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| Mop Dog! |
I work at a vet clinic in the town where I live and Lexi has been a frequent flyer at our clinic over the past few months. She had on and off gastrointestinal problems as well as other issues that contributed to her frequent visits. Lexi had been in a few days before Christmas and was placed on IV fluids because she was not eating and was vomiting and had diarrhea. She was perking up and able to go home over Christmas but a few days later had completely crashed. She was extremely lethargic, dehydrated almost in mild shock despite her owners attempts to give her food and water. This was the worst she had been. At this point, the vet suspected that this might be cancer of some sort or possibly Addison's disease and started running yet another set of tests. Her owners were devastated at the thought she may have cancer and were really having a hard time caring for her already. They were an older couple who had rescued Lexi when she was brought over to Ontario from a puppy mill raid in Montreal just a year and a half earlier.
The tests finally gave us a conclusive diagnosis. Lexi had Addison's disease which explained the past few months of on and off symptoms which responded to symptomatic treatments. Addison's is a disease where the adrenal glands do not produce sufficient natural hormones (cortisol and aldosterone), which causes the body to be completely out of balance. Addison's can be hard to diagnose due to it's vague symptoms. Once past the Addisonian Crisis that Lexi was experiencing, treatment would include life long hormone supplements. Lexi's owners did not feel that they could care for her any longer in her condition and were considering euthanizing as they thought they had no other options. My co-worker and I both asked my boss (the Vet) to discuss surrendering Lexi to the clinic instead of euthanizing. We had all gotten to know her and she is a wonderful little girl that has been through a lot and deserved a chance! Lexi's owners were so happy that we would do that for them as they really felt as though they could no longer provide care for her.
Lexi came to stay at my house for overnight monitoring while on IV fluids for a night or two after her crisis. My girls had to investigate the new furry creature and were great with Lexi so I was pretty sure they would get along but my co-worker and I were both willing to take her. We decided to each have a trial run once Lexi was feeling better, unfortunately/fortunately my co-workers 9 month old German Shepard was just a bit too rambunctious for Lexi's low key nature so she came back to live with my furry family. Her gotcha day is officially December 31st, 2010!
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| All my little ladies!! |
This photo was taken a few days after Lexi arrived. We had a big warm spell and our foot of snow completely melted away allowing for a good romp in the backyard. Lexi fit in so well with Snickers and Quinn, it was as if she had lived with us for years. Lexi is very respectful of Snickers and really does not bother her in the slightest, which Snickers LOVES! Quinn and Lexi get along really well also and play together all the time. They are like Tweedle-dee and Tweedle-dum, where one goes the other is not far behind.
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| Nom Nom!! |
Lexi had missed quite a few grooms because she was so ill and by the time she came to live with me her hair doo was a matted mess! So, needless to say, once she completely recovered she was off to the groomers for a major overhaul. I didn't even recognize her when I picked her up but she looks much more streamlined now!
We started Lexi on a trial of steroid supplements and got her levels worked out and she has been doing very well with her Addison's over the past month and a half. She will require two doses of steroids everyday for the rest of her life to keep her hormones balanced and keep her healthy!
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Lexi seems to be settling in quite well. She is quite attached to me (velcro puppy is an understatement) but she is slowly getting more independent. Unfortunately, this means that she has quite the case of separation anxiety when I leave - but we have been working on behaviour modification over the past few weeks - more to come on that soon.
Lastly, we had one more health complication two weeks ago - a protruding disc! More on that in another post also! Clearly, Lexi is always going to be a frequent flyer at the vets office ;)
