http://www.eyevet.ca/sards.html
The ophthalmologist confirmed that Kirby has Sudden Acquired Retinal Degeneration Syndrome (SARDS ..which is irreversible blindness. Our hearts hurt for our sweet boy's adjustments he will have to make but both Russ and I have taught visually impaired children before so we are up to the challenge with God's continued support.
His kidney function tests were awesome! His vet was as excited as we were! They have improved by 50% since we took him to MSU on Thursday. That is with constant IV fluids flushing out the toxins. That puts him into the beginning of stage 3 renal failure instead of stage 4 where he was on Thursday. The vet hopes, as we do that we will be able to maintain this for a while with diet changes and the subcutaneous IV therapy at home.
The sonagram guided aspiration liver biopsy showed good results but
also showed a small tumor on the adrenal gland which is what we were
suspecting (either on the pituitary gland or adrenal gland) which will
most likely show that he has Cushing's Disease. This can be treated
with medication. He will not have the tests for Cushing's until he has
gone home and recovered some more because the tests are hard on the
system and he might get false positives right now. This really is a
huge puzzle that is beginning to show a picture of a slow, progressive
disease that he has most likely had since a pup. He is a "driven" alpha
dog that we've tried various medications to no avail for anxiety and
being always "wired". An overproduction of cortisol (stress hormone) is
what we are thinking has been at the core of Kirby's problems. It can
lead to diabetes (as it did with Russ) and lots of other diseases in
humans and animals.
We will hear from the vet again tonight. No one has mentioned him getting out of ICU but they are slowly removing things. He's still on an IV and still has his catheter. We are anxious to have him home but NOT wanting to rush anything since we know everything they do gives us a better prognosis for longevity.
We told our vet that our facebook friends were praying for him and she said she could tell from his recovery. I LOVE THIS! We give God the glory is all things big and small.
We will hear from the vet again tonight. No one has mentioned him getting out of ICU but they are slowly removing things. He's still on an IV and still has his catheter. We are anxious to have him home but NOT wanting to rush anything since we know everything they do gives us a better prognosis for longevity.
We told our vet that our facebook friends were praying for him and she said she could tell from his recovery. I LOVE THIS! We give God the glory is all things big and small.
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