Butters suddenly took ill this week.  After a couple of visits to our vet we ended up at the Pet Hospital with him seeing a specialist.   Butters has blood and fluid in his lungs.  At this point they can't tell us why.   We are awaiting results from the test done on the fluid from his lungs but the outcome does not look good.

They have suggested exploratory surgery and even putting tubes in his chest to drain the fluid, which keeps coming back.  Without a bottom line reason we are only dealing with the symptoms.   Tumor and cancer has been mentioned but again we don't know.

Our biggest concern is quality of life for Butters.  He is a mountain dog who runs the forest of our property.  Being restricted and tied down is not good.  We could possibly buy a few more months for Butters through surgery etc. but in the end it would be for us not for him.

We face a rough decision later today, based on their findings.  Bringing him home and making him comfortable so he can pass peacefully on the mountain that he loves may be the kindest thing we can do.  Hard for us but better for him.

Toy

Quote from: Solars Toy on April 20, 2013, 09:48:25 AM
Butters suddenly took ill this week.  After a couple of visits to our vet we ended up at the Pet Hospital with him seeing a specialist.   Butters has blood and fluid in his lungs.  At this point they can't tell us why.   We are awaiting results from the test done on the fluid from his lungs but the outcome does not look good.

They have suggested exploratory surgery and even putting tubes in his chest to drain the fluid, which keeps coming back.  Without a bottom line reason we are only dealing with the symptoms.   Tumor and cancer has been mentioned but again we don't know.

Our biggest concern is quality of life for Butters.  He is a mountain dog who runs the forest of our property.  Being restricted and tied down is not good.  We could possibly buy a few more months for Butters through surgery etc. but in the end it would be for us not for him.

We face a rough decision later today, based on their findings.  Bringing him home and making him comfortable so he can pass peacefully on the mountain that he loves may be the kindest thing we can do.  Hard for us but better for him.

Toy

We went  horugh this a couple of months ago with one of ours, same symptoms, and it turned out to be cancer. Our primary concern was "quality of life" and the treatments would bring possible short term extension. It was tough with one that was 10 1/2. We went and got two more rescues, our 4th and 5th.

I wish you all the best on this tough situation.

Quote from: supsalemgr on April 20, 2013, 01:51:21 PM
We went  horugh this a couple of months ago with one of ours, same symptoms, and it turned out to be cancer. Our primary concern was "quality of life" and the treatments would bring possible short term extension. It was tough with one that was 10 1/2. We went and got two more rescues, our 4th and 5th.

I wish you all the best on this tough situation.

Thanks SSM, he too is a rescue about 5 years old, they are doing a CT scan to see if they can find the problem, but i suspect cancer as well.
I''ll let them remove it, if it is, but that's it, I won't put him through anymore.
I almost went and brought him home today, but the doctor seems to think he can recover, so I let them do the tests, but if they don't find out what the problem is, he's coming home to die, I won't let them do exploratory surgery on him only to find out it's metastasized cancer and inoperable.
He has less than a week as it is right now.

We too will be looking for another big dog (rescue), we need one where we are

Thats just awful......

I am so sorry, I hope they are able to help him.  You are right though, it is about quality of life. If your heart is big enough to rescue them from who-knows-what, then it is big enough to know that they don't need or want the kind of stress prolonged illness can bring.  It doesn't make it hurt any less though.

Quote from: JustKari on April 20, 2013, 09:19:43 PM
I am so sorry, I hope they are able to help him.  You are right though, it is about quality of life. If your heart is big enough to rescue them from who-knows-what, then it is big enough to know that they don't need or want the kind of stress prolonged illness can bring.  It doesn't make it hurt any less though.

Thank you Kari....  It has been rough but we will bring him home today while we await the test results.  Toy

Weird update on Butters.   We brought him home last Sunday.  Not knowing what to expect.  He whined the entire car ride him.  Sad and heart rendering cries of his trauma.  They sent us with a weeks worth of antibiotics and instructions that if we needed to bring him back in to pull more fluid from his lungs just to come.  Sunday and Monday came and went.  Butters was having no trouble breathing nor did he seem under any physical stress. 

Solar got the results of the biopsy late Monday - inconclusive.  Their next step would be to perform exploratory surgery.  Solar said no.  They also informed us they found a "spore" of Valley Fever.  So Tuesday we went to our vet for a blood draw to test for fungal infections.  We are still awaiting those results. 

In the meantime Butters is being Butters.   Sleeping under the house, running the mountain with Shadow and stalking Libby when she pees.  We look and just shake our heads that this is a sick dog.

Toy

Quote from: Solars Toy on April 28, 2013, 09:10:22 AM
Weird update on Butters.   We brought him home last Sunday.  Not knowing what to expect.  He whined the entire car ride him.  Sad and heart rendering cries of his trauma.  They sent us with a weeks worth of antibiotics and instructions that if we needed to bring him back in to pull more fluid from his lungs just to come.  Sunday and Monday came and went.  Butters was having no trouble breathing nor did he seem under any physical stress. 

Solar got the results of the biopsy late Monday - inconclusive.  Their next step would be to perform exploratory surgery.  Solar said no.  They also informed us they found a "spore" of Valley Fever.  So Tuesday we went to our vet for a blood draw to test for fungal infections.  We are still awaiting those results. 

In the meantime Butters is being Butters.   Sleeping under the house, running the mountain with Shadow and stalking Libby when she pees.  We look and just shake our heads that this is a sick dog.

Toy

Sounds like some good news for Butters.  Good luck with the blood test for fungal infections.

I've been thinking about Butters,,,,, sooooo??????

It has been an interesting ride for us on this.  The fungal tests came back negative which leaves us with more unanswered questions.  The only next step they can give us is exploratory surgery.  We said no.  We cannot put our pup through something like that.

Meanwhile he seems almost normal.  Breathing fine, taking his runs (shorter ones) with Shadow and harassing Libby.  He is on 3 more weeks of antibiotics but after that we wait and see.  For now he gets all the love and hamburger (for his medications) that he wants. 

Thanks to everyone for their concern and support.   Toy   

Glad to hear Butters is doing well...
Thanks!

Quote from: Solars Toy on April 20, 2013, 09:48:25 AM
Butters suddenly took ill this week.  After a couple of visits to our vet we ended up at the Pet Hospital with him seeing a specialist.   Butters has blood and fluid in his lungs.  At this point they can't tell us why.   We are awaiting results from the test done on the fluid from his lungs but the outcome does not look good.

They have suggested exploratory surgery and even putting tubes in his chest to drain the fluid, which keeps coming back.  Without a bottom line reason we are only dealing with the symptoms.   Tumor and cancer has been mentioned but again we don't know.

Our biggest concern is quality of life for Butters.  He is a mountain dog who runs the forest of our property.  Being restricted and tied down is not good.  We could possibly buy a few more months for Butters through surgery etc. but in the end it would be for us not for him.

We face a rough decision later today, based on their findings.  Bringing him home and making him comfortable so he can pass peacefully on the mountain that he loves may be the kindest thing we can do.  Hard for us but better for him.

Toy

the this web site I hear it is great for this kind of thing.

www.rainbowbridge.com