I've just had to leave my big Ben at the vets for a scan :-(.
He's been a bit off colour since Sunday night, not wanting to eat, lethargic, no vomiting or squits, phoned vet yesterday but could only get appointment this morning. Vet took a blood sample to test his blood count and it was 36 ( low end is 40 ), so he's being kept in till lunch time for a scan. He's checking there's no internal bleeding and his spleen, fingers crossed for my big guy.

Poor lad hope it is nothing too serious and makes a speedy recovery

Fingers crossed for you this end.  I do hope that it is nothing serious.  Let us know what happens.

No further forward !, his liver was very slightly enlarged,apart from that everything was fine, Angus thought that was more than likely down to previous scarring from when he had a bad reaction to NSAID's, his temp was normal, so blood works are being done to see if it's a regenerative or non-regenerative anemia, and to screen for a few other suspects. He did get a B12 injection at my request, it does seem to have perked him up a bit as he's just been barking at someone daring to walk past the house, something he hasn't done in the past 2 days. I also got him some Hills AD, at least it's pretty easy to get it down him.

It's all very peculiar, he was fine on Sunday during the day, ate his tea, then about an hour later became very restless, pacing and unable to settle, at this point I got worried about bloat, but his stomach wasn't tender or distended at all, in fact he seemed to like me gently rubbing his belly, took him for a short stroll, he had a very normal poo but kept wanting to sit down and at one point lay down. When we got home he was able to get comfy and had a deep sleep, there's been no repeat of the pacing. Odd.

Peculiar!  Awful not to have a definitive answer.  So I guess it's wait and see.

Sending positive vibes for your boy.

He does seem to have improved a bit this morning, he was walking a bit quicker on our walk, and even chased Spud a wee bit. still not eating though. Hopefully I'll get the results from the blood test today, I've got a feeling nothing will show up, except for having elevated liver enzymes, which is what happened last time.

fingers crossed for you!

Bloods are back and it seems the liver enzymes are fine but he is low on protein and calcium....hell knows what's going on. So urine test tomorrow and another blood test in a week. At least he has made a tiny bit of improvement.

He had a big dose of reiki this afternoon from my friend who's a reiki master, which he soaked up, who knows, I'm all for chucking everything at him.

Hope he continues to improve

>who knows, I'm all for chucking everything at him.

I'm with you all the way there.  Nothing to lose as they say.  I totally understand that you will do whatever it takes.  Hang on in there, we are all rooting for you.

we are all rooting for you. thank you :-)

He's quite a bit better this morning, still no appetite but he's never been too keen on hills AD, I'll try him with his usual raw today.

He was back to his normal self out on our walk, trotting away ahead and interested in the slightest wee thing. Could it have been the reiki, or would he have been a bit better anyway ?, who knows, he'll be getting another reiki on Monday anyway.
I'll report back with his urine results.

No urine results yet but.....He's eaten something !!!!!, admittedly it was half a packet of Sainsburys outdoor reared pork sausages, but I don't give two hoots, he ate something on his own and that's good enough for me :-)

Whoop!  Whoop!

Had an interesting conversation with my chum Brian, he's a Dr/Psychiatrist who specialises in drug abuse, I told him the blood results for Ben and he said if that were human results it would indicate  toxin's !, and he'd be very worried if it weren't for the fact Ben was obviously recovering.

He's eaten on his own again, but is turning his nose up at his usual raw diet..."sigh "

>if that were human results it would indicate  toxin's

I put all my dogs on a detox once they reach middle age.  I can't see what harm it would do for you to try this -

http://www.hiltonherbs.co.uk/products/puriphy-canine-detox/78

I realise that he needs to be actually eating for you to try it, but I stir this in to my Beardies food every day.

really pleased your boys improving , when my old girl goes off her food i syringe chicken or oxtail soup with added vitamin paste , so far its worked and she's gone on to eat normally

Thats handy, I was just thinking about some sort of organ support for him.

Spoke to the vet and he said his urine was a bit dilute, so it could be pointing to a kidney problem, although he did say that at the level the urine was at he could go on for quite some time yet. He's not convinced about the toxin theory, but everything I've read on-line about the sort of results Ben's had, do mention toxin's to be a factor. Angus is an excellent vet, very thorough, I guess there's something else in Ben's case that's making him think it's not toxins
More blood and urine to be taken on Wednesday, fingers crossed things will have improved.

So glad that your boy is showing signs of improvement.

Have him tested for addisons.  You never know.   I had the same thing happen to Maisie when we first found out about it.  her blood count was low and they thought she might have an internal tumour which was causing bleeding - it was the addisons and now that she is on medication she is fine.  I'm not saying it is the same but it is worth a try.

I'll certainly mention that to the vet, it's worth a shot.

Still in the dark unfortunately, Ben took a turn for the worse on Sunday and has developed another cough, and rapid breathing, seems like the lungworm to me but vet's not so sure, so more blood tests and a faecal one too, he's started him on antibiotics in case it's a pneumonia, and another B12 injection.

I take it his heart has been checked? Some of his symptoms are similar to my big boy who has DCM

Hopefully the B12 & AB's will kick in and get him on the road to recovery.

Vet's had a good listen to his heart and it sounds normal, although i believe to be really sure it should be checked out by a cardiologist ?, he also had a scan last week which showed his heart to look normal.

I am still sending positive vibes for your boy.  I can imagine that you feel in a turmoil.  Fingers and paws crossed here for you and Ben.

