KevinsMom
07-28-2016, 02:47 AM
I find it very, very comforting to know that this forum exists. For anyone who takes the time to read this, thank you.
During the summer of 2011 my world was turned upside down. My husband was misdiagnosed with ALS, my then 6 year old had what was presumed to be an epileptic seziure, and my brother in law was diagnosed with testicular cancer. That August my sister and her husband headed to the Mayo clinic for a few weeks and I offered to dog sit. For three weeks I had a constant shadow. When Kenzie went back home I was lonely and decided I was getting a dog. I looked for nearly 2 months. My only requirement was that I wanted a dog that needed a home. I seached the shelters for a hundred miles in each direction. The only dogs I was able to find were pit bulls or coon hounds. While those are both lovely breeds, neither is really a lap dog so I started searching Craigslist. The ad said,"Wow Wauzer" and I thought, "What the he__ is a Wauzer?" Somewhere in the description it said he was 18 months old and just loved to be loved. I was a goner. I drove three hours to meet the elderly man who said they just couldn't care for him. It didn't matter that he was filthy and smelled like rotting garbage, I knew we were meant to be together. I handed the man the, "small rehoming fee" that turned out to be $250 and drove away...with the windows open because he really, really reeked. When we got home, I took him from the front door to the bathroom and gave him a bath. After three shampoos it turned out he was actually a white dog. A very scrawny white dog. When I was rinsing him off he would lift up each paw so I could rinse it. I knew at that moment he was special. He came with a terrible name so after much dicussion and debate we named him Kevin Ripley (as in Believe it or Not we got a dog!). That was nearly 5 years ago. Kevin became the family dog but made it clear from the start that I was his and he was mine. He's never chewed anything that wasn't his, never peed or pooped in the house, doesn't get into any trouble at all. I may be biased, but I'm pretty sure he's the best dog ever.
Over the last couple of years he got a little grumpy. Never to me, but if anyone tried to move him, he'd grumble and growl and often seemed depressed. He got pretty chubby, too. He had always been so happy but since the vet seemed unconcerned I assumed this was normal. Kevin is my first dog so I really had no frame of reference. In Nov he got sick, lots of vomiting and panting. The vet said he must have gotten into something. I brought him in 3 times between Nov and Feb. They barely looked at him. I decided if it happened again I would try a different vet. On May 15 my husband gave him two pork rib bones to chew on even though I told him not to. Kevin swallowed them whole. I stayed up all night with him waiting for the vet to open the next moring. They refused to see him. I call my friend who is the director of a nearby shelter and she recommended a vet an hour north of us. They said,"How quickly can you get here?" The surgery went well and he was very lucky that nothing was perforated. The Dr that did his surgery has only been out of vet school for about six months but she saved him. After the surgery said she was concerned about his weight and black, scaly looking skin and wanted to test him for hypothyroidism. He was so fat she had a hard time closing him up. The tests came back positive and on May 31 he started meds. At time of his surgery he weighed 36.8 lbs. On June 28th we went for a checkup and he was down 6 lbs. He was full of energy and no longer grumpy. The bad news was he was drinking a tremendous amount of water and going potty so frequently that he and I started sleeping on the couch so we wouldn't wake my husband up with his constant need to go out. Our vet did a urine test and said he had a UTI. She was concerned because the bacteria were rod shaped and thought this may be a possible Cushings indicator. The antibotic helped but he still drank more than normal and peed often. Within a few days of him being off of it the antibiotic he peed in the house right in front of me. It was like he had no control. He is a boy and always feels the need to pee on every tree, bush, step etc... But now while he was walking from bush to bush urnine was dribbling out. Our vet said this is also a sign of Cushings and scheduled him for a dex test. Today she called and said the results were in and he does have Cushing's.
Kevin is not just a dog, he is my family. When I brought him home, I thought I was saving him but I was very, very wrong. He saved me. He has forever changed the way I look at the world. I need this little boy to be ok.
If you have made it this far, I not only applaud you but I thank you, as well. I also hope you can tell me what I should be doing at this point. I like our vet very much but she is the first to admit this is uncharted territory for her. I don't know what my next move should be. I live in Northern WI, pretty much in the middle of nowhere so it isn't as though there are Vet's that specialize in Cushing's nearby. I will be grateful for any advice given. I'm beyond confused. He's now lost almost 10 lbs. Could he have hypothyroidism and Cushings? His fur has begun filling in on his belly and the black skin pretty much all fell off like dandruff. His fur has become very soft. Would these improvements have happened with hypothyroid meds if it was Cushings? If he has Cushings why didn't the excessive drinking & peeing start until almost a month after beginning the thyroid meds?
