what a rough week for Bailey!!!! 2 surgeries in one! (BTmomma)

    • Gold Top Dog

    what a rough week for Bailey!!!! 2 surgeries in one! (BTmomma)

    This has been a rollercoaster of a week for Bailey girl! Last Saturday, Bailey woke up from a long nap and she was shaking a trembling uncontrollably.  I sat with her and held her for a few minutes, thinking she had had a seizure of some sort... I tried to let her outside about an hour later and she wouldn't move.  I picked her up and sat her on the ground to walk, and she stood like a stature, wouldn't move one step.  We rushed her to the Emergency Vet and they diagnosed her with a neck issue.  Ran X-Rays and telling us one of her cervical discs was getting pressure which was causing her to not walk because she was losing her balance.  They perscribed her a anti-inflammatory and sent us home, telling us to keep her to NO physical movement (jumping, walking, running, etc) for 10 days.... I had to carry my 55 pound baby everywhere! Phew...... Im out of shape!!! They said if she wasn't showing improvement by Monday, to follow up with our regular vet.

    Monday came around and she still wasn't walking and had thrown up, which the ER vet said could happen from the pain/anti-inflammatory meds.  I brought her into our regular vet and they looked at the X-Rays the ER vet had sent home with us and couldn't find anything abnormal in the neck.  From that moment on, Bailey threw up 4 more times.... It was a TON of vomit and stunk unbelievably... our regular vet took an X-Ray of her abdomen and found an abnormal amount of what they thought was poop in her small intestine and also a "foreign object" that they thought was something she had swallowed... they wanted to keep her overnight and give her a shot to help her pass the poop so they could take another X-Ray in the morning to get a better look....

    Tuesday morning they ran another X-Ray on the abdomen and found that compared to the previous evening, her gallbladder had increased almost triple in size overnight!!  It was about the size of baseball.  The "foreign object" was grit and sludge in the gallbladder. So we had scheduled an ASAP cholecystectomy to remove the gallbladder before it ruptured, but when our vet opened up her stomach, she was very bloated, even after not eating in 48 hours. She had so much food and water stored in her, which obviously had been in there for no telling how long! So he had to also do a pyloromyotomy to open up her pyloric valve because it had a ton of scar tissue, which he said could be because it never formed correctly from a puppy.  They said she is alert and ate a small amount of food today and kept it down - now they are waiting to see if she passes it through a bowel movement.

    Also when they ran bloodwork on her they found early signs of kidney disease, which they say is common in Bull Terriers.  They said its manageable but its very important I put her on a Kidney Diet ASAP and bring her in every few months for blood work to keep an eye on certain levels.

    This has just been a CRAZY week for my poor Bailey girl! I am so glad I followed up with our regular vet on Monday instead of waiting another day. They are keeping her until at least Friday.  I miss her like crazy!!!!! I am homesick for my baby! This is her first overnight stay anywhere without me.  I am severely, excuse me here, PISSED, how easily she was misdiagnosed without further examination.  She wasn't walking because of pain in her abdomen!!!! My sweet angel was being treated for something that wasn't wrong with her and had to spend all weekend like that!
     
    My reason for this post is to find out any advice on gallbladder recovery time, pyloromyotomy recovery time, and also advice on anyone with their pet on a kidney diet.... ANY INFO IS APPRECIATED! I have done tons of research but of course I want to hear personal advice as well....
     
    ME AND BAILEY THANK YOU!
    • Gold Top Dog

    Poor Bailey!!  I hope she heals up quickly.

