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Thread: Miracle dog! 19 yr old Mini Doxie. Need Holistic Vet referral

  1. #1

    Red face Miracle dog! 19 yr old Mini Doxie. Need Holistic Vet referral

    Hi Everyone,

    My wonderful dog has been with us shortly after he was born. He has been fine, health wise, aside from dental issues, got his weight down to 10 lbs because his stomach runs his hunting nature, but the past few years, he has exhibited excessive urination, peeing, anxiety, always hungry, etc.. We moved and that added stress onto him. He had an ACTH test done and the low dex, but came back negative in 2018. My intuition said it might be Cushing's. However, this year has been a tough one. He had, what we thought was heat stroke in 2019, but the same something happened July 2020. Took him to the ER and they examined him. The doctor said he looked depressed and might have IVDD. Said to get an ultrasound with the regular vet. We did and it was normal, including the adrenal mass in the right adrenal gland. It didn't change size. Bloodwork showed a UTI. He had two rounds of UTIs that seemed to go away with antibiotics and come back, even with cultures done.

    So this year, Feb 5, I insisted that the vet do another Low Dex test and it came back with high cortisol levels. So he prescribed him Vetoryl, which I didn't start until Valentine's Day. Then after his third dose of 10 mg, prescribed for twice a day, he came in from a walk and started to run into the wall, became confused, couldn't stand, vomiting, fever, drunken walk, etc. Took him to a holistic vet and he said he probably has a kidney infection. He did not do bloodwork and just prescribed Baytril. He gave him fluids and then he seemed to be doing better, but still kept throwing up. I have cooked his food for the most part of his life, no grains, and this came on suddenly. I insisted on a blood panel and it showed elevated kidney values, liver enzymes, his phosphorus and calcium were all over the place, low glucose, and low thyroid. So he gave him Orbax. Well, he seemed to be getting better, until I took him to our regular vet for a dental panel and he just shoved me the papers and said he is I kidney failure and to get him to the hospital.

    So I did and they kept him overnight. It was his first time ever at a hospital. The doctor called me and told me the results of his ultrasound. It had completely changed in 6 months. His kidneys were shrunken, small nodules or cysts in the liver, which he assumed that maybe the adrenal tumor moved into his liver, but the vessels were unobstructed. So I decided to bring him home. He also developed pnemonia(aspiration) due to his vomit or us giving him water by mouth because he stopped eating all together. They told us from this point on, it was palliative care. So we brought him home.

    Since I was and am still not happy with our vet, I researched alot and found out about Sub q fluids, calcium(tums), phosphorus binders, etc.. things that a vet should normally inform the patients on what to expect with CKD. He had started to seizure and was put in the hospital and had low calcium levels. They gave him a bulbous of fluids and a calcium drip. So at home, Tums fixed that along with the fluids and supplements.

    His next blood work was better, lower BUN and Creatinine. Then by the third blood panel a month after, it was almost normal. BUN and Creatinine were normal along with Liver enzymes. He was eating a special CKD diet from Just Food For Dogs and he hasn't eaten so much rice before. The low protein has got to be causing the muscle wasting. He now walks with a hunched back and doesn't seem like himself. He is taking Seligiline and Thyroxine.

    My issue is that the following panel now showed elevated BUN and Creatinine blog with ALK and ALP. Thyroid was way up. The vet said he wasn't certain he was hypothyroid anyway. Maybe Sick Eurthyroid. I am aware that it could be because I fast him before bloodwork and dehydration could cause the elevated BUN. He started to not want to eat the rice and lamb food, so I started to make his own. I miss making his own food and feel that it was better for him when I did. He eats it quickly, no grains. I'm at a loss with vets saying conflicting stories, to do an ECHO and not do one, etc..No coughing, but at the hospital he had high BP only one afternoon and they gave him Amlodopine, which he does not take due to the vet thinking he doesn't have his BP. He tests normal at the office. I don't want to try Veteroyl again with the liver enzymes high, but I'm just confused on whether to feed him a Cushing's diet or CKD. I don't know which to treat, since Cushing's is probably the underlying condition that causes the rest of the organs issues.

    Any recommendations as to someone in the Los Angeles area that is familiar with this disease and how to treat it holistically would be very helpful as well as advice. Thank you for reading this far.

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Apr 2009
    Location
    Georgia
    Posts
    15,292

    Default Re: Miracle dog! 19 yr old Mini Doxie. Need Holistic Vet referral

    Hello and welcome to you and your boy. Omigosh but it sounds as though you’ve both been through an awful lot during this past year — I’m so sorry!! I’ll have to wait until later today to be able to write a lengthier reply, but I wanted to at least quickly stop by to welcome you and to tell you that we’re very glad you’ve now found us.

    So goodbye for the moment, but I’ll be back again later with more to say ;-).
    Marianne

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Apr 2009
    Location
    Georgia
    Posts
    15,292

    Default Re: Miracle dog! 19 yr old Mini Doxie. Need Holistic Vet referral

    Hello again, and I apologize for my delay in getting back with you. But I’ve taken this time to read through your thread multiple times in the hope that I would be able to offer you some helpful new suggestions. However, I must confess that your little boy’s situation is so complicated that I must defer to the trained professionals. I wish that I could recommend a specific vet practice to you in Los Angeles, but I really can’t do that, either, since it’s been quite a while now since we’ve heard any reports from members in that area.

    So I apologize for being of so little help to you, but I still want you to know we’re very glad you found us. You’ve done an extraordinary job of caring for your boy to allow him to celebrate 19 birthdays, and we surely hope we can join you in cheering him on to his 20th! Please continue to update us, and still feel free to ask specific questions since there may be some answers we can try to offer out to you.

    Best wishes to you and your precious boy,
    Marianne

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