Update on Linus

[desoto_hia873]

I talked to the vet a little while ago. Linus is still with us and looking a little better this morning. He said that he's eaten breakfast and he's wagging his tail at the staff. His blood tests all came back normal - even the kidney-related ones, so I guess the low protein dog food is working on that front. He has, however, developed an irregular heartbeat. He may have had the doggie equivalent of a heart attack last night. They're going to do abdominal and heart ultrasounds today. The former will look for tumours (which can apparently trigger heart events) and the latter for structural problems and heart disease. Either way, his long-term prognosis isn't super - he might have another nine months to a year at best.

You don't even want to know what all this is going to cost. But the tests so far are non-invasive and he's not suffering and, well, he's my baby. If it turns out to be a tumour, I don't think I'll go the surgery route. It wouldn't buy him much time and would (obviously) cause him alot of pain. If it turns out to be heart disease, he can be medicated and might get another year. His frisbee chasing days are, however, probably over.

I'm going to go and see him this afternoon and am hoping I can bring him home tonight.

The end is likely not that far off, but it looks like it might not be today, at least.

Thank you all so much for your kind comments to my last post. ::hugs flist tight::

Comments

[desoto-hia873.livejournal.com]

Thanks. Last night's post was pretty late - I didn't get to bed until 2 am. I think I'm going to have a nap now and then head down there to see him. I'm hoping that I'll be able to bring him home tonight - he seems to be stabilised and isn't suffering. He's probably pretty confused, though - poor little guy.

::hugs back::