Diseases & Conditions

My best friend's a 'wobbly dog'

CA-Jazz — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 09:24:31 GMT

Jazz lives everyday with the challenge of walking without falling over. She has been diagnosed with a degenerative neurological disorder known as Cerebellar Abiotrophy. CA effects balance, stance, coordination, depth perception and all motor skills. Despite her disorder, she is a happy and very intelligent dog and is in no pain ... but must have a lot of bruises! She is 2 years old now, and to let you get an idea of the degenerative nature of canine CA, I have posted a link to 2 short videos (about 25secs ea.) one taken just over a year ago before CA was diagnosed and one just last month. Take a look and spot the difference. Jazz August 2008 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M7KlhbHTLVQ Jazz October 2009 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ibBzem_dv3A I was wandering if anyone knows much about CA and if there's anything I can do to slow the degeneration of her cerebellum functions. I've heard about neurophyscial therapy but what does this involve? And what would you do if you had a special dog like Jazz?

they think Akyra has cancer.

akyramoto82 — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 16:26:02 GMT

Akyra was being really weird about her food the last two weeks, this last week she barely ate anything. Her belly started to distend and she started throwing up yellow liquid. I took her to the emergency vet last night. The xrays suggest that she has cancer, the vet says she thinks it hemangiosacroma. She has a very large mass next to her liver and her lungs look 'marbled' with small node type masses. Shes only 7 years old.

I think I'm still in shock. to think that she might not be here very long. She lost 5lbs, so feels so thin to me. But she still is excited to see me and wags her tail. She's at the vets now, on IV fluids. I took her a shirt last night to sleep with so she could smell me & maybe be more comfortable.

She's getting an ultrasound later today with the radiologist i believe - to look further into the masses. I'm trying to hold it together. I'm fine for awhile, but then I start crying. I just can't believe its her, I thought she would easily out last Sheba. And poor sheba is on her last leg. She's almost 15 years old, I have to assist her to go out & walk around & go potty. Its overwhelming to think I could loose both of my dogs very soon and very close together.

There are so many thinks I've done because of her, so many things she's inspired. So much of my life has been based around her, I just can't believe that its going to be gone so soon. I love her so much.

I dont know what the options are right now, but since she's not eating I know its not good. I'll update with the radiologists findings later. I can't believe this is happening.I just wish i would've known, she never acted sick ever.

its all overwhelming.

pacing, stumbling, and wandering into corners... help!

Ripley's my girl — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 15:27:48 GMT

Sorry, This might be a long post... My dog, Ripley, has been pacing, losing her footing (even when standing still or drinking) and wandering into closets, corners etc and just standing there. I'm really hoping someone here can help us. I hate seeing her acting so confused!

I'll start at the beginnig, the 16th of Oct, we went out of town for a wedding, Ripley didn't eat much while we were gone, not too unusual. Also she had been more and more lazy. After we got home, she would sleep... and I mean out totally, for hours. she did not regain interest in food. On the 21st, I took her to the vet after seeing a bump under her eye. I thought abcessed tooth, but by the time we got to the vet... bump was gone. We decided to get a blood work up to check white count etc.

White count was normal. everything was normal except the thyroiod. Vet put her on Thyroxin that was the 23rd.

Okay, the thyroxin has helped with the sleepiness and the appitite. but she's pacing, panting and walking into corners. she trips over her own feet. I called the vet and he said it could be her hypothyroidism and we will re-do bloodwork the 1st of Dec to see.

Maybe I'm just freeking out and being over-protective but I'd hate to miss something that needs attention now. Due to Ripley's age- 12, the vet seems to want to lean toward cognative disfunction. But she really isn't THAT confused. She knows us and knows where the dog door is, knows when to come to bed (she always waits 10-15 min after we go) knows where the food is. The only confusion is the standing in corner/ sticking her head in a box, thing.

