Hello again kind ones ........
I just picked up Gizmo from the vet at noon - and talked to the vet by phone twice this morning before picking him up. And the vet said, even though they closed at noon today ... he said he would call me later today or tonight to check on Gizmo. He's a keeper of a vet!!!
Well, Giz does have a form of kidney disease. He was badly dehydrated, so they hydrated him twice this morning. The blood test showed that his Bun reading was high (at 96) and his Creatine level though was OK ... a surprise to me ... and him too.
Since I have kidney disease, I am a little familiar with the test limitations and some of the terms. My creatine level was thru the roof 18-months ago when I was in the hospital with kidney failure.
The vet did also take xrays because he thought it might be kidney stones since the Bun was high but the Creatine was normal. To his surprise, no kidney stones were found by xray ... and it's puzzling him a little as to why the kidney problem.
Anyhow, he wants me to watch him carefully especially thru tomorrow because their office is closed until Thursday. He did say if Gizmo needs hydration again, I would need to take him into a local animal hospital he recommended ... for an IV for hydration. And that would be expensive!
In the meantime, I have two types of pills to give him ... amoxitabs (for the antibiotic) and sucralfate (for the kidneys). There was a touch of blood in the urine. And he gave me three cans of dog food that are kidney friendly.
I think feeding him is going to be a challenge!!! But, at least he's home - and I need to keep him out of that animal hospital.
I'll be glad just to see him improve a little daily .... and maybe be back to normal in a week or so.
Food for thought ...... I made a list of human foods he has eaten in the past month for the vets information. All the small quantities of crackers, milk, yogurt, peaches and white rice were no problems.
Then I thought of that rascal a week ago ... when I had a Pepperidge Farm small cake thawing out on the kitchen counter. I cut one piece out for myself (slightly frozen yet) and left the cake out another 30-minutes to completely thaw out.
When I went into the kitchen to put the cake back in the refrig ... good old Gizmo was standing up with hsi front paws on the counter - and licking 1/6 of the cake into obscurity. It had a chocolate frosting - but light chocolate.
The vet told me, a dog needs about 1oz. of light chocolate for each pound of dog to do them harm as a poison. In Gizmos case, that's about 2-1/2 pounds of chocolate.
No problem there!
My boy is back home - that's the main thing.
Thanks for everyones support thru this - hope all the emergency stuff is done.
Rob & Gizzy