UTI + Overnight blindness + then sudden dementia like symptoms + Cushings dx

[SassyTerrier]

My senior Yorky silky terrier mix woke up blind. I was traumatized. I didn’t know anything like this could exist.
This year she has been walking from 1-2x around the block to begging for 6x around the block (contest little girl, I can’t say no to her requests).

I thought we were doing really well, and in November I noticed she started drinking a lot of water! Suddenly, she Peed on the floor, and she’s never done that before. I called the vet and he wanted to run test for diabetes and get to urinalysis. No diabetes. Positive urinalysis.

We were good.

Then mid February 2020. UTI returned. Back to vet. I noticed she couldn’t smell her food dish. Odd.
UTI confirmed. I administered her Heartguard chewy. We went to bed.
Next day, she woke up BLIND. No time to adjust. Just blind.
She was stuck behind a door trying to get to me. I can’t forget this moment.
The day before we were playing fetch. I watch videos from 2 days before and I sob.

The night before being blind she did bark at my bed, when I wasn’t in it (but she always barks at it if I’m in it to let me know she needs to go potty or chase the rat outside or bark at the possum on fence.

This wouldn’t be as bad, but she went deaf years ago (After her vaccines. She always spikes a fever each year, but this time she went deaf. Vet said it happened to his small dog too. “Hears in mo day, deaf on Tuesday”. I felt better hearing it bc she was in clomid flea pills and I had worried maybe it wasn’t so safe.

She was a very alert dog, good listener, sensitive to every sound, so afterward, she was a more calm dog that no longer barked at the coffee pot or the damn blender (we knew immediately lol).. And also didn’t mind the vacuum and could sleep (she was such a light sleeper from any sound).

Anyways, back to present.
The same day she went blind, she was rushed to vet who then had us rush her to an opthamologist.
Who confirmed she was blind. They spent 45 mins to hour with her and adored her. They did light tests which showed little to no response, obviously she didn’t respond to movement of any type either).

for the UTI, the Baytril made her sick. Her eyes were also so dilated and I thought Zenequin killed her bc she slept a solid day and was in deep sleep. Her eyes were so dilated.

She was eating ravenously.
I took videos because I’ve never seen anything like it! She’s always been a picky eater and eaten one meal a day and it takes bribery to get in a second. (She’s always been lean).
She was inhaling dog food like she had never seen it.

She developed A few weird “breathing fits” (no air going in and none coming out) which I took a video of (I thought it was related to Denamarin or Ocuglo we had started her on?).
We raced her to vet bc we thought she was dying from inhaling a leaf (as she was now eating EVERYTHING, like a goat). But the breathing fit ended before we got there, and The vet said looking at her right now (she was excited about another dog in the waiting room) she was fine on presentation, so he would not doing anything bc there were no symptoms (he didn’t do anything but look at her 3 secs just enough to say that to me- but we did rush in and he’s always busy).
Or the breathing fit was brought on from drinking chicken broth (The “dementia” that was developing seemed to now make her not want to drink water, she wouldn’t touch water bowl which was odd. (fortunately she now laps it up again).

She started peeing every hour in her sleep And outside.
Then, she was walking around like a zombie that didn’t sleep for 7 days and thrashing about and running into everything like a high powered lunatic. I cried.
I took her on walks/runs six times around block which she LOVED (only time my ‘old’ dog came back). I was trying to help her sleep at night, because at night we ran laps around back yard and inside she was running into everything (note: I have padded a lot of the house).

Covid was happening at this time, and I was pretty much screwed.
I found melatonin in my medicine cabinet and finally we were getting sleep at night.

The eyes were so dilated it scared me.

Over next 2 months:
Her UTI hadn’t responded to 10 days of amox clauv. She was peeing all over. Back legs were getting so weak. She stumbled over everything and fell randomly while standinf or walking in house, about every 10 seconds. So sad! I don’t know how a person can cry this much but my eyes now had rashes underneath from tears.
every morning when I held her, and on our walks I saw my baby and she was so strong and happy in these walks (I took videos- so happy and darling and fast!).

