Sending hugs and prayers to you and Cali :aimeeyork

Sending prayers for Cali and her family. May they find out what is causes her issues and find a treatment to heal her.

I am sorry to read about Cali's mystery illness. It seems like you are pursuing all the options you can at a good university. I'm offended by some of the comments you received here on your thread but try to ignore those doubting thomases who are not your veteriarians.

If an MRI was recommended, I'd do it. However, if it hasn't been recommended because the vets do not think it is a necessary diagnostic tool, I wouldn't be asking for one. MRIs are very expensive (I paid $1800 for my dog) and should be done if a vet (and not the YT peanut gallery) recommends one.

I hope that you will soon have some answers. I'll keep you and Cali in my prayers.

i've been following Cali's story for a while.

i hope she is feeling happy, loved and comfortable today in ICU.

i wasn't sure if i should post this, because i don't really want to add to the confusion that you guys are dealing with, but i had to share.

i was talking to my vet a few months ago about toxic foods for dogs. he told me that his daugher has a chihuahua that ate a macadamia nut, and it's back legs were paralized for 6 months!!! :eek:

i really hope your team is able to give you some answers, and most of all that your healthy pup comes home to you soon!!!!!

:love-hug3:goodluck:

Imagine if it was something as simple as eating a nut. Cali's family needs to examine their kitchen/house and see if there is something Cali could possibly have eaten that they hadn't thought of.

I get worried whenever I see the ibuprofen bottle out that someone might have dropped one. Luckily we don't eat macadamia nuts in our house. I have the list of toxic foods on the side of the fridge.

I'm glad you're getting so much help and support :). As far as tempers flaring, it can be an unfortunate part of this section; when/if people are competitive or passive aggressive in threads, just reassure yourself that it's more about them than about your kiddo. That helps in terms of not getting off track.

I don't mean to be simplistic, but why not a simple xray? I realize the vets may not be pushing this; it might be something to push for nonetheless (I think I would, in the same situation).

Has Lyme Disease been ruled out? With more advanced Lymes, sudden leg lameness can occur.

Any news? Thinking of you.

I hope the diagnosis comes in soon so people can stop trying to diagnose this pup's condition. I am sure that while the OP says she does not mind all of the suggestions, it clearly has made her go to the vets and question them many times. That would stress me out, but everyone is different. No matter how many times she explains to us that she is comfortable with the neuro department, people question it.

UPDATE: I spoke with Katelyn this morning and Dr. Ortinau this afternoon. Basically Cali's condition is unchanged so they are trying to wean her from the IV meds...that way she can be on PO meds. Hopefully she'll transition fine. She is still having stiff, rigid hind legs with tremors at times and Dr. Ortinau said her front legs aren't completely normal either although they aren't nearly like her hind legs. She thinks one of 2 things: infectious agent or autoimmune. The titers may come back tomorrow but she says biopsy results take a while (I hope no later than Friday). I asked if she could have a cervical issue with her spine and Dr. Ortinau said it would be highly unlikely. So we are just in limbo right now. We are going to see her Friday...can't wait!!! I so miss her. I'm lining up a pup-sitter for Mia cause the travel was hard on her.

Thanks for the support and more updates to come...

I hope Friday comes really quickly for you, I can't imagine how you must feel.

eek :embarasse

sorry i knew i shouldn't have said anything. i honestly didn't mean to make it seem like i was questioning where the pup is being cared for. it's just so perplexing, and i thought there was a slight chance that my story might help....i was with my brother and sister in-law last weekend and they were feeding thier shih tzu pieces of their macadiama nut cookie laughing at how much the dog liked it.




looking forward to friday for you to see Cali!!! :excited:

I was not talking about you. Honestly, I would have to go back to read your story. Don't recall it. :)

Actually these are helpful remarks. Clearly you understand what they think this is...some mysterious muscle thing that could be related to a toxin. I was talking to my landscaper yesterday as he was working in my neighbor's yard. He was pulling the sago palm seeds out and I mentioned to him how toxic they are to dogs. He had no idea. Lots of people don't know. I did not know about macadamia nuts...good info!

oh pheeewwwww

my face was litterally still beet red from shame....

ok enough about silly me....



....now, back to our regularly scheduled program

:dogwalk:

You don't have to apologize for anything. You are welcome to post your thoughts and opinions on this thread, as is everyone here at YT. You are welcome to question things, whether they have to do with a vet, a treatment plan, or whatever regarding the topic of the thread. That's what this forum is for :).

We do have rules here at YT, but not participating in threads due to offering your thoughts and/or experience is not one of them :D.

There is no need for any members to chastise other members for posting on a thread in a forum - whether they agree, disagree, or have a new thought about a potential health issue.

Aww. Don't feel bad. No reason to be ashamed of anything you said! There is no reason for anybody to be ashamed if they are trying to help a pup and their owner. You and everybody else here haave the right to post whatever you want within the rules!

