The Little Pack

Dixie went to the vet tonight for follow up x-rays. She is presently stone free! We got the results from her last surgery and the stones were the same type as before, calcium oxalate stones. We have switched her to the wet food option and we are hoping that this will help. The wet food insures that she will take in more water than she would normally. This means her urine is more diluted which hopefully discourages the oxalates from sticking together. So fingers crossed, this trend continues. We made an appointment for 6 weeks out this time, and we will see. Beginning about 24 hours after the re-suturing surgery, Dixie has like been a brand new dog. She seems to feel better than she has in a long, long time and we are thrilled.

As it turns out, Dixie’s internal stitches did not hold and surgery was required. The vet had to open her back up, debride the incision and re-stitch everything. He told us he used a lot of knots this time which will cause swelling. She is pretty sore, but in good spirits. In 2 weeks she goes back for an x-ray, a month after the bladder stone surgery. This will give us a good idea as to how quickly her body produces stones. From there we will come up with a battle plan.

Dixie went to the vet tonight to have her staples removed and I expected to be able to report how well she is doing and that she was given a clean bill of health. Unfortunately, they think that the internal stitches may not be holding, which means: more surgery. This poor dog! I would ask if it could get worse, except that I know it could. She goes in Friday and we will know more then.

On a better note, the vet now believes that he may have missed the stone the first time around. He went back to all the x-rays and thinks that it may have been there the whole time, just in a difficult spot to see on the x-ray. This is actually good news because this means that her body may not be making the stones as fast as previously thought. If that is true, we may be able to manage these stones after all.

All research indicates that wet food is a better choice in the case of calcium oxalate stones because it consists of 80% water. The more water she drinks, the more diluted her urine stays, and the less chance the oxalates have of binding together. We have switched her to the wet U/D, and so far, she loves it.

All we can do is take this one step at time and see where it takes us. We are hoping that brings us to a happy, healthy dog with a long future ahead of her.

Can this dog’s week get any worse? We received a call today from the vet, who let us know that they ran a urinalysis on the urine removed from Dixie’s bladder at the time of her surgery. The urine showed an E.coli infection that is resistant to Baytril, the antibiotic she’s been taking since after surgery. And when we got home, her incision was oozing badly. So, yes, you guessed it-we have been to the vet tonight. I’m pretty sure 5 visits since last Wednesday is excessive. Anyway, the incision is oozing due to infection. When they open the bladder, some urine spills into the body, and since the infection is immune to the antibiotic she has been on, it has spread. She is okay though. She had a shot of the new antibiotic and started the new antibiotic tonight. It makes sense why she has felt so crummy now. We go back to the vet Thursday. We should see a big improvement by then.

Dixie in happier times above. Dixie seems to be doing a little better today. She ate a little bit and rested alot. But she admonished the neighbors for being in their own yard, kicked her back legs after peeing, and I even saw her lift her leg while peeing a couple of times. (Both her and Cheyenne do this.) She may only weigh 10 pounds, but she is strong and brave.