So now, we tried selegiline for cognitive decline, bc she was getting stuck in corners and ‘sun downing’ ( happening too fast), but she had every symptom. After 2 weeks she was so lethargic on it and slept most of the time, and the vet didn’t take her blood pressure bc they didn’t have working equipment and her urine protein was high- I couldn’t risk this drug having a side effect of ruining her kidneys! we stopped.

Her liver enzymes and triglycerides were high (Last 2 years I found out) , so a friend suggested I put it on a liver diet.
I also couldn’t get food and essentials because of Covid.
I was pretty much stuck with staples in my pantry of rice, pasta, yogurt. It was awful.
She lost a lot of weight on this diet, and the crazy thing is her eyes were no longer dilated, and she actually could see! I WAS OVER THE MOON IN JOY!
She was following me from several feet away, and acting coordinated.

But she was getting oh so skinny and frail, and her legs were getting even weak, and her midsection and ribs were puffy. Because her liver enzymes and fats were high, a friend suggested I put her on a liver diet. I also couldn’t get food because of Covid. I was pretty much stuck with staples in my pantry of rice, pasta, yogurt. It was awful. She lost a lot of weight on this diet, and the crazy thing is her eyes were no longer dilated, and she actually could see! She was following and acting coordinated. (I think I even have a video of this). She could navigate house perfectly! I cried tears of joy and my heart was so fulfilled.
But she was so skinny, and her legs were getting so weak, and her midsection was puffy. I felt her little doggy bones above tail sticking out.
Finally New dog food came! (Hills Liver care). she was thrilled to see it and gobbled it up. (She was ok ch one and rice/sweet potato before this and Purina dog food)

It was a few days later she plumped back up and lost vision again (but she felt more sturdy and strong) and became more uncoordinated and lost her balance again. Sadness


sometimes I wonder if because she lost all that weight, it decompressed a tumor pressing on nerve? Or I wonder if it’s some type of cyst pressing on her optic nerve? She sneezes a bit more now but it’s also allergy season which is horrible for all here.

(Although, She had been back at vet (I took any and all apts I could get) and I mentioned a lump on the top of her head, but she’s had for a couple months. We went to do a biopsy, and he told me to his surprise, it drained! No cancer like we all feared. And no more gross thing on her beautiful head. She was seeing around this same time (on diet that was not ideal) so maybe I thought the cyst had pressed on something.

But alas, she’s back to blind (see below) .

She had started to lose hair now above her tail.

The next vet apt I made a list of all that was wrong. I was no longer myself and falling apart. my brain couldn’t accept this.

My family tried telling me “It’s just old age“ but my brain SCREAMED, “you don’t age in 24 hours!”.

The vet did physical and came back, “We have a major problem. Your dog may have lung cancer. She is having a major coughing fit and it’s SEVERE.” I told him the coughing was impossible. She had not coughed in years besides an asthma attack (that wasn’t a cough)
He left saying it was grim. I sunk down feeling dizzy. I thought she would die right there.

On her chart that he has, I reminded him of her narrow trachea and xrays they took. (she was given onne shot years ago and we has no problems since! She runs everyday).

(Note: except for the 2 current breathing fits that were NOT a cough but more like rapid asthma? I have video if anyone interested?)

He came back out and my dog was apparently ok now.

I asked what happened, if someone hadn’t handled her correctly (he had new staff and they almost dropped her and grabbed her by the head from the car..)

He said during the physical he “induced a cough” which is routine and necessary (I had no idea).
And she coughed horribly. We had to have xrays.
The xrays were clear thank you lord.

Then, he said “I noticed she is developing cataracts. If you notice her vision is affected in future we need to talk about cataract removal”

I said “You do know my dog is blind right?? I told the girls several times and they wrote it down and it’s included in the note”
“No. I had no idea.” He said.

Anyways, he mentioned Looking at her blood test, he thought she had Cushing’s disease and wanted her tested. We did the test and it’s positive. In two weeks, she no longer has dementia, She is not falling down and she’s aware of who I am at all times.
The biggest moment came a couple days ago, she just “scooted back” and is so proud of herself (I took a video). she continued to “practice” and now giving eye drops or pills is a little more difficult but I am so happy for her! I can sleep a little now knowing she won’t be in a corner stuck.

