chocolatecoffee
December 28th, 2009, 09:36 PM
I've posted a few times about the problems we've been having with Panna, yet since my last post it just seems like nothing is getting better...so I was hoping someone may have ideas on anything I could try.
Just a bit of background, Panna is a spayed female Maltese who just turned 7-years-old in October. We adopted her when she was 2-years-old and she didn't have any previous health problems at all. She's on a mixture of Orijen and homecooked food, and even through this all has maintained a good appetite (even getting a little overweight, but is now at a perfect weight) and drinks a fair amount of water as well.
In March of 2009, she started walking differently, seemed unstable, and it seemed to be focused on her back legs. We took her to the vet and they thought it could be Invertebral Disc Disease, and we tried Anafen and Meticam (at different times) with no improvement before realizing it couldn't be controlled using medication. In the span of a few weeks her condition suddenly declined rapidly and she went in for surgery in June at the specialist clinic and they discovered it wasn't a herniated disc, but rather a mass that was compressing her spine. However, they still expected the same recovery period (up to a year recovery with gradual improvement, they recommended rehabilitation therapy, etc.).
In the week following surgery, everything seemed to be fine except she seemed incontinent, which we were told was nothing to worry about. We took her in for a follow-up and she was walking much better, they took a urine sample to see if she had an infection, and while doing that she completely lost the use of her back legs so they wanted to keep her for tests. In the next few hours, her condition declined rapidly (developed a fever, had an extremely high heart rate, extremely elevated levels of potassium, and there was fluid in her abdomen with bacteria). They said she might not survive and they had to do another surgery to explore what could be wrong, but it could be anything from a hole in her urinary tract to failed kidneys.
Well, she survived the surgery and they found nothing wrong, and were completely puzzled. We've done countless tests as they suspected cancer, failed kidneys...anything, and everything comes back negative. After nearly $20,000 spent at that one vet in the span of a month with practically no answers, we decided to take her to therapy and see how she fairs.
Since that time her walking had been getting gradually better (though she'll still fall over, can't squat, etc., but the therapy centre has been impressed with her progress) and she seemed to be improving. She developed a urinary tract infection in late October, which cleared up with antibiotics (Clavamox). At the beginning of December, her walking was getting even better, she was in good spirits, and she was starting to wag her tail again which we hadn't seen for month
Suddenly in the past week she seemed to lose control of her bladder and bowels again, and just yesterday she started urinating blood. Suspecting another urinary tract infection we took her to the vet, however they couldn't get a culture because she's passing urine so frequently (and she doesn't get a steady stream of urine) her bladder seems to constantly be empty. She was prescribed the same antibiotics, then today she was passing even more blood. We took her back to the vet this afternoon and again they couldn't get a good urine sample, but got enough to examine under the microscope and found quite a few crystals. The pH of her urine was 6.5, which the vet said is indicative of a different type of crystal (I believe it was oxalate), which can't be controlled through changes in diet, though she recommended I switch from Orijen to a Hill's formula (which I'd like to avoid). For the next two days, we're going to see how she is continuing Clavamox and starting cranberry extract.
We also discovered today that she has a Grade 3 (of 6) heart murmur, which we were completely unaware of and puts her at high risk for anesthetic. She does have significant plaque build-up as well (we've given her chewies for years and she was scheduled for a teeth cleaning earlier in the year, but it was canceled in the interest of the other issues). She also has severe luxating patella, although she doesn't seem to be terribly bothered by it.
Through this all, she's been a relatively happy girl in high spirits. Even today, she's just happy to cuddle by the fire, perks up whenever she hears any sounds of food, and you can hardly tell she's in pain, so we don't believe her quality of life is such that would warrant euthanasia, and no vets have suggested it. However, it just seems that we can't figure out what's wrong and new issues keep coming up, and every vet we've been to (a total of 4 now) seems to have different ideas and opinions. I don't know if I should be trying another approach, trying a different diet...anything, we seem to have no answers. I'm still trying to make sense of everything but am at a loss (which is probably apparent by the rambling); any advice would be greatly appreciated! :)
Just a bit of background, Panna is a spayed female Maltese who just turned 7-years-old in October. We adopted her when she was 2-years-old and she didn't have any previous health problems at all. She's on a mixture of Orijen and homecooked food, and even through this all has maintained a good appetite (even getting a little overweight, but is now at a perfect weight) and drinks a fair amount of water as well.
