Sick doggie - adivce? A setback

[Kerry F]

My 12 year old Maltese has been pretty sick.  They finally diagnosed it as they think pancreatitis.

She's been in the hospital two days, had a bunch of tests.  I might get to take her home today.  She's had about every test to the tune of about $2,400 so she's otherwise healthy.  She does have a heart murmur she's had since she was a puppy............was wondering whether to put her down at $500 a day in the hospital!  But she's going to make it I think.  Could live another 3 to 5 years. 

I would like to know others' experience with their dogs if they've ever had pancreatitis and if you have a Maltese how long they lived.

Thanks

[Kerry F]

My dog is really doing much, much better today!!  You can tell she's definitely feeling better.  I think I can make that new young vet pay part of my hospital bill for such a gross misdiagnosis when I brought her Monday last week, then again on Thursday.  He never examined her abdomen because he has you in the room the whole time he's examining.  If he had, he would have had a red flag instead of chasing nonexistent respiratory infection and tonsillitis all week that wasn't getting any better.

[Kelli Combs (admin)]

That's awesome, Kerry.  No one wants their baby to be sick.  Give her a kiss for me.  :)

[Kerry F]

Well, she's making it!  I've been giving her some of that parsley/fennel seeds/fenugreek mixture and using a little cold laser on her belly...........I have a cold laser, awesome for sore wrists............but she's a lot better.  Still not eating too much, still a little nauseous, but her pain is pretty much gone.  Thanks for all the support!

[Kerry F]

Well, she had a setback on Wednesday............flared up again.  I took her to a homeopathic vet.  She's on no food or water again and a m giving her subcutaneous fluids twice a day.  If she doesn't turn around this week, I will put her down.  She doesn't seem "that" miserable, but definitely in some pain and nauseous.  She has such a sparky spirit and I can still see it there in her eyes.  She's not ready to go yet, but I will let her go before I let her really suffer.

[Mary Jo Cochran]

When my dog started having pain I began giving her Bayer orange baby aspirin, one in morning and one about 8:00 at night.  It made a difference.

[Kerry F]

She's got pain meds, Tramadol.  Thanks.

[Kerry F]

I gave her some ID, not AD food for gastrointestinal on Wednesday and syringed it, even though she didn't want it. And I put a little organic soft pumpkin for her bowels because she hadn't gone in six days (vet said that was okay because she wasn't eating much) and she pooped, but then got sicker Thursday afternoon, fever was up.  I am giving her subcutaneous fluids..........hate poking her, she yelps.  But this homeopathic vet told me no food or water by mouth for 72 hours.  I learned that MDs and internists disagree on whether to give any food or water when treating pancreatitis.............

 

 

[Kerry F]

What's this about livers can shut down?  Vets didn't mention that.  I though they really could suffice on water for long periods.  One vet says no food or water for 72 hours this round, another vet says that's old school and it's okay to give a little food or water.

She was taking Cerernia for nausea, but it don't think it improved her appetite much.......maybe only a little.  She hasn't thrown up one through all this.............

[Kerry F]

Suzi, are you sure it's A/D and not I/D?  I Googled it and can't find A/D.  I have I/D that is from the vet that's for gastrointestinal stuff.

[Kerry F]

I got some I/D today from the hospital where my dog was.  They carry it and the vet gave me some.  Right now she's eating the Royal Canine recovery formula and seems to tolerate that well.  She's better again.............you know, she did not do well with NO food or water.......got worse, more nauseous.  Two schools of thought on pancreatitis and eating or not eating for a few days.  Clearly my dog does better with small amounts of food.  We'll see if she flares up again because I cannot spend any more money and if she does have some more serious underlying infection or a cancer, which they don't see as of yet, then I would put her down.  She's 12 and has a 4 out of 6 heart murmur.  Won't put her through any surgeries.........so I'm praying she'll keep getting better. I'm just going to really feed her very small amounts throughout the day.

A really cool true homeopathic vet I found online in Arizona has been emailing me and he said antibiotics almost NEVER help pancreatitis, only very rare that they're actually needed for pancreatitis.

Thanks Suzi.

[Kerry F]

She's a lot better............good call to feed her and not starve her for 72 hours as one vet said.  She's better this time in recovering than the first time around.

She's been on antibiotics for three weeks now and it's up to me whether to do one more round of 10 days.  I'm hesitant.........if there is something additional going on, I am not paying for another ultrasound to see because if there is, I won't do surgery on her at 12 with a heart murmur.  Some of the Royal Canine stuff does have "animal byproducts" in it and I won't give that to my dogs.  But the ID and AD do not have any byproducts.  I was wondering if it was the AD that was too heavy for her and maybe this time I should stick with the Recovery Formula...........

What about fresh chicken breast boiled or 96 percent lean beef?  Or should I just stay with this canned stuff?  Did you give your dog any probiotics or enzymes?

Thanks! 

[Judy]

Kerry,

I have my 14-yo Chihuahua on the chicken and brown rice formula.  She does well with it.  I can't remember why I switched from white rice to brown.  I think it's because the white rice is stripped of something which is beneficial to her.  I put about a 50/50 mix through the food processor, then freeze them in two-day portions.  She has many issues, and I believe it has prolonged her life.  I, too, have been struggling with the "Is it time?" question.  She's happy and has a spring to her step (which is good considering she's 100% blind), so I'm lucky that I haven't had to make that call.  Matter of fact, I stopped taking her to the vet two years ago and figured I'd let nature take its course, and she seems no worse for the wear from the decision. 

I'm not a fan of vets, for the most part.  When she went blind, they of course wanted to test her for all sorts of perceived ailments.  They thought she had a pig-shaped butt, so they were sure she had one issue (yeah, I feed her too much!).  Did all kinds of tests, which were negative.  But that was only after they did about $800 worth of tests on her eyes, only to tell me total retinal detachment and nothing they could do.  Then they were sure she had something else, so we put her on medication.  I ran out of the meds and couldn't get her an appointment (couldn't just buy the meds, she HAD to have a physical each time), so I took her off for a few days and she actually seemed happier.  When she fell down a few steps and was "stiff," I brought her in, and they wanted to do back surgery on her.  I mean, it just goes on and on and on with these people.  I had them put her on muscle relaxants and she was fine in a couple days.  Then she had an issue with one of her 100% BLIND eyes.  Of course it was a Friday night emergency.  The ER doc wanted to try to "fix" the eye (shove it back in, close it shut, put her on meds so the swelling could go down, and MAYBE the eye would stay put when they took the stitches out).  I said just take it out, stop putting her through stress!  After a huge vet bill for that potential fix, yep, she had to go to a surgeon and have her eye removed.  So that was at least a $3,000 bill.  Yep, not a fan of vets.

I have my other dogs on the Natural Balance kibble.  Henry, my Springer Spaniel, has horrible ear infections and developed warts on his tongue.  A vet diagnosed it as a food allergy (but that was the, I think, fourth vet we had taken him to for the warts.  One wanted to remove part of his tongue!), we switched him to the Natural Balance, and the warts are totally gone and ear infections are reduced.  You can see his list of products at www.naturalbalanceinc.com.