May 22nd 2005 7:01 am
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Katie woke up sick on March 31st! Vomiting and would not eat. The next day she wasn't any better so I took her off to the vet. Luckily we got in fast! After putting her on IV antibiotics and fluids, they did bloodwork on her and her liver enzymes were OFF the chart! Her regular vet, Dr Anne wasn't in that day but saw her the next day. Dr Anne suggested that Katie go to Purdue Veterinary School Hospital for further tests. There is some CAH in her bloodline, and there was the possibility that she might have a Venal Caval Shunt. She needed an ultrasound to find out. She didn't really fit the symptoms or age profile for either one of these dread diseases, but I wanted to get to the bottom of this! The other possibility was that she'd eaten something "God Awful" that had been dropped by a possum or raccoon, causing a bacterial reaction. As if having my Best Girl seriously ill wasn't enough, my Dad passed away in Florida the SAME DAY! Stress?? Me?? No way! Katie came home on Saturday. I spent the weekend making funeral arrangements for my Dad, then called Purdue on Monday. Got an appointment for her that Wednesday. Friday of that week I had to fly to Florida to get clothes for my Dad, pick-up my Mom's ashes (to be buried with him) and clean the food out of the house. Purdue did the ultrasound and a contrast xray on Katie. Her liver appeared normal size and shape! YAY! That ruled out CAH and PCS! But now they wanted to do a biopsy to see what they could find out about this horrible episode. The biopsy was done the day I flew to Florida. The wonderful people at Purdue called me at least twice a day to let me know how Katie was. The surgeon even called me to let me know exactly what she would do during the biopsy and offered to tack Katie's stomach against torsion/bloat whilst she was in there! Brilliant idea! They also were very understanding about my bizarre situation and allowed Katie to stay there until I got done with the wake and funeral, on Monday and Tuesday. That was a real load off my mind as I didn't want to bring her home and dump her off while I was gone all day long! In the meantime, Katie was eating Science Diet K/D and doing well. I picked her up on Wednesday ( April 13). She actually bounced right back from death's door with just the antibiotics. It took what seemed like forever to get the test results back. The most serious thing they tested for was Copper Storage Disease. Finally, 3 weeks later, all the tests came back...........nothing abnormal. One enzyme was still a bit up, but not enough to be a problem or a symptom. Dr Anne and I decided that the root cause must have been the "Eaten Something God Awful" thing. Purdue suggested that she have bloodwork done every six months and if it went whacky again, do another biopsy. It was very difficult to make Sirius understand that Katie couldn't play with him like a maniac for the first couple of weeks home! LOL But now she's back to her Alpha Bitch "I'm The Princess" status. I couldn't be happier. Now we patrol the yard nearly every day looking for "icky" stuff. Katie's back on her regular food, gained back the weight she lost and looking really good. Now if we can just get some grass back in the yard we'll ALL be totally HAPPY! Here's hoping everyone has a happy summer!