Please! I know all you dog people love your babies like I love mine. If any of you have an idea, I'd love to hear it!

brownish spots on white coat

scallahan — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 17:48:45 GMT

I have a male pit bull who is a house dog. He is white w/brindle ears. He has lots of dark pigment spots all over his body. He almost looks like a dalmation. He was a rescue so I don't know his history. He gets bathed on a regular basis, but these pea size spots keep appearing. They are a light brown color and I have no clue what they are. My vet more or less blew it off. They don't seem to itch or ozz. He had a brown lick spot near his rear and I shaved it the other day and the skin was covered in pimple like spots, both sides and under side of base of tail. I know fleas, well he doesn't have fleas, or worms either. My other pit is major allergic and I keep frontline or advantage on them at all times and give capstar as needed. Does anyone have any suggestions? I was a vet tech, so I'm not some dummy that doesn't have a clue. Thanks Sheila & Petey

AIHA or IMHA

rwbeagles — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 20:20:35 GMT

Sticky

Cherokee stuff...

chelsea_b — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 22:39:18 GMT

So the good news out of the last week or two is her pain has been very manageable. She really hasn't been showing any signs of pain, and of course I've been keeping her on the pain meds around the clock.

Bad news (and yeah, it's pretty bad) is she can't really stand or walk anymore. The only thing I can figure is the mass on her shoulder is pressing into her spine, because her back right leg (the tumor is on her left shoulder) is pretty much totally lame. I know she can still FEEL if I touch it or anything, but she seems to not have much control over it. She's spent the past few days just laying on my floor. I did carry her outside for a few hours in the afternoon the first couple days she was really having trouble, and one day she inexplicably ended up on the other side of the patio with her face in some plants (even though she seriously hadn't stood up by herself in days), but at this point I think carrying her stresses her out too much to make it worth it. She's currently peeing on pee pads (occasionally with some gentle bladder squeezing from me, lol. she reeeaaaally doesn't like this "peeing in the house" thing, but she won't pee outside either, so...).

I basically begged my vet to prescribe prednisone and see if that helps anything, but she's too worried about ulcers since Cherokee's been on Rimadyl to do it. I can't see how being unable to walk or being PTS is better than risking stomach ulcers, but?? I'll call her tomorrow (she's not there today) and ask again...

I really really can't take her into the vet all super stressed and terrified (and probably muzzled??) and have her euthanized, so I guess I'm gonna ask my vet about a house call if she won't try pred or it doesn't work. I don't know what to do... part of me wakes up every morning half-hoping she passed in her sleep, but obviously it's not gonna be that easy or painless for either one of us.

Sooo there's my sort of update. Sucks, but it is what it is I guess.

Jewel's news

jennie_c_d — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 20:24:26 GMT

Today, Jewel had bloodwork done, and it was awesome. She had a dental, and was spayed, and had two small tumors removed. Her vet said not to waste my money on the lab, unless I wanted to employ an oncologist for her. They are not lipomas, or cysts, but he got them all, as far as anybody can tell. He says it's fairly likely that she'll start to get more. She was intact for far too long, and she's an IG.

So, the current plan is to feed her lots of good food, lots of good supplements, and give her lots of love. If anything else comes up, we'll deal with it.

My 6 month threw up twice

meeko1030 — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 23:12:28 GMT

My 6 month pomeranian threw up twice. When we take him out he has been eating grass and twigs. Could this have made him sick? First time it was clumpy the second more like phlegm. Can I give him pepto bismol?

Cybil

Alidenes — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 04:08:00 GMT

I have just found this site ,and unfortunately we just lost our 3 yr old border collie to aiha,after 2 months of tests hevy drugs and countless sleepless nights she decided it was time to go.We miss her terribly we are trying to thing of all the fun we had with her i don't know if that makes us feel better or worse cause we miss her RIP Cybil.

Questions About Acupuncture

jessies_mom — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 23:50:48 GMT

Jessie's going to a TCVM vet on Tuesday for treatment for what is likely to be chronic bronchitis. It's been 19 days since the samples were taken from her lungs and so far no bacteria has been cultured so it's likely that she has chronic bronchitis and the usual treatment is steroids. Even if she has a bacterial infection, Dr. W (the holistic vet) said acupuncture can reduce the inflammation in her lungs and help her cough. It's likely he will also prescribe some herbs. Dr. M, the internist we've been seeing at Purdue, is on board with the idea.

So, for those of you with dogs that have had acupuncture; what can I expect? Will she feel the needles and will it hurt? How long do the treatments usually last? I'm excited and anxious for her to start treatment and finally get some relief from this cough.

