Spent the day at the vet today with Oppie, and it's not good.
Although he's been gradually slowing down, having less stamina,
coughing a bit more, we attributed that to his age and to his LP
and restricted airway following unilateral tieback surgery (2
years ago).

We misread the signs. Last night he wasn't interested in his
usual snack - a real sign of a problem - and then in the middle
of the night he started throwing up and coughing, and his heart
was racing and his breathing was labored. My first thought was
aspiration pneumonia (not uncommon in dogs with unilateral
tiebacks), and so I took him into the vet first thing this morning.

He had severe arrhythmias, alternating between a normal heart
rate and racing with VPCs. Vet put him on lidocaine to stabilize
his heartbeat, set up an echocardiogram for noon, and took some
chest x-rays. There were diffuse masses visible in the x-rays,
and the echo. showed them up as tumors on his heart and lungs,
even a tumor inside his aorta. The vets thought the arrhythmia
was due to invasion of a tumor into his heart muscle, disrupting
its pacemaker function.

So they sent him home, with lasix to reduce fluid volume around
his heart and lungs, an anti-nausea shot, prilosec, and a needle
full of morphine, in case he goes into distress. Right now he's
perked up a lot, isn't coughing, is nosing around the yard, and
is eating (very small portions) heartily.

We'll watch carefully. We don't intend to try to prolong his
life beyond comfort, and we may even decide to let him go while
he is still apparently comfortable - we just have to get used to
the idea that we will be losing our big goofy boy very soon.

FurPaw

--
Don't believe everything that you think.

To reply, unleash the dog.

Aw crap! What horrid news. I'm so sorry

Aw crap! What horrid news. I'm so sorry

Ditto that. I'm sorry.

"FurPaw" wrote in message:

Spent the day at the vet today with Oppie, and it's not good.

I'm so sorry.

Suja

On 2009-04-13 18:18:52 -0400, FurPaw said:

Spent the day at the vet today with Oppie, and it's not good.

I hate that story.

I'm sorry. Poor Oppie, and you...
--
Phyrie
Kiba the Cav's Pics:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/phyrie/...758930/detail/

"FurPaw" wrote in message
...

We'll watch carefully. We don't intend to try to prolong his life beyond
comfort, and we may even decide to let him go while he is still
apparently comfortable - we just have to get used to the idea that we
will be losing our big goofy boy very soon.

That is probably the best that you can do for him and you. I hope we can
all put aside our differences and be thankful for the good life you have
given to your dog and for thinking of his best interests during whatever
quality time of life he has remaining.

Paul and Muttley

In article 2009041319202216807-montana@wildhackcominvalid,
montana wildhack wrote:

On 2009-04-13 18:18:52 -0400, FurPaw said:

Spent the day at the vet today with Oppie, and it's not good.

I hate that story.

this sucks, plain and simple. I'm so sorry.

--
Janet Boss
www.bestfriendsdogobedience.com

FurPaw said in rec.pets.dogs.health:

Spent the day at the vet today with Oppie, and it's not good.
[...]

That's really sad. I'm sorry.

--
--Matt. Rocky's a Dog.

On Mon, 13 Apr 2009 16:18:52 -0600, FurPaw
wrote:

We'll watch carefully. We don't intend to try to prolong his
life beyond comfort, and we may even decide to let him go while
he is still apparently comfortable - we just have to get used to
the idea that we will be losing our big goofy boy very soon.

I'm very sorry to hear this, FurPaw.

Mustang Sally