|
Welcome to the YorkieTalk.com Forums Community - the community for Yorkshire Terriers. You are currently viewing our boards as a guest which gives you limited access to view most discussions and access our other features. By joining our free community you will have access to post topics, communicate privately with other members (PM), respond to polls, upload content and access many other special features. You will be able to chat with over 35,000 YorkieTalk members, read over 2,000,000 posted discussions, and view more than 15,000 Yorkie photos in the YorkieTalk Photo Gallery after you register. We would love to have you as a member! Registration is fast, simple and absolutely free so please, join our community today! If you have any problems with the registration process or your account login, please click here to contact us. |
|
| LinkBack | Thread Tools |
07-20-2014, 08:11 PM | #1 |
Senior Yorkie Talker Join Date: Dec 2013 Location: Richmond VA
Posts: 176
| Could there be this much? Short background: Gracie had surgery on bilateral luxating patellas eleven days ago. She is doing well other than having to use a hard collar because she managed to work around the HUGE soft collar and pull out two stitches. Now the bad news. None of it is definitive, but this is like those moments I remember as a parent when it just seemed like everything was falling apart--anyone remember those? The presurgical bloodwork showed elevated liver values, so we need to have a retest in a few weeks. That is in the back of my mind, though she is not in any way symptomatic. Tonight she started coughing. I thought that I might have hurt her putting the cone back on, so we went to the vet AGAIN. She said that she suspects an inflamed trachea or esophagus and gave meds for both, but also said not to be surprised if it a a collapsing trachea. Really? I love this little mite and will do anything for her, but I just want her to be healthy. So here is hoping that her next liver test will be normal, and that the cough is just a cough-she hasn't done it once in the hour and a half since we left the vet. My daughter just came in and upon hearing this all just said, "Mom, you have to stop reading the yorkie forum. Anyone else would have not worried about it." Fat chance! |
Welcome Guest! | |
07-20-2014, 09:34 PM | #2 |
Senior Yorkie Talker | Sorry to hear about cough. I know what u are going through and it is good u brought her in. What did vet give her? My pup got sick 7 days after spay with runny nose, congestion. 2 weeks later on clavamox she is only slightly better so I am taking her back to vet in the morning. Try to hang in there and I hope your baby will be better soon. Mine had irritation and mucus buildup from the tube and got upper respiratory infection. |
07-21-2014, 06:29 AM | #5 |
Senior Yorkie Talker Join Date: Dec 2013 Location: Richmond VA
Posts: 176
| Thanks for the reassurance! She is on guaifinesin and sucralfate and is doing well. She has coughed once since we got home. She has been pressing her head against things like the net of her stroller, so I am beginning to wonder if that may be part of the problem. She gets out of the soft collar, so we are in a quandary for the next day or two. I guess she gets to be Mommy's girl in a serious way for that length of time. Good thing that I have nothing scheduled between now and then that cannot include her! |
08-22-2014, 11:43 AM | #6 |
Senior Yorkie Talker Join Date: Dec 2013 Location: Richmond VA
Posts: 176
| Update on Gracie; LP? Liver shunt? Gracie had followup radiographs of her knees this week, and they are doing well. She now can run the house and is doing really well with mobility. But. . . we did a retest on liver enzymes on Wednesday. (They were high on the day of the LP surgery.) The enzymes were still elevated on Wednesday, so we had her bile acids tested yesterday. The results were still above what is expected, so she is scheduled for an ultrasound at the veterinary specialty center next Friday. There is no possible easy result. If it is an extrahepatic (see the vocabulary this is building?), she will need yet another surgery. After spaying in the spring and LP this summer, I hate the thought. I get the feeling that our regular vet is leaning toward the possibly of microvascular abnormalities. That would require medical management, and I fear that would shorten her life. Sweet thing is 11 months old today. She is totally asymptomatic (unless being small is a "symptom"), so this is a bit hard to handle. So, what have I learned? I know now that smaller dogs are more likely to have health issues, or maybe the health issues cause them to be smaller. I know that there is no way to get a dog with any real assurance because even with a guarantee, which we have, I would never give her back to the breeder, who was truly distressed to hear about the LP. We love Gracie and know that we will take care of her as long as she can feel good, whether it is two years or twenty. We are still serious about another dog, but we will look carefully! We had wanted to get a sibling, but would not do that now, and certainly will not get the smallest in the litter again. If anyone has encouraging stories about liver shunt please share them! We could use some encouragement. |
08-25-2014, 06:02 PM | #7 |
YT 500 Club Member Join Date: Feb 2011 Location: Sayreville, NJ, and Stuart Fl,
Posts: 881
| I have no personal experiene with LS, but wanted to let you know that little Gracie isin my prayers.
__________________ Lori ,Phoebe , Stanley , Joey ,Tink RIP. |
08-25-2014, 06:57 PM | #8 |
Senior Yorkie Talker Join Date: Dec 2013 Location: Richmond VA
Posts: 176
| Thank you so much. We are learning about all of the possible types of shunts and hoping that it will be responsive to some type of treatment. We just love her--she fills an important role in our house with the kids grown. We will do whatever we can for her. |
08-25-2014, 11:28 PM | #9 |
Donating YT 1000 Club Member Join Date: May 2008 Location: Maui, Hawaii
Posts: 7,740
| I am so sorry Gracie has had so much to deal with in her first year. I know it is stressful to think about a liver shunt, and it takes a bit of time and testing to see if one exists. You probably saw my post on the other thread about suspected liver shunt..... my Tiki had the same scare at 7 months and turned out not to have a shunt, but is suspected of having MVD. She has done just fine for 6 years, as long as I feed her the right stuff. Hope things start going better for Gracie and for you.
__________________ SANDY, MOM TO TIKI , KAYLA , KARLEE , R.I.P. MEIKA |
08-26-2014, 03:37 PM | #10 |
Senior Yorkie Talker Join Date: Dec 2013 Location: Richmond VA
Posts: 176
| Thank you for the encouragement. Gracie is as happy as can be despite my concerns. I have to love my husband who keeps paying the massive vet bills. We have discussed adding a new pup for several weeks, and he says that Gracie is so sweet he would still consider the same breeder. Gotta love that man! NOT getting another dog with the same parents! Regardless of how all of this turns out, Gracie needs a friend while we are at work, and how much trouble can one more be? This little thing has wormed herself totally into our hearts, and we will do whatever it takes to take care of her. The good news is that the coughing/sneezing/choking thing went away! |
Bookmarks |
|
|
| |
|
|
SHOP NOW: Amazon :: eBay :: Buy.com :: Newegg :: PetStore :: Petco :: PetSmart