I took Tenaia to the vet Friday suspecting her thyroid was out of balance (she has been on Soloxine for several years now) as she has been very flakey, oily, and her coat had dulled in appearance. She also has balance issues, especially in her hind end, which we have known for a while but has previously been attributed to severe arthritis, and she takes Rimadyl to help with the pain and stiffness. Recently, she has experienced some incontinence while she is sleeping & I had chalked that up to the fact she is nearing 13 and sleeps so soundly she just doesn't bother to get up ~ in hindsight, probably should not have disounted that issue. Additionally, she now paces relentlessly and pants more than she normally did.
Turns out her thyroid is under control, but her liver and kidney enzymes are both really high ~ the big concern is her liver, as it has shot up considerably since she had surgery in April to remove some benign lumps that had grown to the point the vet thought one might burst if not removed within 6 months.
She went back on Monday to have a urinalysis to rule out any kidney or UT infections and also had abdominal xrays to see if there were any tumors present. Since neither was the case, we scheduled an appointment with the radiologist yesterday to have an ultrasound and liver biopsy to determine exactly what is going on and how to proceed with treatment. The suspicion is K9 idiopathic hepatitis (I will also be asking about Cushings when he calls with the results, as it seems after searching these forums, Cushings is pretty common amoung you all, and I have yet to find a thread relating to hepatitis). Lepto of course was also a fit to the symptoms, but we have absolutely no risk as Tenaia is homebound or on a leash if we are out walking because she is deathly allergic to all vaccines (including rabies) so we just don't take her anywhere, and we use a lix-it so we have no standing water at all - not even a dish.
While I realize she is almost 13, the paperwork didn't sound terribly positive, though she has no jaundice so hopefully this is in a very early stage. Has anyone had any experience with this disease in a dog? It is apparently nothing like the human versions of hep.
Sorry this is so long, but you all know how hard peace of mind is to come by, and there is nothing better than some good boxerworld support.
Turns out her thyroid is under control, but her liver and kidney enzymes are both really high ~ the big concern is her liver, as it has shot up considerably since she had surgery in April to remove some benign lumps that had grown to the point the vet thought one might burst if not removed within 6 months.
She went back on Monday to have a urinalysis to rule out any kidney or UT infections and also had abdominal xrays to see if there were any tumors present. Since neither was the case, we scheduled an appointment with the radiologist yesterday to have an ultrasound and liver biopsy to determine exactly what is going on and how to proceed with treatment. The suspicion is K9 idiopathic hepatitis (I will also be asking about Cushings when he calls with the results, as it seems after searching these forums, Cushings is pretty common amoung you all, and I have yet to find a thread relating to hepatitis). Lepto of course was also a fit to the symptoms, but we have absolutely no risk as Tenaia is homebound or on a leash if we are out walking because she is deathly allergic to all vaccines (including rabies) so we just don't take her anywhere, and we use a lix-it so we have no standing water at all - not even a dish.
While I realize she is almost 13, the paperwork didn't sound terribly positive, though she has no jaundice so hopefully this is in a very early stage. Has anyone had any experience with this disease in a dog? It is apparently nothing like the human versions of hep.
Sorry this is so long, but you all know how hard peace of mind is to come by, and there is nothing better than some good boxerworld support.
