Wednesday, July 3, 2013
Last week, Cupid gave us our latest medical scare. On Monday, after we got home from work, Cupid threw up. We didn't think much of it at first because Cupid throws up from time to time. However, a short time later, Cupid threw up a few more times. Eventually, she got up a good sized hairball. After that, I thought that was the reason for her upset stomach and that all would be OK after that. However, things were far from OK after that. Cupid continued to throw up and started drooling. In addition, she kept laying down. It was almost like she couldn't hold her self up.
We decided to take Cupid to the emergency vet. My thinking was that Cupid might have eaten a gecko or some other bug that wasn't sitting well.
The emergency vet, did some blood work and Cupid's glucose levels were off the charts. This would be a good indication of Diabetes, but glucose levels can spike when a cat is stressed and Cupid was definitely stressed. The emergency vet gave Cupid fluids and some medicine to calm her stomach and told us to take her into our normal vet the next day for further testing.
We headed to the vet the next day, and our regular vet took a urine sample from Cupid to see if there was sugar in her urine. The only thing that would cause sugar in her urine would be Diabetes.
It took a few minutes for the test results, but it was confirmed that Cupid had suger in her urine. In addition, she also had bacteria in her urine. The bacteria is an indication that Cupid has been diabetic for some time now.
To control the diabetes, Cupid will need to be on insulin shots. We were given a tutorial on the insulin dosage and how to administer the shots.
We started Cupid's insulin shots the same day. Right now, Cupid gets shots twice a day. Lucky for us she is a champ at taking her shots. She doesn't wiggle and is fully cooperative.
There are a few more vet visits in Cupid's future. We need to do some follow-up testing to make sure that we have the right dosage of insulin to make sure Cupid's blood sugar levels are at a good point.
Monday, July 1, 2013
We received the test results for Luna's airway wash and the biopsy for the two spots removed on her side. The two bumps removed from her side were benign. Yay!
The culture from the airway wash showed signs of bacteria. So we have started Luna on a round of antibiotics to see if we can clear that up. I don't think the antibiotics are going to cure Luna's cough but hopefully it will get us on the right track.
Later this week, Luna will go to the vet to have the stitches removed from her side. The funny thing is that it appears that Luna has almost as much hair growth on the patch that they had to shave for her biopsy as Benny does on the shaved spot on his back from the testing he had months ago. 
Monday, June 24, 2013
Late last week, Luna went back to the vet to have a scope of her airway and a trachea wash. In addition to those tests she also had two sinister looking growths removed from her side.
The trachea wash was performed to see if Luna happens to have some sort of bacteria infection in her airway. The scope will give everyone a better view and idea of what is going on in her airway.
The scope of Luna's airway was sent off to the specialist for review and the trachea wash and removed growths were sent to the lab for testing. We are waiting for the result and hopefully will have them either today or tomorrow.
Luna was pretty wiped out after her procedures on Thursday. When she got home, we put her down to try and go potty and she was having none of it. Benny, on the other hand, was super curious as to where his sister had been all day and what the crazy vet had done to her side. By the next day, Luna was feeling much better and getting back to being her normal, spunky self.
Thursday, June 20, 2013
As I mentioned earlier, Benjamin also had an appointment at the vet last friday. Our concerns with Benjamin were a nagging cough and his hearing.
A month ago, Benjamin had a similar nagging cough and the vet determined that he had an upper respiratory infection. A round of antibiotics cleared things right up. Last week, his cough returned, and even though it didn't sound quite the same as before we decided to take him to the vet just to rule out an infection. Our vet ruled out an infection and said that the cough sounded like it is trachea related. To help Benny, we are going to try out a cough suppressant and see if that helps.
As for Benny's hearing, we have come to the conclusion in the last week or so that Benny can not hear. Benny has had selective hearing his whole life, but lately he has missed some auditory cues that would have never slipped by him. The sound of the refrigerator door opening. The sound of a zip lock baggie opening. The clinking sound the dog bowls make. He has slept through these sounds on more than one occasion in the last week. A hearing Benjamin would never miss any of these things.
The vet checked Benny's ears and his canals were clear and there was no sign of infection. His "dullness" in hearing is being classified as degenerative and being chalked up as part of Ben's aging.
Having 3 aging pugs with health problems is emotionally taxing. The only bright side is that Sol gave us great pointers on how to handle trachea problems as well as hearing loss. We have already started teaching Benny the hand signals that we taught Sol, so that we can communicate with him in a different way now. And let me just say, Sol picked up on the hand signals a lot quicker! But, I know, Benny will learn them in his own time.
Monday, June 17, 2013
Last Friday, Benjamin and Luna took a trip to the vet to get some things checked out. Henry, even though he didn't have an appointment, went along for moral support.