She still has trouble sleeping at night When Med wears off, but if I give her the 10 mg trouble staying in the evening she sleeps all night. Solooking at her blood test, he thought she had Cushing’s disease and wanted her tested. We did the test and it’s positive. In two weeks, she no longer has dementia, and she’s aware of who I am at all times. She still has trouble sleeping at night, but if I give her the 10 mg trusting in the evening she sleeps all night. it’s timing.

The first week of bad was great, no side effects. But by day 7 to 10 we had shaking that turned into TREMBLING.. I have been so scared. I realize that happen 30 minutes within giving denimarin. So we stopped. Since this blindness has happened, what I’ve noticed is she cannot handle stress at all. When I give her a bath, She also does this trembling and it’s like “fight or flight”

She used to roll around on the towel and let me blow her dry. Now she PANICS! She is like a trotting horse and can’t sit still and her heart races. Bath time is TORTURE.

Each day is something different for the last 3 months.

On the positive,
She is no longer peeing all over herself every hour! She can hold it now for 5-6 hours.

Our urinalysis, after 3 weeks looks much better. She still has bacteria in urine but her protein is lower, and this time in 5 months is the first time she had NO white blood cells or red blood cells! Microalbumin has gone from 10 to 4.5! her blood pressure average was 140/160 (as long as it’s under 170 we are safe).

Anyways, I wish I had found the support group sooner. I’ve felt very alone.

I was hoping some of you guys could look at her bloodwork or if I could email it? Is there a way to post the picture? I’m having some horrible hand inflammation and Voice to text doesn’t seem to copy lab values.

We started low-dose 10 mg, bjt she gets milk thistle and a few other things I added like vitamin e + fish oil, etc...

I just had the ATCH test and I worry about one of the values... it seems too low after 4-5 hours...
Anyways, have you guys heard of a dog going blind overnight from Cushings?

can she still take milk thistle if I give it 12 hours apart?

Her triglycerides were normal after a couple weeks of milk thistle/Denamarin, and the liver enzymes had lowered a little bit.

But I worry it will interfere with medication.

Also, I want to do another post on the possible risk of me giving heart guard again?
I know it was just coincidental with the blindness And cognitive issues,.
But my gut says ’don’t give it to her.’ Something bad will happen to her delicate blood brain barrier.

I also have a horrible fear of heart worms.

So I went and got interceptor.

But it says it can cause ataxia.

I’m so afraid.

[LtlBtyRam]

I am so sorry you are in such a state of unknowing and panic. I have never done much with voice to text, so I can't advise you there. The only way to get pictures that I know of is to make an album in your profile area and post them there. About the heart guard, I say follow your gut. You know your furbaby best. I hope those with more extensive knowledge have options for you regarding the heartworms. I can empathize with you about emergencies and the love we have for these beings which rely on use for their care. I still can't entertain the idea of getting another dog and mine has been gone for a little over 4 years, although everyone is different. I know you love her and want the best. Hang in there, you are not alone.
Angela

[Remy’s Mom]

You definitely have your hands full and I can understand how emotionally stressful it is. I’ve dealt with a number of very similar issues. My dog Angel has a history of elevated liver enzymes, Globulin and Total Protein. The internist we went to wound up selecting Sentinel. Living in Louisiana heart worms are a serious problem so I have to keep her on something. He was looking for something with the least combinations of drugs to keep it simple.

As for Ginger’s vision, diabetes can cause sudden blindness BUT so can high blood pressure. It causes the retinas to detach. Its easy to miss if there is not regular blood pressure monitoring. I had another little poodle who was on blood pressure meds. I thought they were monitoring it when she had her semi annual physicals and blood work. She developed kidney failure and again, they SHOULD have monitored blood pressure closely. Instead my complaints about her apparent blindness were attributed to thick cataracts. Got her to an ophthamologist and she immediately saw the detached retinas and checked her blood pressure which was over 220. Sometimes the retinas will reattach but unfortunately in our case, they did not. And it is a big adjustment for them to be suddenly blind. I am a big proponent of regular blood pressure monitoring in senior dogs and especially if there are aging kidneys. I do see your dog is running between 140-160 which is generally safe but they can get spikes at times and it is simply one of those things that is important to monitor and adjust their medication if necessary.

