Our sweet Cavalier King Charles Spaniel Abby is sick.

[phylny]

I'm pretty worried about her. She has mitral valve disease and has started on an ACE inhibitor, but she's sick with something else. She's had very loose stools and had a lot of fluid in her abdomen. I brought her to the vet on Friday and they did blood work and gave us another medicine to remove the excess water. That's worked well, but she's now stopped eating (she has a bowl of chicken out, and is ignoring it).

We got a voice mail that her blood work is "concerning" and I'll call tomorrow to see what's up.

So, I needed to vent and here I am. I've dealt with heart failure with our first Cavalier, but she was 10 before we really had to medicate her, and she lived to eleven and a half. Abby is five and a half, so this is surprising. One thing I told my husband is that while I adore Cavaliers, she'll be our last. I can't do this anymore, and I won't support breeders who don't care about the health of their dogs.

Sigh. Anyway, please send up a prayer or good thoughts for Abby. Thanks for "listening."

[Walk away]

1. I'm so sorry for Abby and you...

let's hope it's just a matter of diagnosis and treatment to get her going again. I been through the "heart" thing with my Pom Tassie. Sometimes it's just a matter of more and different medication as the disease progresses and climbing back out of that hole to feeling better.
I sure hope you keep us posted so we can send Abby good thoughts and best wishes.

[Curmudgeoness]

2. Sending wishes for Abby. You are doing what you can,

and let's hope the vet has a course of action. I know how you feel about not being able to go through this again. Purebreds are often difficult, and breeders can be excellent or abyssmal. Good wishes.

[Stinky The Clown]

3. ....

:hug:

[Coyote_Bandit]

4. .

:hug:

[irisblue]

5. prayer candle lit

[phylny]

6. Thank you all for your kind thoughts.

I heard from the vet today, and they know that her liver, kidneys, and pancreas are working okay. However, her magnesium, sodium, protein, albumin, calcium, and platelets are all low. She is slightly anemic, though not by much. They are not sure if this is due to her heart, or an unrelated GI problem. She'll go back to the vet tomorrow for some other tests, then perhaps off to a local university's canine cardiology center.

She's still not eating great, but I got a sweet, spinning welcome when I came home.

Again, thanks for thinking of her :)

[TorchTheWitch]

8. Oh thank goodness!

This sounds infinitely better than your OP. If the vet thinks there's hope than that's fantastic. Crossing my fingers that treatment will get a handle on whatever is going on and you have a lot more time with Abby than it sounded like was going to be a devastating outcome.

Keep us posted on how things are going.

:hug:

[livetohike]

9. Thanks for the update.

Maybe it's just some gastro-intestinal infection? Our Murphy was sick two weeks ago with vomiting, no appetite and then diarrhea. He was on antibiotics for one week is 100% now.

Sending healing thoughts and :hug:.

[TorchTheWitch]

7. I'm so very sorry for both you and Abby

She's is young for such a devastating illness, but it happens. Breeding no matter how carefully done can't eliminate everything. There are never any guarantees, but by using a good breeder a lot of things can be eliminated, and that is certainly better than no careful breeding at all. Health is no more entirely genetic with dogs than it is with humans. Diet, exercise, stress, environment... everything plays a role.

You don't need to give up on the beloved breed of choice for you. You just need to become more savvy about which breeder you chose and which pup from the litter.

With my first Akita I made the mistake of getting him from a bad breeder, and though he was a perfect standard of the breed in looks and temperament, his physical health was a nightmare from the first day I brought him home. Though he lived a long and full life with me, there was a lot of serious health issues on a nearly constant basis that was horribly expensive and emotionally trying for me.

With my second Akita I learned from my mistakes, did the research and found a top notch Akita breeder. Though his health stats were impeccable, and he was as healthy as could be for most of his short life, he got cancer at the age of five. It wasn't the breeding. Who knows what it was. Shit happens. Both of his parents and all his siblings are healthy as can be though his sire passed away from general old age last year. I was just really unlucky.

Third time around and I went through the same breeder that bred and owned his magnificent sire and is one of the top Akita breeders in the world. Yet I know regardless of all this there are no guarantees. There never is. We can only do our best in choosing a respected breeder and the right pup from the litter that is available and hope for the best while being careful of their diet, exercise, vet visits, environment, stress level, etc.

Spend as much time with Abby as you can and think of every shared moment as a gift whatever happens. If or when it comes to the end of the road for Abby please make the hard but right decision to end her suffering peacefully and so that you can be with her for her final journey... the last act of love you could ever give her.

If or when you feel ready for another dog, don't discount your beloved breed of choice. There are excellent breeders out there who breed for health as one of the most important qualities of their breeding program. Do the research and find the right one - they are out there. If you like, I can give you some hints I learned in separating the wheat from the chaff of breeders, the right things to look for, the right questions to ask, and the right answers they should be giving, etc. to help you find a respected breeder of Cavalier King Charles Spaniels. I don't know much about the breed, but I do know how to find the good breeders in all the deadwood since dog breeding is universal in what constitutes good, bad or indifferent breeding.

