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Emmas at the ER tonite

5K views 11 replies 9 participants last post by  Lightning&Stomps 
#1 ·
Can anyone give me some advice/comfort/words of wisdom? This morning when I left for work, Emma was "different". She wouldn't come down the stairs... I finally carried her. But she was still wagging, still ate her treat, etc. She seemed a little more ... can't really explain it...just different. She was holding her head down and seemed like she didn't want to walk around a whole lot.

Throughout the day I called my son to see if he noticed anything. He said "her whine doesn't sound like the normal whine"... a nd again, she wouldn't come down the stairs--he carried her. But other than that, wagging, drinking, eating treats, etc were all normal.

Well, when I got home from work, she normally is off that couch in a heartbeat and doing the basset 500 in the kitchen. Not today. She got up and just walked to the other end of the couch...when I talked to her, she started to whine a whine that I've never heard before. I called my hubby over and we picked her off the couch and laid her on the floor. He pressed on her belly slightly, said it felt hard and she really started to make this moaning sound. Then she started trembling. Her breathing is really heavy... alot of panting. She won't sit still...she's very restless.

So I called my vet who tried to calmly tell me to get her to the ER. So..that's where she is. They did an x-ray...she's not bloating. She had gotten into the garbage saturdya...but the xray showed nothing in her belly or intestines that they could see. They heard an irregular heartbeeat. They saw ..how did they describe it...a "shadow" or something on the xray between two of her organs (can't remember which two now!...I was in panic mode). There was no fluid around her heart...so they didn't think she was in heart failure.

I'm just going crazy here... do anyh of these things sound familiar to any of you? She's still there...they are doing more xrays...blood work...and a bunch of other tests (to the tune of $1,200) to "try" to pinpoint the problem. In the meantime, I had to sign the "do not rescusitate (sp??)" order which just about tore my heart out. She said "typically if they go into heart failure, we are unable to bring them back". I couldn't bare to think of her in pain, so I signed the DNR. Sheesh.

Anyway, I'd love to hear from anyone ...your thoughts, etc. I'm just so sad I can barely breathe.

Thanks- Jean (Emma's mom)
 
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#3 ·
I am sorry you have to go through this! It is always so hard when our houndies are ill.

It is good that they ruled out bloat and heart problems. As for irregular heart beat, if she was in pain or discomfort, that can be "normal".
As for "the Shadow" on the x-rays, infections can show up like that. The blood work should show that, and it can be treated.

I hope the tests they are doing, will reveal what her problem is, and that it is easily treatable!

Hang in there Jean. We are thinking of you!
 
#5 ·
Well, her blood work came back and they said it all looks really good. They tentatively are diagnosing her with Pancreatitis. they said some level of something or other was high. The haziness in the xray around the pancreas is also an indication of that. They have her on pain meds and said she rested fairly comfortably all night. They tried to get her to eat a small amount of some special canned food but she wouldn't have it. They are keeping her today and having their internal medicine guy examine her and look at all the test results...and are contacting our vet for all her records. They said that the internal med. guy MIGHT recommend doing an ultrasound to confirm the diagnosis. I have no idea how long she'll be there. I hope she can come home tonite...but I don't want them to stop the IV fluids, take her home,and have her relapse.

I need to look up pancreatitis on the internet and gather some information. Have any of you ever had your basset (or any dog) diagnosed with this? I think they told me that some dogs can be managed with pain meds... but that other dogs don't survive this. So... you know when they're giving you all the info it's hard to absorb it all.

Thanks for all the moral support and words of comfort. I don't know what I'll do if she doesn't come through this. Honestly.
 
#8 ·
Sure hope Emma is doing better now. It's so tough when our fur kids are ill, and boy do we wish they could talk and tell us how and what they are feeling. It sounds like the vet is a good one and on top of things. Just hang in there, and we are sending lots of healing drool and good thoughts to Emma.
 
#9 ·
So sorry to hear about Emma. Our Ohdee also had pancreatitis. She literally, tried to eat herself to death (she has some real issues with food).

Within 12 hours, she tried to "empty" the garbage, then broke into our pantry (which is double-bolted because of her) and cleared the bottoms two shelves....a 1 lb. bar of Swiss chocolate, and 5 lbs. of raw rice were just two of things we were able to identify.

A couple of days later, she decided to top it all off with a 5 lb. back of cat food she snagged off the back of the counter.

She was one, sick puppy.

I wasn't sure she would survive, either. We followed the vet's instructions, and she chose to lie between the toilet and the cold, outside wall on a tile floor. It must have eased her discomfort. She did come through it, though.

Best wishes to you and your Emma. I hope she's feeling better soon.
 
#10 ·
Oh, Jean! I'm so sorry to hear that Emma may have pancreatitis. How old is she? The illness really makes animals (and people) feel punk. I've read that older dogs can get it from rich foods, chocolate. etc... Betsy usually posts a seasonal article around Christmas time about dogs and pancreatitis. We'll keep Emma in our prayers.
 
#11 ·
I'm so sorry! A friend's black lab had a bad bout of this after he ate a pound of butter. I don't know what the treatment was, but he did recover. Slinging get better drool for Emma.
 
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