I called the vet for an appointment this morning. They would see him at 9 a.m. I crated Neal and took Bailey in to the doctor. BTW, Bailey again ate some boiled hamburger and all 3 pills, stuffed into chunks of pork loin. Yesssss!
The vet was very nice and Bailey was very good too. The vet wanted to do blood work. Had trouble getting blood out of both front legs as his veins kept collapsing, but he said that was typical of a sick dog. He finally got it out of his neck and Bailey didn't flinch. His regular vet says he always puts on a brave front. We went over treatment options. Clearly it could be pneumonia and the present treatment is appropriate. By eating now, it could mean he is feeling better and the meds are helping and will handle the lung. If he doesn't get better, we are probably looking at a cancer and he went over some diagnostic and treatment options. We had decided we would not do anything with that other than keep him comfortable and loved. I don't want Bailey's last days to be of pain, needles and strangers. He is 11, a purebred Scottie and while I know people with older Scotties, they are the exception.
The vet called back later in the morning. Ruled out heart worm. Even though we have him on preventative, it was appropriate to test since my vet doesn't usually as long as we are diligent with the treatment. His white cell count is elevating, although still in a normal range, which I take to mean we probably got this fairly early--if it is pneumonia. We talked about Valley Fever in the office this morning, since we wintered in Arizona. Vet is somewhat familiar, but researched more and looked at a couple markers in the blood which are known to be affected by VF and nothing was out of the ordinary, so he didn't think that was necessary to pursue, unless I specifically wanted to. We left Arizona after February this year because we were TOO COLD, and I think we probably would have seen a problem before this.
We are scheduled to leave for South Dakota Sunday and the vet didn't see a problem. Did ask me to stop by and get more meds as he thought 10 days was not quite enough. So he will get better this week and we know we are probably fighting pneumonia or he will get worse and we will love him as long as we can. We will watch him closely this week and see which way he goes. Bailey is currently sunning himself on the deck with Neal. It is warm but nice and cool in the shade.
Till next time. . .
Dale
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3 comments:
Hi Dale!
Just wanted to check on Bailey. He's been on my mind!
Love you both,
Patti
Hey, Patti,
Good to hear from you. Been thinking about you a lot lately too. Bailey is MUCH, MUCH better. Once I found out he would eat pork loin, we got his meds down him regularly. He acts pretty much back to his old self now and is eating well. All of his "systems" are back to almost normal, so we are hoping the meds have done their job.
Dale
Hi Dale,
Glad to hear Bailey is doing better. Is he stubborn about taking his medicine. Major is some of his. He is on Pred right now for his allergies and we have to break it up and put it in milk for him to take. Other wise he won't take it. He has actually spit it out of peanut butter. Bailey sure does have good taste though, pork loin. Keep us posted on the little guy.
Deanna
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