And the Results Are...

...Inconclusive.

I just got off the phone with the vet. He’s looking at the radiologist’s notes. Kota could have a lymphoma forming in his what they are calling “agitated liver”; however, it is not full-blown yet, so that was the first thing they noted.

Also,

•  He has gallbladder debris.

•  He has a mass on his left kidney but, by the size of it, they suspect it is benign.

•  He could have Chronic Hepatitis 

•  He could have Copper Toxosis

•  He could have Leperodosis 

He has a mass on his spleen. This we already knew about and, according to the vet, it hasn’t changed in size since the last time we saw it, which was when he was about eight months old; he’s eight years old now, so it was a good thing I decided to keep his spleen intact. 

They are recommending a hepatic and a liver biopsy.

I talked at great length with my vet, and we’ve decided to put him back on the liver support medicine as well as the Cerenia. He also wants to start him on Ursodiol to help smooth out the gallbladder sludge.

Kota will stay on these medications for three months. If something drastic changes with his behavior or his health, I am to notify the vet immediately and get him in ASAP. I have all of the warning signs for all of these various diseases on my kitchen wall now.

Because of the Copper Toxicity, I am immediately taking him off of his dry kibble because it has copper sulfate and copper protonate in it. I found out that even the limited ingredient dry foods for dogs has copper in it.

I was directed to a website called BalanceIt. There I can find a supplemental powder that I can add to what I’m already feeding him, minus the kibble, that will give him all the vitamins and supplements that he’s not getting now because I’m feeding him rice and meat, and a few vegetables. Everything is boiled, and all the juices from the boiled meat are being discarded so that his liver doesn’t have to deal with any extra fat or any other type of substance that it can’t break down right now. 

So do we have a definitive answer? No. But we don’t have an indication that he has cancer, so that’s a good thing. He is showing some strange behavior. Usually, he wakes me up in the night for two or three times to go potty. Now, it’s seven or eight times, and instead of going potty, he’ll go and lie in the cool grass. My vet explained that his belly is feeling pretty inflamed right now because the liver is not doing its job. So he’s seeking a cool spot where he can lie down and not hurt.

Knowing this now, I’m going to make him a cool pad to lay on in the bedroom. Hopefully that will stop all these frequent trips and interrupted sleep for him and me. We are taking it a day, and a time that’s all we can do at this point.

Yesterday's Vet Visit

Yesterday was a pretty rough day for my boy, Kota. Who am I kidding? It was a rough day for both of us. We left the house at 7:30 a.m. and headed to the vet. I had to have him there by 9 AM. My friend was kind enough to drop us off at a park nearby before she had to report for work.

We were about five blocks away from the vets office. So we had some time to spend in this beautiful park near the water - no one around to bother us - until we finally headed to the vet. 

I wanted the time just to be with him before he went in for his ultrasound. I also wanted to work off any nervous energy he may have displayed at the vet’s office. We arrived right before nine o’clock. The walk was good for both of us.

Knowing how much he suffers from separation anxiety from me. I brought with me a tee-shirt that I have been wearing for the last four days. Heavily saturated with sweat thanks to having a tree (one of my heritage trees, that is about 350 years old) trimmed of the dead-fall limbs before winter sets in.   

                                           The wood-pile in the background,

                                          with cat Poe in the middle distance 

Cleaning up the debris took several days. It was a lot of work, but I welcomed it because it meant that my scent would be stronger on the shirt. I put this shirt in a  plastic bag every night and then put it back on in the morning. They kept that shirt with him during the entire time except for the actual procedure. 

They told me ahead of time that they would have to sedate him, because they have to turn him on his back and on his side, push really hard in order to explore his liver, pancreas, colon, gallbladder, and common bile ducts. Of course they also had to shave him.

We arrived back home about two o’clock and he barely moved afterward. He didn’t even wanted to eat anything, not even his treats. He whined for about two hours straight after we got home. I ended up just curling up with him on his couch to comfort him and let him know that the bad part is over. 

At least that’s my hope. I won’t find out the results until tomorrow. The outside company that comes to do these scans sends the results back east to the radiologist team. They in turn send the vet the results. He assured me he will call me as soon as he knows something.

If there’s something wrong with his liver, the texture of it, the walls of it, f he has a mass, he will return to have a biopsy. So now it’s just a waiting game. 

I know I’ve mentioned this before in previous posts, but I am so grateful that he decided to snack on those raisins. If it wasn’t for that incident, we would have no idea that he was sick. 

He’s just such a different dog now I hardly recognize him. He is reluctant to get up and get going in the morning. He doesn’t follow me around the house. If I go outside, he’s not waiting at the door when I come back in. There is something majorly wrong with him. Within 24 hours, I hope to have the answer as to what it is. Whatever it is God, please let it be curable.

One Week to Go

We are still one week away from our vet visit and what will hopefully be the last blood draw for Kota.

His encounter with the raisins, although traumatic for him had no lasting effects on him, thank God. I’m sure it wore him out though because he is definitely laying around a lot more than he used to. I hope he doesn’t think I want him to be a couch potato. Once I get over all this swelling and bruising. I fully intend to start taking them up the mountain and going for walks.

That’s my intention; however, we still don’t know how his liver is doing. I guess I should be grateful that he decided to sample raisins that day, because it pointed us to the fact that something might be wrong with his liver.

I am hoping not. I am hoping that his trip to the emergency room vet, being handled by people he didn’t know, without me in attendance, just managed to raise his cortisol level and elevate his liver values.

If not, we will know on the 17th, if his levels are still elevated or are even higher than they are right now. The plan is to do an ultrasound on him. If they see a mass, the first thing they will do is a biopsy. Then, we just wait for the results and go from there.

He gets his liver support pill every morning. It’s getting to be quite the challenge to get him to take this gigantic pill. It’s supposed to be chewable, but apparently he doesn’t even like the smell of it so I have to bury it in liver sausage. Not very much because he’s supposed to have an empty stomach when he takes this pill.

Hoping we can hit the trails again soon!