation of the UPC is signficant & could indicate glomerular or tubular damage if pre-renal and post-renal causes are ruled out. If no underlying UTI, sample contamination may have occured -as it is unusual to have a UPC elevation of this degree without hypoalbuminemia. Occasionally seen transient tubular protienurias w/ little other clinical signs besides PU/PD and mild changes on blood work that have resolved with fluid therapy (possible transient effect of unknown toxin?), but these dogs did not have elevated liver enzymes.

FLYNN UTP 6.0 G/L

FLYNN UCCRE 18194 UMOL/L

FLYNN UPRCR 2.92 RATIO
Protein:creatinine ratios in urine of <0.5 are normal, 0.5-1 are suspect and >1 indicate glomerular disease in the absence of pyuria, haematuria and tubular dysfunction (casts).

VETERINARY INTERPRETATION:

-It is important to rule out prerenal and postrenal causes of proteinuria before proceeding to UPC, especially as albumin/TP is not low in this case. Recommend full UA with sediment exam from sterile or mid-stream free catch sample in order to best interpret this result. It would be odd to have a UPC this high without seeing albumin decrease on the clin chem. Please call to consult further if desired


Blood

FLYNN TP 68 G/L (54 - 74)

FLYNN ALB 45 G/L H (33 - 44)

FLYNN GLO 23 G/L (19 - 35)

FLYNN AGR 1.96 RATIO (0.52 - 1.7)

FLYNN BILI 1 UMOL/L (1 - 3)

FLYNN ALP 1135 IU/L H (13 - 87)

FLYNN ALT 369 IU/L H (23 - 88)

FLYNN URE 12.6 MMOL/L H (2.5 - 9)

FLYNN CHOL 17.1 MMOL/L H (3.27 - 9.82)

FLYNN CRE 53 UMOL/L (48 - 109)

@COMMENTS

VETERINARY INTERPRETATION:

-Mild hyperalbuminemia - this is due almost exclusively to dehydration.

-Moderate ALP & ALT elevation. This result indicates cholestasis or enzyme induction and hepatocellular damage. The change is moderate and has potential to be significant. The finding is otherwise non-specific and imaging of the liver/abdomen may be the next best step, depending on clinical signs. Differentials may include: steroid/druge administration, endocrinopathy (i.e. hyperadrenocorticism), metabolic disease, inflammation/infection (potentially including pancreatitis) or neoplasia.

ADD ON: Azotemia compatible with prerenal azotemia given the USG. Hypercholesterolemia - D.dx: hypothyroidism, Cushing's disease, diabetes mellitus, pancreatitis or protein loosing nephropathy, but usually there is a decrease in serum albumin with resultant hypercholesterolemia (as the theory goes!).

Any chance that the cause might have been due to the free catch?
Flynn seems to be doing well over right right? Lets just see what next week shows. You know we are all such worry warts. :)

hugs,
Sharlene and Molly Muffin

Hmmmm, I'm looking at Zoe's urinalysis too and it shows protein at abnormal levels but her UC ratio is normal, she had white blood cells in her urine, it was dilute, it was a free catch and had peed and marked I don't know how many times before they decided to grab some urine ( she was marking outside)and she still had the vulva growth. Her albumin was normal but her urea n was 1 over the high limit of normal, her turb was1+. We tried antibiotics and the growth removal. I'll retest in a month by needle draw and see where I am at. Just trying to share what we have been through so far in case any of it helps you.

From what I read so far proteinuria can be caused by a high protein diet and can be transient. I readily admit I am just starting to look into it so don't know much. If it does not stay transient then it is an issue. The diet was the first thing my vet asked about.

Sorry, I cant help more. Sounds like you had a great weekend though, so far!!!!!! I love Carol King's Tapestry album:):)

love ya girlfriend

Beyond me, I have no idea in this area at all, so I'll just give you both a hug and hang back waiting. :p

On a separate note though, any progress since the Pentosan injection though? Hoping his wobblies have stopped and he is moving around ok.

Hi Trish,

I just got done looking at all of Flynn's labwork that you posted. I want to find Jasper's latest chem panel to just compare a few things, and I will be back.

Your vet's comments about it being unusual for the UPCR to be this elevated without hypoalbuminemia being present are interesting. I am pretty sure that Jasper's serum albumin and serum protein have all been WNL, and his UPCR was much higher than Flynn's. My vet did not mention anything about that being unusual and/or possible sample contamination. :(

I need to look at Jazzy's labwork, get some dinner and will be back on later.

Hugs from me and Jasper :)