In March of 2009, she started walking differently, seemed unstable, and it seemed to be focused on her back legs. We took her to the vet and they thought it could be Invertebral Disc Disease, and we tried Anafen and Meticam (at different times) with no improvement before realizing it couldn't be controlled using medication. In the span of a few weeks her condition suddenly declined rapidly and she went in for surgery in June at the specialist clinic and they discovered it wasn't a herniated disc, but rather a mass that was compressing her spine. However, they still expected the same recovery period (up to a year recovery with gradual improvement, they recommended rehabilitation therapy, etc.).
In the week following surgery, everything seemed to be fine except she seemed incontinent, which we were told was nothing to worry about. We took her in for a follow-up and she was walking much better, they took a urine sample to see if she had an infection, and while doing that she completely lost the use of her back legs so they wanted to keep her for tests. In the next few hours, her condition declined rapidly (developed a fever, had an extremely high heart rate, extremely elevated levels of potassium, and there was fluid in her abdomen with bacteria). They said she might not survive and they had to do another surgery to explore what could be wrong, but it could be anything from a hole in her urinary tract to failed kidneys.
Well, she survived the surgery and they found nothing wrong, and were completely puzzled. We've done countless tests as they suspected cancer, failed kidneys...anything, and everything comes back negative. After nearly $20,000 spent at that one vet in the span of a month with practically no answers, we decided to take her to therapy and see how she fairs.
Since that time her walking had been getting gradually better (though she'll still fall over, can't squat, etc., but the therapy centre has been impressed with her progress) and she seemed to be improving. She developed a urinary tract infection in late October, which cleared up with antibiotics (Clavamox). At the beginning of December, her walking was getting even better, she was in good spirits, and she was starting to wag her tail again which we hadn't seen for month
Suddenly in the past week she seemed to lose control of her bladder and bowels again, and just yesterday she started urinating blood. Suspecting another urinary tract infection we took her to the vet, however they couldn't get a culture because she's passing urine so frequently (and she doesn't get a steady stream of urine) her bladder seems to constantly be empty. She was prescribed the same antibiotics, then today she was passing even more blood. We took her back to the vet this afternoon and again they couldn't get a good urine sample, but got enough to examine under the microscope and found quite a few crystals. The pH of her urine was 6.5, which the vet said is indicative of a different type of crystal (I believe it was oxalate), which can't be controlled through changes in diet, though she recommended I switch from Orijen to a Hill's formula (which I'd like to avoid). For the next two days, we're going to see how she is continuing Clavamox and starting cranberry extract.
We also discovered today that she has a Grade 3 (of 6) heart murmur, which we were completely unaware of and puts her at high risk for anesthetic. She does have significant plaque build-up as well (we've given her chewies for years and she was scheduled for a teeth cleaning earlier in the year, but it was canceled in the interest of the other issues). She also has severe luxating patella, although she doesn't seem to be terribly bothered by it.
Through this all, she's been a relatively happy girl in high spirits. Even today, she's just happy to cuddle by the fire, perks up whenever she hears any sounds of food, and you can hardly tell she's in pain, so we don't believe her quality of life is such that would warrant euthanasia, and no vets have suggested it. However, it just seems that we can't figure out what's wrong and new issues keep coming up, and every vet we've been to (a total of 4 now) seems to have different ideas and opinions. I don't know if I should be trying another approach, trying a different diet...anything, we seem to have no answers. I'm still trying to make sense of everything but am at a loss (which is probably apparent by the rambling); any advice would be greatly appreciated! :)