My 11 year old cocker has a liver shunt..

deborah said:
Karla, do you suspect that your vet's diagnosis was in error? To what do you attribute her remarkable turnaround?
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Yes actually I do think that. I think she may have had a reaction to the vaccinations and it caused all of this. I do believe the lactulose helped but then I think it started to cause problems once she was doing better. I mean, she was having neurological issues while on it for about 2 weeks before I quit givig it to her, and now she is fine after I stop giving it. To me that says a lot.
Karla
 
Hersh'sMom said:
It may seem to you on the surface that you did the right thing but I'd still at least talk to your vet to say you've stopped treatment and ask what consequences/signs to watch for that she may be in distress. If she's not getting the one med that detoxifies her blood you're slowly poisoning her and it would be more humane to let her go and not suffer a slow death. I'm sorry but it seems you're only thinking of yourself and keeping her here for you and not thinking of what's best for her. :(
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I actually already know the consequences since her vet and I had already talked about this before. What I did, was the right thing. She is my dog, and has been for 11 years & I know her better then anyone. I almost had her put to sleep last week when I saw her showing neurological symptoms again. She looked like she felt horrible and like she was near deaths door. All that going on when she was on the lactulose, happening every day, some days much more worse! And now that she is off it, she is normal again with absolutely no episodes. So I do not believe I am slowly poisoning her, I think the lactulose was!

How am I thinking only of myself by doing this? She isn't suffering in any way. She is actually 100% better since I took her off the stuff. I took her off of it because by giving it to her I was forcing her to suffer. My first thought is Hanna and always doing what is best for her, and it always has been. She has always gotten the best possible care since the day I brought her home as a puppy. I surely am not going to put her to sleep (let her go), ending her life while she is doing better then she has in over a month!

I believe that if she was so sick she would of gotten worse within a day or two after stopping the meds. But she only got better. Here we are going into day 6 and she is still doing wonderful. So please tell me how I am making her suffer now? She is even jumping up on me, something she had quit doing until I took her off those meds.

Also, I did call the vet that was treating her this afternoon and she cannot even explain why she is better now. She said if she hasn't shown any more signs since she has been off the meds that she probably wont and agrees that it would of happened by now. However I am taking her in this next week to have another BAT done. And I am going to bet it is normal. Whatever was wrong with her I believe it was some kind of reaction to the vaccinations she got just before she became ill.
Thank you for your input though.
Karla
 
Karla, I am so delighted that things are turning out so well! It sounds like you observed carefully, and then followed your gut. And it worked brilliantly. Sometimes only mama knows what's best. I do hope you find another vet, one you can trust. And that Hanna continues to do thrive!
 
deborah said:
Karla, I am so delighted that things are turning out so well! It sounds like you observed carefully, and then followed your gut. And it worked brilliantly. Sometimes only mama knows what's best. I do hope you find another vet, one you can trust. And that Hanna continues to do thrive!
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Thank you very much Deborah! I just wish I could get some weight on her but she is still sticking at 16.8 pounds... I really did like this new vet but they are SO expensive. She at least listens to me and she explains things in so much detail it's almost to much..lol I am going to call and make her an appointment on Monday to have another BAT done. I have talked to a lot of people since this happened and I have heard from several people that they don't give boosters at all to their senior dogs because there seems to be a lot of reactions in the elderly dogs. But I don't know, they are going by their own experiences but I honestly wish I hadn't given her boosters.

Now they are forcing us in Wa., (as you probably know) to give our dogs the rabies vaccine by making it mandatory. It starts in February and my dogs are due to have their licenses renewed and I am not going to give it to Hanna no matter what! I do not give it and never have, unless I ave to go out of state or fling then I have done it then. So I am going to ask the vet to give me some kind of letter saying it is not safe to give this to Hanna right now.

It makes me mad they have made it a law here when it never was before and there is no reason for it. We have one of the lowest rates of rabies here in Washington State so I think it's just stupid! I think I will bring that up on another thread ;)

We are also adding a new cocker baby to the family. She is coming from the same breeder we got Hanna from 11 years ago. She is a cute buff girl, I have never had a buff one before. I am excited, I have wanted another cocker for a long time.

Karla, Hanna & the rest of the clan..

PS: I LOVE your dogs names..haha Very cute, fun names...:lol:
 
Getting titers done is another way of getting around doing the actual shots. It shows that their bodies have it built up in their system and a booster is not needed.
 
