Riley
Most of my friends know my dog Riley. He's been with me or my family since my dad brought him home roughly 11 years, 11 months, and 3 weeks ago. He came into my life as a 5-month old humane society pup called "Dallas" (a mistake that was quickly righted). He was about three years old when I went away to college and only got to see him on visits home. When he was about 7.5 years old he came to live with me in Champaign-Urbana. He has come to know Ray as his dog-dad and one of his favorite humans.
I know 12 is a little old for a dog of his breeds (Irish setter and springer spaniel), but he's still a puppy at heart.
Riley's behavior has changed a bit over the last few months; stealing food, drinking water like it was going out of style, turning over the trash can, etc. And he's gotten sick a few times. He really started to worry me about a week ago when he became discontinent. Ray and I did not get a single full night of sleep last week between waking up to his urgent need to go out, or waking up to find that we'd missed our chance to take him out. Bleck. Let me just say that again. Bleck. Somehow, Ray got clued into a condition called canine Cushings (you may remember the name from House), and I started reading about it online. It's a tumor or growth on the pituitary or adrenal gland. There was a list of about 20 symptoms, of which Riley had shown about 15, but it also claimed to be uncommon in Riley's breeds.
So Wednesday, I took off part of a day of work to take him to the vet. It has come to my attention that my vet, while nice, and friendly, and capable giving shots and checking a pet's temperature, doesn't have the staff or facilities for much beyond the basics. He took some samples of blood and feces and sent them off to a lab and sent us home with some high-fiber dog food and a prescription for Pepto Bismol.
The next day the test results came back and my poor old vet didn't know what to make of them. He told me he'd never diagnosed Cushings and couldn't do the necessary tests. It wasn't until I called him back the next day to ask him about the fecal test that he told me there was a note about "Rare Degenerated Giardia". Anyway, on Thursday he told me to take Riley to ACCES (Animal Critical Care Emergency Services) for more tests. I called ACCES to make an appointment and was told that they didn't take appointments. I called the vet back and he told me that they did make appointments and I should get Riley in. Then I called ACCES back and was put on hold for 7 minutes and disconnected.
AAAAARRRRRRHHHHHHGHHHGHHHH!!!
So I called lizzelda, a vet tech friend of mine in Ballard, who offered perspective on ACCES, information about Cushings, and what I should be expecting from veternarians. She made me feel so much better. On Friday, Riley seemed to be feeling worse, so I called ACCES again, wouldn't let them put me on hold, and somehow got an appointment with their veternary internal medicine specialist. Ray took the afternoon off, picked up our baby-dog and took him to the hospital.
Two hours later, still at work, I was spazzing out. Ray hadn't been given any answers yet and I was looking at my footing-and-column design through tears. Finally, I got my coworker to give me a ride out the ACCES. They had given Riley an ultrasound that apparently ruled out Cushings on the adrenal glands, and they gave him some medicine for the Giardia. They confirmed that my concerns about Cushings were founded, and described the unpleasant, but totally doable treatment for Cushings. They scheduled him for a Low Dose Dexamethasone Suppression Test in order to diagnose or rule out pituitary Cushings. I left ACCES feeling so much better, even though my doggie was still sick and sad and now has a silly looking shaved tummy.
Over this past weekend, Riley has responded really well to the Giardia medicine, and we've been able to sleep through the whole night the last two nights. His mood has totally changed since Friday, and he's been more like his normal, cheerful self. This morning I dropped him off for his test, and hopefully will know within a day or two.
Anyway, I know there are people out there other than Ray, my Dad, and myself who love Riley, and I thought you might like to know how he's doing. And if you see fit, please send your positive thoughts his way while he's going through all of this. I'll let you know how the test turns out.
I know 12 is a little old for a dog of his breeds (Irish setter and springer spaniel), but he's still a puppy at heart.
Riley's behavior has changed a bit over the last few months; stealing food, drinking water like it was going out of style, turning over the trash can, etc. And he's gotten sick a few times. He really started to worry me about a week ago when he became discontinent. Ray and I did not get a single full night of sleep last week between waking up to his urgent need to go out, or waking up to find that we'd missed our chance to take him out. Bleck. Let me just say that again. Bleck. Somehow, Ray got clued into a condition called canine Cushings (you may remember the name from House), and I started reading about it online. It's a tumor or growth on the pituitary or adrenal gland. There was a list of about 20 symptoms, of which Riley had shown about 15, but it also claimed to be uncommon in Riley's breeds.
So Wednesday, I took off part of a day of work to take him to the vet. It has come to my attention that my vet, while nice, and friendly, and capable giving shots and checking a pet's temperature, doesn't have the staff or facilities for much beyond the basics. He took some samples of blood and feces and sent them off to a lab and sent us home with some high-fiber dog food and a prescription for Pepto Bismol.
The next day the test results came back and my poor old vet didn't know what to make of them. He told me he'd never diagnosed Cushings and couldn't do the necessary tests. It wasn't until I called him back the next day to ask him about the fecal test that he told me there was a note about "Rare Degenerated Giardia". Anyway, on Thursday he told me to take Riley to ACCES (Animal Critical Care Emergency Services) for more tests. I called ACCES to make an appointment and was told that they didn't take appointments. I called the vet back and he told me that they did make appointments and I should get Riley in. Then I called ACCES back and was put on hold for 7 minutes and disconnected.
AAAAARRRRRRHHHHHHGHHHGHHHH!!!
So I called lizzelda, a vet tech friend of mine in Ballard, who offered perspective on ACCES, information about Cushings, and what I should be expecting from veternarians. She made me feel so much better. On Friday, Riley seemed to be feeling worse, so I called ACCES again, wouldn't let them put me on hold, and somehow got an appointment with their veternary internal medicine specialist. Ray took the afternoon off, picked up our baby-dog and took him to the hospital.
Two hours later, still at work, I was spazzing out. Ray hadn't been given any answers yet and I was looking at my footing-and-column design through tears. Finally, I got my coworker to give me a ride out the ACCES. They had given Riley an ultrasound that apparently ruled out Cushings on the adrenal glands, and they gave him some medicine for the Giardia. They confirmed that my concerns about Cushings were founded, and described the unpleasant, but totally doable treatment for Cushings. They scheduled him for a Low Dose Dexamethasone Suppression Test in order to diagnose or rule out pituitary Cushings. I left ACCES feeling so much better, even though my doggie was still sick and sad and now has a silly looking shaved tummy.
Over this past weekend, Riley has responded really well to the Giardia medicine, and we've been able to sleep through the whole night the last two nights. His mood has totally changed since Friday, and he's been more like his normal, cheerful self. This morning I dropped him off for his test, and hopefully will know within a day or two.
Anyway, I know there are people out there other than Ray, my Dad, and myself who love Riley, and I thought you might like to know how he's doing. And if you see fit, please send your positive thoughts his way while he's going through all of this. I'll let you know how the test turns out.