Bobbi Bob
04-14-2016, 05:45 PM
Hi my name is Gail and my dog is Bobbi. Firstly thank you for having this wonderful forum it is amazing. I have read and read lots of different posts and information but I am feeling a little overwhelmed and confused so I would be grateful for any advice and even just to help me get his symptoms clear in my head so I can be of more help with his diagnosis.
Bobbi is a collie/lab/? approximately 10 years old, we got him 3 1/2 years ago from a SPCA shelter. He was there for a year during which time he was adopted and sadly returned twice. All we know about him was that he was very overweight when arrived at the SPCA and that he suffered repeated ear infections during his time there.
When we got him home it was apparent that he had not been socialised and I think not really walked as everything was just overwhelming for him for the first 6 months. His anxiety tended to show as really high excitement level and lots of noise, crying and barking and he was preening himself to excess every morning passing infection from one private area to another for quite a while. However, he settled down really nicely and turned in to a bit of a father figure to other dogs and he was often used to help other dogs that needed socialised with a calm dog. Then 6 months later we began to think he was too calm in fact he appeared tired and depressed. Then his hair began to fall out just at the top of his tail. I think it would have been around that time we noticed he drank a lot and urinated a lot too. So his thyroid was tested and it was in the low normal level but as he had some symptoms the vet suggested trying him on thyroxine to see if it helped. It did appear to, his hair grew back and he appeared to have more energy.
We were aware that he had a bit of a funny walk and it was felt that he had a undiagnosed hip/back problem but he was not in obvious discomfort and it was felt that x-rays wouldn't really change treatment so it remains undiagnosed. However, what we have noticed is that over the 3 1/2 years we have had him he has lost a lot of muscle mass in his back and hind legs. Even with physio and hydrotherapy this has not changed much.
He doesn't have a pot belly but he does have what I would describe as a sagging belly and if you look at him side on his belly is almost level with his chest a bit like the boxer Dempsey on Kate Conniks website.
So the other symptoms he has:
He drinks huge amounts of water and I think it has increased over the time we have had him.
He can pee for more than a minute at a time (his urine is very dilute)
He pants with very little exertion
He has a huge appetite and always appears hungry so we have split his meal into 3 times a day so that he always has something to look forward to and we bulk it up with veg he likes.
He has had some partial seizures
One of the things that has been worrying me lately is his behaviour change and I am not sure if this is related. I thought he was going deaf and I think he is as he doesn't hear us come home and his sense of which direction the sound comes from is poor. However, he also does this thing where I shout him and he does not register at all then suddenly after a few seconds he will look at me as if to say did you shout me. This delay seems to be happening more often and it has been taking longer to get a response. (?seizure related).
He has also become more anxious again sometimes very similar to the way he was when we first got him and his behaviour can be erratic sometimes just running off really quickly for no reason.
His behaviour changes started last year and I took him to the vet wondering had he somehow become hyperthyroid or was something else going on. His thyroid was normal and we even stopped the meds and had him re-checked and his levels remained normal so we discontinued it. At the same time the vet checked his urine which was very dilute, he then did some bloods and said that there was nothing to worry about his kidneys and liver were fine so it must just be that he drinks a lot. I thought at that point that they would have considered Cushing's so didn't even think to question.
Anyway it is now a year later and his behaviour change continues to concern me as he is becoming more anxious and excitable in any situation outside the house. He is drinking and peeing much more. I would say he drinks at least 4 large bowls of water per day plus drinking in streams/puddles. He has begun to need to get out after his meal urgently and if we forget to let him out immediately then he will bark in a bit of a panic. He has also just recently started to walk away while he is still peeing a little.
So I went back to the vet mainly about my concerns with his behaviour she talked about the seizures and a possible brain related problem. I think she was thinking brain tumour. She suggested we try an anti-epileptic, Pexion to see if that helped I guess wondering if the delay responding was seizure related. So he has been taking them for 7 days I haven't noticed much of a difference.
So when I got home I did some research and felt he had a lot of Cushing's symptoms so called the vet to ask if he could be tested. She had taken a urine sample and noticed it was very dilute and had been thinking about it herself although she said all the bloods done last year were fine and usually something would have shown up in them if it was Cushing's.
