Poorly Jack-Liver Disease

pulliptears

And believe me I've gone through scenarios in my head where I've sold my car and half my life to get him treated.

Both my boys were insured up until they were about 5, I'd paid out all that money and never claimed (fortunate) but as the premiums began to go up we decided to save the cash separately for their future. This worked brilliantly up until OH was made redundant. Up to that point we'd been a 40k a year household and he's been in that job for years. The firm restructured and that was that. As he worked in the construction/housing trade he couldn't just walk into another job and despite applying for 110 jobs at last count in 3 months all over the UK we found ourselves starring to struggle so the savings pot diminished.

Even if the pups had been insured it would had to have been stopped at that point anyway sadly.

Apologies for TMI, just needed to explain why Im currently where I am lol

tankgirl1

pulliptears wrote: »

vets, currently PDSA as OH was made redundant a few weeks back. He isn't insured no so a referral isn't an option sadly. I'm confident they are doing their best just eliminating everything methodically.

I've been passed an interesting link tonight to a study on Scotties and gallbladder sludge as well as one on 'pseudo' cushings. I was considering popping them into my vet but didn't want to offend her.

Thoughts?

I don't think you will offend your vet - pass the links on to her! Most vets at the PDSA are there to learn and better their care, so any help you can give her will probably be welcomed with opened arms!

Many vets & nurses do a stint at the PDSA after qualifying- because it helps them to learn lots, and be better at what they do. I bet your vet will welcome your links and your input!:)

pulliptears

tankgirl1 wrote: »

I don't think you will offend your vet - pass the links on to her! Most vets at the PDSA are there to learn and better their care, so any help you can give her will probably be welcomed with opened arms!

Many vets & nurses do a stint at the PDSA after qualifying- because it helps them to learn lots, and be better at what they do. I bet your vet will welcome your links and your input!:)

I feel so wary that I'm a pushy dog mum lol. I've learned so much about the breed over the last few weeks and found so many other scottie mums that have been through the same thing. I suppose I dont want to make her feel like I'm telling her how to do her job.

I think I may bite the bullet though and print out the papers I've read. It can't hurt can it?

I just wan't my little man back to his bouncy self

jumpedtheshark

Pulliptears, who they usually refer to? If you explained your financial situation (though presumably the PDSA know it?), you might be able to ask if they would mind phoning their usual referral centre for an opinion on the bloods, etc, over the phone?

When my dog was diagnosed with Addison's (AD), my vets (who I still use ) was less than competent. First I was told it was cancer, then cancer and AD, then they screwed up the AD medication and triggered a heart problem, etc. Part of their misdiagnosis is that these auto-immune conditions can do strange things to blood test results and things can look 'abnormal' on X-rays that looked abnormal all along but are in fact normal. It sometimes takes an expert to get it right.

I would definitely take the research in. Did you try the Yahoo discussion forum I recommended earlier on? I think they have some vet members? If not, you might even find my AD discussion forum helpful, as there's quite a few on there that have had dogs transition over so know a fair bit about Cushing's. Here's the link to the group I use: http://www.addisondogs.com/ (follow the 'support group' link).

I hope Jack gets better. My dog also wasn't insured, and a lot of the costs had to go on the credit card for a while, so I know how it feels.

pulliptears

jumpedtheshark wrote: »

Pulliptears, who they usually refer to? If you explained your financial situation (though presumably the PDSA know it?), you might be able to ask if they would mind phoning their usual referral centre for an opinion on the bloods, etc, over the phone?

When my dog was diagnosed with Addison's (AD), my vets (who I still use ) was less than competent. First I was told it was cancer, then cancer and AD, then they screwed up the AD medication and triggered a heart problem, etc. Part of their misdiagnosis is that these auto-immune conditions can do strange things to blood test results and things can look 'abnormal' on X-rays that looked abnormal all along but are in fact normal. It sometimes takes an expert to get it right.

I would definitely take the research in. Did you try the Yahoo discussion forum I recommended earlier on? I think they have some vet members? If not, you might even find my AD discussion forum helpful, as there's quite a few on there that have had dogs transition over so know a fair bit about Cushing's. Here's the link to the group I use: http://www.addisondogs.com/ (follow the 'support group' link).

