My foster girl Isabella has some medical issues
 

For those that don't know the story I am fostering a 10 year old yorkie that my DH found wondering on the highway last Sunday.

The shelter called a little while ago and told me her blood work came back and it was abnormal. They have made an appt. for her tomorrow at 11:00am at a specialty vet hospital about an hour away from me. They did not tell me exactly what was off with her blood work. She has been acting fairly normal for me aside from the musky odor and maybe sleeping a bit more then I expected.

Please pray that this sweet little girl does not have anything seriously wrong with her. She has been through so much already. I will update tomorrow when I get back from the vets and know more.:(

Bless your husband for stopping and saving her.

Bless you for networking with rescue and fostering her.

Hope it all turns out okay.

Hey there! Bless both you and your hubby for helping this little girl out. Body odor, confusion, weight gain and lethargy are some of the key symptoms of thyroid disorder in dogs. My 14 year old mutt just got diagnosed with hypothyroid. Its no big deal, just two pills a day on an empty stomach.

No matter what happens with your new little angel, it will be a million times better then getting hit in traffic. Thank you both for caring about this little one, and my best wishes to you all.

:thumbup::thumbup::thumbup::thumbup:

Aw, poor baby girl! So glad your husband brought her home to you. Praying that whatever is going on with her, that it's not serious and easily treated. Hugs to you for caring for her:love:

Hoping it's nothing serious....

Thanks everyone. She starting hacking some tonight like she has something stuck in her throat, but nothing is? She did this mainly after drinking water. Her appetite is great. She ate everything I offered her and even did the look at my sweet face begging that yorkie do trying to get a little more...lol.. I will update tomorrow, thanks for keeping her in your thoughts.

Prayers for you and sweet Isabella. Bless you and your husband.

I am hoping it is nothing serious. Both you and your DH are wonderful people for taking her in and caring for her. Hugs to you both

Using a raised feeding bowl or water bottle (even the large rodent kind) can help if its reflux.

Hang in there you are awesome!

Isabella was seen by an internal medicine specialist and an Opthalmologist. Her original blood work had shown an elevated bun level and she tested positive for Lyme. The vet did a thorough exam and found a lesion on her eye and had the eye specialist look at her while we were there. In addition to the lesion she has bilateral incomplete cataracts. The eye vet felt that the lesion was caused by some type of trauma to the eye. We will probably never know how this injury occurred, but I have eye drops for now and she will have a recheck in 2 weeks.
She also had a chest exray which showed Broncho-interstitial changes which indicates a chronic bronchitis. Her skin problems are from a yeast infection and I have a medicated shampoo which I need to bath her daily for two weeks. The vet feels that this should clear up the strong odor and give her some relief. He did a more specific renal panel and we will be getting the results from that next week. So she will be on doxycycline for the Lyme and then we just wait for the results of the renal panel. He did confirm that she is deaf and he feels her eye sight is poor. On a good note her heart sounded strong and healthy and it could very well be that most of the other problems were related to poor hygiene and care. He suspected that she may have been left outside a lot, but it is impossible to know for sure. Thanks everyone for your prayers. I think this old girl is going to be okay with some TLC and a few meds.

What a list of ailments!

Thankfully she is on the mend.

Hoping it goes quickly and smoothly.

I am so glad she has you in her corner. Sounds a lot like my Nikki (RIP) he lived to an estimated 19 years of age, 4 years after he was found on the streets of Chicago. TLC can do wonders.

That is encouraging to hear about your Nikki. I hope Isabella has a few more good years in her. Whatever happens she will be at home here. I am getting on the job training as to how to live with a deaf dog. I keep forgetting that she can't hear me and I will be talking to her like I do Tink. They were both in the closet with me this morning and I said come on girls let's go and realized Isabella was still in the closet... I hope she forgives me for the daily baths, pill taking, and eye drops.

Thanks. It is a long list..whew.. Tonight she wagged her tail at me for the first time... That warmed my heart.:)

That is so wonderful!!!!!:D When our Boxer became deaf it was definitely an adjustment more for us, we like you were used to just saying come on and she would come. They are resilient though and manage to overcome lack of hearing and sight. I am so glad she has a loving home;)

So glad that you have some answers and that she will begin to feel better.

That's how they say, I love you too.

Oh my goodness! It sounds like you will have your hands full for a while. What a lucky, lucky girl she is to have found you and your husband. So many people would not want to take on the "trouble" of this little girl, but I can tell you from experience that there will be a bond between her and you that will be different than any other. The soft, gentle touch she receives from you, she has probably never experienced from anyone before. You have not only saved her life, but made the last few years of her life really the very best years in spite of her health problems. Bless you for taking care of this little one - I can't wait to keep reading about her progress. So glad Tink in adjusting to her also!!!