__________________________________________________ ___

OP, I'm thinkig about you and your girl. I'm very sorry this has been so difficult to diagnose. :(

I agree and told her that her post was appropriate. But..I must also comment that there is no reason for people to hang psychiatric tags on posters either. :rolleyes: Two sides to everything, right?

OP, I sincerely wish you and your sweet Cali well. I commend you for taking such wonderful care of her and seeing to it that she is getting everything she needs. Not everyone does what you are doing. You are a wonderful pet parent! :)

Absolutely no clue what you're referring to here.

Linda, if you have a beef w/ someone on this thread - then please take it to PM so that the focus here can remain on Cali.

Come on Friday!!!! Georgie and I are praying for sweet Cali.

I believe I have had my focus on Cali since day one. :) As for PMs, you just got one. :)

You just proved the exact reason as to why I had to post in the first place.

I'm asking you to stop, now. If you need to ignore this thread, please know that's an option for you. Thank you.

I hope they find out what is wrong with her soon... sending up lots of prayers.... for all of you.....

To Cali
 

Miss Cali, Please get better sweet girl, your Mommy & Daddy are very worried about you baby girl & they miss you .:getwellso

Sending lots of prayers for you and Cali, and really hoping you get definitive news this week. Cali is a very lucky little girl to have a family who loves her so much.

Hugs,
Bonny

Prayers are still being said for Cali. I know you must be very excited to see your girl tomorrow. Wish I could be a fly on the wall of the clinic tomorrow! She is going to be so excited to see her momma and daddy.

Keeping your little Cali in my thoughts and prayers....

Dear OP, I've been praying for Cali and hoping this gets resolved soon. I wanted to offer my two cents in regard to questioning medical care - and as a provider you already know this, but I feel it's worth repeating.

You must be an advocate for Cali and part of that is asking questions that might or might not offend her providers. Most likely however, they won't offend her providers at all. But doctors are not infalible - even teams of doctors. People die all the time due to missed diagnosis. With a medical world that is so specialized now, it's even more common for diagnosis outside one's specialty to be missed.

I think there used to be a school of thought of "not quetioning the experts." Unfortunately in today's world of medicine I don't think that serves us very well. And questioning does not mean disrespect as I feel some people have made it out to be in this thread.

Good doctors don't always have all the answers so I think it's important at the end of the day to ask whatever you need to ask.

God bless to you and your husband and your baby Cali. You are being an EXCELLENT advocate for your baby. I just wanted to encourage your process. God willing we will have a solution soon.

Just seeing this and wanted to send some prayers your and Cali's way! I am so sorry. :( This must be so difficult to deal with. I can't imagine. I haven't read thru the whole thread, but am also wondering what's so bad about getting a simple x-ray? It would have been the FIRST thing if it were my dog. Regardless if some were telling me it wasn't necessary, if I had been waiting this many days and NOTHING had changed, I'd be questioning too and I don't see anything wrong with that. You are your dogs best advocate and it sounds like you are doing everything that you can for your baby! I'll be praying for you.

PS - I am also curious about lymes - were simple tests like lymes, etc, run? (forgive me, if I missed this). I know this is totally different, but Jackson came up limping bad one day, and had his back leg completely stiff and sticking out - never put it down on the ground, and they x-rayed and found nothing wrong with hips or patellas, so they did a lyme test, came up positive and the problem was fixed and he was walking again a day later (30 days of antibiotics, and 5 days of pain meds).

Just reading this and I can't imagine what you are going through having to watch your little one suffer and go through all of the testing and isolation. It must be hellish but you know that you have all of the prayers and good thoughts of YT trying to help in any way. I haven't read the entire thread yet but am sure you've gotten second and third opinions and the fact that nobody has apparently any real answers for you yet is so frustrating. I've heard on TV and read in magazine articles from people who have MS and diseases like that sometimes take months and sometimes over two years to get a true diagnosis. Apparently it is really hard to diagnose some neuromuscular diseases which early on don't follow any predictable pattern but after a time begin to. Maybe that is also true in canines. I pray whatever is going on with this little sweetie will really begin to fit into a recognizable pattern of symptoms and definitive test results before long and help the vets with their diagnosing efforts. And then they can hopefully treat it successfully.

Please try your best to look after yourself and know that I am praying for you and your little one. May an answer of some kind soon find its way to you.

Somehow I missed all that has been going on with Cali over the past week or so. I'm hopeful that the biopsy will come back within the next day or so with the answers Cali's doctors are looking for to diagnosis what is happening with her.

As I was reading through all of the posts it made me think about HOUSE (the TV series). I love medicine and how doctors are able to come to a final conclusion and diagnosis of the symptoms. There are a lot of very brilliant passionate doctors in Vet Medicine and it sounds like you have a great vet right along those lines. Sometimes it's very obvious and others like Cali's mysterious symptoms just take more time and elimination to get to the final conclusion. I'm sure Cali is being talked about all over the Vet Hospital and there are plenty of brilliant minds working together~ :hug: