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ok not good day

R

robin d.

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last night we noticed something seriously wrong with one of our outdoor dogs.... she was stiff could barely walk let alone take a step up to get into the house, we had to help her... she had diareah, she was panting... her eyes were red and she almost seemed congested or something. so i calle the vet he said to meet him at the clinic. ok so we met and the first thing he thought was either a poisoning or invenomation. so we left her there he was going to do a blood work up and a toxocology test.... well come to find out she has heart worms but we cant worry about that right now because she has some sort of auto immune disease... could be secondary to the heart worms or could be independant or inconjunction with some other sort or illness like cancer, lupis ect. she is very sick and i don't know if she will make it through this auto immune thing... it is VERY bad.... this dog is 5 years old and has energy like a puppy can play frisbe all day long... play ball... and still has so much energy she bugs the crap out of you but she could barely walk or even keep her head up yesterday night.she had shown no signs of heartworms so thats why they do not think the auto immune thing is related to them and that other illnesses can cause the auto immune onset extremely fast. they will do a chest x-ray today to see if they can find out anything else.
she is my "pickle butt" (thats her name , we mostly call her pickles though) and i am afraid of the worst but we will have to wait to see how she respondes to the treatment it will be day to day for the next couple, if she makes it that long.
 
Robin I am so sorry your dog is ill, I will keep you and Pickles in my heart and in my thoughts.
 
So sorry about your "Pickles"....I'll keep you all in my thoughts. Are they going to do more testing to see exactly what is causing the autoimmune problem? Or are they just doing supportive care right now until she's strong enough to do more work on her?

Heartworm can cause a wide variety of complications, it's an awful thing, yet sadly so easily prevented. I just spent over $300 (EESCH!)today getting the heartworm preventative (once a month pill) and Frontline for my doggies....but you only have to do it once a month, and it saves so much in the end.

One thing I'd suggest....(thinking POSITIVE HERE....she WILL make it just fine to the point of treating the heartworms! :) ) when you do treat the heartworms......if you can, I'd talk to your vet about using an alternative treatment to the Immicide they normally use. The Immicide is dangerous in itself, and the treatment alone can kill the dog, besides being VERY expensive. I have a good friend that runs a rescue in Michigan, and he routinely takes in dogs that would otherwise be euthanised because they are heartworm positive, and for whatever reason, the owners decide not to treat the dog, or if it's found hw positive in a shelter, it's usually an immediate death sentence. He has been using an alternative treatment for several years now, and it works well, and is MUCH safer for the dog, however it's a long term commitment. Instead of giving the dog one massive dose of Immicide, the dog is started on steroids and anti-inflammatory meds for about 2 weeks, then they are given a size appropriate dose of Ivermectin. They do get sick, but NOTHING compared to what the Immicide causes. The Ivermectin is continued monthly (with a dosing of aspirin a couple days before and after to thin the blood). This treatment may take up to 2 full years before the dog is heartworm FREE, but it they will not get sicker. It actually only kills the filaria and young in the bloodstream, and bascially the already adult worms die from "old age", lol.....but they can't multiply, and by not killing all of them off at once, there's a MUCH better chance that they won't cause a "clot" and stop blood flow.

I'm currently treating a rescue of my own this way, and it seems to be helping greatly, but it's only been 6 months. He's stopped his hacking (from the heartworms that migrated to his lungs) and he's putting on weight. You have to remember it'll take time, but if it's safer.

If there's anything I can help with, please let me know.
 
That really blows, Robin. I truly feel for you. I hope all goes well. Take care and keep your chin up.
 
thanks guys for all your kind words.

cathy as of right now they are doing supportive care until she is strong enough and simple bloodwork... her platelet count is WAY down they say anything under 47,000 and can go in to instant hemoriging... her platelet count as of last night was 24,000 and he also today was going to an xray of the crest to see if has any tumors,how progressed the heartworms are and look for frungus. she is having liver and kidney problems and she has very imflamed mucus membranes apparant by looking in her nose and down her throat. she can only stand up for a minute or two before she lays back down. she is not eating but she is on interveinious fluids two kinds of antibiotics and they are doing a risky procedure by giving her cortazone for 1) the inflamation but also to try and get her platelet count up.
in all the years we had dogs we never had any on heartworm preventative and not one animal of ours died because of heartworms, so that was not something that crossed our minds even though it was suggested..... needless to say morgan her outside playmate will be getting tested on saturday for HW. and soon after that our inside dog daisey
 
Robin I just read this and I am so sorry about Pickles. I will be hoping and praying that she makes it.
 