Today Isabella seemed to feel the best I have noticed since she came to live with us. Instead of sleeping most of the day she followed me around like Tink does. Her little tail was wagging and it is so good to see her feeling better. :)She is being a real trooper with taking her meds.

Thanks everyone for all of the kind words and prayers.

Aww good to hear that.

Back at the vets this morning
 

I am back at the vets with Isabella this morning. She had a bad night of coughing and sneezing so I wanted her to be seen ASAP. I will update when we get done. Thanks for keeping her in your prayers.

Prayers for sweet Isabella. Please keep us posted.

Sending up prayers that Isabella will be okay:love: She sure is lucky to have found her way to such a loving home:) Hope her cough is nothing serious. Poor thing, she's got a lot going on.

Isabella sounds just like my dear old Lucy. We found her too. If she can see well enough, make up some hand signals so that she knows what you want. We have them for eat, come, stop, potty, etc. We flick the lights off and on to tell her we are home, and the other dogs will now go and get her when I need her (like for dinner). It's amazing how well you will both adapt. Thank you for taking in this senior. It sounds like she loves you already. She is so blessed to have angels like the two of you. Our Lucy is old and sick. She isn't going to be with us too much longer, but taking her in is one of the best decisions we have ever made. She has filled our lives with so much joy, and Isabella will do the same for you. Her sunset days will be care free and full of love, thanks to your kind hearts. I pray the vet visit goes well. Let us know. Hugs to you all.

Checking in on Miss Isabella... hope she's feeling better soon...

Keeping Isabella in my prayers.

Thanks everyone. Isabella might have a collapsing trachea. I had to see the emergency vet today, but they are in the same hospital so they had access to her records from her last vet appt. they gave me some Diphenoxylate for the cough and also decided to do a fecal to rule out lungworms. We won't have the results of the fecal for a few days so they went ahead and gave me panacur to get her started on it. She goes back next week to see Dr. Walsh and he will discuss further testing that could be done, bronchial wash and a scope?

I am not sure yet what the sanctuary will decide since I am still just fostering her. I need to read upon collapsing trachea as I have no experience with that at all. I took Isabella on a walk Saturday night with Tinkerbell and I wonder if that was too much excitement for her? She seemed to enjoy it and we walked at her pace, but I wonder. The vet said excitement and stress and cause a dog with collapsing trachea to cough more. Poor Isabella. I feel like she is a walking pharmacy with all the meds she is taking now.:(

Blees her little heart. Keeping good thoughts out for her. Lots of hugs

It seems like once we get one medical issue under control then something else pops up. Isabella has started having balance issues. When she gets up from sleeping for a long period of time she has trouble staying on her feet at first and will slide into a sitting position. Once she gets to her feet again she acts a little wobbly at first and then after a minute she is back to normal and walking fine. This started yesterday and I had her back at the specialty hospital today. The vet she has been seeing is an internal medicine specialist, he examined her and he feels like this is most likely neurological. The laceration on her eye is getting better, but she is losing her eyesight due to the cataracts. I feel so sad for her. She is already deaf so losing her eyesight is going to be hard. There is surgery that could fix her eyes, but it is very expensive $5000.

I feel like we need to figure out all her other issues before I even think about eye surgery.

Isabella has skin allergies which have caused her to lose a lot of her hair on her back, feet, and legs. She licks her feet and scratches frequently. Currently we are using a shampoo that I think is not working at all. We may end up at the University of Pennsylvania to have a full dermatology work up because there are no dermatologist in Delaware.

Her coughing could be collapsing trachea or chronic bronchitis. The exray was not conclusive so she may be scheduled for a bronchial wash and maybe a scope at her next recheck in 2 weeks. The cough medicine that was prescribed is working so well that her coughing is 80% better, but we still don,t have a definitive diagnosis and it may just be masking the problem. I am trying not to feel overwhelmed with all of these medical problems because if you look at Isabella she is just such a trooper. She takes her medicines with no problem, I put her eye drops in no complaints. She seems to be happy and not in pain at all so I think if she keeps that joy for life then I just have to keep doing everything I can to help her get well.

I need to video tape her the next time she has any balance problems and send to the vet ASAP. She was not having any problems while at his office today, but I think something is definitely going on and documenting her symptoms with video will help the vet.

I apologize for rambling on like this. I am tired and just wasn\'t sure how to organize my thoughts. Thanks for keepin Isabella in your prayers.