Curmudgeonly & Skeptical presents Boned Jello: Reagan's Problem

Wednesday, April 15, 2009

Reagan's Problem

Walking Reagan

Oye

Reagan, a Soft Coated Wheaten Terrier, is 11½ years old and has a problem. We think she has a tumor pressing against her bladder that keeps her from emptying it. We think it's cancer. For a year the vet has said it was a UTI, but after three different visits and prescriptions (costing nearly $800) failed to do any good, we don't listen anymore. This is 9 minutes of a 20 minute walk. She stops to pee every few minutes, but only produces a dribble - at best. She's lost about 10 pounds, and is always hungry. I've fed her boiled rice and chicken, along with a diet dog food supplement for a year. Maybe someone has had the same experience.

PS - YouTube removed my songtrack which included Elvis Pressley's "Old Shep." Too bad.

Rodger the Real King of France 4/15/2009 12:01:00 AM 22 Comments

"If the number of Islamic terror attacks continues at the current rate, candlelight vigils will soon be the number-one cause of global warming. "
Argus Hamilton

22 comments:

El Jefe said...: Like me, she may be diabetic.; 4/14/09, 12:26 AM
Anonymous said...: If I had to guess, I'd say Pancreatic problems. Bless her heart, Great name for a Great Dog!; 4/14/09, 12:54 AM
Anonymous said...: We had a similar problem with an older Keeshond. It turned out to be a bladder stone that almost completely filled the bladder, blocking the urethea. The vet treated her for about two years before an x-ray showed a light shadow - it so completely filled the bladder that it looked like it was the bladder on the first x-rays taken. Good luck

Burgie; 4/14/09, 4:41 AM
Virgil Rogers said...: A ew of my old cats had a similar problem with low urine output and pain while trying to urinate..could it be some sort of non-massive but still "crystalline" precipitate in their output that inflames the Uretha and causes the dribbling output?

I'm an engineer, not a vet, but I feel your pain and concern regardless...; 4/14/09, 5:08 AM
Anonymous said...: I'll vote with Anonymous above - Winston The Wonder Mutt - a Wheaten Terrier also - had TWO stones. The vet palpated the big one - about the size of my thumb - and removed it. He missed the smaller one which was about the size of a pinky fingernail and was still blocking the urethea. The vet had to go in again and found it when he really looked.

The small one didn't show on the X-rays, he had to find it by actually looking into the bladder closely.; 4/14/09, 6:35 AM
Rodger the Real King of France said...: Burgie - she had an x-ray that showed a similar shadow, however that shadow is usually urine. How was the bladder stone removed?; 4/14/09, 8:06 AM
Rodger the Real King of France said...: ::
Re:Winston The Wonder Mutt

Was that an external or internal palpitation? IOW, is it something I can try?
::; 4/14/09, 8:16 AM
Anonymous said...: Ours was removed by surgery. Following, we had her on a special diet that limited whatever types of stuff that promoted the stones. She stayed clear for about 3 years before they started building again.

Burgie; 4/14/09, 9:00 AM
Annoying Mike said...: Rodger, our terrier mix had bladder stones. She is well-trained and housebroken, but the poor thing would dribble periodically in the house and then put herself in her bed. It took surgery to correct the problem. Our diagnosis started off as an "infection."; 4/14/09, 10:27 AM
Anonymous said...: So sorry to hear about your Reagan. Not a dog, but our cat had a similar problem and it was diagnosed as bladder crystals caused by high magnesium diet. We switched foods and ended problem. Sure hope all turns out well.

