The Cassie saga continues. *Update.

Cassie is now a completely different dog. Like brand spankin' new, I'm tellin' ya. Not only is she alive physically, she is alive mentally. She is running like we have not seen her run in months. I sat on the floor with her today & we/she played with her stuffed animal, which again, she has not done in months. She is barking, she is whining, she is 'talking', she is social, she is awake! I guess we didn't realize how much she was sleeping until she um, woke up. Seeing how unbelievably active she is, I now tend to think her age is accurate. Ü

Since Sunday evening, we have also discovered some other revelations. Such as, the incredible expense our immediate future holds to have her properly evaluated & treated. We have already run out of the 1st bottle of medication she needs "indefinitely". It didn't even last 48 hours. It is approximately $18 a bottle. Second, it looks as if she is losing bladder control. She is battling chronic UTI's, which we now know are related to her liver shunt. Nonetheless, it's just one more issue.

The procedures Cassie still faces are: a proper Bile Acid test just to confirm she does indeed have a Liver Shunt (even though there is not much doubt at this point) & to see where her level is, the dye test to locate the shunt, a sonogram to see if she does indeed have kidney stones (which is a strong possibility due to her liver not filtering), surgery to remove the stones if there are any, surgery to have her spayed, surgery to for dental work/remove a few double teeth, & ultimately surgery to remove the shunt. Total cost? Approximately an easy $5,000+. Truth be told, we just don't have that type of money. As much as we want to, we just can't afford that.

I seem to think Cassie does not have a severe liver shunt. Reason? When she came to us, she was not in this condition. She played, she barked, she socialized. She also was on different food. We immediately changed her food to a higher quality brand. I'm wondering if the food change had the most impact on her. I'm also curious if there is a substantial difference in protein in the brand we switched her to versus her previous brand. Possibly, that is the reason she deteriorated at a slow pace, as her system adjusted to the new food. Because it progressed slowly, we didn't notice the subtle changes. Then wham! Her disorder fiercely attacked.

Obviously we don't want to give up on Cassie - she is sweet, cute & we ♥ her. We just didn't know which direction, if any, to take next. We now have a plan.

1.) Purchase one more bottle of the medication, lowering her dosage to the very minimal - not only to see if we can stretch the bottle, but to see if she can tolerate a low dose. She was on no medication when we got her & she managed well. Wondering if this could be the case again.

2.) Keep her on a low protein, high quality food. (Funny - the vet on Sunday switched her to a low protein, can food. Let me tell you, Cassie thinks she has won the lottery! LOL She is eating & eating & eating (I am monitoring!) - she's probably up a pound from her weight on Sunday night! She'll be sad to know we will probably switch her back to dry. Teehee.)

3.) Order a bladder supplement to help with her recurring UTI's. I have read rave reviews on the internet about a holistic treatment/approach & I think we have nothing to lose by giving it a shot.

So there you go! Baby steps. For our 5th baby. Pray for us. Ü



*Hubby just picked up a refill of Cassie's "indefinite" medication. Unlike the first bottle, he said this bottle is "huge!". Yay! We suspect that the vet gave us a tiny bottle to be sure it was effective before supplying the larger amount. That is just so super! We still will conduct the 'trial & error' though, as the vet suggested, to see how well she manages on a lower dose (Cassie has side effects with the higher dosage she started on - the object is to diminish the side effects, while still managing her liver disorder). Now that we know it's not as expensive, refilling it will be a non-issue. Ü

Also, because I rarely post without interruptions, my posts can be choppy. Many times I have to start & stop before completing a post. Frustrating. That said, as I forgot to mention above, once we implement changes 1-3, if Cassies continues to do well, we most definitely will get her the remaining medical treatments she needs. Because of cost, we'll have to do one step at a time, but even the vet recommended that, so that's ok. We'll start with the spaying 'cause, we don't want a repeat of what happened at Christmastime. ;o)