The Pets & Animals Thread

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Skynet
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Re: The Pets & Animals Thread

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Well, I have an update. Today I was grabbing something from the kitchen and walked past the door that looks outside to where the dogs spend a lot of their time. Because he can't see I just say his name so he knows I'm there when I'm near him. I saw him making a weird face, which was then followed by a seizure that lasted for a few minutes. By the end of it you could tell he was shaken up and he was absolutely covered in drool.

This made me think back to something that happened a month or so ago. I woke up in the morning and went outside to see the dogs, I do this every morning. He had drool all over his chest. I had no idea from when or why it happened, so we took him to the vet that night. They thought he might have just chomped on a bee or something and it stung him, which caused all the drooling.

Fast forward to today's seizure, I think the vet was wrong when they said it was a bee sting, I think that would have been a seizure. Possibly the first one, possibly not. So we called the emergency vet that was going to do some scans for him anyway and they said bring him straight down.

We calmed him down and got him down to the vet. Today will cost $800-$1200 for some blood work and holding him for 12 hours. It will then cost a further $300-$600 per 12 hours they have him. We're trying to get his scans done on Tuesday. When you consider the costs for all of that, including the scans, it's probably going to be somewhere in the order of about $5000 assuming they get him in on Tuesday for the scans. That doesn't factor in the initial $1000+ from earlier this week.

I'm so glad I have pet insurance for my 2 dogs and my cat, but my god this is getting ridiculous quickly. I just wish I could help him and fix everything.

What sucked the most was when they started asking questions about performing CPR if it all goes wrong. He's a good dog, this is bullshit...

EDIT: Blood work is now done. Everything is fine. They said they'll hold him over night but we should bring him home tomorrow if he has no further issues. Then we'll get him in for scans as soon as they can fit us in. So that's good, but it's just another thing ruled out so they don't know what the problem is.

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Big Boss Man
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Re: The Pets & Animals Thread

Post by Big Boss Man »

Really sorry to hear about what happened. Vets do a great job but what they charge can be ridiculous. I definitely know how you feel about wanting to make them better and fixing things. Hopefully the neurological related scans will be fine.

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Dr. Zoidberg
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Re: The Pets & Animals Thread

Post by Dr. Zoidberg »

Vet bills can get stupidly high. There needs to be a pet version of medicare.

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Skynet
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Re: The Pets & Animals Thread

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Yep. We're over $2k at the moment. We started getting this looked into just over a week ago.

He's home now. They're going to see if we can admit him back into hospital tomorrow so they can do all the scans they want to do on Tuesday. They said even if we admit him, they can't guarantee a spot for the scans so we'd have to spend $600 (2x 12 hour blocks) for him to stay in the hospital just to find out. It's super fucked up.

The good news is he seems to be coping somewhat at home. I have a camera with night vision setup outside. I just had a look then and he's just walking around getting used to the place again. He kept running into stuff and falling over before, but I think he's getting the layout back again.

My hope is that the scan finds something they can operate/treat with meds so it will hopefully restore some of his vision. I don't care if it's not all of it, so long as he can see stuff and not bump into shit all the time. We'll see how it goes...

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Big Boss Man
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Re: The Pets & Animals Thread

Post by Big Boss Man »

Good news he's coping. Hopefully the condition is treatable and some or all vision returns. Until then if its possible I would try and keep things "dog friendly" so to speak so he knows where things are. I'm wondering whether the seizure caused the blindness as I saw this and luckily the dog regained their eyesight.

http://forums.cvm.missouri.edu/cenbb/vi ... .php?t=166

All the best and if it is hopefully temporary blindness anti-seizure medication should stop it happening again.

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Skynet
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Re: The Pets & Animals Thread

Post by Skynet »

Thanks man. The vet today doesn't seem to think it caused it, but another vet at the same clinic thought he had a possible bee sting a few weeks back, which we're certain they're wrong. So we'll see how tomorrow goes.

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Re: The Pets & Animals Thread

Post by Bandit »

Dogs wouldn't get a seizure from a single bee sting.