Thank you again for any help given.
Jennifer
During the summer of 2011 my world was turned upside down. My husband was misdiagnosed with ALS, my then 6 year old had what was presumed to be an epileptic seziure, and my brother in law was diagnosed with testicular cancer. That August my sister and her husband headed to the Mayo clinic for a few weeks and I offered to dog sit. For three weeks I had a constant shadow. When Kenzie went back home I was lonely and decided I was getting a dog. I looked for nearly 2 months. My only requirement was that I wanted a dog that needed a home. I seached the shelters for a hundred miles in each direction. The only dogs I was able to find were pit bulls or coon hounds. While those are both lovely breeds, neither is really a lap dog so I started searching Craigslist. The ad said,"Wow Wauzer" and I thought, "What the he__ is a Wauzer?" Somewhere in the description it said he was 18 months old and just loved to be loved. I was a goner. I drove three hours to meet the elderly man who said they just couldn't care for him. It didn't matter that he was filthy and smelled like rotting garbage, I knew we were meant to be together. I handed the man the, "small rehoming fee" that turned out to be $250 and drove away...with the windows open because he really, really reeked. When we got home, I took him from the front door to the bathroom and gave him a bath. After three shampoos it turned out he was actually a white dog. A very scrawny white dog. When I was rinsing him off he would lift up each paw so I could rinse it. I knew at that moment he was special. He came with a terrible name so after much dicussion and debate we named him Kevin Ripley (as in Believe it or Not we got a dog!). That was nearly 5 years ago. Kevin became the family dog but made it clear from the start that I was his and he was mine. He's never chewed anything that wasn't his, never peed or pooped in the house, doesn't get into any trouble at all. I may be biased, but I'm pretty sure he's the best dog ever.
Over the last couple of years he got a little grumpy. Never to me, but if anyone tried to move him, he'd grumble and growl and often seemed depressed. He got pretty chubby, too. He had always been so happy but since the vet seemed unconcerned I assumed this was normal. Kevin is my first dog so I really had no frame of reference. In Nov he got sick, lots of vomiting and panting. The vet said he must have gotten into something. I brought him in 3 times between Nov and Feb. They barely looked at him. I decided if it happened again I would try a different vet. On May 15 my husband gave him two pork rib bones to chew on even though I told him not to. Kevin swallowed them whole. I stayed up all night with him waiting for the vet to open the next moring. They refused to see him. I call my friend who is the director of a nearby shelter and she recommended a vet an hour north of us. They said,"How quickly can you get here?" The surgery went well and he was very lucky that nothing was perforated. The Dr that did his surgery has only been out of vet school for about six months but she saved him. After the surgery said she was concerned about his weight and black, scaly looking skin and wanted to test him for hypothyroidism. He was so fat she had a hard time closing him up. The tests came back positive and on May 31 he started meds. At time of his surgery he weighed 36.8 lbs. On June 28th we went for a checkup and he was down 6 lbs. He was full of energy and no longer grumpy. The bad news was he was drinking a tremendous amount of water and going potty so frequently that he and I started sleeping on the couch so we wouldn't wake my husband up with his constant need to go out. Our vet did a urine test and said he had a UTI. She was concerned because the bacteria were rod shaped and thought this may be a possible Cushings indicator. The antibotic helped but he still drank more than normal and peed often. Within a few days of him being off of it the antibiotic he peed in the house right in front of me. It was like he had no control. He is a boy and always feels the need to pee on every tree, bush, step etc... But now while he was walking from bush to bush urnine was dribbling out. Our vet said this is also a sign of Cushings and scheduled him for a dex test. Today she called and said the results were in and he does have Cushing's.
Kevin is not just a dog, he is my family. When I brought him home, I thought I was saving him but I was very, very wrong. He saved me. He has forever changed the way I look at the world. I need this little boy to be ok.
If you have made it this far, I not only applaud you but I thank you, as well. I also hope you can tell me what I should be doing at this point. I like our vet very much but she is the first to admit this is uncharted territory for her. I don't know what my next move should be. I live in Northern WI, pretty much in the middle of nowhere so it isn't as though there are Vet's that specialize in Cushing's nearby. I will be grateful for any advice given. I'm beyond confused. He's now lost almost 10 lbs. Could he have hypothyroidism and Cushings? His fur has begun filling in on his belly and the black skin pretty much all fell off like dandruff. His fur has become very soft. Would these improvements have happened with hypothyroid meds if it was Cushings? If he has Cushings why didn't the excessive drinking & peeing start until almost a month after beginning the thyroid meds?
Thank you again for any help given.
Jennifer