Posts made by hdolbow

Thanks Debra- she's in the beginning stages, but getting worse. Throwing everything away…moving things... My mom is one of 9, so she's not alone in it. We just live 3 miles from them & shes POA so she goes there at least every other day after working all day. The next neurologist appointment is this month and they're hoping to have her deemed incompetent then. You could say she's not exactly the nicest woman, they've brought up having someone come in for a few hours a day but she refuses. My grandfather is there and he tries but he's never had any responsibility so it's all new to him... Just a big mess!

Pat - I did see that, but Kansas is really far from me and like I said, Mia isn't the best with other dogs. I'd hate to see someone travel so far and it be for nothing.

Debra- I had three B's when I was with my ex boyfriend. Two were his (meaning he had them before I came into the picture) and we got Mia as "my" dog. Needless to say, things didn't work out and it has been just me and Mia for two and a half years now. The breakup wasn't exactly pretty, and knowing how he treated me and the dogs then, I wouldn't even consider asking him for help.

I may just end up toughing it out for the next 6 months. Hopefully life calms down after that.

It's been quite awhile since i have posted on this forum and it makes me sad to have to come back and post something like this. I'm looking to rehome my B. I have found myself overly busy with a graduate degree, internship, and working two jobs and really don't have time for her. My mom has been a big help but it's not fair to burden her anymore. She's dealing with my grandmother who has dementia and my brother who's an addict. I won't let her go to just anyone and she's pretty unique. She hates being crated (although she is during the day) She sleeps in bed with me when I'm home. She is a lap dog in very sense of the word. She's fine with cars but is iffy with other dogs until she gets used to them. Kids don't seem to bother her but I haven't seen her around many. I'm not looking for money, I just want her to go somewhere where she is cared for. If anyone seems interested, please let me know.

I have three bs too! And I'm just across the bridge in Jersey! Mine are 6,5,&2.5. Welcome!

well your good thoughts must of worked wonders. What we thought was fluid.. wasn't! it looks like he is just gaining weight 17 lbs 11oz! There could be SOME fluid but not enough for the vet to tap and the vet said his breathing and heart rate are fine. Were going back in two weeks for blood work again to see if somethings changing !

sooo cute!!

well guys, the end is drawing near..

in the last week, he has swollen up to the point where he looks like he swallowed a basketball in his ribs and pregnant in his abdomen. Hes having a hard time breathing. (they are short but deep breaths) and he is pooping 4-5 times a day. I went to the vet today with Mia for her annual (she's healthy as a horse), and was talking to him about it, and he said its fluid building up and he's basically in the end stages. The fluid is pushing on his insides, which is causing the breathing and pooping issues. We were supposed to go next week to get more blood work but the vet said it wouldn't even be worth the money. He said basically theres nothing we can do now, except let him go on until it gets to the point that we will have him put down. He also said we could try to drain the fluid to make him more comfortable and he may be able to breath better.

I relayed all that info to Dan when I got home and he called him to talk to him himself. So we are going tonight to have the fluid drained. We'll see how it goes I guess.

I'll keep you guys updated.

thanks guys. it's definitely been a rough month. I'll try to keep you posted more often, but nothing really changes unless we go to the vet to get his weight/blood work.

^Here he is last night with Dan..

^That's him next to Mia.

^again, next to Mia

hey, yeah i've been busy around the house and with school and stuff, plus he hadn't been back to the vet until tuesday, and we actually found out the results of another round of blood work last night, sooo like i said before, he was on denamarin, & 2 antibiotics. I don't think I ever posted this but the vet actually started him on some omega 3 pills and prednisone a couple weeks ago. ( He's been peeing up a storm! it's insane! lol ) we actually stopped giving him the baytril because it made him salivate A LOT and he would foam and shake his head, like he hated it, so the vet said stop. he had a full 30 days of the amoxicillan though, and then we went back tuesday for the blood work. when we first took him there when we noticed him losing weight he weighed 15 lbs 10 oz. tuesday he weighed 13 lbs 9.5 oz. so hes really losing a lot of weight. The vet said most of the levels stayed the same but one went up and one went down. Hes going to put him on another pill that is being custom made for him. (i'm not exactly sure what its gonna do, dan talked to him) but we have to go pick it up directly from the place that makes it. and he'll continue to be on the denamarin and prednisone until he dies or we have to put him down. We go back to the vet for more blood work on the 14th, because he said the lab gives discounts if you do the same blood tests more than once in a month, and $87 a month for blood work is kinda a lot, on top of the meds.

