Another Installment of "BS"- "Buford Saga"

It is anything BUT bs, but I just couldn't resist.

The boy's latest round of tests, one specifically for Cushings, came back barely as a borderline case. The suppression test was done and while the numbers were a little higher than wanted, raising a slight eyebrow from my vet, his body did indeed do what it was supposed to do in reaction to the cortisol. We decided not to treat for Cushings but to monitor it in case he develops it later in life. In other words, we're treating this as a false positive, but not turning our back on the possibility in the future.

We switched antibiotics to Tylan powder: 1/4 teaspoon twice a day--just sprinkle on his food. The switch was made Monday and this morning Buford made an ALMOST normal poop! This is incredibly exciting--but I'm still not announcing the "all clear" yet. It is Buford, and that means all bets are off until we achieve success for a much longer period of time.

So now we're back to just treating the intestinal situation with the hopes that as that clears up his weight will increase, and his drinking / urinating will decrease. The rationale is that as any animal does, when they don't feel well they do whatever they can to flush their systems.

He has never lost his appetite, and his energy level has been typically high....except when he's snoring away that is. :-)

Time will tell....my boy, the medical mystery!

Buford--latest....

Ok, here it is in short:

Still sick. Diarrhea not clearing up as quickly as we hoped--but my understanding is that it is a minimum of a 6 week process and we're just finishing week 3.

Urine is still very dilute. New urine test done for Cushings--revealed that he MAY have the disease but more test need to be done to confirm it as well as what type of Cushings it is.

So....

Tomorrow (Friday) he goes in at 7 AM for a day-long adventure of blood test, etc., to see if we are, indeed, dealing with Cushings.

There is a very big part of me that prays the tests come back positive. For if they do not, the thought of facing early kidney disease and failure with my baby is ripping my heart out.

Please send drool--please!

Buford---cancer free!

Buford_at_rest
Originally uploaded by hsarver.

Yesterday we went and had an ultrasound done. The poor boy! First he is thinking all morning that he is a "bad boy" because he is being denied food and water. He couldn't get close enough to me--not in the car nor in the waiting room of the emergency clinic.

But first, the good news: no intestial or abdominal abnormalities were found!!!

So we proceed with the assumption that SIBO (small intestine bacterial overgrowth) is the primary cause of Bufe's distress. As the 6+ week long treatment progresses, if we do not see improvement we then need to "assume" something else is in play.....let's hope that is not the case.

Meanwhile, back at the emergency clinic part of the story---time to make everyone smile and laugh a little:

Buford made friends with EVERYONE! Each time a doctor or nurse or tech or even another owner and pet walked past him he wagged uncontrollably and down right demanded to be pet! Even the custodian (sweet woman!) came right over, hunkered down and gave him love.

Then the tech came to take him to his ultrasound....can you say "flat basset!!" He became one with gravity, flattened out on the tile and refused to move. Then he rolled over for a belly rub. The tech got down on her hands and knees, rubbed away and he sprang up onto all fours and trotted off down the hall with her. Guess he was trying to get a message across to me after all the morning denials of eatery.

25 minutes later she brings him back, all shaved on his sides and belly and tells me about how good he was! He didn't want to lie down on the table at first, but once he did he rolled right over and enjoyed everything--the shaving, the ultrasound procedure (must have thought it was a fancy belly rub) and when all was done she gave him a treat---it's a wonder he didn't take her fingers with the treat.

She gave me his leash and we all trotted off again down the hallway to an exam room to await the radiologist.

A few moments later this man (looked like Rob Hammerton's twin--for those of you who know Rob) walks in the door and in one fluid motion is on the ground rubbing and petting and mushing it up with Buford! And the dog is happier than ever! I'm thinking: no matter what he has to say, I like him because he obviously loves animals and understands them.

He proceeded to simply sit on the floor with Buford the entire time he's telling what he did NOT find! We then talked about where we go from here, etc., and then he invited another doctor (an animal gastroenterologist) in to talk more about SIBO.

They will be calling our regular vet with results and we will go from there.

And then we went home....ok, I had biscuits in the car so while I was driving Buford was slopping up the back seat with crumbs and drool! (Good thing leather cleans up so easily :-) )

Buford is sick---today is his ultrasound

Ok, here we go:

Ultra sound---- 1 PM Today
no food or water since 8 PM last night

Go ahead, re-read those last two sentences....does anyone have any idea the true meaning of the phrase "a living hell?" Come on over right now to my house and see it LIVE! Buford is miserable and making sure everyone around is miserable too. He's starving (quite literally I might add). He's thirsty. He's pawing at the bathroom doors to get at the toilets....he actually banged his head against one a little while ago. He's crying and whimpering. And he's also getting a bit aggressive with Guinness, Della and yes, me.

...and it's only 10:30 AM!!!!!!

I will post again sometime this afternoon/evening after the ultrasound....let's hope it's clean so we can focus just on getting his bacteria back in balance.

Buford is sick---but now a direction!

Tuesday night, January 31st, 8:06 PM: Buford's vet called with his test results. We wanted (yes WANTED) it to be a problem with his pancreas because we knew we could treat it. His pancreas was fine.

So were his B-12 levels....BUT:

His Folate levels were HIGH! We have a digestive problem--hence the chronic diarrhea, the ravenous appetite and all the water. He was eating, eating, eating and not absorbing any nutrients. He was drinking, drinking, drinking, and not getting rid of the bad bacteria in his intestinal tract.

So, 6 weeks (or more) of antibiotics to kill off the "bad" bacteria so that the "good" bacteria has a chance to grow back....

But we're not done. He needs to go get an ultrasound of his abdomen to rule out any "abnormalities."

....I'm losing my mind.

Buford is sick---more tests

Monday, January 30th: Buford went back for more tests today. Another full CBC panel was done just to make sure nothing was missed....nothing was. Once again it came back clean. Time to start ruling out things. It was not:

diabetes
kidney disease
liver disease
thyroid problems
Cushings
Lyme
Addisons

...the list goes on.

Time for go to the next step--another blood test to check the pancreas and digestive enzymes.

Wait time: 36 hours.

Buford is sick--the background story

Around Thanksgiving week Buford looked thin to me. Now this is a basset hound who once topped the scales at 84 lbs. Specific diet got him down to a healthy 56-60 lbs where he has been stable for over 5 years. Suddenly he looked thin....

Off to the vet who said, "I never thought I would see the day that I said Buford looked skinny. Too skinny." And yes, he was down to just barely 50 lbs.

For the last 2 months we have tried to put weight on him--he has been eating more food and treats than he has ever eaten before....and gained 1.5 lbs. Not good.

Full CBC panel revealed---nothing! EVERY SINGLE THING IS RIGHT DOWN THE CENTER OF NORMAL FOR HIM. He was ravenous, drinking tons / peeing tons, and had chronic diarrhea. And his energy level? THROUGH THE ROOF!!!

Nothing made sense....so more tests....