DashDash Trick Dog Challenge – We’re Back!

DashDash’s Trick Challenge to learn 50 tricks was interrupted.  We had some pretty heavy distractions, including a couple sessions of DashDash receiving kidney dialysis due to contracting Leptospirosis.  DashDash was feisty, happy, and active one week.  The next week she was rushed to emergency.  She was uncomfortable.  She had no appetite. (A Doberman without an appetite is a very serious medical emergency.)  The first trip to emergency found her only 45% hydrated and with a stiff neck.  She was hydrated and sent home after a few hours with pain meds.  The veterinarian at the emergency clinic felt she was dehydrated because her neck was too painful for her to reach to her water bowl.

The next morning, after having to be hand fed and my Dachshund trying to attack her, the chiropractor determined her neck was not the issue.

That afternoon, I took her to my vet, an ex trauma vet currently working as a general practitioner.  I lifted her out of the car since she had to energy or desire to get up on her own.  While waiting for the vet to see her, I brainstormed possible scenarios.  He drew blood to see what was going on and asked for her to be tested for Lyme since she recently visited an area of the state with a high incidence of the disease.  He also suggested testing her for Leptospirosis.  Both Lepto and Lyme were negative, but the tests showed she had lost 75% kidney function.

Back to emergency to hydrate her overnight.  In the morning I took her to an internist.  After nearly 4 hours of testing he diagnosed end stages Dilated Cardio Myopathy (DCM), the number one killer of Dobermans.  My normal reasoning skills ceased to function at this point.

I was able to get her into a cardiologist for an after hours appointment.  NO DCM!  However, the blood test taken during the morning showed her kidney failure had nearly doubled since the day before.

DashDash was admitted to a 24 hour clinic with internists on staff.  Even though she had to fever, no vomiting, and no diarrhea, the veterinarians on staff concluded that her kidney and liver values indicated Leptospirosis.

The next day DashDash showed a slight improvement.  However, by the next morning, her kidney values worsened, she was extremely depressed, and she failed to indicate she knew me when I visited her.  I checked her out of the clinic in Tigard, OR, a suburb of Portland, and rushed her to a clinic in Renton, WA, A suburb of Seattle, which was the closest facility with a dialysis machine for animals.

DashDash’s expenses were tremendous.
Please visit her GoFundMe page.

DashDash received two dialysis treatments.  She stayed in the clinic for a week before transferring her back to the clinic in Tigard.  While in Tigard, we received the results of her titer test.  DashDash had VERY high titers for Leptospirosis.  The text run at the beginning of her illness was a false negative, which is almost always the case we now know.

After staying at the clinic for a few days to remain on IV fluids, she was released to go home with over a dozen bags of fluid to administer subcutaneously over the next several days.  Several blood draws every few days showed an improvement in kidney function.  According to the last blood test she had, her kidneys were back to normal.  However, it was almost two months when her water intake dropped back to what was normal for her.

DashDash is now happy, active, always hungry and NAUGHTY and ready to take on her trick challenge again!