Your dog is deaf and now blind so she has lost two critical senses.That said, scent is extremely important and they actually do quite well using scent to find their way around. I can understand why a bath or the dryer would frighten a dog who can no longer hear or see. The dryer especially can frighten them . She will need patience and lots of soothing during the process. Slowly introduce the dryer. I’d try to keep it away so she only feels a gentle breeze from it at first. She can’t hear you talking to her or see or what is happening so you will have to try to communicate with her by touch. IF for some reason she loses her sense of smell or something changes the scents she uses as cues, such as new garden mulch which may cover up the old scents she has become used to, she might seem totally confused. Their sense of smell is so much greater than ours and things we wouldn’t even notice may have considerable affect on our furkid’s ability to scent.

I know emotionally it takes a toll trying to always be aware, to be observant and in tune with our baby so we notice when something is off. Its exhausting and having the COVID-19 outbreak has complicated things especially since we are not allowed to accompany our pet into the treatment areas.

Oh and one other thing, you mentioned a large growth on your dog’s head that apparently was a cyst. Growths are scary and some dogs get a lot of them. My poodles always seem to have weird growths, fluid filled blisters (some can get very large) things that look like growths but turn out to be cysts. We’ve had some hard growths that don’t seem like cysts and the vet goes to aspirate some cells and poof, it drains and is gone. So don’t panic, but do keep track of them and have them looked at just in case. Especially in a dog with somewhat compromised immunity (as we often see in senior dogs) those growths start coming fast and furious sometimes. I probably tend to overreact but the moment I see something that I know is not the typical variety for her we get it looked it just in case.

UTIs can be stubborn and very difficult. Some bacteria becomes resistant to antibiotics. I also learned that sometimes a different drug within the same recommended ‘family’ simply gets a better result in a particular dog. Or the addition of a second antibiotic may help prevent the bacteria from becoming resistant to a particular drug. Obviously how your dog reacts to a drug is important and the drug of choice may not be something your dog will tolerate.

My dogs are on Denamarin and I really don’t know how much it helps but we do give it. Like you, I have a dog with a number of issues and her case is rather complex especially liver issues. Her liver is abnormal and we never know how she will react to a particular drug. Some will send her liver enzymes soaring even though it is a drug that doesn’t typicallly do that. It makes it hard to know if we are dealing with a true liver issue or just her bizarre reaction to things.

BTW, do you see an Internal Medicine specialist or a regular vet? Nothing in the world against the regular, primary care vet. But sometimes it is important to find a really good internist for the complex and multiple issue pups. Especially I believe if they are seniors because it’s so easy to just attribute everything to their age. Or they might act like ‘well she/he’s 15 or 16 what do you expect?” Well, I expect the best quality of life I can give. I was fortunate to have a wonderful internist (until he moved far away unfortunately) who had a real affinity for the older ones and he worked hard to really look into things and help give them good quality of life.

Good luck with your precious furkid! I’m the pot calling the kettle black telling someone to stay calm but yes, you have to try. Information is power. The more you learn the more you can help your baby. I always figure the vet has hundreds of patients. I have MY baby and I’m going to learn all I can to make sure she’s getting the best care.And when it comes to Cushings there is no better place than here with these wonderful people!!


Claire

[labblab]

Hello and welcome to you and your little girl. Gosh, it sounds like you two have really been through a nightmare of problems — I’m so sorry! There have been so many issues involved that it will take some time and thought to try to address them all. I’m so glad that Angela and Claire have already had the chance to reply to you, and right now, I only have a little bit to add. But in answer to your primary question, as Claire has explained, Cushing’s can cause high blood pressure and that, in turn, can cause retinal damage severe enough to cause blindness. However, your description of your girl’s sudden loss of sight makes me think of another possibility.

