This blog post is written in separate segments, is very disjointed, starts out sad, and is not pole-related,
Around Thanksgiving 2013:
This year is turning out to be terrible. I hate being negative, I truly do. Honestly, I wish things were different so much. I tried being strong, and managed for 2 weeks. Something is wrong with my dog, and I still don't know what. It started with him yelping when I pet him, a few days before Thanksgiving. That lasted for a few days, so we had him checked. Vet figured it was a bruised rib and gave him some pain medication. Within days of the visit, small masses began appearing on his torso. He has at least 10 that sprouted within days. One of them is the size of a ping pong ball. They are tender we you feel them. At this time he also developed a fever. The fever goes up and down everyday. Part of the day he's normal temperature, other parts he's got a fever. This has been going on for 2 weeks. Doctor did an needle aspiration and found nothing. Most of the slides didn't even take, which fat can do, but why would fatty tumors appear so suddenly and give him a fever. I don't think they would. My fear is he has an aggressive cancer. Right now he is acting happy. He eats, plays, goes potty normally. He's just very lumpy and has a fever. He's on two different antibiotics.12/10:
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| Poor guy stuck in the cone |
12/13:
He still has a fever so we are doing blood work and a biopsy. I've done so much crying over this. The waiting is terrifying. Time seems to be slowing down.
12/14:
Vet called with his blood test results. He has some high eosinophil counts, which are parasite or allergy related, usually. Weird. He's also throwing out a ton of immature red blood cells. I find out his biopsy results in a few days. The blood work results have actually eased my mind a bit. I'm wondering if he got a weird parasite from rolling on a dead bird a while back, although it was quite a while ago, so that would be very strange.
12/18:
Vet called with his biopsy results. She diagnosed him with "sterile nodular panniculitis." I guess that's an inflammation of the fatty tissue under the skin. His case is odd since there was no trauma, infection, or drugs he was taking at the time. Course of action is steroids and vitamin E (for his skin.) I cannot even begin to explain the relief I feel over the diagnosis. My dog is not dying. My little pooper has many more years with me. I don't have to make a difficult decision. My little man gets to stay with me! I am so happy I could cry.
My best of 2013 is knowing my dog is okay.
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I'm very glad that you go this good news about his health and can enjoy your holidays stress free!
ReplyDeleteThank you so much. This has been a trying few weeks!
DeleteI'm so glad he's ok!!!! I hope you can enjoy the rest of this year now!! <3
ReplyDeleteThank you. The steroid is making him pee more, so he's now making late night oinks to go outside.
DeleteI'm sorry Butters but that sad-doggy-in-a-cone look is incredibly cute! Glad he's fine :)
ReplyDeleteNow he's wearing an inflatable donut instead. At least it serves as a pillow for him :)
DeleteWhat a difficult experience for you and lil guy!! So happy to hear he's on the mend!!
ReplyDeleteThank you. The lumps are going away and the hair above them is coming off (which is totally weird!) Hoping to get his stitches out today or tomorrow.
DeleteHi! Last October my dog was also diagnosed with nodular sterile panniculitis. He is on steroids since then, the lumps have disapeared, but every time we reduce the steroids levels, the skin lesions start to appear again. I'm wondering how your dog is...
ReplyDeleteHe's completely better. It's been 3 months or so and they haven't returned. We did Vitamin E with his steroid treatment. It was weird because his hair got all silky and his dandfruff got better. He got rough haired and danfruffy again once we stopped the E, so I asked the veterinarian if I could give him Vitamin E periodically. He's already getting soft again. You might mention vitamin E to your veterinarian. Ours said there isn't a lot of info on vitamin E for sterile nodular panniculitis, but some vets use it in conjunction with steroids because it is good for the skin. Might be worth looking into. Since Vitamin E is fat soluble, it is possible to give the dog too much, over an extended period, so I suggest you discuss it with the vet first. Hope you get your fur baby all fixed up! I hate seeing them ill. :(
DeleteMy dog was just diagnosed with this and we started the steroids and discussed the vitamin E. My vet has never seen a case before. What kind/type/dose of vitamin E are you giving?
ReplyDeleteI advise you to discuss doses with your veterinarian. Vitamin E is fat soluble, so it is stored in the body, therefore toxicity could occur if one takes too much. Dosage would likely be dependent on the dogs weight. I bought the Solgar brand because it had several variants of Vitamin E. I gave him the vitamin E only during the course of the treatment, then stopped when the steroid treatment was done. Again, discuss dose & duration with your veterinarian to find the best dose & duration for your fur baby. :) Good luck! btw, my veterinarian had never seen a case of it either. She had contacted many colleagues to help her figure out what was wrong and appropriate treatment.
DeleteI did discuss it with her. She said she thought a dosage of 200iu every 12 hours based on her research and contacts with other colleagues. I just didn't know if there was a specific type or brand I should look for and I had the vet on the phone twice today and didn't want to bother her AGAIN... You answered my question!! Thank you very much for responding so quickly!
DeleteI see. I hope the treatment works for your fur baby! I know it was a huge relief to notice the lumps going away for for the fever to finally break. I don't think there is a specific brand that is necessary. I have just heard good things about Solgar, and I liked that there were 3 variants of the vitamin in the capsule. Most of the other vitamins I saw only had one type. Not sure if it makes a difference.
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