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This is a doggy update. So its ok that I'm posting. Still haven't gotten enough done at work but oh well.
I talked to the vet this morning and he went over the bloodwork. His blood nitrogen levels (BUN) are very high at 103. They should be around 25. His creatine levels are high which is to be expected in conjunction with the high BUN.
The big concern, and if you want something specific to think or pray about pray that he starts producing more red blood cells.
They did a reticulocyte count, which is an indication of "baby" red blood cells forming (to my understanding). His level is 0.1. It should be between 1.0 and 1.5%. Because there are some, it means his system hasn't shut down completely but it's not good.
Pretty much its one of those situations, where they are either going to come back or they aren't. But now I know specifically what we are looking for and why. We will know they are coming back if the anemia starts lifting. Probably will have a re-check of the levels in a week or so, if there hasn't been any noticable improvment at that point we'll make a final decision.
The vet also gave me very specific instructions on how much fluid he needs every day. If he drinks water himself, that is good. I basically need to track how much water he drinks and then compensate with fluids for the extra amount. He needs 1650mL of fluid per day to keep his kidneys going. This morning he had 300mL injected, and he drank about 2 cups of water by himself. 1cup=237mL So we are at 774mL for the day, which is nearly half.
He did write the prescription for me, and it will be cheaper to get the fluids online even though I'm having them delivered 2nd day air. Dr. Fetzer found it hard to believe it was the same stuff, but it is, I know other people who have bought from this place and it is completely reputable.
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You're such an amazing caretaker, AJ. If only all pet owners could be so loving and conscientious. I'll keep on thinking good thoughts for the both of you.
Posts: 957 | Registered: Aug 2002
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WOOO HOOO!!!! He's up, he's walking around. Not quite as spry as before all this happened, but definitely himself. If there is a corner, I think we've turned it. Hopefully those red blood cells are churning away. He's certianly not at the extreme anemia he was before.
He heard some sort of varmit outside just after midnight and woke us all up barking. That would be highly energetic for him when he is well. Normally he doesn't bother to bark.
He also ate THREE cans of dog food yesterday. I'm going to have to go to the vet to get more. It is kind of crazy when I've got a pregnant dog that is supposed to be on a high protein diet and then Laz on a low protein diet but so far I've been managing to keep them separate.
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I'm glad to hear he's feeling better. Lazarus is fortunate to have someone like you to take care of him.
Posts: 4569 | Registered: Dec 2003
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Well I'm doing much better after getting lots of quality sleep this weekend. I was getting some nasty tension headaches from the stress, but it isn't as bad now. I'm not worried that he's going to die on me tomorrow.
After the 3 cans of food in one day Laz hasn't been eating as much. I think he overdid. But at the time I wasn't really willing to cut him off either because the more nutrition the better. Yesterday we were at about a can and a half.
Today he really wasn't interested so I threw a can in the blender with water and syringed it down him. He really hates it but he needs the nutrition. He's still acting much better, but right now I can't let him stop eating for his own good. He's always been a picky eater and I just don't have the time to mess around and wait for him to decide he's hungry.
Hopefully all of the fluids I ordered will show up tomorrow like they are supposed to. I also ordered needles. They are smaller gague so even though it will take slightly longer, it won't be as painful.
If they don't show up, I think I can use the blender w/dog food method to get most of the fluids he needs down him orally. At this point going a little low for a day, isn't going to kill him, though even a few days ago it might have.
On another note, we weighed Ciara tonight. Her weight at the vet 4 weeks ago was 32lbs. Now she is at about 46. That's 14 extra lbs of weight for the puppies! Now obviously some of that is fluid and not puppy but still. That's a huge percentage of her actual weight she's carrying around! 1 more week and then I'll have puppies too!
Weren't you saying something about setting up a puppy-cam so you could watch them while you're at work? If you do that, will you give us the link so we can watch them too, pretty please?
Posts: 957 | Registered: Aug 2002
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Yeah we haven't debugged the system yet to figure out how to get it to the internet properly. It will probably run out of a Microsoft Net Meeting application if we can get it running. I'll let you know if/when we get it up.
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Yay! Hope we don't exceed the bandwidth with too many Hatrackers trying to look at it or anything...I don't know much about how these things work.
Posts: 957 | Registered: Aug 2002
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Well he ate about a can of dog food on his own, and got another can forcefed with fluids in a blender. The saline bags didn't arrive today. I'd still feel better if he was getting some supplementation with them, the electrolytes are good for him. Also force feeding in the volume of fluid I had to do tonight without the saline injections was a pain and he's still slightly short of the doc's 1650mL reccommendation, but he's stable enough I'm not too worried.
(Yes Ela I'm going to bed I signed off IM but am sipping my sleepytime tea.)
Posts: 11265 | Registered: Mar 2002
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Ate about 2/3 of a can on his own this morning. After he went out to potty, he came in, marched into the kitchen and kept casting meaningful looks towards the refrigerator, til I pulled out the can that was in there and began feeding him. Apparently it is better cold, because when I opened a second can, that was at room temperature, he wouldn't touch it. So (sneaky me) I put another unopened can in the fridge so he has an unlimited supply of cold food.
I'm going to call the vet today and give them an update. Theca was very helpful last night in telling me about how kidney disease works in humans. Given that dogs and humans are both mammals there are a lot of parallels. I think the anemia is lifting somewhat, but we will probably have to wait another week to be sure.
I may just take Laz in when I get the puppies dew claws removed so they can see how much he's improved. Eventually we are going to need more bloodwork done to see how much he has progressed. But I think I'm going to wait another week for that to give his blood cells as good of a chance as possible.
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I'm glad to hear he's feeling better. Lazarus is fortunate to have someone like you to take care of him.
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