personally, i can see a change in him. He is lazier. definitely more aggressive. the other night i went into the laundry room and they were all laying there and he didnt even pick up his head. i sat down next to him and was petting him and he still didn't move. it scared me. i don't think Dan wants to accept it, and he says hes acting normal when people ask, but I spend more time with them,[ i'm home 3 days a week while Dan's working. ] It kills me to say it, but at the rate he's losing weight, I can't see him lasting much longer. He eats, he's just not putting on weight. I'll have to get a picture of him and post it so you can see. My mom came over the other day and was shocked. She said he looks like he went through the holocaust, because you can see his hip bones, spine, and rib cage. She didn't expect him to look that bad. I feel horrible but I feed him quite a bit. He eats like half a can of wet food mixed with about a cup and a half of dry food, plus 1-2 treats a day. We offer it to him at least 3 times a day, so its normally gone by the evening, or theres a tablespoon or two left over. if he eats it all, we offer him more. we're doing everything we can, short of shoving food down his throat. I just don't know why he won't gain weight back.:(

Just another update:

were doing another two weeks of antibiotics, then well do another round of blood work to see if it helped any. The vets also going to start introducing new meds in slowly and were
switching him to a prescription diet.

I just wanna thank all of you for your kind thoughts and words. It really means a lot. We're very hopeful he will bounce back a bit and stay with us for a long time.

@Basenjimamma:

I am so sorry to hear about Rocky and how he is doing..Sending warm hugs and hoping he will do better..it is so hard to loose your beloved pet, young or old..
My thoughts are with you all.

Thank you so much for your kind words! He gained a pound this week, so hopefully that's a good sign.

that contiuum doesn't have the Parainfluenza part either.. Do you not give your dogs that either? I'm definately going to mention this to my vet.

why don't you give the leptospirosis vaccine? Is there a reason or is it just preference?

Just sent you an email.

Thanks guys.. Were going to do whatever we can to make him comfortable.

I actually have another question for you guys though. I told his breeder exactly what I posted on here, and she didn't even act upset she instead started asking tons of questions and continued to tell me that dhlpp shouldn't ever be given after a year and a half and the L part can kill basenjis and I feel like she's trying to blame this on me because the vet said he thought he was born with it… Am I wrong? Should I not give my dogs that shot?

Well guys, it's not good news.

The ultrasound showed his liver is abnormally small. There's a lot of scar tissue. The specialist wanted us to do a biopsy but that's $1300. We decided to talk to our personal vet before we made any decisions because that's a lot of money.

Our vet called Dan this morning, he told us that there are three possibilities. Fibrosis of the liver, scar tissue, or inflammation(hepatitis). All three cause cirrosis which doesn't have a treatment. So the biopsy would narrow it down and tell us which of the three it is but regardless he's dying and there's nothing we can do. He's still on the denamarin and amoxicillin and he could be going on a steroid on Tuesday. It's supposed to help slow down what's happening, but he's been going downhill quick and we don't know how much time we have left with him.:(

It's like an emergency veterinary center, so I'd assume so. I'm not really sure. Technically rocky is my boyfriends so he's the one who talks to dr mike the most. I know where we go they do surgery I just don't know how extensive they go. And if we needed xrays our vet would be able to do that himself. Luckily after our first visit he started looking into the breed to see if it was something common or not. One of dans friends actually used to work there and said mike never gives up and he'll try whatever he can to find out what's wrong and get him better. We got lucky with our vet. He explains everything to us really well and him and Dan talked for a good half hour On the phone when we got the first set of results back..I'm just hoping we get it figured out soon. I hate to think he's hurting and know I can't do anything because I don't know what's wrong.

Gotcha. And we give him the deramarin In the morning an hour before he eats.

He eats, he's just become very picky. He'll take a mouthful of the dry food spit it on the floor and pick and choose the pieces he wants to eat. he'll eat treats gladly and today he wolfed down his heartworm pill. I have some soft food he's been eating more than the dry kind. He drinks no more or less than before. Or vet asks us those questions everytime we go in, along with how he's acting. So I've been watching him more than usual to note any significant changes.

How long does an ultrasound take usually? If it's done at a place other than your veterinary clinic do they have a vet go over everything with you there or just send the results to your own vet?

thanks guys. It's definately been a rough week.

He's on deramarin for his liver and then amoxicillin and baytril. And they're considering pregnisone. The first appointment they had available was Friday.. I don't know if when my vet calls the specialist if they will move it up because of the severity.. The vet said he was gonna skip xrays since he was getting the ultrasound. What would the lung xray show pat?

i wish my mia was still a puppy.. i love B puppies i wish they'd stay that tiny foreverrr!!