Dad's Little Princess

Maggie at about 12 weeks old

When we posted yesterday that we were going to take a few days off Dachshund blogging, the reason was because Dad's work has gone simply insane this week, and all our efforts needed to focus on his work.  We certainly weren't expecting any complicated veterinary issues this week by any means.  But, we wanted to update that your 'Long and Short of it All' host 'Maggie' has become very ill.

Yesterday before Dad was leaving for work, he gave Joey and Maggie their breakfast, but Maggie refused to eat.  Now, sometimes this isn't a major issue, but generally when your dog refuses to eat, they are quite ill.  Given Maggie's Cushing's issues, and the fact that her medication dose was recently doubled, odds looked good that she was experiencing an Addisonian's crisis from her cortisol levels being too low, and if her potassium were to then get too low, it could be quite dangerous. 

So, Joey was left hanging by himself as Dad whisked Maggie off to the vets for immediate care.  Once at the vets, Maggie started to vomit.  Dad had to run to work, but Maggie vomited another 10 times after he left.  The vet looked at her cortisol and electrolytes, and her cortisol was still quite high, another indication that her meds are not working for her, especially after doubling her dose.  So, she wasn't having an Addisonian's crisis, and the vet did a complete panel on her.  Turns out her lipase was over 6,000.  Maggie has pancreatitis.  This is the same issue Joey had last fall after his surgery which nearly did him in. 

Lots of tests are being performed, and it doesn't look like the Cushing's medication she's on can cause this issue.  With pancreatitis, as we know, it's a wait and see game to see if the pancreas will naturally get better after three days of no food or water.  But in the meantime, she is in a lot of pain.  She's getting pain meds, anti-nauseants, and is on IV fluids.  The vet did mention that this looks to be more serious than most of the pancreatitis issues he's seen -  Of course - Maggie and Joey don't do anything just half way.

Dad and Joey went to visit her last night.  She's stable but in pain.  She looked up at the men in her life when they entered the room, and she had large amounts of drool coming down both sides of her mouth - a sick little girl.  She didn't potty for the vet tech at all, but Dad had them unhook her IV, and was able to get her to potty outside.  Got to spend a good 45 minutes with her and tell her how much we love her. 

Thanks so much for all the heart-warming comments yesterday.  They mean so much.  Talked with the vet this morning, and Maggie is about the same as yesterday, but her temp is slightly low.  So, we wait.