Jessie has pneumonia; need good thoughts please

jessies_mom — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 20:24:24 GMT

Jessie has pneumonia and has been in the ICU at Purdue Veterinary Teaching Hospital since Saturday night. She is being given antibiotics, fluids, and oxygen. They did x-rays that night which showed she had pneumonia. They repeated them today and there hasn't been any change; we were hoping for some improvement. She is comfortable and is eating. They did have to increase the oxygen slightly last night because her respiratory rate went up a little.

Many of you remember when she went to Purdue in mid- August for a cough. They x-rayed her lungs at that time and saw what was either a mild disease process or normal changes for a dog her age (she's eleven). They did a tracheal wash and grew mycoplasma bacteria from one of the cultures and she was given doxycycline for 6 weeks but the cough did not resolve. The x-rays last week showed no changes so they examined her bronchial passages with a camera and found a lot of mucus and inflammation. They also did a bronchoalveolar lavage, meaning they flushed some areas of her lungs with a saline solution and then sucked it out. They try to grow cultures of bacteria with the material from the lavage. The results should be back in about a week. We took her home Friday evening and were told to monitor her for increased coughing, lethargy, and difficulty breathing. Some coughing is normal after these procedures; the camera irritates the bronchial passages and there is some fluid left from the lavage. We became concerned when she began coughing more often on Saturday and although she wasn't panting or breathing rapidly, she seemed to breathe a little harder than normal. We called Purdue and the emergency room doctor thought it would be good to check her so we brought her in. When they did the x-rays, they were surprised at the extent of the pneumonia because she wasn't acting like she was in distress and her oxygen levels were only slightly below normal.

Please keep her in your thoughts and prayers; this has been so hard to cope with. We love her so much; thanks.

occassional paw dragging; should I be concerned?

jstrawbri — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 20:20:09 GMT

Snickers my GSP is 4 and for almost as long as I can remember when we take him on walks he will always, at least once, drag his rear paw. I hear the nails scrape, and then I'll watch him walk for a while and then it almost seems like his right hip drops ever so slightly and the paw will drag as he moves it forward. I was wondering if this is a symptom of some genetic condition I should be worried about or am I just being overly concerned? Maybe he's just dragging his foot because "it happens"...or maybe his toenails are a little too long that day...

Food for thought.

Struvite Crystals in my dog's urine

My2Pitbulls — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 01:44:25 GMT

So I took my 1 year old pitbull, Bentley, to the vet today because he was peeing in the house, and had a little blood in his urine. They tested his urine and found struvite crystals in his urine. They gave me some Amoxi, and antibiotic, for 14 days and Hill's s/d canned food for 30 days. He will get his urine tested again in 30 days, hopefully all the crystals will be gone! Then they want me to feed him the Hill's c/d kibble for the rest of his life! So I have a few questions.... I've been reading that this Hill's food isnt so great. I know it's suppose to be gentle on his system so he can fight off these crystals, but can I just give him like lambmeal, or high quality turkey burger with brown rice and veggies? Wont that be just as gentle? I found a website with some good recipes.(well i think they are. ) Can someone let me knopw if feeding him these recipes along with cider vinegar or cranberry supplements? Or both? I just want to do the best for him, you know? And this H!~ills food isnt it! What is the best dosage tohave him on for cranberry or cider vinegar? He's 50 lbs. Pleasse give me your thoughts! My vet is kind of an a@@ and doesnt really care about my dog.

Has anyone used Gabapentin? (Chelsea)

chelsea_b — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 01:26:42 GMT

Hey guys. Quick update, then we'll get to that question...

Kovu's doing fine. His breathing is pretty much back to normal, and he's eating & drinking normally.

Cherokee's pain has been getting steadily worse. Last night she couldn't stand up on her own, and at about 4 o'clock this morning I woke up to her screaming in pain. She was clearly just in a painful position but she couldn't get herself out of it. That was really hard..at that point I really thought I'd be taking her to be PTS today... But after I got all her pain meds in her she relaxed and went back to sleep...so I followed suit, and today she seems halfway-okay again.

My vet is prescribing gabapentin...which I'd never heard of before. I've been looking it up and I know it's a seizure drug that's sometimes prescribed for pain.. Just curious if anyone has any experience with it? I'm trying to figure out if it's likely to help much.. She wanted me to up the tramadol and rimadyl before we tried it though..which I've done, and it's not helping enough.