Now isn't the time to decide anyway. At the moment you are undoubtedly devastated, frightened and upset concerning Abby. Deal with that first and put the thoughts of what to do about another dog on the back burner for now. I know how you feel about about being upset and angry with the breeder. Been there myself many many times. Sometimes I still get angry about the bad breeding of my first Akita, but he was a wonderful dog, I loved him, and I wouldn't have given him up for anything even though his health problems cost me a fortune I didn't have and were so emotionally hurtful to me (he never seemed to give a fig about his own health issues). I still sometimes get angry at myself for my own ignorance at the time, but for the most part I've dealt with that by reminding myself that had it not been for that ignorance I would never have found him to share my life and love... just as you wouldn't have had that sharing of life and love with Abby if not for the perceived mistake of using that breeder.

Sending you hugs and good vibes for both you and your dear Abby.

[phylny]

10. Update on Abby

I brought Abby to Virginia Tech's Small Animal Hospital this morning. It is a magnificent facility, I guess mostly because I've never been to a large, university's vet facility. It was all impressive. Anyway, Abby was happy as can be and charmed the staff until she realized she was at "the vet" and then she was very nervous. We met with a 4th year vet student and then with the vet. They were extremely nice. I left her there at about 11:00.

A bit ago, I got a call from them. Abby had blood work, showed protein loss (still) and it was worse than previous testing. They did an
abdominal ultrasound, which only showed that she still has fluid in her abdomen. They did her echocardiogram, and she does have a murmur, but is
not in heart failure, so she'll be able to have her endoscopy tomorrow. The vet student took her out and Abby hasn't gone #2 yet (not for
several days now), but ate some food is doing very well. She is staying the night and we should be on track to get her tomorrow.

Thanks again for the kind thoughts and words! I'm feeling much better that we're getting close to a diagnosis.

[beac]

11. Thinking healing thoughts for Abby.

:hug:

[hamsterjill]

12. Best wishes being sent to you and Abby!

n/t

[livetohike]

13. Thanks for the update

:hug: They will figure it out and Abby will be fine :-).

[irisblue]

14. any upates?

[phylny]

15. Yes, thank you for asking :)

She is home and resting, though a little groggy. She had her endoscopy today, which found no gross abnormalities or tumors. They took several biopsies of the tissue in her intestines and we will get those results in several days.

For now, the cardiologist said to take her off all heart meds, which is great because I think they were hurting rather than helping anything. Once we get all the results, we'll be able to see if we should treat her with meds, diet, or both.

Thanks again for all the good thoughts. It's great to have her home!

[phylny]

16. As Abby is demanding to play fetch,

I realized I never gave a final update. She has mitral valve prolapse, but is off all heart medication because she is not in heart failure. She definitely has Irritable Bowel Disease and is on steriods and a hypoallergenic diet. She is eating up a storm - this from a dog who was always picky - and is getting better each day. I wonder if it hurt her to eat before, and that's why she was so picky? It sorta kills me to give her this food, which looks like crap compared to what I usually feed, but if it keeps her well, I'll get over it.

Anyway, she's spinning around in happiness, jumping on and off the furniture and playing again. Thanks to those who said or thought a good word :)

[NNN0LHI]

17. Glad to hear she is doing better and have you considered having her tested for allergies?

Had to have one of ours tested(about $200 bucks but pet insurance paid some of it), and beside some grasses, weeds, trees and fungi, she was also highly allergic to some of the ingredients in the canned food we were giving her.

We always gave her high quality food, but with the test we discovered she was highly allergic to corn, poultry mix, kelp, green pea, soybean, wheat and white potato.

One of the main ingredients in the canned food we were giving her had white potatoes and that was just making her sicker and sicker as her histamines became more elevated.

We were killing her with kindness and didn't know it.

Allergy tests used to be complicated but not any more. They just take a blood sample and send it to the lab and they send you a customized allergy profile for your pet.

The profile is done very well. I highly recommend having this test done if someone has a pet that is exhibiting signs of allergies.

Don

[wildeyed]

19. My Border collie was exhibiting some skin irritation that

was probably allergies. I switched him to Taste of the Wild, one of those grain free brands, and the problem cleared right up.

[phylny]

20. That's a good idea.

Right now, she's on Purina HA and is devouring it. Once she's gained a little and is doing well, I'll definitely have the profile done. Thanks for the suggestion.

[badgerpup]

18. Cavalier King Charles Spaniels...

...are such pretty little dogs with their delicate build and the almost silvery sparkle in the white parts of their coats...

The few I've met have been so loyal and loving towards their owners it's head-assploding. :loveya::hug:

[phylny]

21. They are really wonderful dogs with great personalities.

Right now, she's on my pillow with her head on my shoulder. Such a cuddle bunny :)