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Re: The Pets & Animals Thread

Post by Big Boss Man »

You're welcome, hopefully you will get an answer and everything goes well.
Bandit wrote:Dogs wouldn't get a seizure from a single bee sting.
If it was a severe anaphylactic shock to the sting then unfortunately it can be possible:
https://www.petwave.com/Dogs/Health/Ana ... ptoms.aspx

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Bandit
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Re: The Pets & Animals Thread

Post by Bandit »

I know, but that's usually a swarm of bees stinging a dog. And the dog would be dead from oxygen deprivation if it happened. The throat swells shut so they'd seizure from shock trauma. His dog clearly didn't have that.

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Big Boss Man
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Re: The Pets & Animals Thread

Post by Big Boss Man »

If it was a singular bee sting then it would still produce an adverse reaction which could have triggered a seizure but not so severe it caused oxygen deprivation etc. Think of it in human terms like some people have really bad nut allergies whilst others are less severe but still affect them.

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Re: The Pets & Animals Thread

Post by Bandit »

But that's rarer in dogs than humans. The dog would have been worse off if this was the case since they're smaller than humans so venom would affect the throat more.

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Skynet
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Re: The Pets & Animals Thread

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Bandit wrote:Dogs wouldn't get a seizure from a single bee sting.
We found him covered in drool afterwards. We never saw what happened to cause that a month or so ago. Back then they said bee sting. But now that I actually caught him having a seizure and saw just how covered in drool he was afterwards, I'm guessing he had one back then. It was more of a case of we were told one thing because we never saw what happened, then when this happened the other day it made me think they were wrong.

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Skynet
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Re: The Pets & Animals Thread

Post by Skynet »

Update: Brain cancer...

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Dr. Zoidberg
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Re: The Pets & Animals Thread

Post by Dr. Zoidberg »

Oh shit. That's not good news.

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Skynet
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Re: The Pets & Animals Thread

Post by Skynet »

They give him 6 months to 4 years. It's pretty big, but it doesn't look to aggressive apparently. But what's happening is it's growing into his skull so he could lose his sense of smell. That will make it tricky.

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Big Boss Man
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Re: The Pets & Animals Thread

Post by Big Boss Man »

That truly sucks, so sorry to hear that. Did they mention about treatment to try and shrink/remove the tumour?.

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Skynet
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Re: The Pets & Animals Thread

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They said we could do chemo and some other stuff, which would require him to go interstate but they don't think it'll help much anyway. They said the best we can do is give him a series of pills to help with the seizure and I think help potentially manage it. But they said sending him interstate isn't really worth it because it's not likely to help anyway.

I'd rather just spend my time with him at home for as long as I can and try to make him happy. Since he got home yesterday he's just been whimpering and hiding in the corner. He won't eat anything. I try to walk him around the area I keep him in because he knows it so well, but he's scared to walk around and you can see him shaking with every step. He's scared he's going to fall off something.

We have some work being done on the fence out the back, so I don't want to take him out there while the fence is down and there are workers, but once the fence is done I'll make sure we take him out onto the grass and let him relax there. He likes it in the grass, I just can't take him now.

I'd feel just as shitty if my other dog or my cat was going through the same thing, but out of all the pets I have he was more mine than my gf's. I'd walk him daily, I'd go outside and play/spend time with him, and the other one too, but I'd mainly spend time with him. So he's more my dog than her dog.

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Big Boss Man
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Re: The Pets & Animals Thread

Post by Big Boss Man »

Yea spending time with him and everything will be beneficial for you both. If it's not going to help much I wouldn't put him through the stress of going through chemo. Hopefully the other medication will work and at least then you'll be with him as much as possible. Again all the best and I hope things will improve even to stop the seizures would help a little and give your dog a better quality of life.

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Skynet
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Re: The Pets & Animals Thread

Post by Skynet »

Thanks man

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Dr. Zoidberg
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Re: The Pets & Animals Thread

Post by Dr. Zoidberg »

Here's a friend's new puppy:

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I've got to try and get a decent pic of her with Grendel.

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