I just can't imagine having her PTS when her only issue is pain in her shoulder. I really thought she'd be sicker and having breathing trouble and stuff and not so...Cherokee...when we got to this point. So fingers crossed the gaba-whatsit does some good...

My friend's pup has hypoglycemia

TysonSS — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 04:35:51 GMT

My friend's pup has hypoglycemia and she just got him on Sunday. She got him from her cousin's whose female dog had a litter; silky terrier/yorkshire terrier mix and he's only 8 weeks old. As far as I/my friend knows, he hasn't had a single vaccination yet... He apparently slept the whole day today and hasn't eaten anything. They took him into the vet today for vaccinations and the vet says that if they had waited one more day he could have died.

I'm asking for suggestions to help and just for good vibes :[ Please no snarkiness about the byb-ing as it wasn't her that bred the two terriers (i'm pretty sure, intentionally) and the lack of responsibility concerning vaccinations on the breeder's end.

gallbladder surgery next week...

madisonsmommy — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 02:34:39 GMT

Hi all!
My sweet 10 year old beagle is scheduled for gallbladder surgery next week and of course were nervous but know it has to be done.

3 weeks ago she was in sudden liver failure, however with medication, supplements and a white steamed fish diet her liver completely turned itself around and came down from levels of 980 to 20 which is better than normal. So our vet figured out that it was her gallbladder that was actually the cause of her liver infection. Turns out it is filled with 'sludge', he talked to 4 other top ranked vetrinarians and they all agreed since it appeared it wasnt fluid like in her gallbladder that medication would not be the way to go since she is at risk for rupture which could be horrible....so we have scheduled surgery for next Tuesday morning.

For the last 3 weeks our vet has been doing ultrasounds (on the house) to monitor it and its been stable, not better but not worse. We adore our vet and he truly is invested and compassionate over his patients. He has to bring in an outside surgeon since its a big surgery.

Anyways I was wanting to know if there is anyone out there that has been trhough gallbladder surgery with their dog?

He is confident and expects that she will make a great recovery but is real enough to say it is a big surgery as well, shes doing so well right now that its heartbreaking for us to make the decision to be proactive and get rid of her gallbladder and put her through surgery but its only a matter of time before it causes another problem or ruptures.

Thanks for your feedback!

Agnes's heartworm update

sharismom — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 13:26:46 GMT

Took the little brown dog to the vet Saturday for a blood draw. Doc found only 3 or 4 larvae in her blood! Two months ago she had over 300!! I know it is in part due to the ivermectin and also the doxicycline sterilizing the adults. Even though she is down a pound, weighs 25.5lbs, her fur is softer, her eyes are brighter, she eats, has normal poop, goes for walks, so I think her life is good.

As we were leaving, a woman coming in with her overweight Lab mix said to me that my dog was too skinny. I said that she was very old, had been very sick, and "if you'd seen her two months ago you'd think she looks great". She repeated again that Ags was too thin. I bit my tongue to stop myself from saying "what, in comparison to your dog a lot of dogs must look too thin!" Oy

IMHA Side effects of treatment drugs

Coach T — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 04:40:40 GMT

Hi to all and thanks for responses to my earlier posts. "Killer" has now survived IMHA and diabetes for 3 months. She was originally placed on 25 mg of prednisone every 12 hours and later began a regimen of azathioprine. Because of the prednisone, she also takes 26 units of insulin every 12 hours for her diabetes. She has been improving in many ways--pcv is now 36, up one from last week, and blood glucose level is still improving. My question for the forum is concerning the side effects of the drugs being administered. We have treated with antibiotics twice for infection--that seems to be part of a normal routine here, and I haven't noticed any of the worst sounding side effects of azathioprine. Killer is developing the "prednisone tummy" as my vet calls it. I am concerned about how this weight gain will affect the rest of her health. My vet was thinking that once her pcv got up to 40, we could think about tapering off on the prednisone. Killer has also started having some dripping nose bleeds. These seem to happen when she eats and drinks. I am thinking this is because at these times her head is below her heart. I can place her food up a little higher, but am wondering if others have experienced these symptoms along with the disease or its treatment. I do realize that all membranes are thinner now and bleeding can occur more easily, but other than that I don't know what could be causing this. Any help on this one? Thanks, ***

Renal Carcinoma

tzu_mom — Sun, 04 Oct 2009 23:39:04 GMT

Does anyone have experience or knowledge of this disease? Our little Lily was just diagnosed with this condition----this is all happening while one of my vets is on vacation, and the other is relocating to another state. At any rate, the prognosis is not so good, even with surgical removal of the tumor. I do have an appointment tomorrow with a new holistic/tcvm vet to discuss treatment options. At this point, I am just gathering any and all information I can. All thoughts are welcome.