So yesterday she did a new set of bloods including thyroid and the ACTH stimulation test. I know you like to see results so I will get as much as I can at the beginning of next week and post them for you to see.
I really do apologise for the length of this post and thank you for reading and caring so much about our dogs.
Bobbi is a collie/lab/? approximately 10 years old, we got him 3 1/2 years ago from a SPCA shelter. He was there for a year during which time he was adopted and sadly returned twice. All we know about him was that he was very overweight when arrived at the SPCA and that he suffered repeated ear infections during his time there.
When we got him home it was apparent that he had not been socialised and I think not really walked as everything was just overwhelming for him for the first 6 months. His anxiety tended to show as really high excitement level and lots of noise, crying and barking and he was preening himself to excess every morning passing infection from one private area to another for quite a while. However, he settled down really nicely and turned in to a bit of a father figure to other dogs and he was often used to help other dogs that needed socialised with a calm dog. Then 6 months later we began to think he was too calm in fact he appeared tired and depressed. Then his hair began to fall out just at the top of his tail. I think it would have been around that time we noticed he drank a lot and urinated a lot too. So his thyroid was tested and it was in the low normal level but as he had some symptoms the vet suggested trying him on thyroxine to see if it helped. It did appear to, his hair grew back and he appeared to have more energy.
We were aware that he had a bit of a funny walk and it was felt that he had a undiagnosed hip/back problem but he was not in obvious discomfort and it was felt that x-rays wouldn't really change treatment so it remains undiagnosed. However, what we have noticed is that over the 3 1/2 years we have had him he has lost a lot of muscle mass in his back and hind legs. Even with physio and hydrotherapy this has not changed much.
He doesn't have a pot belly but he does have what I would describe as a sagging belly and if you look at him side on his belly is almost level with his chest a bit like the boxer Dempsey on Kate Conniks website.
So the other symptoms he has:
He drinks huge amounts of water and I think it has increased over the time we have had him.
He can pee for more than a minute at a time (his urine is very dilute)
He pants with very little exertion
He has a huge appetite and always appears hungry so we have split his meal into 3 times a day so that he always has something to look forward to and we bulk it up with veg he likes.
He has had some partial seizures
One of the things that has been worrying me lately is his behaviour change and I am not sure if this is related. I thought he was going deaf and I think he is as he doesn't hear us come home and his sense of which direction the sound comes from is poor. However, he also does this thing where I shout him and he does not register at all then suddenly after a few seconds he will look at me as if to say did you shout me. This delay seems to be happening more often and it has been taking longer to get a response. (?seizure related).
He has also become more anxious again sometimes very similar to the way he was when we first got him and his behaviour can be erratic sometimes just running off really quickly for no reason.
His behaviour changes started last year and I took him to the vet wondering had he somehow become hyperthyroid or was something else going on. His thyroid was normal and we even stopped the meds and had him re-checked and his levels remained normal so we discontinued it. At the same time the vet checked his urine which was very dilute, he then did some bloods and said that there was nothing to worry about his kidneys and liver were fine so it must just be that he drinks a lot. I thought at that point that they would have considered Cushing's so didn't even think to question.
Anyway it is now a year later and his behaviour change continues to concern me as he is becoming more anxious and excitable in any situation outside the house. He is drinking and peeing much more. I would say he drinks at least 4 large bowls of water per day plus drinking in streams/puddles. He has begun to need to get out after his meal urgently and if we forget to let him out immediately then he will bark in a bit of a panic. He has also just recently started to walk away while he is still peeing a little.
So I went back to the vet mainly about my concerns with his behaviour she talked about the seizures and a possible brain related problem. I think she was thinking brain tumour. She suggested we try an anti-epileptic, Pexion to see if that helped I guess wondering if the delay responding was seizure related. So he has been taking them for 7 days I haven't noticed much of a difference.
So when I got home I did some research and felt he had a lot of Cushing's symptoms so called the vet to ask if he could be tested. She had taken a urine sample and noticed it was very dilute and had been thinking about it herself although she said all the bloods done last year were fine and usually something would have shown up in them if it was Cushing's.
So yesterday she did a new set of bloods including thyroid and the ACTH stimulation test. I know you like to see results so I will get as much as I can at the beginning of next week and post them for you to see.
I really do apologise for the length of this post and thank you for reading and caring so much about our dogs.