Glad to hear that you didn't have to make any final decisions today Lana. I'm hoping what the vet did and what you will continue to do will help Tony and that he has a lot more time with you. Since his blood count didn't get any worse, that's at least a plus for him. Keeping you all my thoughts and hoping Tony will do well with the meds he is taking.Took Tony to the vet this morning. Checked his blood and the count remains the same, so it hasn't gotten better, but hasn't gotten worse. Dr. gave him IV fluids for his dehydration, flea pill for the fleas on him (he did say that the fleas were not the cause of his condition). We are going to continue with the prednisone and clavamax, and continue force feeding him whatever food we can get into him. Dr said transfusion is an option, would help, but I feel it would only be a temporary thing. Hopefully the prednisone will help the blood cell issue, but again it could be any number of things. Will just continue for the time being hoping things improve and not get worse. Glad we didn't have to make that final decision today. Don't want to do that unless it is absolutely necessary.
Glad to hear that you didn't have to make any final decisions today Lana. I'm hoping what the vet did and what you will continue to do will help Tony and that he has a lot more time with you. Since his blood count didn't get any worse, that's at least a plus for him. Keeping you all my thoughts and hoping Tony will do well with the meds he is taking.
It's obviously not good news and it does sound serious. If more diagnostic work would allow you and help you to end his distress sooner rather than later then that is a compelling reason to have more diagnostic work done. Ultrasounds take about 15-20 min max, are non-invasive and not at all painful and they can reveal a tumor if there is one. Xrays as well. Not all problems can be diagnosed by blood work and if you haven't done any type of imaging work, i would suggest now is the time. He is is somewhere between being in distress and suffering. He doesn't feel well, and one can't feel well with his blood count and lack of appetite. I'm going to try and summarize some of the choices in front of you.Sunday morning - still not eating, only what I force feed. Doesn't look good. I hate to put him thru a lot of tests when the outcome doesn't look good. What would you do? He's 14, severely anemic, red blood cells are being killed off --- what would too many tests do ? - just show a dread disease that will kill him anyway. Sonogram, ultrasound suggested by the lady we adopted tony from. What would you do?
Then I think some combination of ultrasound and x ray is totally appropriate. There is a good chance you will get some sort of diagnosis and a plan as a result. I've been involved with both and neither is difficult. For the ultrasound they will shave some of his belly, and gently hold him while they apply some lubricating jelly, and then run a the wand over him to look inside. It takes just a few minutes. The xray is even easier.Thank you for your post StephenQ. I'm going to talk to Dr. Newman tomorrow and ask his advice. I'm thinking it might be best to look into an ultrasound test just so we see exactly what is happening. Then if and when we have to make a decision we'll know we did the right thing. I want to give Tony every chance and not react without a valid reason. Don't want to feel guilty afterwards and think that maybe we didn't check thoroughly.
I do hope things are looking up a bit this morning.Thank you for your post StephenQ. I'm going to talk to Dr. Newman tomorrow and ask his advice. I'm thinking it might be best to look into an ultrasound test just so we see exactly what is happening. Then if and when we have to make a decision we'll know we did the right thing. I want to give Tony every chance and not react without a valid reason. Don't want to feel guilty afterwards and think that maybe we didn't check thoroughly.
Did you have that conversation with your vet? I just don't understand why he wants to keep tossing darts without a diagnosis particularly when most of the causes of low blood count is not treated with antibiotics. Of this list below, i would say none of them is treated with antibiotics, and a link to the article it came from is below.Dr. Newman just called and he would like to try one more antibiotic. He told me the name but I forget it already --- something that starts with a "d' -
dia---something or other). We've gone this far so let's see what happens with this.