By the way, she exhibits no signs of illness, we brought her in after we noticed a slight swelling in her abdomen, her bloodwork is perfect, and her kidney values are spot on normal. She is running, jumping, playing normally and seems unaffected by it all.

Thanks.

Half diarrhea..half not???

dyan — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 22:10:02 GMT

This has been Gibby for the past week.....in the morning his stool is pretty normal....except a tad softer than it usually used to be....but later in the day when he goes again....it starts formed but soft...ends up watery. Yesterday he went almost normal early around 7 AM...then about 11 started straining....took about 5 minutes...kind of going a few spurts....walking a few steps and going another few spurts, for about 5 minutes. This morning his stool was pretty normal at about 6AM....took him for a walk after work about 4 and the start was soft...few steps later was really liquidy. I can't imagine what to think. I guess I will take a stool sample to work with me tomorrow...to test for something......but gee, thank goodness he is not sick...he is eating normally,,playing and all together fine except for this.

Have not changed anything.....He had been pretty fine until he got sick about a week and a half ago..but even then it was only for a day. This guy sure causes worries for me. And I'm sure all you guys since I keep coming here for advise...lol!

Oliver's rabies shot reaction (Outdoorschik)

outdoorschik — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 18:00:46 GMT

Has anyone experienced a hard lump, dime-sized+, one week after a rabies shot? Is this normal? It doesn't feel fatty, it feels attached and solid, right on the lower neck near the shoulder blades ...

Thoughts? Thanks in advance, Karen

Is there a relationship between mast cell cancer and lipoma?

Stacita — Sat, 17 Oct 2009 23:08:34 GMT

Floyd, my approximately 9 1/2 year old Malinois (he's a rescue so the age could be a bit off) recently had to have a big surgery to remove two new mast cell cancers. Like his previous mast cell cancers, they were just there one day. In the same very short period of time, he developed three lipomas. All were very small, and this time in good locations. The vet recommended taking off all of them plus the two pre-existing lipomas.I check him weekly for lumps so I may have missed one, but the majority were not there one day and there the next day.

Floyd had three mast cell cancers appear during a two week period in 05. Two were in his groin. The first two we removed and tried to do holistic remedies, but he got another two weeks later and we decided on a short course of Prednisone. The combination gave him a 46 month remission which is something to be happy about. He's getting the Prednisone again.

I'm wondering if there's an allergy relationship here. It's been a bad season for allergies. One of my other dogs had some allergy problems this year, and did develop a small lipoma. Floyd has always been a big eater. He gets a very good cooked diet but I'm adding in a bit of grain free kibble to help him gain a few pounds. He's always been a huge eater, and during this last few months I've found a place for him to swim, which helps his surgically repaired knee. He can't seem to eat more than 10 cups of any type of food per day without vomiting or getting loose stools, so a good kibble can add some calories. He was maybe three pounds underweight He lost weight from the surgery and I've put a meager half pound on him in two weeks.

Help my dog has rhino skin

G Vata — Sun, 18 Oct 2009 18:37:55 GMT

My dog Rico is a Greatdane/Pit mix he is 6 years old and just about the most loving dog ever. He has suffered from skin problems for most of his life. Vets have just said he has allergies, he has been on steroids to Atopica which has been really hard on his system. He has a fawn and white coat, but on his elbows and his belly he has dark gray sagging skin. Looks just like rhino skin. I know he is misserable and even thought the Atopica gives him relief it is just temporary no to metion it alters his immune system. Does anybody have any suggestions... please all I want is some relief for him. He constantly is licking his paws, so they are raw, his eyes are always goopy, he is always really hot, I just can imagine what he must be feeling.I have decided to stop the atopica and try a holistic approach. I know he is going to get worse before he gets better and that hurts my heart. I am spraying him down with water and baking soda for smell and itch relief(baking soda kills the yeast) and I started him on a product called N'zymes. Please help me help my big dog...my best friend!!!