As soon as you mentioned sudden blindness, my mind turns to the possible diagnosis of SARDS. It is a syndrome of unknown origin that causes sudden blindness in dogs, along with certain other symptoms that overlap with (and can be confused for) Cushing's, including excessive thirst, urination and hunger. Like Cushing’s, SARDS may be related to abnormal levels of adrenal hormones. Some dogs with SARDS actually test positive for Cushing’s, however others do not. The possible relationship between the two conditions remains poorly understood, Here’s an article that will tell you more:

https://vcahospitals.com/know-your-p...syndrome-sards

Now that I’ve mentioned SARDS to you, however, here’s one big feature that makes it unlikely for your dog. SARDS causes irreversible blindness. Since you say your girl’s sight has bern coming and going, this basically rules out SARDS. Also, the ophthalmologist ought to have been able to diagnose this condition, as well as the actual likely cause of the initial blindness. Can you find out what actual diagnosis was given after her examination?

Leaping forward, though, it sounds as though you’ve been giving her Vetoryl (Trilostane) to treat Cushing’s, and you’ve actually seen improvement. But as you’ve noted, we’ll really want to know what the results were for this recent ACTH monitoring testing. The result should be in the form of two numbers: her baseline cortisol level, and then a second cortisol level taken an hour later, after a stimulating agent has been injected. At a minimum, if you could just type those two numbers in a reply, that would be a big help. As far as earlier tests, all we really need to see are just any abnormal values on any of the panels — the whole list of results are not necessary. So maybe you can just type those in, too. If not, as Angela suggested, if you can take a photo of the lab results, you can then create a photo album here and upload the image.

I’m going to stop for now. As I say, there’s a lot to think over. But in the meantime, once again, we’re very glad you’ve found us.

Marianne

[SassyTerrier]

Hi Claire,

That’s a good point.

I wonder if this is why she gets extra worked up when I wash the linen, because her scent is gone?
And that’s how she locates her room for comfort?

She has a terrible time smelling and locating things (so odd! Happened right before the blindness.)
but she can now smell “something is there”.
(she has no problem locating another dog’s pee/poop or dried up earthworms (yay... lol... gross)

I’m looking into “dog scents” because maybe I can put a scent in each area to help her navigate.

She spends hours and hours rubbing on things and digging on her linen.

I started using sent-free detergent because it seems to help her settle down faster.

I am sad inside.

Dammit, why the eyes?! More than anything I want to give her vision back.

She is a busy bee. This week temp went up to 86-90 F with humidity. No daytime walk activity. I have no idea what to do for activities. No interest in playing with all her ‘babies’/stuffed animals.
(She greeted me everyday with her toy ��).

She whimpers and paces the door for walks bc that has been our schedule. She does not forget our schedule lol.
She is so bored and doesn’t understand why I’m such a mean mommy and not taking her

Or why she can’t have her favorite dog food.

She trots down the hallway and flips out with joy when she realizes finally we are going (she is not graceful without eye sight though... I panicking as she bills her head bc she’s too excited).

I am looking at pet halos but the bills are scaring me. She is worth every cent though.

I printed out the info for “cost savings” for my vet, he wasn’t happy and lectured me about how much risk and trouble he could get in by inspectors for having vials in the freezer of ACTH (I hadn’t thought of that).

I have only taken her to a vet, not an internist as I didn’t know what that was, or I wish I had spent the money there instead of at the vet.

He didn’t mention ‘an internist’ to me until after we had run many many tests.
(Before this, I didn’t know dog ophthalmologist or internists existed). Yesterday, when I asked about the cost savings he mention to me maybe an internist might be able to but not him.


Is your dog taking both Vetoryl and Denamarin?

I gave her the lowest dose of Denamarin yesterday and the shaking seemed to intensify by the next morning. I held off on the vetoryl for a few hours to be safe. (I offer her food and she is always ready to eat on the positive).
she looked better today after it passed. The swelling in her rib cage area (is that the liver or stomach area?) shrinks down quite a bit with it!

I have the small one but she’s suppose to be on medium size Denamarin.

What time do you give the dog vetoryl and Denamarin?


(I wanted to use plain milk thistle as she didn’t seem to shake from what I remember, but the vet also said “milk thistle alone will not work, had to have the Sam-E)

I noticed before she was blind platelets were slightly elevated.

