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| Jared, sitting by a warm running dryer in the Mud Room. The three fluid containers are lemon Gatorade, plain water and chicken broth. The food nearest him are pieces of grilled chicken. |
I have chosen to share the continuing saga of Jared's health issue here, in the event that someone who reads recognizes an issue in their own pet, and is therefore able to put together their own animal's issue, and more intelligently seek veterinary treatment.
In the last post I established that Jared is thirteen years old and that he has never had an appetite to write home about. He has always taken considerable effort and creativity to feed. A couple of weeks ago, his appetite dropped off to almost nothing.
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| "No, Mom. Don't make me drink that !" |
While we made a vet appointment, he began with watery diarrhea. Initially, the veterinarian staff thought this was simply the end of his life, but I reminded them that he looked well and was highly functional a week before and so this was an acute process, and not completely the downhill slide of old age. He did not move well as we took him from the truck to the vet. They wasted no time in getting bloodwork. The most rapid bloodwork showed positive for Erlichiosis, a tick borne illness which may be carried for an extended period. He may also simply have some antibodies to it, and may not actually be ill from it. Usually, dogs who are symptomatic and positive are treated, and dogs who appear well, are not. (Incidentally, German Shepherds with erlichiosis can become extremely ill.) The vet did not wish to treat him at this time because she felt it would flatten his appetite even more. The second issue was that Jared has a very low sodium, and a potassium level that was in the highest range of normal. His other kidney labs were within normal limits. They decided to test him for Addison's Disease, and so a Cortrosyn stimulation test was scheduled. (Lucky for us, this was a fraction of the cost for a human test of the same type, which is thousands !) When the bloodwork from the Cortrosyn stimulation test was back, it was negative for Addison's Disease, and Jared was worse. By then, I was feeding him with meat baby food, salt, water, and proton pump inhibitors, until we had a better diagnosis, all through a large plastic plunger-styled feeding syringe. The vet was planning for intravenous hydration at home. He was cooperating, and for that reason, I was continuing. Finally, I told the vet that I wanted to go ahead and treat him for the Erlichiosis, and perhaps also for a gastrointestinal parasite. Shigella is part of the normal surface water here. It sits on the clay and has killed many humans and animals in the few hundred years since this area has been occupied. Shigella causes death through dehydration. Dogs of course, get shigella when they drink from puddles while running on the farm. Humans get shigella from drinking what might look like a beautiful stream or waterfall, which might still be contaminated. Both antibiotics began in an oral syringe, along with a little food, some salt, and even some mylanta between doses. (Mylanta will impede some of the absorption of antibiotics and can disrupt electrolyte imbalance when used in the long term, so we should avoid doing so, unless your veterinarian has ordered this practice or approved it for some very narrow band of uses during antibiotic therapy.) Three doses of each later, (36 hours later) the dog began to eat. A week later, he is eating better than he has for some time. He looks well, and I can barely keep this exuberant individual on a leash !
The moral of the story is that anytime a dog has rapid onset watery diarrhea, treatment for shigella (also known as shigellosis) should be contemplated, if tests for worms or other obvious causes are negative. Also, we probably should treat for a positive canine erlichiosis test more often than we do, especially in large dogs who seem more vulnerable to it, than others.
If you own, and love dogs, please read the links to Erlichia, Addison's Disease and Shigellosis, as above. Our vets are all very good, but we are the experts in the environment and in the habits of our dogs. Our own input and observations are invaluable in pinning down a diagnosis, in a young, or even a very old dog.
Jared continues to gather strength and to recover. He is really enjoying his life in what are likely his last years. This dog has lived with our family for thirteen years and was a beloved pet to our son Daniel. Eventually, Jared will join Daniel, but it won't be today !
Later Updates on Jared:
http://lifeaftertherescues.blogspot.com/2014/02/jared-taken-today.html
http://lifeaftertherescues.blogspot.com/2014/02/sometimes-we-can-hold-on.html
https://rationalpreparedness.blogspot.com/2015/09/the-passing-of-valued-canine-friend.html
Prior Posts to the above with Jared as the subject:
http://lifeaftertherescues.blogspot.com/2013/11/the-story-of-jared.html
