Friday, April 30, 2010

Just when everything was calm

It's been nearly 2 years since Lucky was diagnosed with Addison's.  Since that initial week, he's been completely stable.  Rock solid, healthy as a horse, driving me batty with his demanding, brash nature.

Last night I got home and went upstairs to let Indy and him out (Indy is crated and we keep Lucky confined to the bedroom so she doesn't get lonely).  They were their usual exuberant selves, barking and dancing, happy to see me.  We traipsed downstairs and I let them out.  Indy started doing her usual 50mph circuit around the yard and Lucky ran back behind the raised beds to.... poop.  Unusual.  Usually he goes for a pee a few feet off the deck.

He came running back to the house.  And squated again.  And again.  At this point I could see his stools were pretty much liquid.  Hrm.

So I call them in the house for dinner.  Lucky is looking at me like "Ehhhh."  I scooped the food in his bowl and he walked away.  To drink more water.  I coaxed him back to his bowl and got him to eat, but it was not with his usual bowl-polishing enthusiasm.

I needed to take Indy to the vet, so I herded the dogs back upstairs to get her collar, thinking I'd give Lucky some sulfacrete and see if that helped.  I considered giving him a 2nd dose of pred, but decided to talk to the vet first.

That's when I noticed the small trail of vomit on the carpet.  I looked into the bathroom and saw the bath mat had been scooched back (bless him) and there was bile-y vomit all over the floor.

Shit.  Shit shit shit.

I wiped up the vomit, got Indy into her collar and left for her appointment.  Fortunately we were scheduled with Lucky's normal vet, so I could mention this to her.  She was as concerned as I, though agreed that I should give him the sulfacrete, dissolved in water, and a 2nd pred.  She also gave me some diarrhea medication.

We got home and I dosed Lucky with the dissolved sulfacrete (he's not a fan of the syringe method) and, a half hour later, gave him a pred and the diarrhea meds.  He then curled up with me and I could hear his stomach gurgling away.

This morning he was pretty much back to normal, though his stools were still a bit loose.  He got his usual morning pred and I gave him another anti-diarrhea pill.  Hopefully he'll continue to improve.

2 comments:

Beachski said...

Sorry to hear about the health scare! Our dog Sundae was diagnosed in January, and I'm fearing our first "problem"... she's been doing so great. What is the sulfacrete for? I've never heard of that...

Anonymous said...

I've been reading your blog for about a year now (posted on the Nest Pets board and was pointed toward you). Our corgi, Lola, has Addison's. This puking/pooping entry sounds JUST like her. Her episodes come from stress (thunderstorms most recently).

Lola has bad reactions to pred, so our vet has us on deximethyzone (sp?). We first had cemetidine to treat the loose stools a few days before her vet appt for the shot (stresses her), but now have moved to the dex on a daily basis b/c her pooping was becoming more frequent.

Anyway, there was no real point to this comment other than to say that Lola and I are right there with you and Lucky.

Feel free to email me if you'd like to chat more about Addison's and our treatment: KnotLindz at hotmail dot com.