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Posted by Sara2 on 3/9/2008, 10:06 am
76.20.250.235
Last night after dinner, Robert and I were watching tv, and Robert says to Lucius, "What's wrong, buddy?"
Lucius was lightly shivering. Cold as it is outside, I figured he was cold, asked Robert to cover him up, and we went back to watching tv. That's probably around 7. By 8, he's pacing around the room. Uncomfortable. I switch from the chair I've been sitting in to the sofa to see if he's lay down with me and settle down. He stands for a few minutes with his front feet on the sofa and his back feet on the floor, alternately stretching and resting his head in my lap. By now, I'm waiting (and hoping he'll fart). He lays down with me eventually, but fidgits and stretches a lot, and then stands back up. Now, he's roach backed and hanging his head. And he keeps asking to go outside. Robert and I go with him to make sure he's not browsing. Both times we let him out, he pees and pees and pees, comes back inside, drinks a ton of water and then stands in the middle of the room again. And by now it's 9 PM and I'm starting to freak. We watch him. We feel his belly. He's not wild about having his belly felt and starts to avoid us. One tiny fart. The faintest whiff of gas. It smells like one of Lu's but since I didn't hear it, I can't tell who made it. His belly isn't hard or hollow sounding like they describe a bloating belly, and yet something is wrong. He is uncomfortable and by 9:30, he's acting like he wants to lay down but then pops right back up when he gets close to the floor.
That's when I called the breeder. I described Lucius's symptoms to her asking if it sounded like bloat. The symptoms don't really fit. And yet, something is wrong with him. The breeder confirms what I've been thinking: take him to the vet. Because if he's starting to bloat, this is your chance to save him; waiting and watching won't help him any.
So, I tell Robert I'm taking him to the e-vet in Decatur. Robert cancels his plans and takes us there. He's not totally convinced we're in an e-vet moment, but I don't think he's had the fear of bloat driven into him quite like I have.
We get to the vet, answer a bunch of questions, and the vet comes in and starts her exam. (Meanwhile, they've flashed me a typical price tag for diagnosis: $450. They want to know if I'm prepared to pay that. I am.) The vet says his belly isnt hard and his heart rate and breathing rate are both good. He is running a fever. She doesn't think it's bloat. They ask if they can take Lu back to do 2 xrays and get blood for a CBC. I give them the OK, still sure that something is wrong with him.
Lucius comes back to us. The vet tech wants to know if she can walk him and get a urine sample. The xrays showed a lot of gas and even more urine. I tell her the magic word and to walk him by a place where all the male dogs pee.
They bring Lu back. He peed buckets (just like he'd done twice at home).
About 25 minutes later, they've got the results of the CBC and urinalysis, and the vet comes in and pulls up the digital image of his xrays to show us what's wrong. His bladder is taking up his entire abdomen; he's also got A LOT of gas. And the vet thinks he's been roach-backed because of the gas, and he was probably clinching and keeping the gas from moving b/c his bladder was so painful.
That's right: I have TWO DOGS WITH BLADDER INFECTIONS. The CBC shows white blood cell count off the charts. Also a couple of other cell counts. They found cells from his prostate in his urine, so they think he may have really mild prostatitis as well. She palpated his prostate earlier, and it was very slightly enlarged. I don't know whether that would have been aggravated by the bladder infection or whether that's a stand-alone condition, and I forgot to ask.
Lucius's urine pH is 9 -- far worse that Selma's at 7.5. We didn't run a CBC on Selma, so I can't compare those. But Lu didn't have blood in his urine.
So, that was our adventure last night. I started Lu on the antibiotics as soon as we got home. I've got to call the vet clinic on Monday to get him more antibiotics, assuming they'll prescribe the rest of the round without seeing him directly. They will have his CBC and urinalysis results and the e-vet's notes, and I'll obviously be bringing him to the vet for a follow-up checkup to make sure that one round took care of things.
The only thing I can figure is that they both decided to institute a low-level pee strike with all the rain lately. They are both on cranberry and antibiotics, and I am tired!
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