Quote:
Originally Posted by MaxaLisa
I ALWAYS get nervous about the steroids in these situations, for a variety of reasons. Unfortunately, something like hemangiosarcoma also needs to be ruled out, and that's usually done with an ultrasound 
As for the babesia, I do not believe that you can always see it. I would call this lab and ask, which is the one we use on the tick list, as they specialize in this stuff: http://www.protatek.com/reflab.html
When did your dog last have a vaccination? Or any new meds before this all happened? |
Sassy hasn't had a vaccine since the start of last summer and her last heartworm was about 3 months ago, flea meds even longer. I have tried to think back, and I really don't know what triggered this. She was literally fine, hyper and crazy, the next day, nearly dead. No meds at all in recent time. Shes never been on any meds actually except for 3-4 years ago when she was spayed. She is a very indoor dog, and has no contact with other dogs (I'm out in the county, not the city)
Went to the vet again this morning. Her red cells are at 27% now, her platelets are excellent (drs words, i don't have the paper in front of me to see exactly). Her white cells are still 33,000 down from 37,000 monday but they seem to be the slowest thing returning to normal. Everything else besides reds pretty much has. The dr is very pleased with her.
I mentioned her belly again and she pushed, pulled, massaged, sassy didn't care one bit and she feels it is just water retention from the steroids and the increased appetite. She said the spleen and everything felt fine, and we just had an x-ray a week ago and everything was normal, as well as the full chem test showing all organ functions being normal. I still hate seeing it like that and am concerned, but it seems to be something I will just have to keep an eye on.
She whined today when she saw the vet. This is something she always did in the past when she saw someone she really liked. Then she tried to shake her hand. I hadn't her her whiny butt for 2 weeks. Later, after we got home, she was kicking in her sleep and making whines/barks in her dreams - also something she always did before getting sick. It makes me very sad that these little things are making me so happy. We came so close to losing her.