Gobie needs good vibes please- Final Update

Looks like the calms forte has kicked in, he is napping next to me now.  Soon though, I will collect some urine and we'll be off to the vet. 

Thanks to everyone for the ideas, and vibes and Callie's great help.  I love you guys! and this forum!

 Calms forte is great stuff - for me anyway :) It doesn't work on Ari, but I've used it myself for when I need to relax. Best of luck to Gobie! I hope you get good and reassuring news at your vet visit.

Ok, so back from the vet visit, the news is a "maybe" on the hot cocoa making him vomit.  She says it could be a GI virus- there is a dog one going around.  It was not enough to cause liver or kidney damage, all numbers look great, palpation on liver/kidneys feels fine, no masses of anysort.

He does have a UTI, which explains all the frantic night waking. Vet also said that the amount of red/white bloodcells shows a pretty severe cystis so that cn cause pain and vomiting.  He also has early stage COPD.  there is no fluid in his lungs as of yet, and does not need to go on any meds for that just yet.  We are to watch for his tongue/gums turning purple or blue, they need to be varying shades of red or pink which means he's getting enough oxygen.  Eventually he will have to go on bronchidilators.  

 He got a shot of cerena for nausea and an antibx injection to help with any GI infection (since he also has chronic soft poo. And then 2 weeks of  once daily antibx for the UTI.   Then a recheck UA.

He is completely blind in the left eye, nearly so in the right.  OTherwise everything else looks good for him.

I do think the calms forte helped a bunch because he was very calm at the vet's! Usually he's a shaking shivering mass o'muscles. 

So there's the news.  Poor old man.

Good that he got checked out and that you found out about the UTI.  I hope he feels better soon.  Give the old guy some scritches from me.

So overall good enws I guess!  Really good to hear there's no kidney damage at all.  Hopefully the medicine will make Gobi feel even better in a few days!

((((HUGS))))

Glad you're on the mend Gobie-monster!

 Jewel had a shot of that, a couple of weeks ago, too. It was awesome!!! I'm glad that he is well enough, for now, and hope that the bladder issue is solved with the antibiotics.

 I'm glad his blood work was good; sorry he has such a bad UTI. I hope he gets better quickly; give him some lovin' for me.

Glad it was nothing too serious!  Willow used to vomit and get diarrhea when she had a UTI also. 

Gobie's having a nap now. I gave him another calms forte, he seems like he just could not settle down. It's so unusual for him to not nap throughout the day and even though he's pacing around, he looks very tired out. 

He's sleeping on my mom's coat (she's over for a visit). It's a luxurious fluffy winter coat, and he loves it when she brings it over.   He's been taking some nice contented sighs, which seems to me like he's more relaxed than he's been in a long time.  I feel like a mean momma I didn't catch his UTI sooner.  He's been such a marker, I figured that was it. 

Anyway, I could go on and on.  He's a stinker, but he's my sweet stinker ;) 

I'm glad that the "stinker" got a good report!

Sounds like it was generally just a really good time to take him to the vet.  UTI's happen with older dogs -- and sometimes the signs aren't like those with a younger dog -- someimes it just makes them feel miserable all over.

Typically, at least in my experience, enough chocolate to make them miserable won't necessarily show a super high problem in the bloodwork -- but it *can* make it just a wee bit "off" which can then set the stage for other problems (our conversation on another thread about "food" being medicine is SO incredibly true -- for dogs as well).  So if you can give him the milk thistle, honestly it will help really restore him -- particularly since he has to be on antibiotics. 

You may want to give him a probiotic -- the vet would have Forti-Flora, or you can even give them yogurt (the more organic the better) - just give it 2 hours "off" from the antibiotics (so the antibiotic doesn't kill the good bacteria in the probioltic). 

Since he's on the elderly side (sorry Gobi) I'd have the vet culture the urine just to see (particularly since there's potential cystitis involved) and make sure there are no crystals or rods/casts in the urine as well as making sure the infection is absolutely clear.  It's not a cheap test *but* it can save you from having to go back again and again and again for the same thing.

Calms typically takes about an hour to really 'work' and it can really help with an unpleasant prospect for some dogs like a vet visit.

 Admittedly, I hadn't caught this thread at all till now, but I'm glad that its now what the title sounds like...*releases held breath*

And very glad he's feeling content on the fluffy coat...

huskymom

 Admittedly, I hadn't caught this thread at all till now, but I'm glad that its now what the title sounds like...*releases held breath*

And very glad he's feeling content on the fluffy coat...

Very much agreed!

I missed part of this last night so thot I'd catch up -- YES the "unable to settle" thing is VERY much the signs of chocolate toxicity.  I was completely serious -- we all know chocolate is "toxic" to dogs -- but the REASON is because it is literally changed into a substance in the liver that is VERY like cocaine.  So yeah -- inability to settle, antsy, generally miserable but *scared* because they feel so driven and THEY know it's not normal.  And it seems to be very individual how fast/slow that goes thru the body but I've seen it take well over 12 - 15 hours. 

 But add a UTI to that?  Poor Gobi - he's not a happy boy. 

UTis in older animals (and older humans) can be really mis-leading.  I learned that with Ms. Kee -- she didn't do the typical "burning pee" thing -- it literally just would make her cranky and sick -- more a general malaise. 

A friend of mine has a sister with advanced MS -- and they have a horrid time with UTIs with her.  She's incontinent but never complains of burning, etc. -- but she will run a UTI to the point where she'll get a 103 fever and have to go to the hospital -- **with a UTI of all things!!**. 

When there is advanced infirmity or aging, the body reads signals different than in the past.  Now -- Gobi is a marker so it's easy to not 'see' that -- but that's one of the reasons I always keep track of how much they **DRINK**.  Generally they will stop drinking or conversely drink the house down!!  So either the pee is really dark and stinky or very very dilute.