Two weeks ago Zeke wiped out on a patch of ice while getting out of the car. He seemed fine at the time, but by evening he was lethargic and stiff, slow to move. The next few days he was very un-Zeke-like: not moving much and having less and less of an appetite. This has happened when he has hurt himself in the past and sure enough by Thursday he was becoming more active, although still rather fussy about food.

I noticed blood in his urine on Friday afternoon and knew it was time to see the vet. The next morning I gathered a urine sample (a Chinese takeout soup bowl stapled to a long stick works great!) and took him to the doc. They checked the sample, checked his vitals, and drew blood for analysis. He appeared to be healthy overall, but they'd know more when the test results came in the first of the week. In the meantime he got an antibiotic prescription and his yearly rabies shot. He peed outside the vet's and everything looked normal, and there hasn't been blood in it since.

By Wednesday we still hadn't heard from the vet and Zeke was all but giving up food; down to eating a few scraps of meat with his pills. Thursday we finally heard from the vet and the blood tests were overall pretty good. I mentioned the reduced appetite and she said that we could stop giving the antibiotic and see if that helped.

It didn't. Friday came and by afternoon I realized that Zeke wasn't drinking much if any water. He'd go out and lick snow for a little while, but otherwise showed no interest in food or water. Back to the vet. This time they did a "quick" blood test and found lots of elevated levels. There were also a couple x-rays but they didn't show anything wrong. The vet told me that it appeared that Zeke might be having a kidney incident, heading towards kidney failure. She strongly recommended that they put him on liquid therapy (hooked to an IV) to flush the system and bring the levels back to normal. This could take up to three days, but since they weren't open over the weekend we've have to come get him the next day and take him to Concord, the nearest 24 hour vet center.

Well, that was a bit too much for my brain to process on demand, but I decided that I wouldn't leave him since they aren't even there to monitor him overnight. Zeke's never been boarded, so completely abandoning him while he's sick seemed the wrong thing to do.

Went home, talked to Faith, read a bit on the internet, and then called the center in Concord. Capital Area Veterinary Emergency Services (CAVES) are a 24/7 facility, with a couple technicians in attendance all of the time and doctors on shift. When we got home I put about a cup of low sodium chicken broth in Zeke using a turkey baster. He seemed in good spirits, but I had no idea if with each passing hour his organs were being damaged worse, perhaps beyond repair. I realized that this was probably one of those times that I was in over my head. Zeke was packed into the car and we drove down to Concord.

For 8pm on a Friday night they were quite busy, with three dogs being treated before Zeke. All of the staff was friendly and very nice to Zeke. The techs took another blood sample and one of them went outside with Zeke and I to gather another urine sample (without the fancy stick rig!). Time passed and finally the on-call Dr. came in to check out Zeke and tell me what the test results showed.

"The good news is that I am pretty sure that his kidneys are fine and are not what's causing the problem. Beyond that it's a bit of a mixed bag." she said, and then pulled out all manner of test results and poured over them with me in exacting detail.

Basically his potassium level was too high. The main causes of this, based on other readings, were either a pancreatitis or Addison's disease. The pancreas can often become a problem with dogs, especially if they've recently had a lot of high fat human foods (i.e. holiday, getting into someone's trash). We fed him some scraps so he wouldn't be taking the antibiotics on an empty stomach, but it didn't seem like a huge amount. Maybe with the other stress factors it was enough to perpetuate an incident?

Addison's disease is found in people too, (like JFK, Helen Reddy) and is caused by adrenal glands that don't produce enough hormones. It is fatal if untreated. The only way to find out if Zeke had it was to draw blood, give him a drug, then wait an hour and draw blood again. Over that time the adrenal gland should have responded by producing higher levels in the blood stream. If not, then it is one of two stages of Addison's disease.

So I left Zeke with his own private "room," hooked up to an IV and fed a cocktail of chemicals to try and bring him back to normal. It came to me later that through all of this ol' Zeke became more of a bag of mis-balanced ingredients, to be quantified and measured so as to tweak and restore it to what it should be. One chemical for the pH stabilization of the bag, a heaping helping of lactated ringers, toss in an 'oid or two in to keep the bag calm, and let rise in a warm, dark place..

I drove home feeling somewhat better.

The next morning when I called, the Doctor said Zeke was showing signs of improvement. Most of the levels were back to their normal range, although the potassium still hadn't totally come back down. She said they'd continue the liquid therapy and by four that afternoon if the level was still off they'd order the Addison's test, after conferring with us (it's expensive).

Dunno what the mix-up was but when I called at four the doc was in surgery on another dog and they'd already started the Addison's test. No word if the potassium was lower or not. The doctor called a couple hours later and he (sometimes male doctors have a bull-in-china shop approach to things) said Zeke was getting better and he'd ordered the test to determine once and for all if that was the problem. Where the first doctor (a lady) explained everything in great detail, this guy spoke in generalities. The blood was shipped elsewhere and results wouldn't be in until the coming week. In the meantime they'd started treating Zeke as if the test was positive.

The next morning I drove down to pick up the old fella. They had given him a mild sedative the evening before, but I could tell that he was on the dopey side: didn't have his luster and was aimless and confused. Paid the bill, got the bag of pills and loaded the bag of dog into the car.

Part way I stopped to get a coffee and decided that Zeke could probably use a little fresh air and some water if he was up to it. His mouth was bone dry. I pulled to the edge of a parking lot, lifted him out of the car and over a fence, and we made our wobbly way down a slight embankment to a small wetlands. Zeke found the water and spent a long time drinking. He walked around a bit, slowly, but under his own power and spent much quality time sniffing the smells.

At home we served him a bland mix of chicken and rice, which he ate without any hesitation. Yay! Another small serving disappeared equally fast. His back legs were wobbly and unsure, but all day he wandered the house, following me for a time, then Faith, then back to his dish. I started wondering if maybe they'd accidentally put a bit of caffeine in his IV as he really didn't seem to know what to do with himself. I probably should have dipped his tail in paint and set him to work on the family room...

Monday morning and he's looking sharp. Another bowl of chicken w/rice was quickly dispatched and he ate a couple biscuits when he got to the office. We'll see what the week brings, but it is sure nice to have my buddy back.