Update on Lilo

We've been pretty busy running around town, trying to figure out what's wrong with Lilo.

We went to Dr. Parrish at Hickory Ridge Animal Hospital for a second opinion on Monday. The lab did a more extensive blood work analysis on Lilo, and the results were quite inconclusive. And Lilo was running a fever at 105, which was very concerning. She spent Monday at home with us, started eating some a/d canned food. Things seemed to be improving. Because she was drinking and urinating a lot, I have been sleeping in the living room so I could take her out to potty every three hours through out the night. We gave her ice pack to cool her down. Monday night into Tuesday morning, she even came up to the couch and pawed me, and I let her sleep on the couch with me. I really thought things were improving. She seemed more alert of her surrounding.

We were back to work on Tuesday, so we dropped off Lilo at Dr. Parrish's so someone would be there to monitor her progress. Unfortunately, she was still running a fever, and things weren't looking so great. We decided to transfer her to Chesapeake Veterinary Referral Center in Annapolis, where she can get better care. She stayed there overnight on IV fluids.

So back to today (wednesday). Lots of information. Lilo is at their Internal Medicine dept. They reviewed her case and ran more tests on her. With the fact that her blood glucose is normal, and urine glucose very high, they're suspecting kidney damage (same conclusion as the ER vets). And even after being on IV fluids overnight, her potassium level is still pretty low. All the clinical signs lead them to Fanconi syndrome (apparently very common in Besenji breed, but Shih Tzu aren't known for this). It's basically when the kidney tubes are unable to absorb electrolytes back into the bloodstream. (vs diabetes where both blood and urine glucose levels are high) Since this syndrome isn't that common for shih tzu breed, the vets are trying to pin point what could have brought such toxins in Lilo's body. They're suspecting jerky treats, but we don't really know for sure.

Adding to the complication, Lilo is anemic and getting pretty bruised up around blood drawn sites (clotting problem). They did a few clotting test, some came back ok, some abnormal. They are (probably did by the time I'm typing this) doing a plasma transfusion on her. I just wish there is something I could do to help Lilo.

We miss you, Lilo!