Abe is well on the mend!

For those of you who dont know what was wrong with Abe-

Couple of weeks ago,he woke me up at 4.30am (yes-he sleeps on my bed!) with severe panting and kept collapsing.

The vets took him in as his heart was racing and temp was very low.They x-rayed him/ultrasound and found no defects with heart,but did discover a shadow on his liver,which after blood tests-revealed no cancerous cells thankfully.They cannot be sure if the shadow will ever develop into something life threatening so have to keep a careful eye on his health forever.

The blood tests showed nothing which could explain his condition,but they decided to screen it for thyroid problems as he had become lethargic.He has a severly underactive thyroid gland and has been on tablets for almost 2 weeks now.

The last few days,i have seen a 150% improvement in his walking and now-will run after a ball but is still reluctant to drop the damn thing!

He will have to be on these tablets for the rest of his life along with metacam for his arthritis,but i dont care-sunday were going to the local wildlife park where he loves to chase rabbits & squirrels!

Fantastic news Steve, I am so pleased that he has made such an improvement. A new Go Faster Abe, I bet hes pretty chuffed as well

Heather

That's good news.

Great news

I'm glad Abe is getting better

Great news Steve,
Your not allowed to hunt with dogs no more

thats great news about Abe

No worries-he hasnt got a hope of actually catching anything! Squirrels dart up the first tree they see and rabbits go to ground.Abe used to have good straight line speed,but is kinda useless turning at full pelt.

I didn't know about Abe and his condition, so am glad you explained it. So sorry to hear of this, I do hope nothing ever comes of it and you have a long and happy life together for many years.

You must have been out of your mind with worry.

Is Abe a slow runner because of this condition or has he always been a plodder? Just curious as Ozzy can run like the wind!

Hi Ozzys mom

Abe's never been what you would call an energetic dog-even as a puppy.He prefers to trot away in his own little world,stopping occasionally to investagate anything which appeals to him.However,if he spies a cat in the garden or rabbits,squirrels in woods-he would step up a gear and give chase.Since having him castrated when he was 12 months old (he's six now),keeping his weight under control was a bit of a battle.It did creep upto 59kgs,but this was due to him having an operation on paw and couldnt give him the excercise he needed.Have now got his weight to 56kgs and looks in much much better shape (vets have also said this).I always assumed his lethargy was due to him being very laid back,but now know his thyroid had been getting worse over time and i was not aware of him actually having a problem!

Earlier today,he was quite happily chasing after a ball i was throwing and he was running at full speed-which is something he hasnt done in couple of years.He wasnt hardly panting afterwards which is another good sign!

ps.I was laughing my head off though as Rotties are not the most graceful of runners!

LOL sounds like Busta, normally going head over heals to stop LOL