dog problems

Poor Bella. She has had a hard life, and if dogs are reincarnated, she'll come back to live in the lap of luxury. Oh wait, she already does live in the lap of luxury, but NEXT time she'll be healthy and will always have a home.

I rescued Bella about 5 years ago. She was an abused dog who had been dumped in the pound with a litter of pups. When I went up to Kentucky to get her, Bella was so terribly thin and had kennel cough. She also had a terrible case of separation anxiety. We worked on it for a long time. I would leave and then pop right back in repeatedly. Then I stretched the time out and tried to have someone here when I left. Of course I didn't see this, but Jon and Rebecca told me that she wailed and cried when I left.

Bella gained weight and was truly doted upon. I love her so much. One day about six months after I got her, Bella got really sick. She was so tired, didn't eat, was thirsty all the time. I took her to the vet and he called to say that she was in kidney failure. How could that be? But then, he said that we should check her for Addison's disease, and sure enough, that is what she had. There was an amazing change in a few days. Her Addison's was managed beautifully with a monthly shot of Percortin and a small dose of Predisone.

Then in September of 2006 we rushed Bella to the vet because she had a urinary obstruction. She had bladder stones and an infection. The emergency vet performed surgery and Bella healed up pretty quickly. But then, she had repeated infections and last week Bella had surgery again for stones. The first stones were Struvite stones, usually caused by infections, but these were calcium oxalate stones. She had seen a vet internal medicine specialist, but she didn't really have any solutions.

Sadly my vet had a fit of frustration ,and told me that he didn't want to see Bella anymore. I won't go into my opinion of that behaviour. Trust me that it is pretty low, and I should have trusted some gut instincts. He was just in over his head with this complicated health problems with Bella. A good friend whose dog has Cushings recommended her vet. I took Bella today and he prescribed potassium citrate to prevent the oxalate stones, repeated urinalysis to check for infection, and to put her back on the predisone on a low dose. The internal medicine vet wanted her off of the corticorsteroids and only on the mineralcorticodes (percortin). In the end, I was receiving so many different orders that it was impossible to keep up with. I just want someone to help me to keep Bella feeling ok, and to let her live out the rest of her life as pain free and happy as possible. I hope that I have found this someone to help Bella and me.

I've mined the web sites repeatedly looking for a magic bullet. There isn't one of course, and I know that one day Bella will die. It is so hard to love your pet and then lose them. I'm old enough to have loved and lost quite a few furry children. If there is a heaven I just know it wouldn't be paradise without them there.