Looking at medical journals, it mentions infections can elevate platelets (from the blood marrow). Cushings babies can have hyper-coagulability and are at risk for embolisms/blood clots. I didn’t know this.

Is that what could potentially make them go blind? a micro clot in a blood vessel or the eye?

And is there anything we can do about preventing clots forming in Cushing dogs?

I wish I had money to take her to a holistic vet to work alongside her vet.

I have no idea what diet is best. What supplements she may need more or less of.

My brain spins.
My heart races.

There’s beautiful moments too I relish in, like our walks when we both clear our heads and seeing her frolic all happy, makes my heart beam.

I love what you said about the vet having hundreds of patients, but we have one baby. We know them best.

I am very glad to find this forum.

Still in shock. Didn’t have time to adjust bc one day she acted like a puppy, and the next not.

Thank you for your support.

[SassyTerrier]

Thank you Angela,
good advice.

I am still searching the internet for a solution on safer Heartguard.

I feel nauseated thinking about giving it to her if I poison her system with it.

I face the risk of heart worms which would kill her if she got them.
Or a risk of euthanasia if the Heartguard damages her CNS.
Unknown is so scary.

[Remy’s Mom]

I know it’s pretty overwhelming. No, not just ‘pretty’ overwhelming, it IS totally overwhelming. I’m not really one of the Cushing experts here. I have a Bichon recently diagnosed and he gets 10 mg. Vetoryl once a day. We were giving it in the morning but he doesn’t eat as consistently as evening so switching to evening. Rose going blind for something that would have been avoidable had her blood pressure been better monitored was devastating to me. The sad part is I had just made the connection between kidney failure, high blood pressure and blindness and was headed to the opthamologist when my vet called with blood work results on the other dog. While on the phone I asked him about her dose of medication and he said. Yeah we should probably double it. I get to the ophthamologist and right away she detects blood behind the eye and the detached retinas. He had been seeing her for several weeks about loss of vision. Had he caught it sooner she likely would not have wound up blind. And it can be very difficult for them to adjust. Broke my heart. Do try using scents to help your dog find her way around. I always wore the same perfume to help her ‘find’ me. Angel, who has the liver issues as well as bladder cancer, has been on Sentinel for heartworms. It kills heartworms and I think has similar ingredients to Interceptor. Internist said use the medication with the simplest components for her. I’m in Louisiana where heartworms is a big problem and never had a problem. They don’t seem to bother her but of course, all dogs are different. I always used Heartguard before. Still do for the Cushings dog. Both my dogs are on Denamarin. The small and the medium size. Haven’t had any issues using it. I’m not sure it would cause trembling or shaking but every dog is different.

You might try getting a little cap with a visor to help keep your pet from bumping into things. Just a simple doggie baseball cap might help alert her to the presence of an object when the visor touches it. I had one for my Amanda who was profoundly blind. There are doggie halos too made especially for that purpose.
These days there are all sorts of specialists. I don’t know where you are located but if there is a College of Veterinary medicine you might be able to get a little better price. If you already have a lot of test results the internist can use them. Likely would want to do his/her own ultrasound though. Platelets go up and down. Hard to say the cause in your particular case. If you can manage it definitely try to get a consult with an Internist. Complicated cases really need someone who specializes. Meanwhile try not to stress too much. You have to stay healthy to be able to help your baby. I know that’s easier said than done.
I know everyone here is going to be pulling for you.

[SassyTerrier]

Hi Marianne,

I took my doggy in the day she went blind. My dog did not respond to her light tests and exam. They spend a long time with her (almost an hour in the back room with her - this was right before covid.

It may have been too early.

I’d go back now but walking in was not cheap.

She did confirm blindness saying very little activity.

I can certainly call and ask for her diagnosis.

I was suppose to get a print out and differential diagnosis but I left with just a bill and paperwork on how to care for a blind dog (I.e. always supervise, cover any pools or dangerous stairs (I don’t have any but I did appreciate the print out).
She told me my dog was happy and plenty of dogs live good lives and that she would adapt.
(she was still smiley at this point)

The opthamologist did want to run another test ($500) but it would not bring back her vision.

