Blood for the Baron!

so, friday was a bad day & my landlord is still being a dick, now one of my dogs has been rushed to the animal hospital, in a very serious condition. he was totally limp, almost no blood sugar & heart rate was about 100 below what it should have been!
he is a chihuahua & about a 3rd of the size he should be @ his age due to f@#king asshole breeders breeding runts with runts to force breed smaller dogs. all our dogs are rescued dogs, we have 2 big mongrels & another chihuahua, animal cruelty is rife over here.
anyways, to cut a long story short, he's now in a stable condition, but they think he is suffering from hydrocephalus which for those of you that dont know is when fluid builds up in the brain & causing pressure. if that is what it is, there is a possibility he could have a tube (shunt) from his brain to his pelvis to drain the fluid, but because he is so small & has never been a strong dog........ i will have a tough decision to make weighing up success rate with cost, as harsh as that sounds it could be in to the thousands on a dog with weak organs that stands an almost zero chance of success. the other option which may be possible is to treat it with steroids, which stop the build up of the fluid, but the fluid there now will have to drained.
he has a malformed skull, the top is just a big hole & his brain is bulging through!
it's not 100% yet, but its looking likely, he has all the symptoms.

sorry to hear this, I've grown up with dogs and I know how they're part of the family, but if it was me I would let him walk through the pearly gates

man, that sucks. I'm with GP, i'd let the dog go on.

its a hard decision to make but i concur with sundance and GP.
we lost 2 cats and a dog in the last 12 months which hit the wife pretty hard but the kids took it in their stride.
all the best.
Bill

Sorry to hear that Ross..you've got my deepest sympathy dude!

You're spot on about them bastards who breed dogs to meet a certain standard or even worse..just to make f*@king money.
I don't know if you've heard about it yet, but the B.B.C. aren't going to broadcast Crufts this year after a documentary revealing some of the shocking inbreeding & inherited health problems suffered by certain pediree breeds.

Some pedigree breeders can see no problems mating ganddaughters with grandfathers !

I'm a big animal lover, had cats all my life. All I can say is go with your gut, I can recount at least four cats who bounced back from the brink and lived long and healthy lives.

We had a rescue cat Buster who grew old very rapidly, the vet said it was best to let him go. The next day we went to say our goodbyes. As soon as Buster saw us he leapt to his feet, ran around in circles and purred so loudly that we all burst into tears and said hang the expense. He shouldered on for another year and I am so grateful for it.

I am a defiant f*cker and will gladly cry "screw the odds" despite what I know in my heart, but that only ever works when I am solo. If you think he has a fighting chance then I'd say give it to him. If you're just going to prolong his discomfort, well. What sort of timeframe are you looking at? Can you try the cheaper option first?

I am so sorry you're having such a hard time of it, Ross. I know you've only been here a short time compared to some of us, but you are firmly entrenched as one of the gang, as such we are all saddened by your news. Things will pick up, mate.

What is your dog's name, please?

our cat oscar who we lost last year survived the odds on more than 1 occassion.
got cliped by a car and had his jaw nearly taken off, was held on by tendons.
i carried him into the house and wrapped him in a towell. it was about 1 am and i'll never forget the sounds he made.
blood everywhere i thought i was gonna have to put him out of his misery myself.
managed to find an emergency vet about 50 miles away and got the brother inlaw out of bed for a lift.
cost hundreds but the vet rebuilt his jaw but was left stupid looking with a crooked jaw and his tongue constantly hanging out.
he died last year of blood poisoning after his claw grew into his paw.
if i had caught it a bit sooner a simple course of antibiotics would have saved him.
Bill

That sucks Ross. Sorry to hear. I spent years living on Trout Hatcheries and one thing I learned is cycle your breeding stock. Never keep more than a couple of generations. Of course we were breeding millions.

One thing I will say tho, be careful you don't keep the little guy going to long for your own benefit. We had a dog that had a heart condition, he was on pills and ended up having stroke after stroke before we had him put down. In retrospect we let him go too far long and he really suffered. The first time I saw my Dad cry was when he was put down.

Take care mate.

thank you all for your kind words. baron, thanks, i do feel part of things on here.
his name is kepi, named him after a singer in a band my wife likes.
not going with the expensive option, not because of the price but because it will put him through a lot of pain & discomfort that he wont understand. although it would lengthen his life, if wont make it any better.
got pissed @ the vets yetserday, they could easily have spotted this 2 months ago & something could have been done, all the syptoms where there but the guy dealing with my case just didnt look into it.
anywayz, tracked down my vet from like 3 years ago who was awesome, called him up & said dont know if you remember me, my name is ross & he cut in & said "ross from db (where i used to live) with the tattoo shop, your wife is julia?" so i told him about the case, & he said they were wasting my money, basically doing tests to prove what we had already proved with tests already done. im collecting kepi today & sending all the notes to this guy Dr. joe, just gonna treat him with a low dose of medication, it probably wont be long before he starts to deteriate & i will have to have him put to sleep, but this way he wont be caused any extra pain. when i 1st took this dog, it was because he wasnt healthy (i mainly rescue no-hopers now, the ones no one else would want) so i was expecting him to probably not live to a ripe old age, but he's only 7 months.
i wont prolong his suffering, i just wont have him put down until it's necesary to stop his suffering, if i can give him a few more months of happiness, even weeks then thats what i will do. it just kills me bacuse out of the last 3, only one survived & is healthy, now rehomed with julias apprentice. "kill dozer" had brain damage because his previous owner had beaten him so badly (if i knew who he was, he be the dead too) & one day just started having violent convulsion that couldnt be explained
& then his brain just completely shut down, so i had to sign for him to be put to sleep, "chico" was only 4 months & had parvo virus, i knew there was like an almost 0% chance he would pull through but i wanted to give him a fighting chance so gave him round the clock care, it nearly worked, he did start to recover but he was a chihuahua too & @ 4 months old it was too hard for his tiny body so he fell into a coma & i had to put him to sleep.
i donr know how im going to cope if anything happens to the 3 "family" dogs. ive had joey since he was 10months, he was due to be put down the next day so took him home, he was my 1st, then there was "terror" (used to call her a little terror when she was a pup & it stuck!) ive had her since she was 1month & we are very close, finally there is "milo" who i just cant imagine ever not having around! he is the most amazing chihuahua, never leaves my wifes side, he thinks he's a great dane, always tries to attack anything bigger than him, including water buffalo! so much attitude for a tiny dog, i just cant imagine him not being there, we take him to work everyday.
i think i will leave it a while before i take on anymore dogs, im not sure if i can cope with it anymore.
the top pic is poor little kepi, the bottom one is milo, when i found he had torn through the cardboard top to eat all the cheese & pepperoni off my pizza (i so wasnt happy!)

got kepi home today, he is kinda back to his old self, now i just have to keep an eye on him, start with a course of steroids (& something else that i dont know how to spell) & see how long i can stop his condition from degenerating.
the build up of fluid will eventually cause so much pressure on his brain that his mental condition will start to deteriorate, when this starts to happen he will have to be put to sleep.
could have a few years, could have a few months but im gonna make sure he has the best time possible!