Heart Like a Dog

The Good, the Bad, and the Oh My God of living with dogs!

Round Robin

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I’ve been sharing the ups and downs of Sampson’s ACL injury and subsequent surgery for the last seven months.  Throughout this process I’ve found kindred souls who understand and share the heartache of having an ill or injured pet.  So many of you have reached out to me and shared your own stories of illness and injury here as well.

You gonna be okay Bubba?

You gonna be okay Bubba?

It got me thinking, there so many of us who have been dealing (or have dealt) with various medical issues with our pets.  Often times there are traditional and non-traditional treatments that someone may not be aware of when facing a tough decision.  Each experience is unique to all of us, but there is so much to be gained from sharing those experiences and treatments, as our life beliefs tend to guide us in the choices we make for our pets.  While it’s true we all share our experiences on our blogs, sometimes when we are suddenly faced with a surprise diagnosis we may not remember where we read about it, or who wrote about it.

I thought, wouldn’t it be great to have all of our experiences in one place?

I’ve been toying with an idea of a Round Robin.  It would be very similar to the “How I write” series that many of you have been doing, but it would be somewhat different.

It would work like this, any blogger (or non-blogger) who wished to participate would get a set of questions to answer.  Of course, the questions will be a basic guideline and you will be free to put your own spin on it. It wouldn’t be a blog hop per say as there would be no linky list, BUT there would be a different post every day by a different blogger and each blogger would list the next blogger at the bottom of their post.  Any non-bloggers who wished to share their experience would let me know and I would send them the questions and I would post their experience here.

I’m also looking into dedicating one page on my blog that would list every post.  Of course there would be a badge for you to display on your blog and that badge would link back to the community page.  The page would share the title of the post, which blog was sharing and a brief description of the injury or illness as well as a link back to your blog post.  I think it would also be beneficial to include behavioral issues you may have encountered with your pets and what techniques or methods you used and what worked.

I feel this Round Robin and subsequent page will be an amazing resource for bloggers and non-bloggers alike.

I plan on starting this Round Robin in the beginning of September.  That gives us almost a month to pull it together.  I’ve already run this past a few of my fellow bloggers and I do have some interest in it, but I also wanted to include you, my dear readers as you’ve helped me so much through this long journey and so many of you have touched my heart with your own journey.

To start with all I need to know is if you are interested in participating in the Round Robin.  If you are please let me know in the comments and let me know if there is a certain day you can’t participate.  

I’m also looking for a name for this Round Robin, so if any of your brilliant readers have any thoughts, please, please share them!!

Refreshing Frozen Treats

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Sampson and Delilah get a snack at night.  For a while it was a white bone that I filled with pumpkin and Kefir.  But since Delilah is a voracious chewer and broke her tooth, I’ve been trying to steer her away from the bones, so we switched back to the Kong.

Delilah also gets a lovely treat when Sampson has therapy.  It makes staying home alone bearable for her.

Last week SlimDoggy Kate was looking for an easy treat she could make for SlimDoggy Jack and SlimDoggy Maggie to celebrate their Gotcha Day.  I shared this recipe with her and thought I’d share it here with you as well.

Here’s what you’ll need

Bowl or container of your choosing

Canned or freshly stewed pumpkin

Sliced peaches, bananas, blueberries or the fruit of your choice

Kefir

Here’s how I did it.

Put a layer of pumpkin in the bottom of your container

Frozen-Treats-For-Dogs

Lay the pieces of fruit on top

Frozen-Treats-For-Dogs

Pour the Kefir in making a design of your choosing

Frozen-treats-for-dogs

Freeze for at least two hours

Remove treat from container and serve.

What I love about this it’s quick, easy and healthy and very versatile.  You can customize this treat to include the fruits that your dog loves.  In fact, I have a very special one in the freezer right now.  Which I will share with you tomorrow, when we celebrate a certain someone’s birthday.

Some words of advice.

Choose your container carefully.  I chose clear plastic container not thinking about how the treat would come out.

Plastic

Epic fail.

If you have a hoover dog like I do, this treat won’t last long.  

Frozen-Dog-Treats

Delilah had the treat finished before Sampson and I even made it out the door.

Do you make treats for your dogs?  

Welcome to the Tasty Tuesday Blog Hop hosted by Kol’s Notes and Sugar the Golden Retriever.  Hop along and discover a bunch of other tasty treats!

What Causes Elevated Liver Levels in Dogs?

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I've heard Jones Lamb Lungs are wonderful for elevated liver levels. Perhaps you should give me some.