Congratulations on the new girl! Bringing Cordelia home has been so good for Nicholas; it's really brought a spring back into his step. I hope it's as successful for your family:)

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Hersh'sMom said:
Getting titers done is another way of getting around doing the actual shots. It shows that their bodies have it built up in their system and a booster is not needed.
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Unfortunately here they wont accept that (yet) they have to have the booster.
 
deborah said:
Congratulations on the new girl! Bringing Cordelia home has been so good for Nicholas; it's really brought a spring back into his step. I hope it's as successful for your family:)

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Thank you! This is the new puppy..She is the one on the far left. I don't have any mew pictures yet but she is supposed to be sending me some soon. I will have her in about 2 more weeks :)

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NEw update on Hanna

Well, things are going wonderful! Hanna is at 100% now and showing absolutely no signs of having liver issues. We saw the vet today and she was very surprised to see such an amazing recovery. She agrees with me that the vaccine booster must have somehow made her liver toxic. They did a blood test and her liver enzymes are normal! I am just thrilled! I really thought iI was going to lose her.

She is completely back to normal and has even started barking again, something she hadn't done in awhile. Funny how the things that drove me nuts before are now music to my ears! I am even happy to see her trying to get into the garbage..LOL... The only thing different is that she is more "clingy". Which is fine with me. She needs to have her teeth cleaned so I am going to set up an appointment for that to be done. However, it worries me. I don't like the idea of her being put under at all.

Have a wonderful week..
Karla & Hanna and the rest of the gang!:dance:
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Amazing update on Hanna :)

Well Hanna has been doing awesome! She has had no issues at all in a couple of months, not since we took her off the medications. There is no doubt in my mind that is was the vaccinations. I will never give boosters to an older dog again! I am so happy she is still with us and completely healthy! She has no signs of liver damage thank God. I have attached 2 pictures. Hanna had just been groomed and the puppy is our new cocker pup, her name is Angel.:)
Thank you!
Karla
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Hanna looks very cute in her sweater. I'm glad she's doing better.
 
Wonderful news. I don't give boosters to my older dogs either. The pup is a little doll.
 
Thank you so much. I know you all were trying to be so helpful before, and you actually were.. I just KNEW something was different with Hanna and I just could not let her go, not could I trust the vet. It just didn't feel right to me what she was saying. And to think I almost had her put to sleep. God was talking to me though because my gut just kept saying, NO.

And I am sooooo happy my baby girl is still with us. She is so awesome with the new cocker pup. They lay together and Hanna watches out for her and also puts her in her place when needed..LOL... I went back to my old vet and she has a check up next week. but they haven't been able to find and permanent damage.

I have had a lot of gut feelings through this whole thing and I am glad I followed my gut, something I don't usually do..lol Now that things have calmed down in my life I plan to visit the boards here more often and hopefully make some new friends. You all have been so wonderful and caring and ya just don't find that so much on the internet any more, especially in dog forums.

Here are a couple more of her. I have some I took the other day I still need to upload to my computer;)
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Also, I kept cooking for Hanna, giving her what she wanted and slowly but surely she started eating kibble again. She has gained back a couple of pounds and is looking much better. But now I keep her coat cut short and with being so thin now she gets chilled easily so I have lots of hoodies and sweaters for her..lol She loves them! I am going to be making a new thread elsewhere about our new cocker pup. She is 12 weeks now, we got her from the breeder we got Hanna from. She is SO smart. Will tell you all about her in the new thread.. Have a wonderful sunday...
Karla
 
I am glad you listened to the little voice in yourself about Hanna, sometimes we make hard choices. I have found when I don't pay attention to what my gut is telling me I often end up in trouble. Your pup is a doll too, congratulations. My Chase (buff) has a seizure disorder from the rabies shot, vaccinations make it worse. Mine do not get vaccinations, period. I pay a penalty for it, like not being able to go to dog parks and other things but my dog is better. It is almost impossible to get a vet to write that a dog can't have vaccinations, and even harder to get the authorities to accept it. I have had a vet say no more vaccinations, but he has only done testing through blood samples and is not in my area, so he told my vet, whether or not she would put herself on the line I don't know.

Good luck I am very happy for you.
 
Karla, sorry I'm late catching up, but so glad that Hanna is doing so much better!!!
 
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