    See this site for lots of kidney info:  http://www.dogaware.com/health/kidney.html

    • Gold Top Dog

     Yikes; poor Bailey!!! She has been through quite a lot, and so have you;(((hugs))). I don't know what to tell you about a kidney diet, but I guess you'll be feeding one of the  prescription diets. There are a few supplements that can help; fish oil and coenzymeQ10 are good. For the CoQ10, give 30mg for every 20 pounds of body weight, and for the fish oil most vets consider 50mg to 100mg per kilogram of body weight to be safe. For Bailey, 55 pounds is 25 kilograms, so that's 1250 to 2500 mg of fish oil. Also, while it's important to avoid feeding too much protein, try not to give Bailey less than one gram per pound of body weight (55 grams), or he will lose muscle. Hill's, Royal Canin, and Purina, will know how many grams of protein are in 1000 calories of their food and will readily give you that information. You can use that to calculate how much protein Bailey's getting. I'll be sending healing vibes her way for a quick recovery.

    • Gold Top Dog

     I don't have any advice for kidney issues but just wanted to say I'm sending healing and get better vibes to you and Bailey!

    • Gold Top Dog

    BTmomma

    Also when they ran bloodwork on her they found early signs of kidney disease, which they say is common in Bull Terriers.  They said its manageable but its very important I put her on a Kidney Diet ASAP and bring her in every few months for blood work to keep an eye on certain levels.

    Be aware that anti-inflammatory meds will affect the kidney values, so the bloodwork could quite possibly be "off" due to the meds, or it could very well be that she is showing signs of kidney disease.  The dogaware site is a great reference for information on kidney disease.  You may want to contact a tcvm vet near you--they can help so much with diet and herbs to manage the condition. As for diet, we had our kidney girl on a home prepared diet (formulated by her vet).

    Good luck.

    • Gold Top Dog

    Sending good vibes for a quick and full recovery. ((((hugs))))

    • Bronze

    Number one cause of premature death in bull terriers is eating foreign objects.  So, it was much more likely something was going on with Bailey's stomach than her neck.  Bullie have a lot of muscle around their necks.  They aren't prone to the neck instability issues that a Doberman might be.

    There are a number of Yahoo groups devoted to Bull Terriers.  You might try joining one or all of them as it gives you access to a large number of Bullie owners.  There may be someone who has experienced this since many many bullies have been opened up for gastric issues of one sort or another.  Some bullie owners are even Veterinarians.  So these groups are a good source of information.

    I have no experience with either problem that Bailey needed corrected.  I would thing a very bland diet like baby food or other easy to digest food would be appropriate.  Especially while the pyloric valve is healing. 

    I will be wishing for a complete recovery for Bailey.

     

    • Gold Top Dog

    (((Bailey)))  Sending healing vibes your way!

    WATER WATER WATER!!!  This is one of the biggest keys to any kidney disease (with the proper diet).  If you're using kibble then soak it with water each time.  I also like the dogaware site....very informative!!!  Another good option is Dandelion herb.  It aids in flushing the kidneys of toxins.

    Is this the first time the kidney values have been elevated or checked?  If I were you I'd do a recheck after a couple/few of weeks cause there's also the possibility they're high due to the condition!!!

    Good luck Bailey and hugs for you BTMomma.

    • Gold Top Dog

     Healing wishes for Bailey. Sending *stress-no-more* vibes to you.

    • Gold Top Dog
    Johnny&Tessy
    If I were you I'd do a recheck after a couple/few of weeks cause there's also the possibility they're high due to the condition!!!


    What Johnny said!
    Poor Bailey! Hope she's feeling better soon! My old kitty had kidney issues when we first moved to FL - she lived many, many years afterwards, with no issues!
    • Gold Top Dog

    ALL I CAN DO IS SEND HEALING THOUGHTS FOR YOU  BABY.

    • Moderators
    • Gold Top Dog

     sending our best to you both!  Poor bailey!

    • Gold Top Dog

    Me too.  I miss seeing Bailey around her.  Feel better girls!

    • Gold Top Dog

    I'm just seeing this.  I hope that you & Bailey are healing & getting used to a new routine.  I totally agree with what Johnny said.  I know it's late but I would keep her food bland & a high moisture content.  I had 2 kitties that had kidney problems & they both lived for many years.

    ((HUGS)) to you & lovins & good vibes to Bailey.