Chippa
08-24-2015, 04:20 PM
Hello! My name is Rebecca and my husband and I adopted a 12 year old Fox Terrier named Chip in December 2014. Chip will be 13 on October 1st and in the last few months has started experiencing some really concerning things. Our vet called today and encouraged us to learn about Cushings, as she is beginning to think Chip may have it. I do not want to take away from anyone who is experiencing this with their pet, but I want to understand what may be happening to our family if at all possible. (I apologize for what is going to be a very long history, considering we have had him for less than a year.)
Chip has been a peculiar dog, and has un-explainable diarrhea 10-15 times a night, even with rounds of probiotic powder. He currently takes Metronidazole every other day which has an un-explained effect on his diarrhea and completely eliminated the frequency and urgency of his accidents.
We then thought Chip had a neurological disorder, or mass/lesion in his brain due to really frequent head/neck tremors and increased loss of balance. Neurological tests were inconclusive due to Chip's extreme dislike for the Clinic. He has had a great response to Phenobarbital and has shown a decrease in the frequency of the tremors. We maintain his Phenobarb dosage.
Shortly after, Chip started having muscle spasms in his neck and was put on Methocarbamol which eliminated those almost immediately. We maintain his methocarbamol dosage still as well.
Chip has very severe allergies and incredibly sensitive skin and while we try and avoid steroids as much as possible, he just finished a round of Prednisone that was helping with really serious itching. He also takes Zyrtec daily.
On Friday (8/21) we woke up to 3 diarrhea accidents in the house, as well as 3 puddles of blood filled urine (entirely red) and drops of blood all over our house. We immediately took Chip to the vet. The urinalysis showed extremely high levels of red blood cells (obviously) but also a really concerning amount of bacteria. An ultrasound of his bladder showed no masses, but that the walls of his bladder and his urethra were very inflamed. He was started on a 20 day (twice a day) round of Clavamox for the UTI as well as additional probiotic powder. He continued to pee/drip blood for the remainder of the day Friday, but has since had a great response to the Clavamox.
After getting him home Friday, he refused half of his lunch (which has NEVER ever happened). After refusing his food, he then threw up. We called the vet and they attributed it to stress from the earlier visit (understandable). He then threw up again about half an hour later and the vet called him back in for an anti-vomiting shot and a round of bloodwork.
The vet called today to check in, and share the results of his bloodwork. His blood work in December showed elevated liver enzymes (forgive me, I don't know which ones) at 300. This time, the same liver enzymes were at 900. The vet has now told us to look into Cushings and begin to understand it as the bladder infection, UTI, bacteria in his urine, and elevated liver enzymes could point toward Cushings. She said the Prednisone could also be causing some of these results, but that it was important to retest in about 2 months to check the liver levels.
I feel as though we have had a really turbulent year and Chip has been put through the ringer. It feels like nothing has been typical. The vet said Chip won't be a candidate for typical diagnostic testing because of his reactions when he is at the clinic so I don't know what to look for or what should be expected...any advice or help would be very appreciated, we feel like we are in the dark. Again, I apologize for the length of this.
Chip has been a peculiar dog, and has un-explainable diarrhea 10-15 times a night, even with rounds of probiotic powder. He currently takes Metronidazole every other day which has an un-explained effect on his diarrhea and completely eliminated the frequency and urgency of his accidents.
We then thought Chip had a neurological disorder, or mass/lesion in his brain due to really frequent head/neck tremors and increased loss of balance. Neurological tests were inconclusive due to Chip's extreme dislike for the Clinic. He has had a great response to Phenobarbital and has shown a decrease in the frequency of the tremors. We maintain his Phenobarb dosage.
Shortly after, Chip started having muscle spasms in his neck and was put on Methocarbamol which eliminated those almost immediately. We maintain his methocarbamol dosage still as well.
Chip has very severe allergies and incredibly sensitive skin and while we try and avoid steroids as much as possible, he just finished a round of Prednisone that was helping with really serious itching. He also takes Zyrtec daily.
On Friday (8/21) we woke up to 3 diarrhea accidents in the house, as well as 3 puddles of blood filled urine (entirely red) and drops of blood all over our house. We immediately took Chip to the vet. The urinalysis showed extremely high levels of red blood cells (obviously) but also a really concerning amount of bacteria. An ultrasound of his bladder showed no masses, but that the walls of his bladder and his urethra were very inflamed. He was started on a 20 day (twice a day) round of Clavamox for the UTI as well as additional probiotic powder. He continued to pee/drip blood for the remainder of the day Friday, but has since had a great response to the Clavamox.
After getting him home Friday, he refused half of his lunch (which has NEVER ever happened). After refusing his food, he then threw up. We called the vet and they attributed it to stress from the earlier visit (understandable). He then threw up again about half an hour later and the vet called him back in for an anti-vomiting shot and a round of bloodwork.
The vet called today to check in, and share the results of his bloodwork. His blood work in December showed elevated liver enzymes (forgive me, I don't know which ones) at 300. This time, the same liver enzymes were at 900. The vet has now told us to look into Cushings and begin to understand it as the bladder infection, UTI, bacteria in his urine, and elevated liver enzymes could point toward Cushings. She said the Prednisone could also be causing some of these results, but that it was important to retest in about 2 months to check the liver levels.
I feel as though we have had a really turbulent year and Chip has been put through the ringer. It feels like nothing has been typical. The vet said Chip won't be a candidate for typical diagnostic testing because of his reactions when he is at the clinic so I don't know what to look for or what should be expected...any advice or help would be very appreciated, we feel like we are in the dark. Again, I apologize for the length of this.