I’ve heard Jones Windees are wonderful for elevated liver levels. Well, don’t keep me waiting!

In Friday’s post I showed a partial comment left by Retro Rover.  After I scheduled that post there were a couple more that really resonated and I thought it would be good to address those as well.

First up, Retro Rover’s comment: ” Pings levels have fluctuated quite a bit over her liver disease journey of two years. Also I would ask the vet about what will be gained from the biopsy. In Pings case we elected not to do it as they said it would only possibly reveal the big C and there was basically nothing to be done about that. Of course I’m sure the situation could be very different with Delilah and there might be much to gain. I was also told that the procedure was somewhat risky.”

One of Red’s dogs has been having liver issues.  In fact, Red and I have had a couple of e-mail conversations and she’s been very helpful.  She has Ping on Denamarin which she buys online.   Delilah has been on the Denamarin for a month.  BUT since it hasn’t helped, our vet is switching the medication to Hepagen-C , this has Milk Thistle like the Denamarin does but it also has B6, B12 and Curcumin which is one of the properties in Turmeric.  While reading up on canine liver issues I found one of the suggested supplements was Turmeric.

Thursday afternoon the vet called with the results of the Acid Bile test.

What is a Bile Acid test?

My understanding of a Bile Acid test is such.  The dog is fasted and blood is drawn, the dog is then fed a (fatty) meal and two hours later the blood is drawn again.  This tells the Vet how well the liver is functioning and doing it’s job.

According to our Vet Delilah’s levels were ‘slightly’ elevated and she recommends a liver biopsy.  I asked her, what is the purpose of the biopsy. Here’s what she told me.

She feels Delilah’s liver issue (for lack of a better word) is one of three things, 1) Chronic Hepatitis 2) Reactive Hepatitis 3) the liver is storing copper.

Each of these illnesses is treated in a different way.  Without knowing what is causing the elevated liver levels, we cannot treat the underlying issue and make Delilah feel better.

What about risk in performing a liver biopsy?

There is a risk with any procedure, but they take precautions.  They will check her vitamin K levels and will be checking her blood to make sure it clots.  From what I understand the biggest risk is bleeding.  Trust me, this did not reassure me in the slightest.

I asked could these just be normal levels for Delilah.  She is after all an extraordinary dog. 🙂

The vet said her levels have always been normal before, so no.

Seeing as Delilah’s liver levels are only slightly elevated, my vet feels we have time before needing to perform the biopsy.  Which turns out well as funds are a bit tight right now and I’m really on the fence about this test.

I also had a comment from Hailey and Zaphod who said, “Our first dog had immune mediated hepatitis that caused psoriasis of the liver. It was a difficult journey for him and us. I hope your lovely girl does not have anything as serious. POTP.

I’m so sorry to hear about this.  I cannot imagine how heartbreaking and difficult that was for you.  I’m hoping since we caught this early we will have a good shot at getting to the bottom of whatever it is and making sure Delilah gets the best treatment possible.

Sherrie Petrie said “Jodi – Ask your Vet about putting Delilah on Milk Thistle it helps support and clear toxins from the liver. I had a Sheltie who had liver difficulties and this helped decrease her numbers. You never know anything could help. ”

Thank you Sherrie, the Denamarin we had Delilah on is a combination of Milk Thistle and SAMe.  Our vet leans towards the holistic which is one of the reasons I love her so.

Rachele Baker DVM said, “If you ever feel that you would like more information about her liver issues or that you would like a second opinion, you might consider taking her to a board certified veterinary internal medicine specialist in your area. You could ask your veterinarian for a referral or just check online and/or talk with friends to find a specialist in your area that has a good reputation. It is usually possible to take your pet to a specialist without a referral from your veterinarian and it is usually not that expensive for an examination and consultation with a specialist.”

Thank you Dr. Baker I am going to ask my vet about seeing a specialist.  

Interestingly enough, as I was researching some of the potential reasons causing elevated liver levels, I discovered they can be caused by dental disease.  While Delilah does not currently have any dental disease, she does need a tooth extracted and because of this she is beginning to get some tartar build up.

While the person I spoke to at my vet’s office said Delilah’s tooth should not have any bearing on her liver levels, I prefer to have them checked again after her cleaning and extraction.

I thank you all so much for sharing your knowledge and experiences with me.  I hope this has helped in explaining a little bit about what Delilah is going through.  I will of course keep you informed of any changes in Delilah’s health or changes in our decisions regarding treatment.

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