A member of a pet loss board suggested I post here so here I am!
I don't know where to begin and hope you will help me get a grip on this. My beloved dog Abby (7yo, terrier mix, possible Wheaton) is ill and no one knows why for sure. About 3 weeks ago she started acting depressed. I dismissed it at the time but noted it--I dismissed it because it rained here for a week and I figured she had rainy weather blues. But it continues and she wouldn't come when called, dropped her tail and lost her spark. This is a dog who exuded energy and enthusiasm. She also yelped when we passed her sometimes as if we had stepped on her but hadn't. So on Aug 31 I took her to the vet. Not finding any major problems except some wincing when he massaged her spine and a slight fever, he put her on clavamox and rimadyl and said to call if she did not improve. After the first dose she perked up but then declined in the coming days back to where she was.
Last Thursday I brought her in and they were still puzzled. Did an x-ray--nothing majorly significant to cause this. So they took a blood test. They called back saying her albumin was low (1.4) and asked me to bring a urine sample which On Saturday I found out had protein and signs of early ERD. They said maybe she is mopey from this and having referred pain. In those two days I noticed her eating her food gingerly. We had been reminding her to eat for a week or two now and she eventually would. There may have been days before we realized it that our Westie was stealing her food. On Saturday (after vet was closed), I noticed she could not drink--it just spilled from her mouth and she stood around with her jaw dropped. Took her to the emergency clinic on Sunday and they diagnosed her with Trigeminal Neuropathy and said to see my vet. Or they could do an MRI for 1,100 bucks. Bear in mind, all of Abby's vitals and blood work were normal except those I described.
I spoke to my vet. He said the first choice would be to send her to UW-Madison vet school so she could be looked at. He cautioned this could potentially be costly and time consuming and may not change anything. He also said we could give her a steroid but it could backfire. Or we could just watch--her fever was gone yesterday and he said her albumin was up (2.0 or 2.1?)--not normal level but not immediate danger either. He told me to weight my options.
Our financial situation is really bad right now--I cannot afford expensive tests. We have a house on the market for 2 1/2 years plus rent on our place here. I also can't disrupt my child's life by going back and forth to Madison nor do I want to leave Abby there alone. I have extreme guilt about not taking her there and placing our financial situation above her. I always was disgusted by people who did not do everything for their pet but now I understand their situation
I obsess over whether she is living or dying. Its making me physically sick knowing I may be forced to put her to sleep without exhausting all options. The drop jaw could resolve in a few weeks but in the meantime I can't tell what else might be going on. She looks like the saddest dog around. I have to hand feed her now and give her water by syringe. And I am fairly certain she hates the Eukanuba Early Kidney Stage food. I tested her tonight by hand feeding her a few nibbles of bread which she ate clumsily but ate willingly!!
I am having a hard time being patient to know whether to try steroids. I feel guilty if her death is inevitable and I am just keeping her around while she suffers. If I knew without any doubt she was going to continue to suffer and have poor quality of life, it would kill me but I would put her to sleep. But because no one exactly knows what is going on I am in limbo and feel helpless.
If anyone has any words of wisdom, please let me know. I am beyond depressed over this--it happened so fast and unexpectedly. I assumed my older dog, the Westie would be first. I feel guilty thinking I might have done or not done something that caused this. Also if anyone has had a dog with trigeminal neuropathy, please let me know if they slept a lot, sulked, etc. And if anyone can solve this mystery, thanks!
If you made it this far, thanks!
Abby's last full check up was in March/April of this year where her vaccines were updated. She had the kennel cough vaccine in July before we had to board her for a day and she was checked then as well.