So far so good. Hope the rest of the tests are negative and she continues to improve

Thanks, she only has a small accident once every second night now so she's got 6 days left on the antibiotics which should hopefully do the trickxx

So sorry to hear about your dear girl, but just wanted to put your mind at rest about the cushings, coz my 12 year old gsd has had this for about 3 years now and he's doing fine, although a bit slower, he can still do everything, he's happy and enjoys his food, so take heart that this disease can be controlled.

Glad to hear the liver and kidneys are fine, let's hope the cushings will be negative and it's just a bladder infection coz it sounds like she's getting better now on the ab's. All the best with her and if you need further help if it IS cushings, just post up again and I'll try and answer your questions if I can be of help with symptoms my boy has ok.

Helena, you have no idea how much you have made me feel better Its nice to know that there is some hope. She's such a good dog and i hate seeing her like this.

I was hoping for the results today but not to be I'll give her vet a call on monday.

Thanks again everyone xx

Well, she has tested negative for Cushings and negative for another disease which is the opposite of cushings ( cant remember what the vet called it )

She has maximum blood and urine in her urine and also ecoli .

Last week, her bladder was slighty inflamed so she is back in tomorrow to get a bladder biopsy

This is what i was dreading for her, another op. I dont want to keep putting her in for more ops and more tests, its just not fair on her.

When is enough enough ?

xx

Sorry to bother you but how bad was your dogs peeing to start with and has it stopped or improved with meds? Debating taking a foster on who has been recently diagnosed and don't want to take him out of the kennels he's in if I can't cope as that will mess him about more ,poor lad his owner has died

Glad it's not cushings but sorry to hear she's still not ok Perhaps the biopsy will get to the bottom of the problem fingers crossed XX

I do hope she is ok and nothing untoward comes from the biopsy. Unfortunately to know when enough is enough is only your decision and I know how hard it is. You will know I am sure. In my opinion if there is still hope of a recovery then I would keep going. It is only when the dog is in pain, no quality of life and has obviously 'had enough' that I would consider the awful option.

Keeping everything crossed here. xx

Is that right? He says she has e-coli?? She'd be in a real bad state with diarrhea and chronic stomach pains if she had that, but the ab's will of course clear it all up for her, bless her heart. Be very careful what you give her after an episode of that, she's an old lady and needs easy to digest food, so I'd consider changing if you possibly could, to something that's easy on the gut. I would imagine you meant "protein" in her urine there, which is not a good thing, that's what tells them there's an infection of some kind going on, but again, the ab's will be helping all of that.

Glad it's not the cushings, although as I said, it's no big deal, it's treatable. I would imagine they've got to knock her out to get a bladder biopsy too, and that in itself can be dangerous, oh this poor old dear of yours, what she's been through at the vets. Only you will know when enough is enough, and it's all down to keeping them painfree, with a relatively good quality of life in my book, and luckily we still have that with our old boy with the cushings, and if we didn't then I'm afraid I would have no choice. My last old girl had cancer and she was only 11 1/2, but that was different because when it's something that CAN be cured/dealt with, I would have given her the option, but because I knew in my heart we could never win, I was loathe to extend her days, fearing she would eventually be in pain, and I looked at it this way, if I'm gonna lose her why prolong the agony for both of us with the risk of seeing her suffering, so as always, better a day too soon than a day too late.

All the best with her, have a Google around and see what is involved with that bladder biopsy maybe, or consider just giving her a bit more time to see if the ab's clear up the infection and she gets back to normal perhaps. Sometimes, some of these vets are only too keen to steam on in there on certain occasions and sometimes you have to put your foot down or follow your own gut instincts. If the bladder is infected it wouuld be inflamed wouldn't it, and probably some blood in there, but of course, blood in the urine can also point to more nasties. You've just got to weigh up all those pro's and con's for HER benefit really, she's given you her all hasn't she, so now you have to return the favour to her. I wish you all the luck in the world, it's so heartbreaking for us with our oldies sometimes.xxxx

Hi Egyptgal. For the life of me I cannot remember all this excessive wee'ing quite honestly and he certainly has never been incontinent. Quite the opposite in fact, he can go all day if he can't be bothered to walk out into the garden for a wee and then he wee's for England. He's got all the other classic symptoms though, the pot belly, the excessive panting and he tends to drink like a camel, you rarely see him at the water bowl, but when he does, he fills himself up, but that again could be his laziness (he's old and he's male!)

I see your dilema, why don't you ask about his particular problems I'm sure they won't mind being honest with you, as I'm sure, they too, wouuldn't want him to be returned. He needs somebody like you! Honestly, it's no big deal for us with my old boy, EXCEPT, because he suffers with a bad skin condition, he gets demodectic mange on his belly which we cannot cope with ourselves, so we have to get some help with the ab's from the vet, but that cures it completely.........for about a month max! Cushings affects the immune system, and the immune system controls this demodectic mange on ALL dogs, but it can't keep it under wraps with a dog with cushings in SOME cases, so definitely ask them about that one, because that will be expensive and time consuming. Good luck, I hope you save him.

Thanks

Helena, i was surprised about the ecoli too as she doesnt seem to be in pain and she doesnt have the runs or anything ...

I know this seems silly but i was kind of disappointed that it wasnt Cushings as at least then, we would know what was wrong and it could be sorted

The biopsy is under general anesthetic so we're asking the vet to remove another 2 tumors while they're down there. I dont want her constantly having ops.

Her quality of life is good at the moment, her hips are sore because we cant give her the metacam but she still gets excited at walk time and cant wait to go.

Thanks again for all your help, i'll let you know how her op goes xx