I hope Jack gets better. My dog also wasn't insured, and a lot of the costs had to go on the credit card for a while, so I know how it feels.

I joined the site you gave me and it has been invaluable. I spent most of yesterday and last night reading up on Gallbladder Disease and its prevalence in the breed, also the pseudo cushings is fascinating and could go some way to explaining why the Stim test failed.

I've printed out a few interesting articles passed on to me from the group and I'm dropping them in soon. We'll see what the next tests bring and hopefully the articles may ring a bell with the vet as well.

jumpedtheshark

Bump. Just wondering how Jack is doing, and hoping he's better.

pulliptears

jumpedtheshark wrote: »

Bump. Just wondering how Jack is doing, and hoping he's better.

He had his LDDS test for Cushings yesterday and hopefully we will have the results of that late tomorrow.

He's very down in the dumps now, we had to rush him in on Sunday too as his temperature was incredibly high. The vets thought he had an infection again somewhere, but they didn't want to skew any possible test results so just gave him a painkiller to cool him which worked.

I'm hoping tomorrow brings us the answer, though I suspect it's going to be another negative and he will end up in surgery

KVet

I had one case that I was positive was cushings but sadly haven't seen how things worked out (Locum, left before her last bloods were taken). Usual course for testing for Cushings is: ACTH stim, most dogs are sensitive to this, some are not, next is the LDDST (which yours has just had). If that is negative then there is one final test 17-OH progesterone, depends if the PDSA want to do this (expensive one). If they are all negative then its pretty much def NOT Cushings. Other options may be primary actual liver disease, a hepatopathy of some kind.

How polydipsic is he (how much water is he drinking per day and how much does he weigh?)? Is the polydipsia consistendly high or does it vary?

pulliptears

KVet wrote: »

I had one case that I was positive was cushings but sadly haven't seen how things worked out (Locum, left before her last bloods were taken). Usual course for testing for Cushings is: ACTH stim, most dogs are sensitive to this, some are not, next is the LDDST (which yours has just had). If that is negative then there is one final test 17-OH progesterone, depends if the PDSA want to do this (expensive one). If they are all negative then its pretty much def NOT Cushings. Other options may be primary actual liver disease, a hepatopathy of some kind.

How polydipsic is he (how much water is he drinking per day and how much does he weigh?)? Is the polydipsia consistendly high or does it vary?

I don't think the vet is considering any more tests after the LDDST test, she then wants to go in and have a look which does worry me somewhat, especially with the elevated liver enzymes and an anaesthetic.

In terms of how much water, well to be honest we don't think he's actually drinking that much more (I have tried to measure several times now but with having 2 dogs each time the other has managed to get in and drink, which is frustrating. Though the vet has not asked for any figures on this), he seems to have changed the way he drinks if that makes more sense?

The old Jack would sip at his water throughout the day, now he tends to wait until he really wants it and drink in big lapping gulps. We feel he is consuming around the same, perhaps half a bowlful more at most, but certainly not massive amounts.

He weighs 26lbs so can stand to lose a little weight (he's always had quite a fat bum!) but the weight mass seems to have distributed. Certainly his head, neck and legs look a lot skinnier though he actually hasn't lost any weight.

Another interesting development in the case came over the weekend when we noticed that his lips were turning from black to pink, his claws also seem to be losing pigmentation. We did mention it to the Vet when we took him in on monday for the LDDST test and though shes fairly sure its linked and means something she isn't yet sure what.

Its all very frustrating to see him so unhappy and to be honest its making me ill with worry. I'm at the stage where I'm considering selling my car to get him to a specialist, but as my other half points out they probably wont be able to tell me any more than our vet at present.

I just hope today holds some answers for us.

jumpedtheshark

Would a specialist be that much more expensive than letting the PDSA vets continue to test and test, especially if it was a teaching vet hospital? When we take ours to the RVC it's reasonably expensive (to us), but it's a lot cheaper than the regular referral centre our vets 'recommend'.