More results back and it's not looking good, he's still anaemic and his red blood cells don't appear to be regenerating very well, so x rays next tuesday to see if there's a mass there .
Really not feeling very hopeful for him, poor lad.

Sorry to hear this :-(

Hope he is comfortable for the moment x

Sorry to hear the news. Hoping to hear better news on Tuesday

So very sorry.

{{{{  HUGS  }}}}

Y'know, I'd actually be relieved if there was a mass found, at least then his symptoms could be controlled to a degree and i'd know what i was dealing with.
The vet mentioned referring him to one of the vet schools, but it's just not an option financially, when we took Ben on there was only one place that would insure him and they were just too expensive. I also don't want to put him through a lot of invasive procedures, he's not a dog that copes well and they would most likely want to do bone marrow biopsies.
I hate this.  

I really do feel for you and hope you find an answer soon x

More sad news, my lovely big boy has cancer, there are lots of small tumours right through his lungs, so I'll bring him home soon and we'll see how he fares over the next few days on Steroids, if he doesn't get enough relief then the vet will come out and send him on his way at home.

:-( :-(

So sorry, there are so many people with bad news at the moment on here and you all are in my thoughts. I hope the steroids will give him a good quality of life for some time yet.

So very sorry. There has been so much sadness and bad news recently perhaps we need a 'group hug'. These things always hurt but they always seem to hurt that bit more at Christmas time. So here is a hug for all who have poorly pets and those that have lost beloved pets, and Ben will be in my prayers in the hope that he will have a quality life for a good while longer.

I'm so sorry for you , I don't know what to say really other than I'm thinking of you as I know how hard it is , one of mine has cancer and she really is doing well the last few months. I'll be keeping my fingers crossed for Ben .
xxx

Oh no :-( So very sorry to hear this.. Much love and lets hope the steroids give him some relief and he improves xx

Oh no I am so sorry to hear this terrible news :-(

I hope that the next few days he is comfortable and you are able to have some quality time with him.

I will be thinking about you both xx

Oh dear! There's been a lot of sad news here lately - I'm so sorry about your boy. :-(

I'm really sorry to read this :-(  Perhaps with steroids and maybe tramadol or similar he can be made comfortable for a while yet? It's a horrible situation to be in, we all know you will do what is right for your boy and I wish you strength and courage.

My Toto had a similar situation, x rays showed lots of masses in his chest cavity. I brought him home and spoiled him rotten for the time he had left, then when the time came he went to sleep in my arms.

I often wonder what is best, whether it is better to have this time to prepare yourself or a more sudden illness like Lucys Moose. The answer is there is no easy way for us left behind :-(

I know that answer I think as I had chance to prepare myself with my other two girls I have lost but with Moose it was so sudden and I didn't have time to do the things I would have wanted to do with her and that I really am struggling with.

A calm peaceful ending is better for everyone and being able for all the family including the other dogs to say goodbye is just so important. It has been so hard to come to terms with how she went as she was distressed and in a lot of pain so time to prepare in my experience is better although still a very hard and difficult thing to have to go through.

I wonder if you might think differently in a few weeks though, everything is so raw just now? My 'heart dog' my very special Chaumie went very quickly indeed. He was due to go in for an op to remove a testicular tumour and the night before he suddenly started screaming and couldn't move. I rushed him to the out of hours vets and he had a tumour in his spine and was pts there and then. A complete shock for me but now looking back I don't know if I would ever have been brave enough to take him down knowing how it would end.

We shall see but I hate the fact we were not controlling things and especially as Moose was very upset by it all where as my other two hadn't got a clue right to the end as they were warm, comfy and had us all with them. That was a great comfort . Sorry Celi to talk about this whilst you are going through this with your boy .

Thank you all for the kind thoughts, it really is a comfort.

It's absolutely fine with me to discuss how, when and what's better for you and them just now, so don't worry about that :-)
I'm relieved in a funny sort of way as now I know what to expect and I've been here before with my heart and soul dog Celeste.

For me I'm finding this situation where I've only discovered the cancer near the end, to have been better than with Celeste where I found it early, and then had 7 months of worry and looking for every little sign of the cancer spreading. I have everything planned out, and the vets said she'll be able to come out on the same day I phone, I think I'll also take him to the crematorium myself, it's in Larkhall which isn't too far away, for some reason I find the thought of him in a freezer at the vets waiting to be picked up, more upsetting than having him pts.

Chaumsong, he's on Tramadol already for his hips, perhaps that's why it went so long undetected ?, he was fine one day, he'd even caught and killed a rabbit, next day, flat as a pancake.

It's the great tragedy of loving dogs, as soon as you get them and go " awww, your very cute " your caught in the trap of loving them and having to say goodbye one day :-(

Ahh, so sorry to hear your sad news. I hope Ben will rally a bit on the steroids and that you get to spend a little longer together. x

So sorry to hear the bad news. Trouble is, some dogs are so stoic they hide it too well and then wham it's too late.

I'm sure you'll be giving your lad lots of extra cuddles, am thinking of you.

Really sorry to hear your sad news :-(

So sorry about your boy,thinking of you both.

Sheila.x

Celli,

I'm so very sorry to see this post and just wanted to add that my very sincere warmest wishes also go out to you at this tough time x

So sorry to read this sad news, in an earlier post you said it would be better knowing what the problem was, when it is cancer there is no relief from knowing.

Hopefully the steroids will give him a boost and improve his appetite for a while longer.

Thinking of you at this sad time.