Zatara and Merrick's Mom
New member
This morning when I got up to let the dogs out I could tell something was not right with Merrick. Rather than the usual exuberant greeting, he looked up listlessly and lay his head right back down. Rather than his usual voracious appetite he ate only a little and he didn't even really want to eat the little that he did. His temp was a tad high at 103 degrees. And his stomach was somewhat bloated.
For the last week or two he has had an occasional bloated stomach followed by a lot of gas. Actually, we noticed the gassiness first. But as soon as I noticed the bloated stomach too I jumped on this forum to look up the symptoms of gastric bloat -- I remembered it was on a sticky thread. He had none of the symptoms except gas and distended stomach, which would go back to normal a while later. I had seen him eating snow lately and I thought maybe the snow was filling up his tummy with air. Or that maybe he had developed an adverse reaction to his kibble. I even called the vet to mention the bloating and they agreed that I should continue to monitor closely.
Anyway, when I saw his listlessness this morning and saw that he had a temp, I called the vet right away. They suggested I bring him in. The vet took one look at him and said that she could see he was not a healthy dog. He had lost 15 pounds and muscle mass since she had seen him in November. How could I not have noticed? I had even decreased the amount of kibble a few (several?) weeks back because I thought he had too much fat (rib test). He must have lost the weight very quickly and I didn't notice under the winter coat. She said he was very dehydrated, so she immediately put him on fluids. He stayed at the vet for continued monitoring.
His temp continue to rise, reaching 106 at one point but back down to 103 later. The vet drew blood and took xrays. The results don't look good. The morning xrays showed gas was pushing all the organs around. She dispelled the gas. But that was only part of the problem. His spleen is extremely enlarged, his pancreatic levels extremely high and he has alarming white areas on the lung xray, which could indicate pneumonia or possibly cancer. She does not think this is pneumonia and highly suspects cancer. What? I was thinking he had a case of the doggie flu when I dropped him off in the morning! The ironic thing is that his liver looks great, which can sometimes not be the case with a dog with epilepsy (which we have been treating for almost 2 years). That's probably thanks to the milk thistle supplements which I also learned about on this forum. In fact, his epilepsy has nothing to do with what's wrong with him now.
The only way to know for sure if this is cancer is to do surgery. She said she did not think he would survive a surgery in his current state. She said the prognosis is not good. I am still trying to wrap my head around all of this.
We have decided to keep him at the vet over the weekend so he can continue to receive fluids by IV, which the vet considers to be essential. My sincere hope is that Merrick perks up by Monday so we can treat the other issues. But the vet told me that there is a chance he may not live through the weekend. She has made special arrangements to let me visit their kennel over the weekend even though they do not normally allow that. Thank goodness because I don't want my baby to think I left him there to abandon him.
Merrick really needs a Newf Net miracle. Please, please pray and send good thoughts to him. It's not fair that he should have to deal with so much in his short life. He is only three years old.
For the last week or two he has had an occasional bloated stomach followed by a lot of gas. Actually, we noticed the gassiness first. But as soon as I noticed the bloated stomach too I jumped on this forum to look up the symptoms of gastric bloat -- I remembered it was on a sticky thread. He had none of the symptoms except gas and distended stomach, which would go back to normal a while later. I had seen him eating snow lately and I thought maybe the snow was filling up his tummy with air. Or that maybe he had developed an adverse reaction to his kibble. I even called the vet to mention the bloating and they agreed that I should continue to monitor closely.
Anyway, when I saw his listlessness this morning and saw that he had a temp, I called the vet right away. They suggested I bring him in. The vet took one look at him and said that she could see he was not a healthy dog. He had lost 15 pounds and muscle mass since she had seen him in November. How could I not have noticed? I had even decreased the amount of kibble a few (several?) weeks back because I thought he had too much fat (rib test). He must have lost the weight very quickly and I didn't notice under the winter coat. She said he was very dehydrated, so she immediately put him on fluids. He stayed at the vet for continued monitoring.
His temp continue to rise, reaching 106 at one point but back down to 103 later. The vet drew blood and took xrays. The results don't look good. The morning xrays showed gas was pushing all the organs around. She dispelled the gas. But that was only part of the problem. His spleen is extremely enlarged, his pancreatic levels extremely high and he has alarming white areas on the lung xray, which could indicate pneumonia or possibly cancer. She does not think this is pneumonia and highly suspects cancer. What? I was thinking he had a case of the doggie flu when I dropped him off in the morning! The ironic thing is that his liver looks great, which can sometimes not be the case with a dog with epilepsy (which we have been treating for almost 2 years). That's probably thanks to the milk thistle supplements which I also learned about on this forum. In fact, his epilepsy has nothing to do with what's wrong with him now.
The only way to know for sure if this is cancer is to do surgery. She said she did not think he would survive a surgery in his current state. She said the prognosis is not good. I am still trying to wrap my head around all of this.
We have decided to keep him at the vet over the weekend so he can continue to receive fluids by IV, which the vet considers to be essential. My sincere hope is that Merrick perks up by Monday so we can treat the other issues. But the vet told me that there is a chance he may not live through the weekend. She has made special arrangements to let me visit their kennel over the weekend even though they do not normally allow that. Thank goodness because I don't want my baby to think I left him there to abandon him.
Merrick really needs a Newf Net miracle. Please, please pray and send good thoughts to him. It's not fair that he should have to deal with so much in his short life. He is only three years old.