Bladder problems - food change? -UPDATE

bernerbear — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 15:05:05 GMT

Hello again everyone, it's been a while! Some of you may remember me as Jethro's owner, as I posted a lot while we were fighting his cancer. Last year we adopted Mika, a spaniel/lab X, who is now 14 months, and doing great!

Last month however, I started to notice she was peeing more frequently than normal while on walks, just little bits at a time. We got her into the vet asap, suspecting a bladder infection. She had a urinalysis, which showed sure enough, she had a very minor one. Main problem was elevated levels of 3PO4 (triple phosphates), which indicates microscopic crystals (which means the potential to develop larger ones). PH was 7, so a tiny bit high as well.

The vet suggested it might have been diet related (she is currently on Wellness Complete Health, Super5mix) and suggested we try changing her food. Okay, I thought, could do... and then he proceeded to recommend either Science Diet, Royal Caninn, or Iams.

There's no way I would feed Mika any of those three foods in a million years.... so I asked if there was anything else we could do. He said we could try increasing her water intake. Yay, something that doesn't involve feeding crap! So we gave her "special drinks" - 2 cups of warm water with a tsp. of yogurt in for flavour, 2x a day. She drank those up with relish.

2 weeks later we had another urinalysis done, and it came out 100% clear. After that we gradually started decreasing her 'special drinks', hoping she would continue to drink enough of her own fresh water... she was for a bit, but she's recently gone back to barely drinking at all, and this morning on our walk she peed about 5 times... uh oh. We were planning to get a last urinalysis done this week (one month after last one was found clear) to make sure it was still clear. So we will be bringing in a sample today or tomorrow. I'm a little worried there might be some problems again...

Anyway, so my question is, if we find that her urine is not clear anymore, should we conisder trying a food change? I would consider maybe Innova Evo, Orijen, or Eagle Pack.... I work at a natural pet food store, so all these are readily available (plus I get a discount!). Or should we just go back to giving her drinks? The store I work at sells this dried liver powder, which I'm thinking might work well for flavouring drinks? Has anyway had experience with bladder issues, and how did you deal with it? Luckily we discovered and began treating it so early on, the vet says it's very unlikely it will become a real issue... but we want to make sure it doesn't come back.

I will update once we get her urinalysis results back... but in the meantime, any thoughts?

Thanks!

-bernerbear

45lb beagle...this dog needs help. How to take off the weight? How to improve health?

Abbeyroad86 — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 19:35:12 GMT

First of all before anyone goes off on a rant. THIS IS NOT My Dog and she has a MAJOR THYROID ISSUE.

Now that that is clear. She belongs to a family that is near and dear to me. She is 12 years old. She has been battling with the thyroid problem for years..

She was up to about 50lbs when they first got it under control and then she got down to about 27lbs. She stayed that way for about 3 years and then suddenly she started bulking back up. She has been on a few different medicines and are still trying medicines.

Her lifestyle: She lives on a farm with lots of room to run. She has 2 little girls that take her for walks daily out and about around the farm and on the trails in the woods (and being a beagle she loves the woods) She was supposed to be a hunting dog but her health has never been good so they never used her for hunting.

The food they feed is pedigree, which I am not real fond of. And up until about a year ago they were practicing free feeding. But after seeing how well my dogs did on just eating 2 times a day, thats what they do now. (I do wish they would feed a better food). she doesn't get table scraps that they know of (but they do have two young girls so you never know)

Anyway the thyroid issue is back, she started gaining very quickly again. And on top of that this time the vet fears the dog has cancer so she is going through tests for that.

What can they do, feed, whatever to get this weight off. This has been a terrible ordeal for all of them all these years. And they thought they had it under control this last time. And you know it isn't fun for the dog.

They are trying a new medicine but so far it has no effect it seems.

Whats left. My fear is they are going to need to put the dog down and her owner won't do that. (He said he can't lose another dog so soon. 4 years ago he lost his two beloved labs...they were brothers and they passed within 2 weeks of each other. Both had kidney failure, they were very old)

What can be done? Anything?

Thanks

Also I know these people well, have known this dog for years. This is not something they just let happen. Lots of money and time has gone into trying to help this dog.