Juice; 4/14/09, 10:51 AM
jodi said...: Craziest thing...I just read an article the other day about pets getting stones. There is a new surgery that is not invasive. It is called laser lithotripsy. The article says only a handful of vets will perform it but so far they show great success with the procedure.; 4/14/09, 11:14 AM
Rodger the Real King of France said...: I didn't find any vets in the area who do that procedure, and cost is a factor with a nearly 12 year old dog. The local rag just noted that in this economy, with vets still charging sky-high prices, more and more people are opting for the dog pound "final solution." In this area we're looking at a bill in four figures for any surgery. Hell, we were quoted $350-400 for a doggy MRI. So far Reagan isn't suffering - we are, but not her, but if it comes to that I'll have to the right thing, hard as that will be.; 4/14/09, 11:35 AM
jodi said...: I well know the vet bill scenario. After the twisted stomach surgery we put both our dogs on vet insurance. Pet's best is the company we chose after much research. I only used them once. It takes some time to get the money back but they do come through. Of course, the older the pet the more expensive and they would only give Reese accidental after her surgery.; 4/14/09, 12:34 PM
Anonymous said...: Amos, a 140lb. German Shepard stopped urinating, only bloody drops. diagnosed as a calcium buildup on spine damaged nerves. causing sphincter to lock shut. i catheterized twice a day for two weeks while vet tried various things and researched. but finally had to put him down.(a catheter goes in about 22"); 4/14/09, 12:34 PM
Rodger the Real King of France said...: are you a veterinarian? My wife is a ICU veteran nurse, but when it comes to family and dogs, shes a wreck. Is it something I can learn to do? I'm even thinking of doing surgery if it comes to having to put her down. I can barely stand the thought of not having her around after all these years.; 4/14/09, 1:03 PM
jodi said...: Have you tried a veterinary school? In Alabama the Auburn University will sometimes take pets in for diagnosis to help train the students. It might be worth a call.; 4/14/09, 5:07 PM
BlogDog said...: A woman whose dog "wouldn't wake up" brought him to the vet. The vet had the unfortunate duty to tell her that, indeed, her dog had died.
"I don't believe it!" she cried.
So the vet brought in his own dog, a black labrador retriever, who sniffed the dog, snorted and shook his head.
No!" cried the woman.
So the doctor brought in the clinic cat which also sniffed the dog and hissed.
Finally the woman accepted that her pup had joined the choir eternal.

A month later she got a bill for $1,200. "How can you charge me this much?" she asked the vet?
Wel,, it's $200 for me but it's $500 each for the lab test and the cat scan."

Turing word: setterdy (setter dy! I don't believe it!); 4/14/09, 5:16 PM
Rodger the Real King of France said...: Horry Clap jodi - are you channeling me or what? Just now while walking Miss Stop and Pee, I thought about calling the UM Vet school about that laser deal. Right now I'm paralyzed over the tax thing, so I have to get over that first thing tomorrow, then I'll call.; 4/14/09, 5:19 PM
Anonymous said...: We took our older beagle to the UM-VaTech vet school in Blacksburg and had a tremendous experience. His medical problems were unlike Reagan's, but the quality of care he received was outstanding and certainly much less expensive than a regular vet. I don't recall if we required a referral from our vet, but the school could tell you. If you go that route and they accept the case, I think you'll find they're great. Don't know if there's a UM vet facility closer than Blacksburg; it was a hike from NoVa. BTW - My Mrs. is a former ICU nurse, too. You have a great site and fantastic crew here. Good luck!
BHP; 4/14/09, 10:10 PM
Anonymous said...: Rodger - RE: Winston The Wonder Mutt - that was an external palpation, with the dog fully conscious and quite compliant. I don't know how to advise you - I'm not a vet, and I don't know what a healthy Wheaten's bladder feels like so I wouldn't recognize a stone in one.

The suggestions to contact UM's or VT's vet school seems like excellent ones.

As a reminder, Winston had two stones, one large, one rather small. I suspect the small one was the problem all along, but the vet assumed the large stone was the only one and, once removed, didn't look further to make sure that was the only problem.; 4/15/09, 5:35 AM
SoylentGreen said...: As my daughter the Vet Student would say -

Heya dad,
thanks for the distraction...I was INTENDING to study for the test tomorrow...
Anyway, there are a number of things this could be, and I don't get a very good history from the owner (What was that $800 spent on? What antibiotics has the dog been on? Why is the dog on a diet food if she's losing weight? When did she start getting ravenous? Why is she only eating boiled chicken and rice and not a dog food? How long have they had her? Did it ever improve? Get worse over time? Etc....) so it's nigh impossible to narrow it down. This behavior can be seen with bladder cancer, indeed. Or with stones, or yeast infections, or kidney disease, or marking behavior, or psychogenic water drinking, or allergies, or mites..... to sort all these out, they should culture some sterile urine aerobically, anaerobically, and micro-aerobically as well as a fungal culture of both the urine and the vulvular skin. They should take radiographs of the bladder and kidneys to look for stones, and should ultrasound the bladder and kidneys to look for masses, cysts, and other changes. They could biopsy the bladder, since you can't usually see bladder cancer cells in the urine. They should do a complete blood panel to see if there is kidney or liver dysfunction. Vets are there to help prioritize these tests to sort out the problem most efficiently, and owner's reluctance to do tests (based on financial reasons, personal choices, and risk/benefit balance) is often the biggest barrier to solving these puzzles. But as with all medicine, sometimes you just can't figure it out. That's when you call this "Idiopathic pollakiuria" and move on.
That las line is her form of humor.; 4/15/09, 7:43 AM
Alear said...: Rodg,
I have nothing to offer, other than this wonderful tale of dogs. I wish you well in your current endeavour.; 4/15/09, 1:57 PM

Wednesday, April 15, 2009

Reagan's Problem

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