Awww, I'm sorry to hear about your pup. I know you're doing all you can, so just keep positive thoughts! Good luck on the hw testing on the other two, hopefully it hasn't spread.

Keep us posted.
 
I know what you mean robin.....so many people just don't think of it, especially when you are in an area where it isn't prevalent. There have been cases around here, but very rarely until the last couple of years, and it has EXPLODED here (along with the skeeter population, I suppose)....and I know WAY too many people who have lost dogs to it....GOOD owners who loved their dogs very much, but just never thought to have them tested or put on the meds....but they didn't purposely neglect it, it just wasn't something vets pushed.

Every time you walk into the vets office around here now, the first thing they ask you is if your dog has been tested for heartworms, and if it hasn't, it's pretty much not an option to say you don't want it done.

Keep us posted, I am anxious to hear how things go....
 
i talked to the tech today....
she originally was not eating on her own so they began syring feeding her after a couple of syringes she began to nibble at the dog food available in her cage... she is drinking water on her own
her temp has gone down from 105 to 101 (normal)
the chest xray came out clean with the exception of the HW but she didnt say how bad they were but at this point the HW are of no concern her immune system is
they said she seems more alert... she is standing up more for longer periods of time and does not seem as weak however she still is very congested in her nose and chest. basically a bad cold caused by the depressed imune system.
they said initially she was having liver and kidney problems but today she urinated... no blood in it.
i cant get over excited but it seems today is better than yesterday but we all know how tings can change she still is VERY sick. i will know more tomorrow and my vet will preform more bloodwork to check her platelet count, red and white blood cells. i guess we will just take it day by day
 
I was hoping to hear some good news. Been checking this thread all day. Keeping my fingers crossed and and Pickles and you in my prayers.
 
That sounds better Robin. There won't be any drastic change for a while, it will be slow and gradual. It's a good sign that she is starting to eat.
I can feel for you. I had just gone to TN the first weekend of April to pick up a bassett hound puppy. Breeder reassured me all shots were up to date. Get there, mom and dad were gone, left the older teenagers in charge. After driving 14 hours, I just picked up the pup and believed the kids that mom would send me the vet records later. Well, she did, a week after I had the pup home. Shots weren't up to date or worming.
This is a high parvo state, so of course my pup contracted parvo. I buried him last Tuesday.
Our pets become part of our family and I believe that miracles can happen for them also. We will be praying for a miracle for you Robin. Hang in there.
Candy
 
Candy i am sorry about the loss of your puppy. I can feel for you as well a couple months back i had to put down my cat, booger, of twelve years... he was my boy.


i should know more later this morning between 9 and noon... once i hear from the vet i will update you all on how pickles is doing.
 
Glad to hear there is some improvement and I hope she gets completely well for you so you can see that smile!
 
ok i called the vet today and he wanted me to come in and see pickles... to bring some of her food, any snacks she like and maybe a couple of her favoite toys.
sshe is doing so much better... she did not want to eat but that did not suprise me since she is a weird eater. she was standing up and sitting down, givin hugs, still smiling and giving kisses.
she is currently taking several medications... they took her of the interveinious lines today and are giving her meds orally. her playelet count is up to 64000, which is a major improvement. he wants us to bring her home for the weekend so she is not as stressed to see if she has no appitite or just stressed. she still has diareah but that also could be from the meds and her not eating much... he consulted many other vets and she does NOT have a immune deficiancy but rather a hyper imune system, which is killing off its own cells and what not. most likely some time next week he will start her on small dosages of iverectin enough to kill the eggs larva and small worms but not enough to make her sick or kill the adults... but this will keep it from speading until she is strong enough for treament, which may be as long as two months from now. he says the heartworms could have caused this condition but he believes it may be lupis... at this piont in time he does not want to do any biopsies because of imune problems... he just wants to get her stable... he said he doesnt know if its temporary or perminent. i suggested some alternative HW treeatments and he said that if i would get him the info he would look into them, so he isnt against alternative medacines or treatments... just looking out for the well being of the animal. when he looked at the blood work and chest x-ray he said she had low to moderate HW and could only see three maybe four worms. so thats a good sign it isnt way advanced.

i will update you tomorrow.. she may come home tomorrow or on saturday but it will be one of those days unless she does a complete turn around and begins to decline. she may be home for good with frequest blood tests and check ups or she may go back in for some more intensive treatments depending on how she does this weekend.
also she is still congested but not nearly like she was no boogies no sneezing and not as much hucus in her throat... she is breating heavy but not panting drooling and sneezing boogs like before.
cross your fingers guy and i will update you soon
 
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