Sunday, July 20, 2008

Lightning...

....apparently does strike twice sometimes. Zac's been hooked up to an IV most of the time since friday morning with something that looks remarkably like whatever it was Gael had in mid-May. I noticed thursday evening that he was acting funny when he'd pee. He'd hike his leg like normal but when he tried to walk away from peeing, he'd hunch over with his tail hanging down and keep peeing, like he couldn't stop when he wanted, and his stream was kind of weak and dribbling. I called the vet and dropped him off friday morning, expecting to hear back that he had a UTI of some sort, something along those lines. Instead they called and said his ALT liver enzymes were very, very high, his urine specific gravity very low, and that he was severely dehydrated. They started IV fluids and IV antibiotics and sent out for a lepto titer and to culture his urine. I picked him up in the afternoon and dropped him off at the emergency vet to continue the fluids and antibiotics and to monitor him, and they sent off for a tick titer. He came home this afternoon and feels fine - he's felt just fine the whole time actually. Hopefully the titers will come back quickly and we can start getting some answers on what this is. I ran the other 4 dogs by the vet saturday to check liver and kidney values and they're all normal, and hopefully will stay that way. I just hope we can solve this mystery. Zac is now on the same feeding and supplement protocol Gael was on, and i'll talk to the vet tomorrow about the plan for monitoring him.

Keep an eye on your dogs, especially keep an eye on any increase in drinking and peeing. That was the first sign anything was wrong with Gael and Zac both, and the liver values were really high without either feeling bad at all. I didn't act as quickly as i probably should have with Gael since it was such a sneaky thing. I think i caught Zac pretty early.

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

Lots of prayers and good thoughts for you guys over here. Been thinkin' bout you guys a bunch.

Robin French said...

Thanks! Zac seems to feel fine, his usual bouncy happy self. I sure hope we can get to the bottom of this.

Anonymous said...

Perhaps it's something that they've eaten that's causing this?

I'm hoping for a quick recovery!

Anonymous said...

I hope so too. The not knowing is frustrating. We have all of our available appendages crossed!

Anonymous said...

Hope everything goes OK and you can find out what is going on.

Nancy O

Anonymous said...

I heard from Julie and Laura on Sunday that Zac was now sick...I hope you get to the root of the sickness. I've been thinking about you and the gang on my end.

Bex and the Bookends said...

I hope there is nothing seriously wrong with Zac. I'm hoping to get to meet him sometime! I will cross my paws for him and all his friends to be well.

Mommy and I left something for you on our blog. We hope you like it!

Sniffs and wags,
Molly

Samantha ~ Holly and Zac ~ said...

Best wishes from the UK for Zac. I hope you get some answers to his problems soon.

Robin French said...

Thanks guys! I'm getting ready to post an update but wanted to thank everybody for the well wishes. We're doing all the detective work we can to try to get to the bottom of it.