Winston, 8 year old westie with adrenal tumor

[molly muffin]

This is just great to hear. He sounds like he's back to his old self and doing fine. I wouldn't be too worried about that pre number either, unless the post number were to start to drop. It seems that the other adrenal gland is producing cortisol and that is exactly what you want.

Good idea to keep an eye on the pancreas and hopefully that won't change. Doesn't seem to be highly likely that it will if it hasn't but ultrasounds are a good idea to keep an eye on it.

Just excellent news for Winston.

[molly muffin]

Oh I was going to tell you and forgot, we have the annual Westie walk coming up this weekend, will be around 200 westies there. I have several friends with westies, so we're thinking of going to it.

[WinstonTheWestie]

Sharlene, I wish I was even remotely close to Canada! I've always been interested in doing a Westie meetup type thing, but I have never lived reasonably close to one. One time I considered traveling a couple hours for one, but the timing just wasn't right. Maybe the next place I end up will have one.

[molly muffin]

Oh I do hope that you get to go to one. My friends go every year. I have 3 friends with Westie's, so there are 4 dogs all together, from the same litter family.

It would be a blast I am sure. Canada is great, the only thing is the cold winters which I am Not a fan of. LOL And I really am not a fan of dog walking on icy paths.

[WinstonTheWestie]

The vet just called and Winston apparently has six teeth with "resorptive lesions"? She explained that it is basically where is tooth is disintegrating at the roots, below his gums. They found this on the xrays they took of his teeth. They recommended pulling them. I told them to do whatever they thought needed to be done.

I'm a little worried about how we'll manage. We weren't expecting having to extract anything since he's had a teeth cleaning every 1-2 years. The vet didn't say while we were on the phone, but a friend mentioned her dog had to eat soft food for two weeks after extractions. If that is the recommendation (which makes sense), I'm not sure what I am going to do. We are right in the path of Irma now and I can't order him the canned version of his special IBD food in time. The vet doesn't have any, and his IMS doesn't carry this brand either (our old IMS in Colorado did, which is why he is on this kind). I have three cans left over from his adrenalectomy hospitalization, but that certainly won't last more than three days. I can soak his kibbles, but that usually works better with hot water, and we're very worried that power/utilities will go out during this storm. Maybe I can chop up his kibble in my food processor so that room temperature water would penetrate it faster if the power does go out?

[Squirt's Mom]

The chopping sounds like a good idea to try. Do you have a camp stove of any kind or can you get one with the appropriate fuel at this late stage of the "game"? If you have one or can get one you can use that to heat food, water, etc. Annnnd with a great deal of patience, a candle can help at least warm a small amount of water. I wish you and Winston had been able to get out but know that was not possible for so many there. Please be a safe as you can and know we are with you!

[Joan2517]

And if you can heat up water, maybe mix some rice in with it. My guys just love getting rice...they think it's a treat!

[molly muffin]

If you can get hold of Any kind of can dog for just for the interim until you can acquire some that would work. Irma is an emergency situation, so I wouldn't worry too much about it being the right brand as it's only a temp measure. Did you cook up meat in your fridge? if so hamburger, or something soft that he can eat would work too. Are they doing the surgery right now? Maybe it could wait until after Irma?

[WinstonTheWestie]

He's awake, and ready to be picked up in about 45 minutes. We had figured this would just be a quick cleaning, so scheduled it today after people cancelled. It wasn't until he was already under and xrays were taken we learned he needed extractions. But I didn't want to anesthetize him again (that would have made it like three times in 6 weeks), so went ahead with the extractions today. In hindsight maybe it wasn't the best choice, but the vet seemed to recommend them so I went with it.

Thank you all for your suggestions! I did some experiments with a little dog food this afternoon while he was gone (because God forbid I get out food and not feed him any!), and I think we will be okay. I broke up the kibbles into pieces and with about a 15 minute soak they are pretty soft which I think will work. We can manage that. My downstairs neighbor does have a camp stove we could use if needed, so that's a good idea. I'll see how tonight goes and consider some of these suggestions tomorrow if needed. Irma isn't on track to arrive here until Sunday night into Monday morning so we do have a little time.

Thank you all!

[Harley PoMMom]

How are you and Winston doing?

Hugs, Lori