She said, if needed it would allow her to give a referral for a a neurologist and that would be next step, getting an MRI and CSF fluid (which I can not afford here) and if it were a tumor pressing on optic nerve then she said a neurologist would likely treat that with radiation to shrink it. Which she said my dog was healthy and a good candidate if that were the case (which I didn’t know how bc doesn’t that require a lot of anesthesia?)
I did ask if I could just go to the neurologist for an MRI, and she said no. First they needed to do the eye exam.

My dog has not had any vision for the last 3-4 weeks. I had a huge glimmer of some hope that she was seeing several weeks ago, when she lost all the weight, but right now there isn’t any vision.

She feels noticeable lighter during the day when I give her the Vetoryl. Her appetite is still good but she isn’t begging. But she does shake About 4 hours after (I feed her at this time again, just incase it’s low blood sugar? Or bc the vet said the minutes she doesn’t want food, we are in trouble. So this is something He said I am to always watch for. And I do.

12 hours after the med at night time she is ravenous.
She hovers the kitchen and licks the floors all night for food. I can’t eat knowing she is hungry and she knows and races to kitchen if I have even a cracker in my mouth.

I’ve added in veggies ( broccoli, green beans, cucumber, carrot, apple) to help, but she is so hungry
I give her 3 smaller dinners instead of big meal. But then she feels so much more heavy. She is drinking a lot again too evenings (large amounts at once. I don’t take water away ever, but I wondered today if like food, she needs help monitoring or pacing herself with water.

I had asked about splitting her dose so it would be more smooth: 5 mg in morning and 5 mg at night bc this Med is up and down. And the vet said no.
He said she is on the correct dose (10 mg). We just had bloodwork.

I did ask if I could give her the Med at night (I have not slept much in months) and he said yes.

I have been giving it in the morning because it makes her sleep a few hours which helps her get through very hot afternoons where she can’t be on walks or outdoors.
She does not understand why our consistent walking schedule has changed.

I am glad I pressed again for blood pressure check. He said as long as it stays under 170 she will be ok.
I do wish I had my own device to take her blood pressure bc she gets so stressed sometimes.

Im concerned because when he called me with results he said “ Blood pressure is very difficult to take in dogs. They struggle to move around, and we have to restrain their legs and take it six times to get an average reading.“

I noticed today one of her legs did something weird. It was under her body and she wasn’t aware of its location.
I wipe her feet off everyday and check her reflexes (I lightly tap toes and 2 other parts of each leg to make sure she responds and she does). But one leg didn’t.

I’m so freaked out.

She was tilting to one side.
Her energy is fine, but I feel it would be best to keep her in a cage until this gets better but she would die from stress as she’s a busy body.

I’m praying this gets better. The legs feel good but now I’m regretting letting anyone handle her.

I have not been able to restrain her and put her on her side, so I have no idea how the staff managed that.

Her leg looked like it was tilting to one side.

I will be praying all night this is a temporary sprain. Bc I can not afford another vet bill and I don’t want her to have any issues.


I really appreciate all the help and support,

(I myself feel like I may have high blood pressure).

I Will type out the blood work. (I have pictures of it)
Let me work on that right now

[SassyTerrier]

That is heartbreaking about your Rose.
There’s so many things we wish we knew, or replay in our minds. I barely catch my breathe most days. Just need a pause button.

The baseball cap is a great idea. I’ll see if I can find a small one.

I know it doesn’t help, but I’m trying to figure out if I need sunglasses for her eyes. But they look uncomfortable.

I want to make a lightweight UV sunshield for her when we go outside. I’ve been trying to use an umbrella to shade her, but I have to have her walk several feet ahead of me (bc she is fast and can dart back the second she gets a wiff of another doggy, and I cannot risk her getting under my foot. I would hate myself if I accidentally stepped on her).

[SassyTerrier]

Sentinel is sounding like a good idea.

Dang. I just bought 6 months of interceptor and then at vet I got several months of Heartguard bc the vet assured me there were no side effects and Heartguard was extremely safe. (I wasn’t going to use both. I decided on interceptor and he then told me heart guard was safe and to use that so I got that instead other day for him.)