Our biggest concern of late has been Luna's breathing. Since "unofficially" being diagnosed with pulmonary hypertension we have tried a few different medicines to help with Luna's labored breathing. However, things have not been going so well as of late, so we took Luna to the vet to have an EKG done so we can find out more about what is going on.
The EKG as it was explained to us sounded like a simple procedure. Four alligator clips would be attached to the loose skin by Luna's elbows and knees. Once the clips are attached, the machine will be able to monitor Luna's heart. Sounds easy enough. But, then they informed us that Luna would need to lay on her side for the test and that she would need to not be panting during the test. That was the real issue. With her labored breathing, Luna is pretty much always panting. After all, that is why we are coming to the vet! Luna has been panting more and more around the house and we knew that the excitement of going to the vet is sure to get Luna worked up.
Luckily, we found out this information the day before the appointment, so we had time to come up with a plan. We called the vet and asked if Luna could go into the room where the EKG would be performed as soon as we arrive. Skipping the waiting room, would spare Luna from interacting with the other dogs and the nervous excitement that comes with waiting. The other key to this plan would be that Benjamin and Henry would not accompany Luna into the EKG room. This would keep Luna away from all of their nervous energy. This plan sounded like a stretch, but we knew it was really our only hope of keeping Luna calm enough for the test.
Step 1 of the plan, whisking Luna away to her own private waiting room, worked so well that Benjamin and Henry were left sitting in the waiting room wondering what happened to Luna.
Surprisingly, our plan worked and Luna was able to lay on her side, without panting, and have the EKG done. She did such a wonderful job and I was so incredibly proud of her!
Now that the test is over, the hard part of waiting for the results begins. We should have the results later in the week and will let you know how things went.
Wednesday, June 5, 2013
Its hard to tell in this picture, but Benjamin has experienced a sweatband fur growth setback. Last week, he went in for a teeth cleaning and they had to re-shave one of his sweatbands.
His teeth cleaning was long overdue. He was originally scheduled for a cleaning in February (during dental month so we could get the discount ), but Benny was dealing with his back issues and just went on prednisone so we decided to postpone the cleaning until a later date.
It is funny how different pug mouths can be. It seems that Benny needs to have his teeth cleaned every year. Henry on the other hand, hasn't had his teeth cleaned in years (knock wood) and his pearly whites are doing great. I guess it just really depends on how all those teeth are arranged in those little pug mouths.
Luna has never had great teeth and has had to have many of them pulled over the years. With Luna's past it is hard to get a good idea of exactly where her teeth woes stem from. Benjamin and Henry have been in our care since they were 11 and 12 weeks old and have had a similar diet and chewing habits their whole life. So it is very funny to see how differently their teeth have fared over the years.
Wednesday, May 1, 2013
Luna just started a dose of steroids and she is suffering from a severe case of roid induced hunger pangs. I don't think I have discussed Luna's recent health issues much on the blog - mainly because denial sometimes is wonderful place.
A few months ago, Luna was "unofficially" diagnosed with pulmonary hypertension. I say unofficially because we have not gone through the full battery of tests needed to make the diagnosis official. Essentially, Luna is suffering from many of the symptoms and we have ruled out pretty much all the other possibilities, so we are going to treat her accordingly and see if she improves.
Luna's main symptoms are a nasty cough and labored breathing. We have experienced quite a few different coughs around here with Sol and Benny, but Luna's cough is very different. It's like a cough mixed with a sneeze and a wheeze. Not the same goose type honk that Solsey suffered from.
To treat her condition, Luna went on a pill to help her breathing and a diuretic. That combo of meds worked very well for her the last few months. The frequency of her cough was severely reduced. Her breathing was still labored, but not quite as labored as before. All that changed last week, when Luna's pesky cough came back nastier than ever.
We took Luna in to the vet and had a chest x-ray done in the hopes that it was some sort of upper respiratory infection (not great, but certainly better than the alternative). The chest x-rays showed that Luna's lungs looked clear, so the respiratory infection was ruled out. We started Luna on a round of steroids in hopes that it would clear up her cough. If it does, chances are she will need to remain on the steroids long term. This is not ideal. However, as the vet described things to us, this really is the lesser of two evils.
In addition, Luna has also started on a special prescription food that is meant to be very kidney friendly. Luna's last two blood tests have revealed that her BUN is on the high side and is on the rise. Hopefully, the special diet with help lower her BUN levels to a normal level.
Through all this, Luna has proven time and time again that she is tougher than nails. We have to keep a close eye on her because she never really lets her discomfort show. Our vet explained to us the pulmonary hypertension can be very uncomfortable. It seems like no matter what is stacked against her, little Luna just keeps on trucking.
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