Hi there lovely people of Reddit, I'll try to keep it short. I'm hoping there are people who have experience with this, and are able to give me some advice on how it all goes from here.
Last tuesday my lovely JRT started acting off. She was too tired to walk around, get out of her spot and follow us around. Even enticing her with a walk was not working out. Prior to this, she has had smelly urine and also drank more as usual. The smelly urine had been for about a week (which I was not able to smell due to a chronic cold), the behaviour had been off for about 1-2 days before contacting the vet.
A urine test, ruled out any bacterial infections or UTI's. We moved on to bloodwork, which revealed that nearly all values were normal. She has a slightly higher amount of protein in her blood, but a dietary change should resolve that issue. However, her ALP level is 305 where it should be <130.
I've seen people on the internet having dogs with >2000 and their dogs feeling fine, and certain websites mention as long as it is under < 500, it is not a reason for concern. What does concern me however, is that she is reacts very well to 5 MG of Prednisolon a day. She is almost her old self, almost as if she wasn't dying Tuesday.
The vet mentioned that A: it is probably either a liver tumor, or B: a liver infection. However, only a echo would rule this out and the costs of that will be very high and not change the treatment at this point. Besides that, our old lady gets very stressed out at vets and has to be restrained and muzzled before even any work can be done on her. I'd rather spare her further trips to the vet if it can be avoided for that reason.
Am I getting my hopes up that it may be a liver infection since A: the values are so low and B: she is responding so well to the treatment? If possible I would like to have her be medication-free, however, I don't know how she is going to react to that. She has always been relatively healthy except for one major surgery.
Some history, in case it is relevant:
- benign tumor removed in one of her milkglands
- infected uterus, uterus removal
- dental issues, a few molars ended up having to be removed
I have so many questions racing through my head, such as if she's gonna make it, if this is the end of the line, what I can do for her, what I shouldn't do, stuff like that. Hence why I'm hoping there are people who have similar experiences. I get that she is old, and that it may be her time soon, but I love her to bits and I will miss her so greatly. And up until a week ago, nothing seemed to point in a direction that she was going to be sick soon. She hopped around as if she was just 6 and seemed very healthy otherwise :(
Thanks in advance everyone for any helpful insights or other replies, and take care.
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from Pets https://www.reddit.com/r/Pets/comments/c33e2u/my_14year_old_jack_russell_has_slightly_increased/
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