Three weeks ago, Snowy was diagnosed with a urinary tract infection. The vet also said that he had fairly significant anemia, a couple of smallish/medium kidney stones, and some blood in his stools. She gave us an antibiotic and said to bring him back in three weeks to be re-checked.
We took him back today and got good news and bad news.
The good news is that he doesn’t have a urinary tract infection anymore.
The bad news is that he’s lost over a pound in three weeks (he only weighed six pounds to start with), and the stones in his kidneys have grown from medium-ish to “huge.” He also still has anemia and in addition, is now showing blood in his urine.
Is it just me, or does my darling doggie not look like he feels well?
The vet said she doesn’t have any idea what is going on and doesn’t know what would be causing those stones to grow so quickly. (You may remember we had a very bad experience with bladder stones around this time last year and almost lost Snowy after an emergency surgery.) She did tell us that, for Snowy at least, the kidney stones are even more serious than bladder stones.
Over the next few days, she’s going to contact the State Veterinarian University and talk to some of the doctors there to get their input on Snowy’s situation.
Obviously, we are worried. (In fact this afternoon, Sarah and I had a mother/daughter hugging and crying session.) Blood in the stools, blood in the urine, unexplained weight loss, and rapidly growing kidney stones don’t add up to real great news. And the thought of spending a couple thousand dollars on surgery doesn’t add up to real great news, either.
We have an appointment to take him back to the vet in two weeks. (We’ve been told to make some changes in his dog food in the meantime.) He’ll arrive first thing in the morning and be closely observed for eight hours; also while he’s there, urine and blood tests will be repeated, in addition to more x-ray’s. We should know something pretty definitive by that point.
While he was at the doctor’s office today, Snowy also got groomed. When he got home (with his new shorter hair) he seemed kind of shivery so we assigned Sarah the job of Putting The Coat on the Dog. (I have not yet been successful in accomplishing this task so I’m glad Sarah is so good at it.)
To cheer myself up after getting somewhat distressing doggie news today, I thought I would post a few fun pictures of The Coat Putting On Process.
Sarah starts it all off with a confident smile, which is much different than how I would look when faced with such a daunting task.
And the battle begins . . .
I absolutely LOVE this picture. Sarah’s expression is of a woman who has triumphed in her mission. Snowy’s expression is of a man who is saying, “I am macho doggie and I will NOT go down without a fight!” (Too bad the fight’s already over, Snowy!)
Sigh.
And sigh again.
Sarah has a little talk with Snowy to apologize for having to put the Big Old Bad Coat on him. (Although the pictures don’t really show it, he always loves it when he gets that warm, comfy coat on—especially right after he’s been groomed.)
Daughter and doggie—forever friends.